This past Thursday Cadence, Clark and I took the Metra train into the city with my sister and Cousin Jakey to check out the newly opened Modern Wing at the Art Institute. It was a totally last minute trip thanks to my mom & dad who agreed [reluctantly, haha] to watch our rambunctious Rocket boy. Thank goodness for grandparents!
I didn't tell the kids where we were going, just that we were going into the city to visit one of the museums and that it would be fun. I wanted our day trip to be as much of a surprise as possible. When we got to the musem Clark said, "Mama, what kind of museum is this?! This is not for kids. This is a BORING museum." Okay, we hadn't even gotten passed the front entrance when he said that. The funny thing is, any form of the word boring has been banished from our household, but the way it came out of his mouth . . . I had a hard time trying to surpress my laughter. Apparently, Clark takes after his father who shares the same exact feelings about the Art Institute.
Picture I took in The Modern Wing. One of only six pictures I took with my camera during the day. Aimee brought her point and shoot so I let her handle the picture taking. So much easier than trying to bust out my big camera!
After about two hours at the museum where a good chunk of that time was spent eating lunch and hanging out in the restrooms for potty breaks (ugh), the kids had had enough so we crossed the street and hung out at Millenium Park. We let the kids splash around for awhile at the Crown Fountain, and they thought it was absolutely hysterical that the images of the people on the fountain were trying to "spit" on them.
Aimee and I were exhausted from our earlier trek on foot from Union Station to the Art Institue (lucky kids got to ride in the stollers), so we decided to hop a ride on the CTA from Millennium Park back to Union Station. Riding the train and a bus all in one day - the kids thought that was pretty cool. When we got home we asked the kids what exhibit they enjoyed the most at the museum, and all three replied, "The waterpark!!!"
Too funny.
I did have a few favorites at the museum despite the fact that we didn't really get to see much. I really enjoyed the exhibit of Cy Twombly's work in The Modern Wing. Loved this one from the collection (image from the Art Institute's site). Reminded me of scrapbook paper, maybe that's why. Ha.
Kid friendly exhibits we enjoyed:
- The Thorne Miniature rooms have been a long-time favorite of mine since I first visited the Art Institute as young teenager. I made this exhibit a little more interesting for the kids by playing "I Spy" with objects in various rooms.
- Picture Perfect is an exhibit of art from children's books that have been awarded the Caldecott Medal of Honor in the past few years. Being a huge fan and collector of children's literature, particularly picture books, this exhibit was by far my favorite during our visit!
- The Bill Peet Storybook Menagerie: This guy worked for Disney as a principal animator for 27 years and was the creator of Dumbo! This exhibit has works from illustrations he made for the countless books he wrote and illustrated after his career with Disney. He's a Caldecott Medal of Honor winner. The kids though it was cool to see the original sketches and drawings and had fun trying to find them in the actual books.
My sister and I plan on hitting up the museums and kid friendly venues with the kiddos this summer, particularly ones that have free admission! She linked me up to this site, and I thought I'd share with those of you who are looking for free activities for your family to do this summer:
http://www.insiderspassport.com/free-museums
I knew there was a reason I loved Target other than the shopping!
Hope you're having a good Memorial Day weekend.