With eyes that watch the world

During our January trip to NYC, we each picked a special thing to do - Harry's dream was to see Van Gogh's Starry Night, which he had been studying in his art class. We tried the MoMA Family Programs which focus on certain aspects of their collections (and it is FREE!) - we lucked into a lesson on "lines" and joined a nice group of 4 other families to take in some classics.

The boys couldn't resist the chance to be silly while waiting our turn
First up was Harry's favorite - what a wonderful opportunity for him to see the real deal that he had been learning about in school. Each person was encouraged to recreate the lines that resonated with them

Harry titled his drawing "Strait Liner by Harry" (and really did enjoy it, despite this expression)

He thoroughly enjoyed the lively discussion and introducing Dean to his favorite painting (so far)

Pablo Picasso's Girl before a Mirror was the second stop on our tour and had Jack making observations and asking questions

We saw so many different artists and started a few interesting discussions

This was the best 'find' of the trip - and it all started with Harry's experiences in art back in our little hometown!

Don McLean's Vincent

where the map said it would be

Today was the boys' last day of summer vacation, so we lit out for a few adventures, and guess what we found at the museum....

Harry's dream room! The boy loves a map more than just about anything. One of his major pasttimes this summer has been STUDYING a map for an area where I used to work - he can tell you just about any route from any direction...now, if he just had a reason to visit ;-)
They had all sorts of maps, including a display about GPS...remember the Garmin? Ahhhh

Jack has a slightly different approach, and they had all the bells and whistles for his style as well

He was all over the sextant and finding the North Star

They both had fun pretending to be pilots

We took in the IMAX theater and I couldn't get a good perspective shot, but thought this was appropriate since I'm always telling him he's a natural cartographer

I made another attempt during the movie, Deep Sea, not great- but you can see Harry's sweet profile and long lashes if you look near the bottom left...and squeeze in a little lesson about the coral reef ;-)

Thanx also for the fun pool time, CC - hope you survived the sleepover and we can get our schedules worked out for something fun SOON!

It was a really nice way to end the summer break, and after a few fun things this weekend we'll all be ready for a schedule

JB's God's Own Drunk

My grandma and your grandma

Dean's mom got to come for a nice visit last week, and we did lots of fun stuff

Jack putting out his version of the welcome mat

Harry giving everyone a little schoolin'

Uncle Les even joined us for a trip to a science museum

Harry doing a little engineering

Grandma snapping Jack's successful building

They even got to do an ecology lesson with microscopes and note-taking

Harry and Daddy working to decide the habitat of these bugs

and we even hit the lanes for a few games

It was a really nice visit - thanx for coming to see us!

Trad and Anon's Iko Iko

In the wax museum everybody can see themselves

I took the boys back to my old hometown this weekend while Dean went on a golf trip with a different sort of boys. We took in the local science museum (thanx, Aunt Jackie, for the gift that keeps on giving), and fun was had by all.

Jack insists on taking this magnifying glass with him on any scientific endeavor (another AJ gift!)

What a fishy nose Jack has!

They learned about sonic range.......and magnets....

...and even created their own electric circuits

Harry won the raffle for a new book by the author doing the presentation

and she signed books for each of them

Harry took in several displays relating to senses,

including this huge interactive mouth

He took a quiz

and, as is typical, getting the answers wrong was more fun than getting them right - the boy cannot resist a pun! (click on the picture for a bigger view)

He had more luck with ones he could actually reach

I wonder what the biggest pin structure is? They would totally dig it - I wish this one would have allowed them to do their faces or bodies

This is my favorite picture

They are really into making way for themselves lately....back to the taking turns lessons, I guess.

Aerosmith's Bolivian Ragamuffin