The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We've talked about taking the children for a few years now, but the last time John and I were at the Met, I didn't know he wanted to marry me, which lets you know that too much time has passed between visits.

First stop: the Ancient Egypt wing. 

This picture included for the sake of Annika's expression.  Her excitement provides the perfect foil for their faces at the end of our stay at the Met.

Susannah took most of the following few pictures.  Miniature statues.

Tiny blue hippo.  

One of the guards motioned her over and, in hushed tones, told us the Met's Big Secret.  Apparently, that same blue hippo leaves the case at night, grows to an immense size, and guards the entire Egyptian wing from burglars.  Truth.

Of course she took a picture of a mummy.  I think it's funny that she broke it into three sections.  

Head.

Torso.

Feet.

Annika got a picture of the whole shebang.

After snapping a few pictures of the hieroglyphs, I looked over to see this dancing gnome-child.  I'm pretty sure this is what Nefertiti looked like when she broke it down on the dance floor.

We spent about nine hours in the city (not counting the train rides), and this family, along with other unfortunately frozen families, is the only one we spotted that had more than two children.  We exchanged emails, and I'm hoping some city play-dates are in our future.  She even cuts her children's bangs like I cut Zeke's!!!  Coincidence?  I think not.

I could have stayed at the Met all day, but the children petered out after a few hours.  The exception was Piper, who despite limited experience, has a strong and faithful love of museums.  

Remember Annie's birthday present?  John told her that they'd made a statue of her, which made the girls giggle like mad.  (There's a BARE BOTTOM there!!!)

There were several rooms I had to backtrack to in order to fetch Pip, who was lost in the paintings.

I hauled all the girls to this room with Giotto's The Adoration of the Magi, which is one of the paintings we studied when we learned about Giotto a few years ago....back when I was a better teacher-mama.  (Those were the days.)

The girls (mostly Annie) carted my camera around and took pictures of the paintings they particularly liked.  There were many.  Here are a few.

I love the rooms that open up out of nowhere in large museums like this.  When one's not familiar with the museum, stumbling right into something like this is delightful.

We capped off our visit with the Ancient Greece wing.

By this time, the children's feet were sore, and our brains were foggy with art.

Until we meet again!