Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Making new friends at the Natural History Museum

Number 2 on my 101 challenges in 1001 days is/was a family trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles... a challenge we completed yesterday with fantastic results!!

After picking up NaNa and PaPa Ted, we braved the 405 Freeway and the Santa Monica Freeway to carpool our way down to the heart of Los Angeles and the museum. I had packed oodles of snacks and drinks to last through the afternoon and armed myself with our trusty camera to document the day.

First up, we made our way straight to the hands-on discovery center where Em and Ro dug for dinosaur fossils, drew insects and observed all sorts of reptiles. We weaved our way through kids on field trips and Em & NaNa sat in with the 2nd graders on an informational lecture.

Next was a quick break and snack time where I met a cool Momma and her two boys who are almost the same ages as Em and Ro! How lucky is that!!?!! And then even luckier still, she graciously gave us tickets to the Huntington Library and Gardens which recently reopened their Art Gallery AND hosted the grand opening of the Liu Fang Yuan (Garden of Flowing Fragrance) -- a garden I am super excited to see after many months of waiting!!
Em and Ro ran around with their new friends for the rest of the afternoon exploring the North American and African mammals sections, pretending to be flap their wings in the Bird/Marsh section and resting in the very center of the floor of the final mammal section. After a long and wonderful afternoon, we parted ways with phone numbers and a promise to meet up at the Huntington on Thursday. My camera is charging now and I'm getting the extra clothes ready in preparation for the water features in the Children's Garden.