Today I am continuing my reflections on our end of the summer outings. When we are in Rhode Island, we always spend a day at Roger Williams Park in Providence. The park makes me feel like we've stepped back a century and that is appropriate because the park was built in the late 1800s. 

I started off our morning with a short reading time by the pond. The view was extraordinary and, as I recall, the weather was quite cool that morning. If you are wondering, I am reading Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South in the picture below. 

Following my short read, we climbed on the swan boats and peddled around the pond. We ran across a real swan on our excursion. We were later told that he was a young swan and that is why his feathers were brown. Anne quickly recalled Trumpet of the Swan which we read in the spring, because Louis, in the book, is described in much the same way as our swan was described. 

Continuing with our turn-of-the-century fun, the girls headed to the carousel. They first stopped to say hello to Mr. Potato Head. Mr. Potato Head was invented in Rhode Island and this large version used to be located in the fantastic playground near the carousel. However, it has recently been moved under the roof of the carousel pavilion. I assume that weather was taking its toll on the big man. 

Our final stop of the day was the park's Natural History Museum. Like many Natural History museums, this museum arose from the fascination with categorizing nature that was prevalent in the Victorian period. The museum was founded in 1896 and retains so much of its antique charm. The girls always enjoy the scavenger hunts the museum offers at various levels of difficulty.

As always, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Roger Williams Park. The park has much more to offer, including a fantastic zoo. If you are in Providence, make sure you stop by this lovely park. 

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After five years of construction, the new dinosaur hall at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum is open. When last we were at the dinosaur hall, Baby Anne was a newborn and my wallet was stolen. You can read about our misadventures on that day here. I'm happy to report no valuables were stolen from us today. 

The new dinosaur hall, now known as the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils--Deep Time, is definitely more colorful and interactive than its predecessor. During our visit, the girls very much enjoyed anything they could climb on or touch. Because the hall has just opened, it is still very crowded, which definitely impacted the girls' enjoyment of the experience. Anne was grumpy throughout the day (which you will see in the video below). I hope we will be able to return during a less crowded time in a few months so the girls can more fully take in the exhibit. 

Rather than rely on my own take, I'll let the girls tell you what they thought. Don't take Anne's comments too seriously. As I have said, she was grumpy. When Meg and Clare refer to sleeping under the whale, they are talking about our Smithsonian overnight trip, which you can read about here. 

On a side note, we stopped by the Q?rius room, which is the museum's hands-on educational center for tweens and teens. We love that Q?rius Jr. (intended for 9 year olds and younger),which used to be located in the Discovery Room just outside the Ocean Hall, has been moved to a loft overlooking Q?rius. I could sit with Anne in the area containing hands-on experiences for her age group, while still watching Meg and Clare as they looked through microscopes below. Here are some photos from this wonderful hands-on room in the museum. 

If you won't be able to make it to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum this summer, but want a hands-on experience, we always recommend the Smithsonian Makers Lab and the Smithsonian Makers Lab Outdoors. These books contain great experiments for kids that typically utilize supplies you already have around the house. Also, the books contain explanations as to why certain things happen in the experiment for those kids who are most curious. 

We have a long history with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. As a toddler, Meg's favorite character was Curious George. We read the books, we watched the television series and we watched the movies. George's museum and his friend, Professor Wiseman, soon became favorites of Meg's. Her celebratory trip for potty training was a trip to the Natural History Museum, where she spent the whole day looking for Professor Wiseman. 

Clare soon joined us on these regular excursions to the Natural History Museum. We were beyond excited when we found Smithsonian lab coats on sale at the the museum store. They immediately became dress up favorites (and can be seen in the first picture above). In fact, we still have the lab coats (six years later) and all the girls still use them. Our friend Nicole and I took Meg and Clare to the Natural History Museum to celebrate Meg's first day of preschool. When we moved to a new home, Nicole returned with the girls to the museum to distract them and give them a sense of the familiar during the move (the middle picture above is from that trip). 

We have long dreamed of doing a sleepover at this second home of ours and we finally got our chance! You may recall that Meg and I participated in a Smithsonian Sleepover at the American History Museum last year. You can read about that here. We thoroughly enjoyed that sleepover, but I am glad we saved the Natural History Museum sleepover for when Clare could join us. 

The Smithsonian Sleepovers are coordinated by the Smithsonian Associates. They do a wonderful job. Each child is given a booklet that contains the various activities to be completed throughout the night. We also received a bag (to hold all the projects), a flashlight/pen and an awesome Indiana Jones-style foam hat. 

Our night began in Ocean Hall, where we learned about bioluminescent fish--sea creatures that make their own light. "Bioluminescent" has become one of our favorite words to say and the girls later chose to sleep in the bioluminescent display area because they became so fond of these creatures. We were able to make our own bioluminescent animal using a small plastic water bottle. We filled the bottle with tissue paper, placed cute eye stickers on the bottle and then placed a light stick in the bottle. 

After making our bioluminescent animals, we moved to the fossil section of Ocean Hall. The girls thoroughly explored the displayed fossils and then set to work making their own fossils. We were each given a ball of clay that we flattened. Then we could choose from a variety of shells and rocks to press into the clay to make a fossil. Finally, we painted our diy fossils to allow the imprints to be better seen.

From fossils, we move on to learning about whales. A huge life-size model of a whale, named Phoenix, hangs over Ocean Hall. Just under this whale, we learned how blubber works. Sitting in the middle of a bucket of ice was a bag containing simulated blubber. Sticking our hands into the bag, we discovered how very warm blubber can keep a whale even in the coldest of water. At this station we also learned about callosities, which are hardened parts on whales skin. Because each whale forms different patterns of callosities, it is a way of tracking a whale once it has returned to the wild. The girls were very excited about a model of a callosity they could touch (see picture below).

On our way out of Ocean Hall we encountered a magician who uses magic to teach science. I very much like this clever use of magic to teach and enjoyed a similar presentation at the American History Museum last year. In the picture below the girls are learning about birds camouflaging their eggs among rocks. 

Our next stop was the Bug Zoo. This area holds a lot of fun memories for us. As a three year old, Meg once wowed a group of elementary students by being willing to hold every huge, ugly bug the docent could bring out. I said to her last night, "This used to be your favorite spot in the museum." She responded, "It still is!" Our activity in this area was to make a cicada noise maker. 

We next went to the Egyptian section. Here we made Egyptian wesekhs, which are those wide collar-like necklaces seen in all Egyptian art. It was an easy craft, but very effective. The shape of the necklace was cut from a paper plate. We added the design by coloring the paper plate with metallic markers. We added string to two holes punched on either side of the plate and we had a wesekh. 

The volunteers in the Egyptian section were wonderful about walking us through the various mummies (both human and animal) on display. We had been in this section many times in the past, but had missed so much. We were particularly fond of the mummified bull (pictured below).  One of the great benefits of the sleepover activities is that they make you look carefully at the exhibits and see them in a new way. 

The dinosaur display was our next stop. Here the girls were given "fossils" which they opened to find an item that provided them with a hint for a particular dinosaur. Meg's hint was a banana-shaped tooth. Clare's hint was a fish. They then gathered information about the various dinosaurs in the exhibit to determine the type of dinosaur. Meg correctly determined the banana-shaped tooth belonged to a T-Rex. Clare correctly identified her dinosaur, but I can't remember the name of the crocodile-type creature. 

After all this serious scientific hypothesizing, it was time to eat like a T-Rex. After choosing between a huge marshmallow and a few pretzels, we were challenged to make our arms short (like a T-Rex) and try to eat. This was not pretty (see below).

After conducting some extensive smell tests, we moved on to Geology. In this area, the girls picked out "rocks" (these were man-made) and then, using a magnet, checked to see if any of their rocks were meteorites. After learning about how weight changes on various planets due to differences in gravity, the girls received astronaut ice cream to try at home. 

By this point in the night, we were getting pretty tired. We completed the mammal questions in the girls' books. A guide walked us through the "cave" in the Human Origins section of the museum and talked about cave art. The girls made hand prints similar to those found on some cave walls. Sadly, we did not make it to the Totem Pole section before the end of activities at 11 p.m.--but that is the only activity we missed.

We set up our air mattresses in Ocean Hall. We had a beautiful view of Phoenix the Whale just above our heads. As you can tell from the smiles on their tired faces, the girls had a wonderful time. Clare cuddled with a stuffed bunny that she had once lost at the museum when she was 2 years old. She thought it was only appropriate that he return to the museum. 

I cannot recommend the Smithsonian Sleepovers enough. These nights have given us so many happy memories. The activities are so wonderful for sparking creativity and imagination. I hope these outings instill a life-long love of museums and learning in our children. 

I am writing this post from a McDonald's playland. We just dropped Meg off at her painting camp at a very cool looking art studio. It is far enough away that I decided to hang around the area with Clare and Anne. We planned to go to a park, but I had to eliminate any park with a sprayground because Meg would throw a fit if we went without her. We stopped by a McDonald's to get Anne some breakfast (she slept late this morning) and realized this McDonald's had a huge playland. So for now, that's where we are. I remember taking my niece to a McDonald's playland about fifteen years ago and seeing a mom working on her laptop while her child played. I thought to myself, "What a great way to entertain your child while also getting your work done." And yet, it has taken me fifteen years to do the same. 

I mentioned in my previous post that we recently went to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. This museum is a favorite spot of ours, so there is nothing new in that. We, however, did go to the museum's Q?rius Science Education Center for the first time. On previous visits, we have spent hours in the museum's discovery room, which has become known as Q?rius Jr, but we have not gone to Q?rius, because it is intended for older kids. That being said, Meg is now eight and quite the science-minded gal. To some extent, she has outgrown Q?rius Jr and needs more of a challenge. Q?rius provided it. 

Upon entering Q?rius, the girls' first challenge was to be archaeologists. They were shown a skull, which they were supposed to have found on a dig. Using other skulls as guides, they had to identify the type of skull it was. A staff member kindly directed them and gave them hints when they needed help

Continuing on their archaeology journey, the girls' next mission was to figure out what tools were used for what purposes by early humans. Again, the girls were given hints when they needed them. Three-year-old Anne even worked on this challenge and answered a few of the questions correctly.

The girls then moved from being archaeologists to being forensic scientists. A microscope hooked up to a screen allowed them to analyze each other's fingerprints. This was one of their favorite activities. 

One of my favorite activities came next. We were asked to trace and identify a mysterious illness. First we had to identify "Patient 0," i.e. the first person who became ill. Next we had to determine how the illness spread and its incubation period. Finally, we had to use all the clues we had gathered to determine what the illness was. It was challenging to Meg and Clare, but within both of their abilities. You could almost see those little brains working and becoming more scientifically fine-tuned. 

The Q?rius room is very well-staffed and the staff is well-trained. There was a person at each station, and the staff member's goal was to guide the girls in finding the right answers, not merely give them the answer (even when the kids were younger than the intended age of the challenge). I believe we only scratched the surface of this amazing learning center. As the girls get older, there will be so many more challenges for them. 

We were so excited to take Baby Anne to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum for the first time this past Friday. The museum is one of my Adventurers favorite adventures, so it was time Baby Anne was introduced to the dinosaurs, woolly mammoth, and coral reef aquarium.

To our surprise, this trip turned out to be a first for all of us--the first time we experienced crime on our adventures. My wallet was stolen right out of my diaper bag. Being a trusting person, I at first hoped I had merely dropped the wallet and some Good Samaritan would take it to lost and found. But no, one of our credit cards was used within minutes of its disappearance.

But let's not let a pick-pocket cloud the day too much. After introducing Baby Anne to all the dinosaurs in the Dinosaur Hall, Meg and Clare enjoyed watching the scientist working with this Triceratops' bone in the Fossil Lab.

Clare stuck with the magnifying glass for her discoveries.