Space Odyssey

One of the many things we were looking forward to about moving closer to a major city is all of the museums that would be near by. Everyone in our family knew we were going to have to make the Denver Museum of Nature and Science a MUST regular visit. Mark and I went to this museum several times when we lived here during school and we went here last fall on our family vacation (which is when the kids fell in love with it), and we are now the proud owners of our first family membership. We can’t wait to spend loads of time learning and exploring and making memories in this wonderful place.

The kiddos and I wrapped up our space unit last week and so we decided it was the perfect time for a field trip to the museum! We made a whole day of it and it was such a lovely family day.

The Exhibit

Our first stop was to the Space Odyssey exhibit and we loved it. Mark and I both commented on our drive home afterwards how impressed we are with our kiddos. You know how sometimes you don’t see it when you are in the thick of it, and then one day you see the fruits of your labors…this was one of those moments. We’ve had bits of this manifest itself the last year but it’s been so fun to see the kids REALLY get interested in learning. They ask really good questions and seek out the answers, they are not *totally* there just to press the buttons and see what happens, they are reading the information and taking it all in and it’s been so much fun to see.

Lydia was a huge fan once again of the launch simulator – her wheelchair fits perfectly on the space to feel the rumble and vibrations of a rocket launch! All of us had a good time taking a quiz and finding out what our NASA job would be based on our personalities. And it was so fun to hear the kids casually talking about all that they had learned. It was pretty rewarding as a mama.

Lunch

One thing I love about this museum is it’s location. It is right in the middle of the Denver City Park which is so beautiful. We found a wonderful spot under the shades of trees to eat our picnic lunch, the kids rolled down the hill, picked up pinecones and sticks, and just enjoyed time together. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

Other Exhibits

We spent the rest of the afternoon going to some of our favorite exhibits. It was nice to not feel like we had to do everything since we knew we would be coming back again soon. But the kids still begged to keep going and do all of the things. We ended up spending the whole day there and we loved every moment of it.

We can’t wait to experience all of the many things Denver has to offer. I haven’t really done a “settling in” post yet but we are absolutely loving everything about being here and I think we end every night filled with gratitude for all of the events that brought us here. Life is good.