The Wind and The Rain

Well, it's fortunate we had planned to spend a day at the American Museum of Natural History.
Day 2 in New York rained and rained. We remembered to pack our wet weather gear, for all the good it did us as our umbrellas were constantly blown inside out. But it was really fun and and we giggled as we skipped through the puddles on the way to the museum which was only a two block walk from the hotel anyways.
The museum is phenomenal.
Hands down the best I've been to. The morning was spent in space, more precisely in the Rose Center For Space and Earth. This is one of Husband's favourite subjects and he delighted in sharing it with Poppet, who was equally excited. She is, in fact, turning into quite the science and maths nerd so this was right up her alley. We watched an incredible film in the Hayden Planetarium theatre. It was about the birth of the universe and explained everything incredibly well and Poppet was the perfect age for it all. Love love loved it!
After the film, and some more planetary exploration, we headed to the tiny live butterfly exhibition. Poppet faced her fears and managed to go inside, but didn't last long before she had to escape. I lingered for a while as I really love being so close to butterflies. Could have stayed there all day!
The IMAX film "The Flight of the Butterflies" came next. If you ever get a chance to see this I thoroughly recommend it. It tells the story of the Monarch Butterfly migration from Canada to Mexico and back again. Quite a touching story and beautifully told.
A quick snack in the food court, which wasn't too awful, and then we headed to the Mammals. We've been watching David Attenborough's "Life of Mammals" together on Sunday evenings lately and it is heartening to see Poppet's fascination with my own favourite subject. Animals! I grew up inhaling Attenborough's work and still watch them over and over. If you are interested in his life, you should definitely read his autobiography. It's available here, though I have him reading it to me on my Ipod.He reminds me of my grandfather, though Poppet says he reminds her of her own grandfather. I guess there's something reassuring in the man for all of us.
So many mammals, so much incredible and artistic taxidermy.
The photos speak for themselves...

Just looking at those animals makes me want to hit the nearest zoo!
We probably covered a quarter of what the museum has to offer, and were in there for a good 5 hours, we will definitely return next time we head down to NYC.
We did hit the shop (one of them, there are many) and Poppet's only interest was in books. She chose this one...

 

 

 

available here

We are planning on collecting this series of books. The periodic table book is particularly cute! Maybe if I'd had this one I would have done better than a C grade in physics. At least Poppet is getting a better grounding in Einstein than I ever did.

Where we went: American Museum of Natural History (website)
Where we ate: The foodcourt for lunch, and we hit a pub up the road from our hotel for dinner. Reasonably priced sushi!

On a separate nerdy note, we've discovered the game "Proteus". If your kids are into gaming, but develop computer rage (don't they all?!) then this is a great alternative. It is simply a beautiful and intriguing world for them to explore. No aims or outcomes, just exploring and watching everything unfold. It's quite a passive and relaxing experience but still gives Poppet her screen time which she craves. You can read more about it here.

Last range of shots tomorrow. It's snowing a little in Toronto today, though I think this might be the end of it. It's going to be 9 degrees for Easter. Spring is going to be so pretty, I'm really looking forward to it.
We're also looking forward to the release of the new Miyazaki film next week too!