First Day
Tuesday was the first day of Third Grade for the Goose. Thursday was the first day of Kindergarten for Pie. Today is the first day of Blogging for Mom.
On Tuesday, Pie and I went to our favorite place: Phipps Conservatory. We visit regularly and and almost always follow the same routine.
- Arrive early. Phipps opens at 9:30, woot! This works well for young children who aren't interested in sleeping in.
- Stop by the membership desk to check in.
- In the winter, drop off our coats in the locker area. We pay the quarter so that Pie can turn the key to lock them up. (But since you don't pay for parking at Phipps, that quarter can be your only expense if you have a membership and you skip lunch there.)
- Head up the elevator - because elevators are always the most exciting part of any museum. Someone should open a museum full of elevators. It would be a money-maker.
- Show our receipt to the person at the entrance. And, and this is important, get the scavenger hunt/kid paper and one of those little golf pencils. There’s something magical about golf pencils.
- Head into the Conservatory, then immediately stop to try to find the scavenger hunt clue.
- Eventually start up again, and follow the path around to all the different areas.
- Decide halfway through that it is lunch time, so go back downstairs and order the kid's pizza lunch with milk. Always the same.
- Head back upstairs to go find the last of our favorite spots.
Pie loves Phipps because they have scavenger hunts, a play farmer’s market, african impatiens, buttons to push, and pizza.
Mom loves Phipps because they have ferns and moss and banana plants and in the middle of winter a trip there feels like summer and a shot of oxygen (I hear there are oxygen bars but I don’t know how that works, plus I’m not very good at keeping plants alive, so it is nice to see some green in winter).
I think we both love Phipps because it offers us a nice and predictable morning out together.