Fly Away: Philadelphia Museum of Art

On another anticipated day of bad beach weather at the shore, mom took us in to Philly to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum holds a special place in mom and dad's hearts -- they visited the museum on one of their first trips together and it's also where daddy proposed to mommy when she lived there. It has a great collection of modern art, but mom knew that I would go berserk for the hall of armor. Not to mention that the museum's symbol is a gryphon and the entire main building is adorned with Greek deities and mythological figures. You had me at gryphon, mom. You had me at gryphon.

I wanted no part of the classic "pose with Rocky statue" out front -- I was chomping at the bit to get up the stairs and see the armor. Cam and I spent a good amount of time picking out with what we would arm ourselves -- Cam went for the shiniest and bejeweled. I just couldn't make up my mind because each piece was more fabulous than the next.

After we'd sufficiently planned our defense, mom walked us over to see the room where daddy proposed. Word is that on the way to the museum back in the day, a nervous daddy asked mommy what she wanted to see first. She responded that there was a modern furniture exhibit closing soon and that she wanted to make sure and see that. He asked whether she'd like to see the Monets (which reside in a lovely fountained room where he planned to pop the question). Mom said "I *bleepin* hate Monet." Panicked, upon arrival, daddy proceeded to drag mommy throughout the museum asking her "do you like this room? how about this one?" They started to attract a little crowd as people could sense he was about to propose, so mom finally threw him a bone and said she liked a certain French cloister they were in. Oh well, we all know that it worked out in the end.

The main building is set up perfectly for a wandering walk, which of course is not at all the mood that we were in (particularly after mom tried to get us to pose and re-pose for a picture in that French cloister). Mom insisted on seeing the modern art before we headed over to the Perelman Building across the street, which was starting to set up for what appears to be a really fabulous set of family programming over the summer. The museum is transforming the Perelman Building into "Art Splash" -- a set of family programs featuring a different theme each week that will include guided tours, hands-on activities, picture books and more. We got a little view at what's on tap this summer and you can bet we'll be back to see more. Art Splash opens the weekend of June 28th and runs until September 2nd.

We rounded out our visit with a roll/climb/run through the sculpture garden and quickly attracted the attention of the museum fuzz because apparently you are not supposed to do any of those things in the sculpture garden. Little uptight there, fellas. Really. Fabulous day off of the beach (even though it never did rain)!