new day, new museum

for years we have discussed driving up to the cleveland museum of natural history. while it is published as half price tickets, we have been told that it is free with our museum membership card. while i was discussing a day trip with matt, he mentioned that he had to go to cleveland for work and we could all drive up together. as if it could work out any better, the day we were planning on going was a special night with all of the museums staying open until 11pm!

i packed up some picnic dinner and the kids to head over and pick up matt from work on our way to cleveland. he dropped us off at the museum and went off to his meeting.

we had the best time! it is not a huge museum but the range of topics/themes was fantastic. we are already planning on next trip! the kids enjoyed the space exploration room so much that i was afraid it would be all we saw.

they were also pretty taken with the taxidermy dioramas of climates around the world.

maddux was transfixed by this cobra.

mason had 101 questions about the adobe living and i told him that we will travel west to see them someday.

we took a bison picture for papa and nana who saw them in person over the summer.

and then the dinosaurs! the kids actually weren't all that into them, but i thought that they were pretty cool.

we all liked the fossils. there were more questions that i could answer flying at me. the fossilized wood was amazingly beautiful. the picture does not even come close to capturing its beauty and color variations.

we made our way downstairs and happened upon the kids' room! it is a good thing we didn't find it first because they did not want to leave!

first were some bat and butterfly crafts...

and then mason, maddux and i spent a long time trying to work out this bat puzzle. there must have been a piece missing or wrong! it was really fun to watch the problem solving styles of each boy. mason is slow and thoughtful and maddux is more try every option and quick moving. both approaches were very successful for them and they showed impressive focus and patience.

this keyboard made bird calls and lit up the board with a picture of the bird.

the room was small and mighty. so much educational fun in a well laid out space. i don't know why i don't have more pictures of the "discovery market" because the kids really liked that. you selected foods to create healthy, balanced meals and then scanned the items to 'purchase' them. it would then tell you about the nutritional benefit of each item and give a score. i was pleased to see that it recognized a vegan diet as equally heathy (the health/body exhibit at cosi does not).

and then they found their favorite magnet blocks! there was some good teamwork here - and a little crying.

daddy sent me a text that he was done and headed back over our way so the kids and i made our way outside to meet daddy for our picnic lunch. there were some picnic tables right outside which was a nice surprise. an even greater surprise was that there was a huge concert/food truck event in the park across the street. it was a beautiful evening and we could hear live music while we ate. perfect.

this was next to the picnic tables.

the kids weren't quite done and wanted to show daddy everything he had missed so we went back in after dinner. mainly, they just wanted to go back downstairs to the kid area.

this was a neat layered puzzle with all the internal systems.

maddux and daddy trying to solve the bat puzzle.

it was getting close to bedtime and we still had a long drive home so we had to call it a night. the kids had a blast and we will be making the trip up again very soon - maybe for daddy's next meeting. love.