Seeing some art

Our co-op didn't meet this week, so it was the perfect time to head downtown to the Art Institute. A while back we had read The Sixty-Eight Rooms about children who were magically able to shrink and then enter the Thorne Rooms as the Art Institute. Everyone was very interested in the Thorne Rooms after that but Y. most of all. As soon as I had announced we would be heading down to see them she had been counting the days. 

For the first time in can't remember how long, I did not drive the van into the city. Do you know how much easier it is to park a regular sized car downtown? It is life changing! It was so easy! We drove downtown, I drove into the closest parking garage to the museum, we parked, and went to the museum. Just like normal people. No more trying to find street parking within walking distance. No more worrying that we would over stay our meter. No more worrying about where we would leave the big, hulking van. (Well, except if J. decides to go with us, but then he would be driving.) I will probably plan more downtown field trips after this. 

We went first to the Thorne Rooms and I'm happy to report that they were every bit as magical and Y. had expected them to be. We let her stay and look as long as she wanted. Eventually other people looked at other things close by, not having the same investment in them as she did. From there L. had requested that we head over to the Art from Africa galleries, so we did. There was a lot of art between where we were and there, so we took our time. 

After Africa, we headed back to the van car and collected our lunch, heading over to Maggie Daley Park. We ate, some children played, we only got drizzled on the very slightest bit. 

After lunch, we headed back to the museum to see the medieval armor which was high on everyone's list. We were also able to see some actual ancient Greek vases, which my ancient Greece loving children also enjoyed. We ended by a trip through the gift shop to pick-up some postcards, everyone getting to chose one. There was some heavy lobbying for another trip to the park, but I knew we would be hitting traffic, so went straight back to the car. This was a good choice since going to the museum only took forty-five minutes, coming home took twice that long. 

It was a good field trip day.