The One Where We Pet the Fluffiest Chicken and Experienced Art

I go back and forth when it comes to blogging, but truth be told, when I was blogging I enjoyed that it gave me some motivation to take pictures of things and I like being able to go back and look at what we did. I wish I had more photos of my own childhood, so at the very least I can do something that my kids will be able to look back at one day if they’re curious.

So, better late than never, right? We finally went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art… well, the kids and I did. I’ve been meaning to and I figured it was a good opportunity to do something new with them and hopefully broaden their young minds.

First, we went to the Wild Rumpus, though. It’s another place I’ve had on my list to take the kids to and we were mostly not disappointed. We went on a Saturday, so I should have expected how busy it would be, but my complaint is mostly toward parents who were just inconsiderate of other people. The store is small, so too many people with strollers or huge bags and baby carriers gets crowded fast. The kids just wanted to look at books and had a hard time doing so.

The other draw is the shop animals, though. We saw a bird or two, a chinchilla, two cats, two rats and our favorite… the fluffiest chicken ever. We didn’t even notice this little guy at first and literally had no idea what it was until we started petting it and it clucked. We are absolutely getting silkies when we have our hobby farm.

The MIA wasn’t too crowded once we got away from the featured Egypt exhibit. There was so much to see and the kids were a little tired, so I knew they weren’t going to last long. So, I got us all turned around and lost wandering halls and rooms, while trying desperately to keep Phoebe from touching everything and setting off alarms. Ha!

To help give them some purpose as we explored, I told them they could each take some pictures of things they liked, and I attempted to get them to talk about the art a bit. Thankfully as we wandered into a more modern art area, there was a wonderful woman there with some activities geared toward children to help them better explore and examine the art. I am definitely using her tips the next time we go and it’s always fun to see just how different our kids are and the different ways in which they see and do things.

They may not have lasted long, but I feel much more prepared for next time and I also want to go back by myself or maybe with Josh as well for an afternoon date. I give you a variety of things the kids and I found interesting. I think that perhaps next time I will bring a better camera as well.

*Also, bear with me as I get used to WordPress’s updates… I need to get used to the changes*