Adventurous Spirits

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

Jawaharlal Nehru

I woke up very early today, having every intention to take my kids to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Because we go and visit places mostly every day, I try to save by attending certain museums on their free days. Today, it was this museum's free day, and because it is a very popular museum, there are long lines outside and inside, unless you arrive there before they open, which is 9:30 in the morning. That means we have to leave around 8:30 a.m. to get there about the opening time. Well, as soon as I woke up, around 7:30 a.m., I truly thought I had time to finish my book before it was time to wake up the children. As always, I miscalculated. I finished my book, and then tidied the house. The children got ready fast and after eating breakfast, helped with Charlton. Abel helped me prepare lunch while I took a shower and got ready. Regardless of my effectiveness, we left the house around 9:30 a.m. Of course, our spirits were not dampened. We kept our high spirits even when we encountered a lot of traffic on the road. When we got there, the paid parking was full, and so we drove till we found a street parking up a hill, a mile or so away from the museum. As we parked, we were astonished to see that we had found a fantastic spot near a beautiful lake. Looking at the map, I discovered we were next to Stow Lake and Japanese Tea Gardens, a spot I have been wanting to visit for a while. As you'll observe from the following pictures, we had such a fun time playing with the ducks and geese, looking for interesting spots, climbing trees, and above all taking the view all in. I had a field day taking gorgeous pictures of my children and the impressive landscape.

As we approached the museum, we were met by a long line that continued insanely for a couple of blocks. We let go of the Academy of Science idea, and set to explore what was nearby it. Across it, de Joung art museum was inviting us with open hands. We decided today was an art day. We strolled toward the art museum, and as we walked, we paused at different sculptures along the way. James and I saw this statue that looked like Shakespeare from afar, and we ran excitedly toward it. It wasn't Shakespeare, but we weren't disappointed. A statue of Cervantes and his Don Quixote and Sancho Panza looking at him enticed a great discussion on this great author and his sublime work. I couldn't believe that the kids remembered the story when I quizzed them after we got home in the end of the day. Who can forget the story of a knight fighting giant wind mills!
When we encountered a sculpture of a lion, we couldn't help talking about The Chronicles of Narnia books, that Gillian and I have read. Each of us shared our favorite characters, and favorite books of the series. Gillian had to take a picture with her Aslan:
As we approached the museum, we encountered sculptures of two sphinxes, which of course opened a discussion about the Egyptian sphinx, and pyramids, and life in long ago:
Although the distance between the Academy of Sciences and the Art Museum could be covered in two minutes, it took us about twenty minutes as we stopped and talked about various things we saw. Sometimes, it's not the destination that is important, but the journey.

I wasn't totally impressed with the art pieces at this museum, but then again I'm very spoiled having seen the masterpieces in D.C many times. I've taken my kids literally every month or so to those museums; I really enjoy great art, and the art found in the several art museums in D.C. are first class. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves at the de Joung.

We saw an engraving of Mayan Queen on a stone dated A.D. 700. We talked about the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon.

We chose out favorite art piece and shared why we liked it. This was mine. It looked so simple, but yet very complex in constructing it.
Gillian liked this gigantic plate of fruit made out of blown glass. She was amazed that you can create beautiful art from glass.
This statue was also made out of glass, and when James saw me admiring it, he said that girl reminded him of mom, therefore that was his favorite. Delicate sculpture, sweet thought, loving James.
Jefferson was amazed to learn that this cathedral model was made out of weapon pieces, such as bullets and gun individual parts. We talked about the reason that the artist had used weapons to create a place of worship. The discussion led us to talking about the Crusades, as well as today's Muslim terrorists' idea of fighting wars in the name of their God. I don't know if Jefferson remembers all I told him about war and religion, but I could tell that he was disturbed that people killed others to impose their religion.
The museum offered a variety of art from different countries of the world. There were exhibits from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Native Americans.

After a great lunch, we headed out. We were looking forward to exploring the other side of Stow Lake.
On our way to the car, we had to pass near the waterfall we had discovered from the other side. Abel also wanted to climb the bridge and try to stand on its side on top of a little rock coming out of the bridge. Charlton was behaving like a champ, and Gillian, Jefferson and James were just happy to share their adventures with their uncle.


We arrived home just on time for dinner. The children were tired, but they had a lot of adventures they wanted to tell their dad about. I felt fulfilled to have had another fun and educational day with my children.