AMNH Video: Jonah the Astronaut

We made this video back in November during our visit to the American Museum of Natural History.  Apparently there was a glitch in the system as we are just now getting it.  Jonah loved it.  Elisabeth made a dinosaur one later in the day.  I had that one sent directly to the blog.  I wish I would have downloaded and saved it, but I didn't and now I can't access it.  Oh well! 

A Beautiful Day in the City

Yesterday we did a bit of walking in the rain.  I took the kids to the Brooklyn Children's Museum, which we went to last year, knowing they would really enjoy it.

We made a Target stop on the way back and there was an organization providing safe child cards to parents. I told them we weren't local but they didn't care. Supposedly, if they were ever lost, this would make it easy to issue an amber alert. It also, puts them at a disadvantage if they choose a life of crime - since their fingerprints our now in the NYS Criminal Justice Service Database! Hopefully that won't be an issue....

We were all pretty soaked on the walk back to the hotel.

This morning we are resting, but shortly we will be taking the train into Manhattan. When planning for this trip I came across an article in National Geographic about the reopening of the newly renovation Art of Arab Lands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and really wanted to go. Knowing that the kids would probably hate it, I determined not to spend the money. I didn't feel like I would get my moneys worth if their lack of enthusiasm caused me to have to leave after only a couple of hours. God's face was shining on me because on Sunday while at the American Museum of Natural History with friends, I spotted a partial city pass booklet laying on the floor by the elevator and lo and behold one of the remaining tickets was for the MET! So, today is the day. So not only do I get to go to the MET today for FREE, but the sun is shining and it's a great day to walk through Central Park on the way!

Image via Wikipedia

Related articles

• 'Art Of The Arab Lands' Displays A Global Heritage (moroccotomorrow.org)
• New York City for Kids (bigappledippedincaramel.wordpress.com)
• Not So Beautiful Day in NYC (bigappledippedincaramel.wordpress.com)

Saturday Markets and Museum

Richard Birkett's Fantasy Clocks

Saturday morning, I went down to the street market outside of our apartment and purchased a few muffins, apples, and a loaf of zucchini nut bread. Who knew there were so many varieties of apples! We consumed some of my finds and got ready to depart. We've been getting out the door later and later; it was nearly lunch time when we finally left this day. We set off for Central Park but had to stop for lunch before we even got on the subway. We took the train to Central Park West aiming for the American Museum of Natural History.  

Between the subway station and the museum, we ran across yet another street market with stands of clothes, purses, jewelry, art and Fantasy Clocks by Richard Birkett. He had some really creative home made clocks. We got his card, as he doesn't have a website, and continued on.  

The American Museum of Natural History was the setting for the movie Night at the Museum. The place is huge and meandering. Even with a map, it is easy to get disoriented and make a wrong turn. The exhibits are extensive and struck me as being particularly artistic. The lighting was remarkable in some of the exhibits. It makes for some great pictures, but feels more fake than other types of displays. It's a taxidermists dreamscape. They did have the most dinosaur skeletons than we have seen anywhere else including the Smithsonian (but it has been nearly 10 years since we were there.) There is so much to see it is overwhelming. We enjoyed it, however and made an effort to see as much as we could before closing time.  
Afterwards we walked down Central Park West and stopped at a restaurant called Sido where we enjoyed really good middle eastern food. 

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