Our First Trip, August 5th 2008

We waited until 9:30 when rush hour was over before leaving the house for the day. A short walk brought Maura and I to the nearest MBTA bus stop. I plan to make as many trips as possible using public transportation. Parking in Boston still costs more than gas and I don't like to swear in front of my daughter, which are two excellent reasons for taking the T.

Our destination was a familiar one and one of Maura's favorite places since she was two--the Boston Children's Museum. It took us a little less than an hour to get there by bus and Red Line train, including the two block walk across the Fort Point Channel from South Station. In the plaza in front of the Museum we sampled bamboo shoots, which Maura didn't care for, and considered how we would spend our day. Then we went in to buy our tickets. I opted for a membership, partly as an early birthday present for Maura who will be turning six soon. We'll need to go seven times during the next year to get our money's worth and Maura will appreciate the more frequent visits then we've made during the last few years.

The purpose of the day's visit was to begin doing research for our book and we had come armed with notebooks for recording the day. I let Maura mostly pick our itinerary at the Museum. As usual she climbed the three story climber that graces the Children's Museum's lobby and then spent some time in the crowded and noisy exhibits near the museum entrance. Raceways, which teaches physics and the scientific method with rolling golf balls on various tracks, has always been a favorite. After a while we move to the slightly quieter and less chaotic exhibits upstairs.

At around 12:30 its lunch time. We're both hungry and I could use a while off of my feet. We buy hot dogs at the Hood Milk Bottle, now run by the Au Bon Pain restaurant in the Children's Museum. While we eat our lunch we enjoy watching the sparrows steal food right out of the pigeons beaks.

After lunch we pick up free tickets to the next Kidstage showing of The Three Little Pigs. Maura's seen Kidstage shows before, but this was my first. It was an audience participation skit where the most of the cast was picked from the audience and the whole audience had lines. Maura and I had a good time repeating "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin," together.

After the show we headed back upstairs. We checked out the new (and temporary) China exhibit, the Children of Hangchow which features kids from Boston's sister city in China. Maura dressed up like an actress in a Chinese opera and enjoyed looking at stereo pictures of Chinese sites and at the model water buffalo and the video about a girl's visit to the country where she learns how to plant rice.

Our visit would not be complete without the obligatory visit to the art studio. On this trip Maura made a picture with water colors and crayons. She learned that if she painted over crayon the paint wouldn't stick to the crayon.

We left the museum at about 3:00 and headed for home. I wanted to be sure that I had time to make dinner after we got home but before I had to be at work in the evening. I also wanted to beat rush hour. I had made a list of questions to ask Maura after the trip but I never did. I was too tired and needed to rest. We'll be back at the Children's Museum again soon.