The kids and I went with Michael to Atlanta yesterday. He had a meeting with GSOMA (Georgia State Oriental Medical Association?). Anyhow, he was elected VP of the group yesterday. Yay for Michael!
The kids and I spent the time at the High Museum. Michael and I had previously gone alone to see the last Louvre installment and the First Emperor's Terra Cotta Army. Perfect...it allowed me to be focused on showing it to the kids this time. They had audio headphones with a series of pieces in each exhibit tailored with commentary for kids (entertaining tidbits--Wow!--and Can you Figure it out? kinds of things). Alex would have liked to listen to the adult options as well for other pieces, but I persuaded him to just do the kid ones with Fiona, as I wasn't sure how long she'd hold out. They were totally into it. Very serious--just like the other museum visitors. They very quietly moved from piece to piece, and they never asked me any questions or if they could go back. A couple of times Fiona needed me to lift her so she could see a raised item fully. Anyhow, it was abbreviated (the kid version), but I'm sure they'll get more out of it than I did. You know how kids remember and remember...
Michael and I have figured out how to sneak through to the special exhibits without waiting an hour in line. Poor folks...there was a huge line for tickets, which I totally circumvented by going to a side booth to 'join' (experience there, too). Michael and I had previously followed another couple that we'd overheard say that they knew a roundabout way to get in to the special exhibit a couple of times ago, too. The main line is metered to only allow a few in at a time...
Okay, that may seem unfair and like we're teaching the kids a bad lesson in not waiting in line, but they didn't actually know that I wasn't going the right way. I 'snuck' them straight through the gift shop way...
Anyhow, I was happy with the museum visit. Michael actually came in with us a bit at first and helped navigate us. I'm sure I'd have been frustrated if it had been my first time there, but I didn't try to get too much out of it this time. I read the little blurbs and such as I waited for the kids, but I didn't buy the audio headphones again for me.
I generally try not to keep the kids at a museum for over a couple of hours, and I try not to linger, either, as I don't want them to feel like it's a boring thing. I virtually always am in spending mode at museums, too, as I love to buy things in the gift shops, despite the fact that they're overpriced. I generally always buy the kids something, also, as I want them to be excited about going to museums.
Michael unknowingly bought me a very pretty Italian-made glass bead necklace--he was very curious to see what was in the box as he gave it to me when he picked us up:). Michael has repeatedly and emphatically told me not to spend any money on him in the gift shop, so I didn't... Fiona chose a gorgeous red heart pendant silver necklace and a multi-colored pencil. Alex chose a do-it-yourself flip art book set and bought an eraser for Fiona. He spent his own money to get a kit to excavate a terra cotta soldier--which he excavated in Michael's car's back seat on the way home (unhappily for Michael, when he found out only as Alex happily announced he was through with the excavation).
Alex is an angel, though, I swear! Fiona kept haranguing him to let her color in his flip book pages. I kept telling her to stop bothering him, as she had her own gifts from the store and her own art supplies in the back seat. However, between her begging and his quick boredom with the coloring, he let her take it over. So, his main gift from the shop was taken over by her, and his small gift was something he'd chosen for her.
At dinner, Fiona smacked him 'back' for accidentally hitting her. She wailed him pretty hard, and he just clutched the spot and said, "Ow!", not even thinking of really hitting her. I'm so proud of him. He's so sweet to his fiesty little sister.
They were both really wonderful on this trip--and very patient with the 8 hours in the car yesterday, mitigated by the 'InkDeath' story that we're finally almost done with (about 44 long CDs for the 3 book set--InkHeart, InkSpell, and InkDeath). We didn't get home until nearly 11 p.m., and they had school this morning. Ugh! It's sometimes fun to take those one-day trips like that, though.
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