After breakfast, showers and two attempts to get to the train on time we finally managed to catch the 11 am train to the city and made it to the American Museum of Natural History. We paid a small donation to enter so we only had access to the permanent collections, no special events. Still, we managed to be busy during our whole visit. We visited the American mammals wing, bio-diversity hall, ocean life hall and climate of NY st
ate hall, where DF became completely captured by a giant model of a malaria mosquito. "I don't understand why young girls don't get how cool insects are" he said to DD. I shared his wonderment over the model, not necessarily because of the "awesomeness" of the subject but rather because of the high level of its craftsmanship. I must admit that even though I'm not a young girl anymore, I still don't "get" how cool insects are either -but he doesn't need to know that.After a light lunch we visited the human origins hall, meteorite and minerals exhibits. By then the kids had reached information overload mode so we took a walk in Central Park. We walked past the Swedish cottage marionette theater and Shakespeare's garden up to Belvedere's castle to enjoy the view.
We then took the bus to the second "required" stop of the day: (as requested by the children) Dillan's candy bar. These two friends were so happy that they were literary dancing in the hallways. After ogling at every candy and running around for what seemed like hours they finally decided how to spend their $6 limit for the visit. We were all pretty done with sugar by the time we got out of Dillan's so we headed to a health bar and had a nice tossed salad supper.
Then I got my pick of activity and special treat: attending the free 4x4 concert at St. Peter's church just minutes after supper. The timing couldn't have worked out better if I tried. I had heard of the concert series a week before on the radio and made a note of it. I'm so glad I did. The music was absolutely beautiful. We got a chance to hear music composed by Bach for the organ and could feel the vibrations of the enormous instrument at our feet as the music played. We also got to see a lute played for the first time, inspect a harpsichord, study the complex music sheet used and look at the pipe organ closely. After the concert I compared the music to going into a lake and having all stress released from your body as you submerge yourself in the water, one inch at a time. DF agreed in his own way. "It cleansed my ears, brain and soul but my body was getting stiff", he said after the 1.5 hour long concert. A few people complemented me on my "very well behaved children" (they were the ONLY children there). I told them thanks, they behaved as expected.So here we are, heading home in the subway after a busy day and I take out a surprise bag of Extreme sourhead candy that I had bought at Dillan's. The kids tried it together, then I tried it alone, then DF with me and DD tried it with me. Lastly, the kids tried them while controlling their faces. We had so much fun with them! I highly recommend them for entertainment anytime, anywhere!
Now all is quiet. They are both asleep in their in beds, waiting for another day of fun. And who can blame them? Sweet little trouble makers!
Look for photos of today's outing added to the DF album on the right.
Tomorrows' plan: a visit to ringing rocks, Indian caverns and a surprise outing, all in Pennsylvania.
