After our fun in November, I had been dreaming about managing to take the kids into NYC without Patrick. I did my research & made a plan. Success would be defined as entering & leaving the city without losing any children as well as spending a few hours at a single museum. Any other accomplishments would be bonus. I asked Erica if she would like to come as back-up as I figure it all out, and she crazily agreed. We chose the Museum of Natural History; the kids have seen Night at the Museum and love it.
We started by driving to Seacaucus, riding the train to NY Penn Station, and then transferring to the subway line up to 81st Street. School topic: how mass transit works, how to purchase e-tickets & read a train schedule, & how to navigate thru train & subway stations.
So, we added a bonus onto the day, right from the beginning. As we studied Banksy this month, we saw that there are a few existing Banksy pieces still in NYC. This one just so happened to be 2 blocks from the Museum of Natural History!!! Because the weather was just misty at this point, we opted to go ahead and go see it before entering the museum. We were all so excited.
Walking by this on the way to the museum required a photo.
Outside the Museum of Natural History
We knew we couldn't see everything in the museum. So we made a list of goals. The first were the rocks & minerals.
A real meteorite was the highlight of this space.
They had a giant touchscreen that allowed you to practice making chemical bonds. We could have spent all day in front of it; the kids had so much fun.
This was super interesting in light of our CBS books this year.
While not a goal, we passed through this hall & ended up spending a lot of time. It was fascinating.
The whale model was oohed and aahed appropriately.
There was some disappointment that the statue & model of Teddy Roosevelt weren't at the museum, so they had to accept a photo with this statue.
We went through most of the animal halls. I have more photos than I can count. We traipsed through Asia & Africa after the Americas.
Colleen asked if she could go around the bird hall & take photos. Then she took one of me & us together.
Although this Maoi statue was in the furthest corner of the 4th floor, it was on the "must do" list after studying the Rapa Nui AND seeing it in the movie.
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We reached our "done" point & then ran over to the dinosaur hall for a quick 15min photo op.
The subway exit out of the museum was different from our entrance point; we discovered the museum subway stop to be full of fun mosaic art.
Tired after a long & successful day!
We're already planning our next NYC trip! The kids are debating between an art museum or National Park site. Here's to more adventures!
