Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Art Institue and Picnic by the lake


This is the third year we've visited the Art Institute for its free Family Day, and we were definitely not disappointed. Last year we saw a dance performance by a local ballet company, and this year we heard  African jazz music by an awesome band. Jared especially was drawn to the drums. I hadn't ever heard music quite like that before, so I was excited to be introduced to new music.

After the performance we went to check out our usual rooms: the miniature room, the touch room and some of the Impressionist paintings. Unfortunately, Jared was not content to stay near us and started dashing off through the museum. He was pretty upset we made him hold Steve's hand. It's not easy staying sane when your kid is having a mini temper tantrum while people are trying to quietly check out great masterpieces. This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but the one thing that got him to settle down was to point out the butts of the sculptures we passed. What can I say? He's really into talking about butts, and it did get him interested in the art.

Then we walked down a few blocks to have a picnic right on the lake.


It was a hot day (this was at the end of August), so we moved to a shady spot under a tree. Here's a picture Alexa took of the sailboats on Lake Michigan.


It was a wonderful, wonderful afternoon. Not stressful, not exhausting......just right. I wish we had done this more during the summer.









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