“Around my feet, even my soul, just as you please.”
– from “Early Fall in Central Park” by J.D. Salinger
Giant trees….
Icy freeze
Bridges, arches…
…and scuffed up knees
Last weekend we visited the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Although it’s not one of the museums on everyone’s Must See list when they visit New York, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Rodney thought it would be funny to dress up as a 6’6” elf for our visit.
That’s actually one of my Christmas gifts to him. A perfectly slouchy hipster hat from Urban Outfitters. Rodney has taken to calling himself Harry Styles when he wears it, but if I were to give people a multiple choice test, the answer would most likely be B or C. Am I right?
Besides Rodney’s experimental hat, there was so much to explore at the Science Center. First up was the suspended Rubik’s cube, which is visible from every floor. Although impressive in size, it gave me vivid flashbacks to the 80s when I stood at 4’9” with crimped bangs and jelly bracelets and would launch the cube across our living room in frustration.
As to be expected, the Bob the Builder exhibit was a hit. Emma convinced me that although she’s on the young side, she’s ready for drivers’ ed. Which would be convenient since Rodney has suggested that I take my backseat driving tendencies to the next level by installing a secondary set of brakes into the car.
We explored the Energy Quest exhibit and learned about the Earth’s natural resources, from wind and solar to nuclear power. But the favorite exhibit of the day was Our Hudson Home where we checked out all of the creatures that live in the Hudson River. The big draw was the tank of horrendously ugly bearded fish.
To be honest, I’m not sure whether the fish are inherently ugly or just seem angry because they now live in a small dark tank in the middle of Jersey. But whatever the reason, we loved them.
Other animals included turtles and fake birds.
Last week the kids had a half day at school, so we spent the afternoon checking out the MOMA. It’s always such a treat to visit because whenever I ask them where they’d like to go, the response is always “dinosaurs”. Sometimes I have to put my foot down.
But after our visit to the MOMA, we all agreed that it’s a pretty cool place. Even without the dinosaurs.
Here’s a quick snapshot of our day, starting with Lauren’s big win: $130 million! Thankfully that’ll cover her college tuition and part of Sam’s.
When we got to the MOMA, the kids wanted to check out the sculpture garden. Because it’s full of bums and bums are funny.
There were some other pretty amazing sculptures, including this 2-headed beastie. The kids screamed when they saw it, but quickly made friends with it.
Once inside, Lauren was on a mission to find a Modigliani. “You know Mom, the ones with the long necks.” We did find one of his paintings, but it wasn’t anything like the one she’d seen in school, which meant that it wasn’t interesting at all.
So I quickly diverted her attention to another piece. She wasn’t impressed.
I tried one more. This one worked.
