Museum Dates

Good Thursday morning!

I asked Jennifer if she bought her Conversation Jar or made it herself. Yesterday, she sent me a note saying it was a simple mason jar, and she gave me a list of conversation starters. I'm going to give you a few each day so you can start your own Conversation Jar. (Thank you, Jennifer.)

Give a sincere compliment to the person on your right.
What is one new thing you'd like to try?
Where is one place you would like to go?
What is your favorite smell or fragrance?
Tell about a time you broke a bone or were injured in some way.
What is your favorite song?
What is the funniest thing that happened to you today?
What is the most interesting thing you learned today?
What is the saddest movie or television show you have ever watched?
If you could be a guest in any one's home, whom would you choose?

Since our date for the day is called Museum Dates, I wanted to tell you about one of my visits to the Birmingham Museum of Art. You may have gone yourself or seen the billboards around town, but there was a Leonardo DiVinci exhibit in town recently, and Mike was given two tickets. (Last year he was given two tickets to the Pompeii exhibit. We had a blast.)

The exhibit itself was over a dozen sketches and writings of DiVinci, not actual paintings, but it was very interesting nonetheless. We went in a gallery in small groups, and walked around reading plaques and looking at the intricate sketches. It was quite the learning experience, and I was feeling very artsy and "with-it" as I strolled around the room looking at one exhibit after another.

I reached out and started to point at something in one of the drawings when the tinniest tip of my finger ACCIDENTALLY touched the glass box holding the priceless document. Immediately, a security guard was standing at my elbow hissing, "Don't touch the glass. Step away from the glass."

Knowing this was her job and she was taking it very seriously, I profusely apologized and assured her I had not touched the glass (WE'RE NOT TALKING THE DOCUMENT) on purpose, and it would not happen again. She showed me a temperature reading in the lower right hand corner of the glass. The slightest temperature change could cause damage OR destroy the document. This was VERY serious. I again assured her I wouldn't be touching the glass again.

After we had gone to a few more of the exhibits, I noticed she was keeping close tabs on me. Very close. I smiled at her to let her know I was aware she was STILL watching me, and then I stepped back from an exhibit to call the kids and make sure they were okay.

Once again, she was beside me hissing in my ear, "You are NOT allowed to use cell phones in here."

"I am so sorry," I said. Then, to ease the building tension between me and someone who had an automatic hook-up with the Birmingham Police Department, I jokingly said, "Is there a sign or something I missed when I walked in here? I need to see a list of rules." I said it in a very light-hearted way and was smiling sweetly trying to get her to soften... just a little.

"There's the sign about NOT touching the exhibits, and there's the sign about NOT using a cell phone in here."

"Oh, I see. I missed those," I said weakly.

The rest of the evening was spent with me standing four feet away from each and every priceless sketch, unable to read the plaque explaining what the heck it was. Mike had free reign as he had quickly disassociated himself from me after the cell phone incident. (Translation -- He wasn't standing anywhere within a hundred feet of me.)

Toward the end of our allotted time in the gallery, I became overwhelmed with an almost uncontrollable urge to lick my fingers and touch two or three of the glass containers before I ran out of the gallery into the crowd in the food area. If I could have been certain she couldn't catch me in her made-for-running-security-guard-footwear while I was in my go-to-church-metallic-heels, I think I would have tried it... but that wouldn't have been a very mature, artsy thing to do, now would it?

It might have made for interesting reading though. You know, when I posted Jail Week on the blog. Five days of tips and tidbits about how to survive in the Birmingham City Jail System. Thankfully, I guess (I hope) we'll never know.

Museum Dates

I would recommend museum dates for boys and girls from second grade through fifth or sixth grades. However, you know your child best, and if you have a first grader who is really into space, and will enjoy the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center, then go for it. I've taken one of the kids to the Space and Rocket Center on a Saturday afternoon before, and we had a ball. Even if they get to go with their school class at some point, it's still fun to be one-on-one with a parent exploring all the things these museums have to offer.

I'm not someone you would probably expect to see hanging out in museums in large metropolitan cities. (You probably already knew that by reading about my Exhibit Fiasco above.) However, I love Museums of Natural History. Those are my favorite, and since we live in Central Alabama, we are fortunate to have one only 90 minutes away in Anniston. This is a nice little museum. It isn't very expensive and it has animals, dinosaurs, and anything and everything else you would want to find in a museum of its kind. It would be an excellent date for you and your child (boy or girl).

I'm also very fond of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum located beside the BJCC. Josh and I went when he was 12 years old, and we practically had the place to ourselves. It is three stories of exhibits from every athlete Alabama has ever produced. When you first enter the museum, they give you a scavenger hunt sheet for all three floors. It is a lot of fun, and most boys would definitely enjoy this one.

Vulcan Park and Museum is a great place to go on a date. Since they renovated Vulcan, they added a hands-on mini museum beside the gift shop. There is scavenger hunt sheet for this museum, as well as fun computer stations set up throughout. Vulcan is a great place to visit the museum, climb to the top of Vulcan AND have a picnic.

We cannot forget the McWane Center. It's a little more expensive, but it is a wonderful hands-on children's museum. (If you want to travel a little bit, Tuscaloosa also has a very good hands-on children's museum.) If you are only taking one other person on your date, it doesn't cost as much as a whole family, of course, and you can spend more time doing what the one child is interested in. (I also like the fact the IMAX is separate, so if there's a movie you want to take your child to see and not go to the museum, that's a date possibility, too.)

How about that? Six possible dates in one post! (Seven if you count the IMAX.) Plus, I didn't mention all the other museums in the city of Birmingham. Check out the Yellow Pages, and have a fun, educational date.

Tomorrow's book is a "go out and buy me right now" sort of book, so tune in. Have a great Thursday, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.