Two weeks ago we were still getting used to all the snow and cold weather, and I was coping with my second round of a head cold that would not end. So naturally we had a field trip with the Girl Scouts to make life interesting. I really wanted to take Elisa on this one since it was to the Math Museum near Madison Square Park. Full disclosure: math is not my favorite thing and this is not a place I would normally seek out for entertainment. So maybe that was what made it so appealing. I'd heard from Carmen that it was a pretty cool with lots of interactive exhibits and that sounded fun. And my thinking was also that if we went with a pack of other girls and moms that might make it more enjoyable. Little did I realize though that almost all of the moms I know from the troop would take a pass and send their kids alone. I skipped the sleep over, and they skipped the math museum which is fair enough (I think I still got the better end of that stick). So off we went on our own to the train to meet up with the troop at the museum. It was so early on a Saturday that I knew we wouldn't make it back to 61st Street in Woodside to go with the whole gang. But we made it down to 26th Street with plenty of time to spare and sat while the museum workers rushed around to get ready for our visit.
And true to form, Elisa raced around the first floor, then basement level of the museum without so much as a glance backwards at any of her friends. She wanted to see things on her own and I was okay with that. I followed her lead and tried my best to explain each exhibit to her, though some were more confusing than others. It probably didn't help that my head felt like it was going to implode with sinus pressure and I just wanted to curl up in a ball and go back to sleep. Reading how to interpret puzzles and figure out math-oriented games was not any more fun with a bouncing, over-stimulated 6 year old who declared everything "boring" and wanted to race up and down the stairs (shaped like the double helix of DNA) over and over again. I lost count at five times. Overall, I thought there was a lot of hands on stuff to explore, but it wasn't all that great. Maybe it's just not my thing, and transitively, not Elisa's either. We both liked Swarm, the robot chase game with the glowing dance floor, and she also returned a few times to the giant map at the bottom of the staircase. Upstairs, the light painting thing was fun and she couldn't get enough of the rope pulley boat ride. But after a good 90 minutes in the museum, we were both worn out and getting hungry. I asked our troop leader about leaving early and she said that was fine. It sounded like an even better plan once I heard her telling the girls about hitting the gift store on the way out. Oh yes, I could see it now--kids without much cash begging for toys and games they couldn't afford while my own daughter pleads for something she will never play with. Yeah, no thanks. So off we went through the snowy park to Schnipper's around the corner on 23rd Street for a little bit of lunch before heading back home. It was all over by 1 p.m. and that was just about right. Elisa got to earn her STEM badge and I got to accompany her on a field trip. Win-win.
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