Free And For Me

The last time I took my son to the Natural History Museum he was really into dinosaurs, but for some reason he vaguely remembers that visit. I think he may have been four or five.

Last month I took my now, nine year old son to the Natural History Museum and we spent hours of touring the museum.  When we hang out we always have a fun, but something about this visit will always be memorable.

The times we have come to NHM we would just walk around and look at everything. Was there always a schedule given?  Well, this was something new to me.  Our first stop was to Grandes Maestros.  We enjoyed looking at all of the textiles, masks, sculptures and yarn paintings.

As we headed out of Grandes Maestros, we eagerly made our way to Dinosaur Encounters.  My son got a seat directly in front.  As the lights dimmed in the North American Mammal Hall, there was silence until the show began.  For the first few minutes I could hear whispers questioning when was the dinosaur coming out.  When it finally appeared there were cheers of excitement coming from the children in the audience.  My son being one of the main ones in awe.

When Dinosaur Encounters ended we raced down to the Nature Lab to meet a live animal.  We had no idea what animal we would be meeting, but we were hoping it was something good.  Once again, my son was able to nab a seat in the front row.  He and a few dozen other children anxiously awaited the big reveal.   Too everyone’s amazement the mystery animal was a turtle.  After we listened to the presentation explaining everything we should know about the turtle, each child was given an opportunity to touch it.

These were all new exhibits for both of us.  I felt like this was my first time visiting.  I know I have been before.  We finally made our way to something that was familiar to me, the African mammals.  Out of all of the fascinating things, this is one I remember.  Honestly, I have never found museums interesting until this visit.

When we made our way to the Becoming L.A exhibit, it felt a little familiar.  It was interesting to learn so many things about Los Angeles.  I felt a since of pride in learning about the history of Los Angeles and the many people that set the foundation.  For example, we learned about  one of the eariler start-up buisinesses in Los Angeles was the Auto Vehicle Company, which manufactured this 1902 Tourist automobile, the only survivor from the car’s first year of production.

After two and a half hours I do not think we saw everything there is to see at the Natural History Museum. We did not think we would be there that long.  My son walked in thinking he had outgrown dinosaurs, although he wore his favorite dinosaur sweat shirt on this day.  He left there with a new found love for them.  Since then we have watched several dinosaur movies and plan to visit the Natural History Museum soon.

Disclosure: Product/compensation was received in exchange for review.
Don’t be afraid to be free!!!