the MET

We wanted to head out an do something on Saturday - but actually getting out the door was comical.  We woke up at a decent hour, then both Bryson and I wanted to work out, and then getting ready took an extra long time for everyone....I think we realized it was finally a day that we didn't need to rush, so we absolutely, positively did NOT rush!   By 3pm after we had been ready for over an hour and were still talking about where we should go & what we should do - Madeleine keyed into our indecisiveness and heard me mention the MET.  She googled it and happily proclaimed that they were open until 9pm.  What?!  I don't think I have ever heard of them staying open so late - or perhaps I only think of going to the museum in the winter to escape the cold & snow - however, this was fabulous news and so we got our act together and walked out the door....and only took 3 detours to drop off things along the way to different people (money to the piano teacher, dresses to a friend that Madeleine isn't wearing & dinner to another family that just had a baby....if we had a car that was accessible all the time I would have run the errands another time - but the joy of walking around the island is that you try to take advantage of when you are out and get all your errands in at once!)....I was happy to get 3 things off my to-do list & Bryson was annoyed.  Oh well....men don't seem to understand the importance of multi-tasking and how it makes such a big difference in our big picture as women!  

Anyway - we finally made it to the MET!

The great part about the MET, and actually most museums in the city, the admission price is suggested.  And so we pay what we feel is reasonable.  Thankfully children under 12 are free & knowing that we only wanted to do 2 exhibits Bryson and I payed an adjusted amount and then off we went in search of the Egyptian Wing and the Knights....'in Shining Armour' - Jacob would always add!

The kids thought this one was great - an Egyptian interpretation of the Statue of Liberty :) 

Madeleine is super happy that my point & shoot was under warranty and came back fixed after an unfortunate incident last fall.  It took me 5 months to just send it off to be fixed...and it came back 5 days later, the evening before we left for FL!  Talk about amazing timing & one happy girl that feels lucky to be able to use the "grown-up" camera and get some experience taking pictures.  Thankfully she is happy with that one for now, as there is NO WAY she is touching the new one!

A sarcophagus that you could look into & we each had a different reaction to peering inside....

Dad/Bryson Sr. - 'Wow that is a lot roomier than I had imagined!'
Mom/Summer - 'That looks really, really cold'

Jacob - 'OH NO!  The mummy escaped!' 

And to liven things up a little bit....because it was a little too quiet in there :)  I decided to mix things up and take pictures of the kiddos.....because they are interesting AND living! 

Madeleine's new "do" ---- do you like?!  It's a replica of a wig that was one by one of the princesses....I think it looks fabulous on Madeleine!

I have always wanted to find this room!  I love when you see something in a book, magazine, on T.V. or wherever....and then you get to stand there in real life.  What a feeling!

{I didn't realize the boys were in the picture when I took it....look to the left of the arch!}

I think we hit the highlight of the Egyptian wing & as much as I (and probably Madeleine) could have kept exploring that area, the boys were ready to move on.  All 3 of them :)  Jacob had asked since we entered the museum where the Knights in Shining Armor were....so I knew we wouldn't need to ask him if he was ready to go onto the next exhibit!  

"so happy together!''  {most of the time}

I was drawn to this exhibit and was studying the armor when I noticed on the plaque it explained that bees were engraven all over the armor as it was the sign of the Barberini, one of Rome's most powerful families.  I found it one of those twilight moments (not as in the book Twilight - but the doo-doo-doo twilight) - as my mom's side of the family are the Miller's & the symbol for their family is the bee.  Not that they are the most important family in Rome (!), but they were a beekeeping family & so they adopted the symbol of the honeybee as basically their crest.  Why have a coat of arms, when you can have the honey bee?   {I wish I had a picture, but I remember as a young girl going to a Miller Reunion and visiting the home in Coltan, California where one of the then owners of Miller Honey lived.  Their home was shaped in an octagon like a honeycomb, and they had tiles all over their patio in the same octagon shape and at the top of the big stairs that went to their house or garden were big hives (think Winnie the Pooh hives!), the swimming pool was shaped in an octagon...probably everything was that shape!  To a young child this was the coolest house I had ever seen....kind of still is considering the details and what it means to the family name.

The boys were in heaven....SO many weapons to look at :)

....although the tall boy looks a little tired or bored.  Or both!

The kiddos had really done a great job in the museum so we decided to walk along the edge of Central Park where many parks are located so the kids could play for a bit.  Correction - I mostly decided that, as Bryson was hungry and just wanted to get something to eat.  However, the kids were antsy and so we decided to let them play quickly and then head back to the island and grab a bite to eat outside at our only grill on the island.  

Madeleine on the Alice in Wonderland statue.....it's right by one of the ponds in the park and we don't hit this spot often so it's a treat when we get to see it again!

Helpful sister - for some reason, grumpy boy!....

.....until he got down and was ready to run on his own!

One of the many parks IN Central Park.  I love that each time we go, we could enjoy a new park...there are SO many in there!  The problem is, getting to all of them and that we aren't necessarily always in the area that the parks are we want to try out.

one of the highlights....it had a tire swing.  These are a crowd favorite with these 3!

and before we knew it - we had whooshed into the hour when we needed to get home, however so glad that we finally got out of the apartment to go and do something.  it makes such a difference in how long we can take staying all together inside, by how much time we get outside! :)