The Natural History Museum

Today the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. It was one of the four "homeschool days" which means we got in free and ran into a few homeschooling friends along the way. If you're interested in attending the next homeschool day come on Friday, January 29th. You can find more information here.

The children were in an interesting mood. They were very happy and getting along, which is great, I mean, who could ask for more, but this chummy silliness also made them loud and goofy. That gets a little bothersome when one is in line with nutty children who are hugging each other until they fall into innocent bystanders or when a quiet hall is interrupted by giggles, machine gun noises, more giggling, and loud suggestions from the siblings on how he could have made an even funnier machine gun noise.

But it did a my heart good to see them learning and sharing their knowledge with each other. I tried taking a cute picture of them all looking at an exhibit. That, however... 

..,proved...

...challenging.

Almost got it there.

Success!

This was one of the first exhibits we walked by and it was an instant hit. Can you see why? It's the Aztec's version of plastic animals! These are all little animals and critters made of various stones! My children are so consistent.

There were mixed feelings about the bird hall upstairs. Kaeley was fascinated by almost everything while Simon was scared by almost anything - skeletons, dark exhibits. At one point I was quietly taking in the scenes when I was bombarded with warnings and comments from all four at one time. Kaeley was trying to point out a bird I had missed, Simon was complaining about his legs hurting, Nathan was yanking at my sleeve warning me there was "evolution" in the next room, and Alynna, with puppy dog eyes looking up at me, said, "There is something in this room that is not appropriate!"

This was the "inappropriate" material she was speaking of. Simon whispered to me, "That is inappropriate, Mommy." I asked him why it was inappropriate to see where the conversation would go, and he answered in almost a whisper, "That man has four feet. That is inappropriate." 

Had we arrived at the museum hours earlier we would have attained free tickets to the spider pavilion. We arrived on wizarding-time, which is never late, but precisely when we mean to. In short - there were no more tickets. Bummer, but not worth the seventeen extra dollar required. I was quite surprised when shortly into our trip Kaeley began expressing interest in the house of spiders. She seemed genuinely curious, so I coughed up the money to see critters that cause half the family to run away in horror when seen for free in our own home.

While we waited for our date with the eight-legged celebrities we took our lunch to the nearby playground, which might have been my favorite part of the trip and an absolute must next time we go.

While the kids played, I read my newest pleasure book "The Reading Promise" by Alice Ozma. The author's father was a school librarian. He read out loud to Alice for years and in the fourth grade they made a commitment to read together every single night for at least ten minutes for 100-days. One hundred turned into a thousand and they stopped reading together when she moved away to college. So far the book is heartwarming and humorous.

 The only problem I see is the book is bound to be inspiring and I'm not sure how much more inspiration in the reading-out-loud area I can stand. In the morning we read faith-based books, like The Story and Hymns for a Child's Heart. In the afternoon we are currently reading through Robert Frost's You Come Too, The Door in the Wall, and Time Traveler. And because I'm a glutton for punishment I gave into the children's pleading to begin the next Clementine book, so we're on the second chapter of The Talented Clementine. I also have begun experimenting with short excerpts from the Children's Book of Virtues. So should "The Reading Promise" spur me onto even more great books with which to revel in I might need to start cancelling my real life experiences like the museums and friends in order to stay home with a good book, warm drink, couch, and little ears.

While I was reading, Kaeley befriended three of the cutest little strangers I have ever met! I texted Brad informing him I wanted to take the these three little girls home. No reply.

Yes, that is Alynna, the monkey, sitting on top of the play structure. It boggles the brain that we have had no broken bones the way she climbs trees and walls and poles.

She also has a sickening attachment to spinney things. I spun her around in this seat until I myself could bear it no longer.

So in we went to the Spider Pavilion. Now what I am about to say is something that I don't think I've ever said before, but I'm glad Brad wasn't with us. His "joke" about the only good spider being a dead spider would have been highly frowned upon at this establishment. 

The spiders were amazing. It wasn't nearly as creepy as I was expecting. It was kind of funny to watch people jump when a fly landed on their arm, or jerk their head when their ponytail grazed their neck. Walking in a spiders' paradise leaves one feeling rather vulnerable.

We don't see many large spiders in our area. Now my parents did end up with two large orb weavers outside their home. One my dad calls Shelob, after the she-spider in The Lord of the Rings. 

I don't think he's too far off either. The thing resembles a small crab and casts a shadow as big as a cat. Okay, maybe more like a kitten, but the thing is big none the less!

The children spent most of their time pouring over the controlled, caged spiders.

Some of them were narly! I'm talking half eaten crickets, egg sacks, multiple eyes... I'm shuddering just thinking about it... let's move on.

See what I mean? Narly! This is a wolf spider protecting her egg sack... blech (no offense, God)... oh yeah, I said I was moving on.

I'll end our time together with a selfie of me, Kaeley the Cat, and Alynna the Queen.

***

I'm going to be seeing that spider with the egg sack in my mind for hours now. Shudder!