Mother of all Museums

Last week Connie and I got to spend several hours in line for the pleasure to see a taping of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.  And it was worth it.  If only to see those bottomless dimples in person.

 

I also organized a field trip for a group of homeschoolers, back to the New York Historical Society.  This time we learned about art and nature by touring two gorgeous exhibits: the Hudson River School and John James Audubon.  We've seen many of the paintings of the Hudson River School when we visited one of the artists' homes up in the Hudson River Valley.  (The "school" was a group of painters who painted the valley in the mid-19th century.)  The museum has the largest collection of Audubon's paintings as well.  Apparently his widow needed cash when the museum was starting out, so she sold almost the entire collection to the NY Historical Society.  Holden is a big fan.  (Did you know that Audubon ATE all the birds he painted??)

For Mother's Day weekend we drove down to Washington DC and stayed with our friends Stephanie and Jonathan and their two kids.  Months ago we got online at 8am to get tickets to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.  The museum just opened last September and I've been hearing for months how amazing it is.  It did not disappoint.

We spent five hours in the museum and still didn't see or absorb it all.  You start in the basement, underground, as though you're in the hull of a slave ship.  As you rise floors and progress chronologically, the floors become more open with more light.  The top floor is a very positive display of the many achievements of African Americans in the US and contributions to art and culture.  It was a very moving and powerful experience and the designers obviously put a lot of thought into every detail.

We thought it might be too much for the kids at this age (plus, we didn't want to be rushed through), so we had a babysitter take the four little ones to the Air & Space Museum and the Natural History Museum instead, which turned out to be a good choice.  They had a blast running around the National Mall all day, parent-free.

Butterfly on the head!

Stephanie treated us all to an amazing Mother's Day brunch at their golf club on Sunday morning.  I hope all of you mothers out there had an equally fun Mother's Day filled with love.