ANHM 2013

Back when I was 23 weeks pregnant with James, Kevin and I did a staycation* babymoon** to Manhattan. We spent part of the day at the American Natural History Museum enjoying the marine exhibit on the 1st floor and the dinosaur exhibit on the 4th floor.  We mused about when we'd be able to bring James back to enjoy the exhibit. We figured he'd be somewhere between 3 and 5 years old, and that it was a long ways away.  In a phenomenon we've noticed in many other parents though, we are eager to give James experiences even before he'll be appreciative of them and way before he'll remember any of them. Also, we get bored.

James, ignoring the whale at ANHM

So when I noticed he was obsessed with Curious George books, one of which was a dinosaur book, I decided, yes! Let's go back to ANHM! It was... interesting. Much like I did, 2-years prior, James had a lot of complaints about the trip. I decided the trip was a huge success if by success you mean that it took an hour to get out the door after James woke up from his nap, an hour and half to get there, a freezing cold walk from the car, 55 minutes of trying to get James to look at the whale and the dinosaurs while he tried instead to pick little pieces of trash off the museum floor. Success!

Pointing out the allosaurus

James is pretty psyched that the prehistoric crocodile is on his level

Still getting used to holding hands

Feeling a dinosaur foot

Ignoring the mastodon

Posing near triceratops

*staycation is a post-recession made-up word indicating that you take time off work and do "fun things" close to home to save money on your vacation

**babymoon is a pre-recession made-up word indicating another excuse for a fancy vacation away from home preferable somewhere warm and beachy at a time when you are constantly uncomfortable and look scary in a bathing suit