End of the year activities: field trip

We are winding down our "formal" home-schooling this week -- with Kotch done (graduation on June 1st), dh almost done, the weather turning hot and the pool opening, summer is upon us with a vengeance! Add to these influences, the need to sort/toss/pack/move before the end of June ... well, formal schooling needs to slow up (altho we NEVER stop living, loving and learning).

So, whenever we're nearing the "end" , I try to plan fun things that mark the end, giving a bit of "closure" ...

For instance, yesterday we went on a field trip to see the movie, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. We loved it! We love the first one and watch it often; that said, I think this sequel is even better in most ways. Ben Stiller's character, Larry Dailey, is not quite so pitiful and shows great loyalty and love for others (this was missing a bit in the original). There is none of the first-movie's family issues that try to seem so politically-correct and just end up looking sad from all sides. Robin Williams returns as two different Teddy Roosevelts -- but thankfully has a smaller role than in the first as a little bit of RW goes a long way. Jedediah and Octavius are back and just as well-done as in the original movie while Capuchin monkey, Dexter, has great competition from space-monkey Able!

Amy Adams is great as a young Amelia Earhart -- very moxie-filled -- altho as String Bean (an Earhart afficianado) pointed out: AE was in her 30s when she really started flying and disappeared at the age of 40, so Adams' portrayal is a bit young for the gutsy aviatrix.

Of course the plot is hokey ... and far-fetched ... and absolutely unbelievable ... but that's the fun! Having been to all the places shown in the movie -- Air & Space, Castle, even the Lincoln Memorial -- made the movie even more fun for the kids and I. We've seen those paintings and sculptures that come alive ... we've stood in front of Abe and looked down the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument (and he is BIGGGGGG!) ... the kids have even been on the South Lawn of the White House (altho Octavius' venture was a slightly different experience than their own).

The bad guys are led by Akmunrah's evil, older brother Kahmunrah (played really well by Hank Azaria) and include Napoleon, Ivan the Terrible (or rather, Ivan the Awesome!), and Al Capone. There is a great scene when bad-boy muppet Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader try to join the bad guys but are summarily dismissed. The final battle scence -- good vs bad, Custer vs Napoleon -- is great fun (but a bit over the top destructive). Some of the gags the kids didn't get -- like the Archie Bunker "throne" comment (yes, I remember that show!).

The Smithsonian -- comprised of 19 museums around the Mall (and outlying areas) -- holds such wonderful delights and this movie points out many of them. The Air&Space sequences -- with the Tuskegee Airmen and bobble-headed Einsteins -- remind the kids just how much we love that particular museum. The pictures coming alive in the National Gallery of Art (not a Smithsonian museum but located right in the midst of them) remind the kids of the great art available seven days a week in the Nation's Capital.

The ending is a great twist (maybe a bit predictable but still good) and makes me wish we lived closer to the NY Natural History museum (especially if this movie was real instead of just escapist fantasy)!

This field trip was a memory-making, reminiscence-remembering, family outing that we'll chuckle over for a long time. And reminded us all that we've haven't been to the DC museums in a while -- sounds like another field trip is in store for this weekend so dh can join in our ramblings round the Mall!

Where should you go today?

How 'bout the National Museum of the Marine Corps? Well, if you're interested .... read on, McDuff!

We went to this fabulous museum a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the first thing that met us at the entry -- you gotta love a museum that mentions knitting from the get-go! If you sign their guest book, they'll send the pattern for the balaclava with additional instructions for where to donate the caps for active duty marines! That might even get Lego-Maniac, our little prospective Marine, knitting his little fingers off.


This is an AMAZING history, military-history, political science, social science, technology museum all rolled into one. There is a huge atrium in the center, with real helicopters, planes and other dioramas making it very easy for the kids to really see these items. A gallery allows a bird's eye view of the two-story museum.

We had a blast learning about boot-camp (including hands-on exhibits to test you skill such as trying to lift a "typical backpack" - some 100 lbs - on your back!). There are exhibit rooms showing all the wars where the Marines were involved -- from the Revolution thru to Iraq ... with lots of great photos of the Marines' part in not only the battle but also in the re-building of countries.

The museum is open daily and is FREE! Additionally, there is an awesome playground tucked behind the parking lot ... with tons of shade trees and some walking paths. The museum is still working on the overall grounds, but it will eventually have walking paths all over the site.

Birthdays and field trips

Yesterday was Columbus Day -- one of those weird holidays that banks and feds get but very few others. But, lo and behold, this year dh got Columbus Day off. But, even better, it was dh's BIRTHDAY so we were able to celebrate in real style ....

First, early morning tea/coffee for my dh and I ... followed by presents from the littles. I had taken them to the dollar store and they each picked out something that linked with Dad:

• Bam-Bam got him a set of metal cars so when they have car races, Dad has his own cars


• String Bean got him a 250 piece jigsaw puzzle that shows a little girl harvesting from a garden (something SB LOVES to do with Dad!)


• LegoManiac got him Peeps -- my dh, who has done lots of food science coursework, think Peeps are second only to chocolate as the best candy. And they're wonderful for Peep-wars!

We then walked to daily Mass. When we got back, we had to do a few car races and Peep-wars (while I cleaned up and did some laundry) than it was off for a day of adventure with Dad.

We went to the Denver Zoo -- which is a great zoo (if you can ignore the totally non-scientific "evolution is fact" signs scattered throughout the primate area. Dh and kids went on Friday and bought a season pass ... with the size of the zoo this makes great sense as you just can't do it all in one day. We rode the carousel and zoo train, saw the elephants and coatis and just generally had a grand time (even if they weren't selling any kettle corn for us to eat!).

We then popped over to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (which is basically next door) and had some lunch and then checked out the Native American and Egyptian exhibits. BTW, dh was impressed by the kids' knowledge of egyptology (we've been studying ancient Egypt this year). Another exhibit that dh hadn't seen is the "Russian Gem Sculptures" -- about 20 sculptures carved by Russian emigre Vasily Konovalenko, depicting Russian folk life. Very cool and easily missed as it's tucked away on the 3rd floor of the museum -- but definitely worth the hunt to find!

We ended the day with dinner and chocolate cake -- and finished watching the movie, Saint John Bosco. This is an Italian dramatization of the "apostle of the youth's" life story -- and had the family enthralled througout the 200 minutes running time! It's dubbed into English so we didn't have to "mess with" subtitles. Definitely a great family video.

Just all and all a wonderful real learning day to celebrate dad's day-off and his birthday!

Big Day at the Museum Today ....

Important Men of the World

I was at two different conferences this weekend. On Friday, I spent the day down at the Wells Fargo Theater in the first of a two-day conference, Living the Catholic Faith, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Denver. On Saturday, I attended an all-day class on the new Benjamin Franklin exhibit that the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is sponsoring until May 20th. Both of these all-day events were geared to educators -- those who work in front of people, evangelizing through their teaching and actions, teaching the truth to those who may not have heard the truth before.

The interesting thing about these conferences, and why I'm posting about them, is that I realized the great schism between what I heard on Friday and what I heard on Saturday. On Friday, I attended a lecture by noted Chestertonian scholar and president of the Chesterton Society, Dale Ahlquist on the Christian threads woven throughout GK Chesterton's writings. On Saturday, I heard about all the various facets of Benjamin Franklin.

How do these two men -- G.K. Chesterton and Benjamin Franklin -- complement or contrast the other?

Chesterton was obviously an Englishman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A product of a middle class home, GK didn't go to University, opting instead for an art education. So, he wasn't "educated" in the classic sense of that British term -- he didn't go to Oxford or Cambridge, didn't go to the proper prep schools and was not a member of the Anglican Church. He was an outsider and yet his writings were taught in schools for years as being spot-on and philosophically intellectual. Chesterton, although proud of his writings, felt that he was just a word-smith and down-played his innate intelligence.

Franklin was a product of a middle class tradesman's family -- the 10th boy in a family of printers, chandlers and tradesmen in the 1700s. Franklin had only two years of formal schooling before he was taken out of the school-room and placed in various apprenticeships until he wound up at 14 with his (abusive) older half-brother to learn the printing trade. At 16, Franklin ran away from Boston to Philadelphia and the rest, as they say, is history. Franklin became known as a philosopher, inventor, statesman, economist, and bon vivant -- but he continued to call himself a printer. He was proud of his accomplishments (and was an amazing, if not narcissistic, self-promoter) but always clung to his "leather apron" background.

So, these two great men were pulled themselves up "by their bootstraps" and really made a name for themselves. But Chesterton, whose philosophical thoughts are well-worth investigating, came to the Catholic church through rational thought processes while Franklin despaired of organized religion, was a deist (didn't believe in Christ's divinity) and Free Mason, and thought of himself as a progressive.

15 years (!) before Chesterton came into the Church of Rome, he wrote a book called Orthodoxy. This book is a defense of the Catholic faith -- and no better has been written since. Reading Orthodoxy will convert even a Ben Franklin because of it's tight, logical, conclusions which prove that Christianity -- as practiced by the Roman Catholic Church -- is the ONLY answer for humanity and rationality. Within the pages of Orthodoxy you'll find a essay that decimates the "progressives" and asks instead to look at tradition, to look back and see what worked and what didn't and to move ahead accordingly. And as you read other books by GK, you'll find yourself inextricably in agreement with this Renaissance man!

But, Franklin is studied in our schools and Chesterton is basically ignored. Franklin is considered a forward-thinker and Chesterton an old fuddy-duddy, English writer of a past era. Since both died a long time ago -- I wonder which one was right? I'm banking that Chesterton's rational embracing of Catholicism is the right choice while Franklin's progressive dismissal of organized religion is the wrong choice. But both men deserve to be studied by students and adults -- both have much to share with our current age!

What do you think?