The New Museum

No, not that one.

We went to a new-to-us children's museum in West Hartford yesterday. I wasn't too impressed at the outset--the carpet could be replaced, the critter room for toddlers needed paint and more activities, but then . . .

Wow.

I'll let the kiddos tell you, as I transcribe their descriptions to Gommie and Pop, Ma and Gong, and even to us.

Sis loved the cheese. Cheese? "Cheese in the dinosaur room." Cabot was there for promotion handing out samples. She liked it. A lot. And ate several cubes of tomato and basil.

Buddy remembered that room too. "There were two dinosaurs. A big one roared at me. The little one didn't. It was scary."

"It's okay, Buddy, he won't get you."

But he didn't believe her, then or now, and was clinging and cried at the sound or sight of the dino.

But he loved all the hands-on spaces. He told me this morning that he dreamed of "car races, ping pong balls, circle balls [centrifugal force demo], big bubbles. Mommy you got popped by the big bubble. I dreamed of musical instruments and the echo tube."

Oh, how they loved the car races. I said we could do a mini-train race and he asked if there would be a button that lowered the gates and lights that went from red to yellow to green.

And there were animals. Sis loved all the owls--"Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, and Screech. Two big ones, one little one." She also liked the turtles, which were crawling around (chaperoned) in the grass outside. In "Turtle Town," she was able to don a fiberglass shell and pretend to be a turtle. And the cats! A caracal and a lynx. Several of these were actually confiscated pets--I think Sis would have loved to have taken one home. I thought there were way too many snakes, but they liked them.

We finished the day eating pizza. It was perfect. Definitely a do-again.

Or, maybe it should remind us to do something new once in awhile.