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)!

Fly Away: Philadelphia, PA: The Franklin Institute

Whenever we go to New Jersey for an extended period of time, we try to take a day trip to a close'ish attraction for kids. We've been to the Please Touch Museum several times and last year we checked out the Camden Aquarium, which was awesome. Kane has been on a science kick and mom and dad thought we'd be old enough now to appreciate The Franklin Institute in Philly. Plus I chomp Philly soft pretzels like it's my job, so I agreed right away.

Like most other museums, because it was the holiday break, it was CROWDED. But we took a different tact this time. We ate first and then when everyone else was taking a lunch break, we scooted to the membership area and joined up (if we use it twice, including at any of the other 250 participating ASTC museums, we'll have won that game). Our agenda targeted three kid-friendly exhibits: (1) the giant heart; (2) kid science; and (3) the train factory.

Daddy has fond memories of walking through the giant heart when he was a kid so, obviously, Kane immediately decided he was "too scared" to walk through it. He made it, but we didn't last long in there. On our way to the kid science exhibit, we discovered that the museum had stocked their education center full of super awesome building materials. Kane went for the giant Tinker Toys, but having been to the Building Museum recently, I headed right for the Imagination Playground. The room was busy, but the staff did a good job of moving people in and out and we got rid of some extra energy before heading out to check out the real exhibits.

Up next was the kid science exhibit, which takes kids "on a journey across the Island of the Elements" and teaches children about the four elements (light, water, earth and air). Front and center is a giant ship, so you know Kane was psyched. I liked the lighthouse and water wheel. Before we could soak ourselves in the water portion, mom promised that we'd get to engineer a working 350-ton locomotive at the train exhibit and we set off.

The train was busted, of course. But we still had a good time pretending to drive the Polar Express and screaming periodically "the PIN! the PIN!" (we've watched the movie about a million times). There was a neat crash investigation portion of the exhibit that Kane and I refused to visit. And when it was clear that the afternoon crankies had started to settle in, dad decided he was going to see the sports exhibit whether we wanted to or not. We didn't, so that lasted for about 2 minutes. At least he got another soft pretzel on the way back to the car.

BUT given that we're members, we'll be back (hopefully when it's less crowded).