Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Where the Wild Things Are

We have been taking advantage of the Salt Lake Zoo, Arts, and Parks Program lately.

I love this program. It allows many museums and zoos (or equivalents) to be accessed by the public for free or reduced price once a month.


We've been to the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Fine Art (which by the way, has an amazing exhibit on Native American work right now. Breath-taking!)


This week, we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. While it obviously doesn't compare to aquariums at Sea World or Monterey Bay, it has the wonderful advantage of being local. And Roman and Blaise love it!

Playing at the aquarium
(Pretending to be a fish, if you couldn't tell.)

The aquarium has expanded to include an exhibit on Amazonian animals. The boys really enjoyed shocking themselves on the electric eel simulation. A little too much.

Blaise, always the more adventurous one, touched a sting ray, pet a horseshoe crab, and let shrimp crawl on him. Although he didn't particularly like any of those experiences.

Petting string rays

For the last month, Roman's class has been practicing an Australian animal play. They've painted backgrounds, made paper-mache animal puppets, and practiced very hard.

Today, they performed.

Getting ready for the play

Roman was a dingo. And he was very cute.

Roman, doing his dingo part

(Although, after school, he told me that having all the people there made him very embarrassed.)


On another note: there was hail and rain and strong winds today. Not a good day for being outside. The boys have been running around and jumping off furniture (and each other.) While I sit and worry about how long before the neighbors complain. Moving day can't come too soon.

3 comments:

Bonnie said...

You are making memories and patterns for a beautiful life! If the boys are jumping, reassure any complainers that they will never have to experience this from your family again, so be patient with you until moving day. If they wanted to hear no one, have no sounds of play, they could see if there are spaces to rent on hospital wards, mortuary crypts, hermitages, desert islands, or vacated war zones. While noise can be disrupting, it is not as disturbing as silence made from loss of people. Being totally alone, facing illness, injury or loss of loved ones, or the void of having no children to play in the streets is crisis. Those who have faced this can verify that even the sound of a temper tantrum, a crying baby, clanking pots and pans or that awakening dog bark is sweet. It's okay to gently remind at least yourself, that even a listener really DOES appreciate the sound of life.

Tonya said...

If your ever up to going to the Living Planet Aquarium again give me a call. I keep telling myself that I'm going to take the boys there on the first Monday of one of these months. Neither me or the boys have been there (with the exception of David; he went with his class when it was in the gateway).

ok said...

Roman, way to go on the art! You are an amazing little one who has the gifts and abilities now that many others wont have their entire life of adulthood!