We LOVED the Field Museum.
It had been described to us as a building full of dead animals, and yes, that is true. But we spent so much time looking at all those dead animals and talking about them, and really having fun seeing all the different species.
From walking in and seeing Sue (we had seen her before when she was on tour - like a rock star! - in St. Paul), to seeing the Egyptian mummies (the day before we had watched the omni-film 
Secrets of the Pharoahs at the Museum of Science and Industry so it was like seeing the film come to life .. err, umm, not "to life" exactly, but you get the idea!)
Secrets of the Pharoahs at the Museum of Science and Industry so it was like seeing the film come to life .. err, umm, not "to life" exactly, but you get the idea!)It was also really fun to show the kids all the different animals I had seen while in Africa this summer. 
I was especially excited to show them the Lilac Breasted Roller - this is my new favorite bird, introduced to me by two teachers on my safari - it's absolutely beautiful, and the live ones I saw in Tanzania are much more vivid and bright than this one here - but still, it was nice to show them the bird! I noticed another family eavesdropping as I said "Oh! I saw THAT in Africa, too!" and the mom kind of looked at me as if she didn't really believe me and she didn't really approve of my "bragging." Whatever.
I was especially excited to show them the Lilac Breasted Roller - this is my new favorite bird, introduced to me by two teachers on my safari - it's absolutely beautiful, and the live ones I saw in Tanzania are much more vivid and bright than this one here - but still, it was nice to show them the bird! I noticed another family eavesdropping as I said "Oh! I saw THAT in Africa, too!" and the mom kind of looked at me as if she didn't really believe me and she didn't really approve of my "bragging." Whatever. In the bird area we were 
exclaiming over the tininess (tinyness?) of hummingbirds, and when we saw this skeleton Ben confusedly asked "Is that one alive???" which then became our running joke for the day and brought lots of extra giggling to the experience!
exclaiming over the tininess (tinyness?) of hummingbirds, and when we saw this skeleton Ben confusedly asked "Is that one alive???" which then became our running joke for the day and brought lots of extra giggling to the experience!
In one of the exhibits they had these bug-eye goggles you could look through, and we took pictures of one another through the goggles, too.
There was a lot of information, as you would expect, on extinction and endangered species. It was sobering to see the sign showing how many species were dying off daily.
We were also impressed with how old many of the exhibits are - many of the animals are over 100 years old, and so well taken care of - we talked about what it must be like to work at the Field, with appreciation and respect for the people who keep it running as such a fine museum.
2 comments:
OK, I didn't mean it like that when I said it was full of DEAD AMINALS... But as I said to you after, it was an "older" museum, not quite as fun as the S&I museum. And I think I said that I loved SUE too...
We loved the omni show at the S&I museum too. Sammi still talks about it, though I don't remember the mummified cat. We skipped the Field Museum this year but in the past have thought Sue is super and been grateful all those dead animals didn't come alive during "A Night at the Museum".
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