-
Spring Break Day 3: The Getty
Rapunzel wants to be an artist when she grows up. I think this is really really cool, of course. However, she thinks that she doesn’t need to go to college because “artists don’t need school,” she says. I may have said something stupid a long time ago about how colleges these days are just big businesses that take all your money and you really don’t need them to get a good job anymore. Me and my big fat mouth. So I decided I need to show her why college is so important, even if you want to be an artist.
I took Rapunzel to the Getty today. My idea was that I would show her all the different kinds of art and she’d get a taste for finding out the stories behind the pictures. Art history can be so fascinating. That is my one regret with my own college career. I didn’t major in art and I never studied art history. I feel I’m at a real disadvantage because I don’t know anything about cubism or impressionism or the arts and crafts period etc. etc. These are all just words to me that I know would be really useful if I only knew what they meant.
It turns out that I still don’t know much about art and I didn’t do a very good job of inspiring Rapunzel to get excited about it either. “It’s kinda boring,” she admitted to me in the most polite way she could. I had to agree with her in part. It’s not Disneyland. There aren’t any rides or anything. Still, I think for what it is, we had a pretty good time. One of these days I think we both need to go through the museum on a guided tour and really get to the bottom of it all. Why did Van Gogh cut his ear off anyway? Any kind of tour seemed out of the question with Baby Bug in tow. But maybe next time when she’s bigger.
We really enjoyed exploring the vast grounds and gardens. We even had a picnic lunch (that I packed) on the not-so-dry grass outside. I love the grounds at the Getty. I wrote about this a long time ago when Toby and I visited. (I have no idea where that link went.) The neat thing about the Getty is that every where you go, there is a new vista point with something interesting to look at and go see. There is always something new on the horizon to go explore. It was great fun for all of us.
I think the best part of the Getty for us was the Children’s Museum though. Mostly because I finally got to let Baby Bug out of the stroller and she was so happy to be able to wander around freely touching things. I think it was hard for her to be strapped in most of the day. Rapunzel really liked all the interactive displays and they both got a kick out of coloring their own masks. I’m really glad the Getty had a exhibit like that. Everywhere else we went, the guards were constantly telling us not to touch, not to take pictures and not to wade through the water. (Imagine that!) It can be tough for a “free spirit” when there are so many rules. I mean, the water is right there just begging to be walked in! Poor Rapunzel, she sort of “fell in by accident.”
When we got home, we were in the mood to make our own art. Rapunzel painted with acrylics and I made some “finger paint” for Baby Bug. I read somewhere that you can make kid-safe finger paint out of pudding with food coloring in it. It seemed like a great idea. Except I didn’t have any pudding on hand so I used some plain yogurt instead.
The only problem with the neat colored yogurt is that Baby Bug loves to eat yogurt, plain or otherwise. The first thing she did was take a big ol’ swipe of blue and shove it in her mouth. I tried to show her how fun it was to smear it on the paper but she was more interested in eating it. So much for finger painting. I decided to cut my losses and bring out some dinner for her to eat too.
You could say she made art out of dinner or dinner out of art, depending on how you look at it.
-
Spring Break Day 2
In an effort to be out and about most of the day, I decided it would be super fun to have lunch at a local outdoor mall that offers all kinds of amusements besides just shopping. First, we hit Wahoos for a yummy lunch and then the carousel. After that we had to have ice cream, of course. I had promised Rapunzel that we were going to go on the big ferris wheel but when they told me Baby Bug would have to ride in her own seat and not in my lap, I chickened out.
It’s a really really big ferris wheel that gives me the heebie jeebies. I’m just a teeny tiny bit afraid of heights. Add a baby to that and I’m really afraid of heights. I want to be able to cling to Baby Bug for dear life. Unfortunately, Rapunzel couldn’t ride by herself because she isn’t twelve yet or 60 inches tall. She was very disappointed and let me hear about it all the way to the car. Then when we got in the car, she shredded the ribbon belt I had jimmied for her to keep her pants up just to let me know how disappointed she was. The unraveling of the ribbon belt didn’t make me happy but I understood her frustration. I remember being eight. Adults just aren’t fair sometimes. They always break their “promises”. I should have gotten over my fear and taken Baby Bug with us anyway, but by then Baby Bug was really really cranky and in need of a nap. So we all went home in a bad mood.
Thankfully, eight-year-olds get over their bad moods pretty quick. She even helped me go grocery shopping without any lip at all. We’re starting to have an understanding, her and I. When she starts arguing with me over something, I give her “my evil eye” which means: “I don’t care what you say, I’ve given my final answer and I’m sticking to it”. I have to do this or else we will spend hours and hours debating. My niece is the master debater. She will find forty-seven different ways to tell me that her way is the best way and my adult decision is not. It can be very nerve wracking. But I know she does this because she is just too smart for her own good. My “evil eye” seems to work. All I have to do now is point to my twitching eyeball and she shuts up.
When we got home from grocery shopping there was a surprise package delivered for Baby Bug. I hope you don’t mind but we opened it while she was asleep. Baby Bug was so tuckered out from the mall outing and grocery shopping that she even stayed asleep from when I took her out of her car seat all the way until I laid her down in her crib. She never does that. I think we just wore her out. Maybe it was all the debating.
So Rapunzel and I opened her present and had a little tea party. I just want to say a huge fat THANK YOU to somebody out there in blogland because this tea set is sooooo cute and fun. As you can see, we enjoyed it immensely. We had a proper tea party with real water and cookies and stale Trader Joes Pirate Booty. It was great. And then when Baby Bug woke up we did it all over again. Baby Bug loved it. Even if she was half asleep.
As a nice close to our day, we hit the park and Starbucks. The park for Rapunzel and Baby Bug and Starbucks for me. As you can see it was a triple shot kind of day. And even after all that caffeine, I’m still feeling bleary eyed. I thought I would stay up and get some work done but I think I’ll have to save it for tomorrow. Three shots of caffeine and I’m still tired at ten thirty. I think I might have to force myself to go off coffee again, at least for a week or so because it’s pretty pathetic when three shots barely keeps me up past Baby Bug’s bedtime. But, I think I’ll save the self-induced caffeine detox until after Rapunzel’s Spring Break. It takes a lot of energy to keep up with an eight-year-old and I need all the help I can get.
