A day at the museum

As dad set out for a day of meetings about hitting stances and pitching techniques, the boys and I headed to the museum. The Omniplex, as it used to be called, is quite literally the cupcake dangling in front of a curious child’s nose. It is filled with games and exhibits all designed to teach kids about the wonders of science.

I wasn’t sure if the boys were really old enough to enjoy the new and improved Science Museum Oklahoma, but I thought we’d give it a shot, and who knows, maybe it would inspire one of them to become a scientist or a doctor or even an astronaut (preferably the kind who keeps his feet on the ground).

The boys were curious about our agenda for the day, so I tried to tell them where we were going. But after 500 questions about what was inside and what we would do when we got there, I finally gave up trying to describe a place I hadn’t been since I was a grade-schooler, and decided if I couldn’t explain it, it might not be in their genes to become any of those noble science guys in the first place. Sorry boys. We’ll just have to wait and see.

From the moment we walked in the front door, I heard nothing but shrieks of excitement, as both boys were in awe at what lay before them. They were like pinballs, bouncing from one exhibit to the next. Everything they saw was jaw dropping and elicited that Christmas morning euphoria that caused them to yell at full volume, “Whoa! Awesome!” and “Mom, come look at this!”

They were both immediately overwhelmed by the rocket boosters from the space shuttles that sat near the front of the museum. After oohing and ahhing and snapping a few pics, it was the life-size dinosaur skeleton that grabbed their attention next. The Camarasaurus was pretty amazing, and I was warned several times that it would come to life at night.

“Everything in the museum will come to life at night!” I shuttered, making sure to play along, while assuring both boys that we’d be long gone before the sun went down.

We stopped for a moment at the giant set of human teeth. They were pretty amazed at what they saw, and a little disturbed at just what can happen to someone’s teeth after too much thumb sucking. We’ll see how long their angst holds up.

It was almost impossible to drag Cooper away from the erosion display…not because he is so concerned with solving this global, environmental problem…but because he got to dig in the rocks and the water and use logs to try and build a dam. Even though the water was ice cold, I know he would have stayed there all day if I’d have let him. It was only the promise of experiencing a real, live (simulated) earthquake that finally pulled him away.

Brisco was entranced by the game that experimented with noise...although I suppose the correct scientific word would be “sound”. Either way--not a surprise.

The exhibit was comprised of an empty pinball machine, with various objects made of different materials laying at random spots on the table. When a marble was shot out of the chute, it would hit against the objects as it rolled down the table, making a variety of different sounds.

Now, playing by these rules was fun for a minute, but what really made it interesting was when he lined up the shapes to form a tunnel into which he attempted to shoot that marble. Now this kind of fun (evidently) could last for hours.

It was a day full of firsts—experiences and activities one after another, each seeming better than the one just before. From the house of mirrors to driving the Segway, to experiencing how it feels when the space shuttle re-enters the earth’s atmosphere, that little-boy curiosity that so often gets them into trouble was let loose to run free.

And six hours later, as the time came for us to head back to get dad, they were both still going strong. “Can we go get Daddy and bring him back to see?”

It just goes to show that we never really know what our kids might be ready for. I certainly never would have guessed after eight hours of science that we’d be told by Albert Einstein himself: “The museum is closing, folks. It’s time to call it a day!”

Yes, a day at the museum was just what we needed. And apparently, the boys could not have agreed more because as we were driving home the next day, I overheard one of them say, “We should go to that place at least once every week!”

“Yeah, once every week,” the other chimed in.

And that’s All in a day’s work!