Museum Love!

Even though for most families, the weekends are a time to do fun things, if you have an autoimmune disease it seems like you spend the entire weekend recuperating from the week or trying to find things that are easy and cheap to do with the kids. Yes, I know the struggle all too well. One of the reasons I am so grateful to have close family and friends around and why I love living in a city like LA.

Despite it’s shimmery curtains, LA is actually a very family friendly city. It’s home to bunch of large family parks, indoor playgrounds, family & art festivals, Farmer’s Markets and amazing museums.  There is something for everyone to enjoy, no matter the size of your family or your family challenges. Tomorrow, a few Los Angeles museums including the LACMA, Annenberg Space for Photography & The Autry Museum are FREE! Yes, you read that correctly, I said, FREE! Most of these museums are handicap accessible, kid friendly and fun. The LACMA & California Science Center are also centered around great family friendly parks for a little lunch in the sun…or clouds, if tomorrow is anything like today! LOL! Well, I’m packing up the stroller, comfortable shoes and will participate!

We will be starting off at one of Hippo’s favorite places, The California Science Center where the Endeavour is parked. This will be our second trip to the museum and our third seeing the shuttle. We saw the shuttle first when it drove down Crenshaw Blvd. and Jax cried his eyes out when he realized we weren’t going to board and take off into space. Then for the “Endeavour Fest” hosted by the California Science Center this past October. Jax dressed in his astronaut outfit (helmet and everything) and we explored the space relics, ate some astronaut ice cream and took pictures of old Lunar modules. But the highlights were when Jaxon entered the building where the space shuttle is housed. His jaw dropped and his face lit up. He flipped down his visor, turned on the countdown button on his helmet and then blasted off driving his imaginary space shuttle. Then all of a sudden, he stopped under the shuttle and looked up and had the most amazing smile on his face! So we are going back. That will be our first stop.

The next stop will be the California African American Museum, which we have never been to, so that we can enjoy the 50th anniversary March On Washington for Jobs & Freedom exhibit. With the death of Nelson Mandela & the recent celebration of MLK Day, Jax has taken an interest in the civil rights movement, it’s leaders and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Yea, my four year old is trying to understand the civil rights movement…why not? Kids want to know, we are just apprehensive about teaching them. So, we are learning about the apartheid and the civil rights movement at home through YouTube videos of speeches, encyclopedia pictures and old newspaper clippings. There are actually a lot of books and resources on the subjects for younger kids to help them understand. I spare him the graphic details of course, but  we talk a lot about pride, quality, freedom and peace in our family. So, with this exhibit up, I think it’s a perfect time for us to go over and learn some more.

Then we will be finishing our day at the LACMA. Although the park between the LACMA & The Page & the Page museum itself are our favorite places to play, we’ve actually never been inside of the LACMA. So we will be going there and exposing the kids to some great art exhibits and perhaps having dinner in the park. If you are out, tweet me a pic of you and your family enjoying the Free Museum Day & I’ll RT! Hey, maybe I’ll see you out there!