It was a fine day to play hooky!

Do not tell anyone but, last Friday, I played hooky!  I knew it was going to be a slow day at work and I desperately needed a break so we dropped Monkey off at school and we came home.  We had a nice relaxing morning and then decided we should take Monkey to the Museum of Science during the afternoon.  Duhdee was not very optimistic about the entire outing, he seemed convinced that it would end badly but I bullied him into going along.  I knew Monkey would at LEAST enjoy the ride on the T, if nothing else, so I thought we had a decent chance of a successful outing.

I was absolutely, thoroughly (and disgustingly proud of it) right.  The ride on the train was thrilling.  We even got to ride on two different types of trains just to get there.  Anyone who thinks it isn’t exciting to commute in this city should spend 5 minutes on the train with my child.  It’s pretty darned clear by watching him that this is the BEST THING EVER!  When we got off the train we got to walk along a busy street and see the traffic speeding by.  There were cars and trucks and duck boats too!  We walked across a bridge that rumbled beneath our feet which was exciting but only in hindsight.  During the walk across it was fairly tense but as soon as our feet touched solid ground on the other side he looked back with his face lit up.

As we approached the building we saw a giant DINOSAUR and we learned that dinosaurs apparently whisper their roars in Monkey’s world.   The doors to the museum spin and you can push them, unlike the doors at Children’s Hospital where if you push them they stop moving which is not fun at all!  Once inside there was the Archimedean Excogitation kinetic sculpture to study and there were escalators running up and down 3 stories.  We visited a space capsule and Monkey lay down on top of me in one of the seats and checked out the control panel.  We visited an undersea exhibit with computer generated fish and sharks, so many buttons to push!  We even spent some time playing with a tornado.

After we left the museum we went back into the city and had dinner before we left for home.  Initially, they were going to seat us in the middle of the very busy restaurant but I’ve learned my lesson from other trips and asked for a quieter seat.  Monkey was perfect at dinner.   I think it was one of the nicest dinners out we’ve ever had despite the slow service which normally causes all sorts of problems. 

After dinner we caught the T back home, it had been a long and busy day and the train was very crowded but Monkey sat on Duhdees lap and snuggled for nearly the whole trip.  At the very end he decided he wanted his Umma but I had nowhere to sit so we ended up standing together at Duhdee’s knees for the last few minutes.

It was so nice to have a nice outing with no tears from anyone!  I wouldn’t have blamed Monkey even a little bit for being grumpy on the way home, he was so very tired, but he was a superstar!