Museum

When we heard that BodyWorlds was coming to the local science museum, we thought that Sparkle would be interested. She is fascinated by the human body. The six of us (Wander, Sparkle, Glitter, Grandma, Grandpa, and I) went down to the museum in the morning. We were able to use Grandpa's handicap permit to get a nice parking spot next to the entrance. Sparkle found all the planets on that side of the building (Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter). I forgot to go to the other side to look for the other planets.


The six of us wandered around the main exhibits for a bit. We got to watch the pendulum topple a pin. Even though I sort of understand the explanation of how pendulum doesn't actually rotate - rather it's the rotation of the earth, I still find it hard to comprehend.


Glitter liked the things she could touch and push best. Here she is pushing the button to make ping pong balls bounce around a column like gas molecules. It was far more exciting than the corresponding models of a liquid, which just jiggled around, and a solid, which didn't even have a button to push.


After lunch at the McDonald's, the grandparents babysat Glitter while Wander, Sparkle, and I went to see BodyWorlds. We couldn't take any pictures there.

Although Sparkle liked a few spots of the exhibit, overall, it ended up being a bit long and crowded for her. Many of the displays were too high for her to see, and Wander kept having to lift her up. She did really well not touching anything. She also did really well by not freaking out. At first she had a tough time understanding that all the bodies had been living human beings and then they died, but after I explained it several times, it seemed to sink in. She also got a crash course in the differences between male and female anatomy.

Some of the parts that I found memorable:

• a brain on a rotating column near the entrance
• the smallest bones in the human body - in the ear
• a normal and a deformed spinal column
• a normal knee joint and one with arthritis
• three lungs - normal (white), smokers (shrunken and black), and coal miners (shrunken and black)
• fetuses from four weeks old to 28 weeks old
• examples of orthopedic installations
• normal ovaries and cancerous ones
• a small table with samples that the kids could touch

After exiting BodyWorlds, Sparkle and I looked at a lion chasing a zebra while Wander looked for his parents and Glitter. Turns out that the crowds were too much for them and they were on a bench in the main entrance with a bunch of other grandparents who were also resting while the rest of their families were in the museum.



Then it was time to go home. Sparkle rode on Grandpa's knee on his scooter while Glitter napped in Wander's arms.