Today we rode the T down to South Station and walked over the bridge to the Children's Museum. I was very happily surprised to see that the entire place had been renovated, and it was completely different from the last time we were there. Well, not completely different, because there were many exhibits that were the same at the heart of them (Arthur's World, the Bubbles Room and the Raceway, the Construction Zone) and yet were changed just enough to make them more interesting to us, who have been there over and over again. The strangest part was that, although it was obviously in the same building that it's always been in, they changed the layout around so much that it was nearly unrecognizable. They moved exhibits from the floors they'd always been on, they changed where the front desk, coat room, lunch room, and gift shop were, they added floors where there used to be openings for climbing, and even the hallways seemed to be laid out differently. Strange but it definitely made the day more fun.
Highlights included a game of basketball between me and Ben, the new climbing structure they have with curved platforms instead of flat, the room designed to show kids exercise can be fun--complete with rock climbing, a light-up dance floor, seats that you could raise in the air by pulling your weight on a rope, bouncy seats that raised a ball up a tube, and incumbent bikes that lit various lights to show how long you could ride. The bubbles and water play are always great, and the exhibit about kids in China was very good too. We were disappointed that the Japanese House was closed today, and that we couldn't play in the Art Studio because we didn't travel by car and I didn't want to lug projects around with us! Arthur's World was fun too, since they added to it, though we laughed at the kitchen doorway that was marked to show the kids' heights at different ages--they had Arthur at 8 years old marked shorter than Emma is, and D.W. at 4 years old marked about the size of your average 10 month old! And in case you say anything about them being aardvarks--Mom was marked taller than I am, and Dad taller than that!
Anyway, we played all afternoon, and at one point Rachel and I were sitting together watching Julia, Ben and Emma play in the climbing structure. I mentioned that she didn't seem to be having too much fun, and she said that it was getting a bit young for her....I then said that maybe next year she would want to stay in the hotel room by herself for the afternoon, watch movies, read, etc. and she was at first shocked and then interested--and it led to a discussion about getting her own cell phone...which I am not going to go into now. She's turning 13 on Monday! Yikes......
We walked over to Quincy Market after the museum and met Matt and our friend Sharon for dinner. We also got Emma the pair of fuzzy Crocs I mentioned not buying the other day--because this week while we were here she has had TWO pairs of shoes break! Including her old beloved Crocs that she's been wearing for two years...we got her pale pink ones with sheepskin inside for winter. I love them but the only problem is that of course with the lining they are no longer waterproof...also we had to get them huge because of the lining, so they look just a bit weird. But she seems to like them and at this point I can't ask for any more than that with Emma and her shoes.
Took our last T ride and our last swim in the pool....the kids are of course bummed that the trip is over. I am too, in a way, but it's always nice to go home too. Besides, we can now quit hemmorhaging through the wallet when we leave here--oh, wait, it's Christmas time, so we really can't! Which reminds me that I have done NOTHING for Christmas....hold on, I'd rather stay here indefinitely!
--Jen
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