LuCk on the Run {Yale Peabody Museum}

Chuck and mom have been on Spring Break these last couple of weeks, so we've been knocking stuff off of our "Kids in Connecticut" bucket list. I've lived in the Nutmeg State for about twelve years, but I haven't been to the Yale Peabody Museum. Chuck has a good 30 minute car ride in her, so I knew the 45 minutes it was going to take to get to New Haven was pushing it. But, hey, it's Spring Break!  Although it no longer means trips to the Bahamas with friends, I figure we could push the toddler envelope a little, see what happens, and go on a pint-sized adventure.

The Peabody is on all kinds of "things to do in Connecticut" lists. So, why did it take me twelve years to get here? Honestly, no one has ever really had anything fantastic to say about it. In fact, most people refer to it as "dated", "boring", and/or "a dead zoo" (OK, that last one may be what I call the New York Museum of Natural History, but it pretty much sums up museums of natural history, right?).

This is when that whole "through the magic of a child's eyes" thing is helpful. In her two years of life, Chuck has been to three museums: 1) The Aldrich, 2) The Maritime Aquarium 3) Stepping Stones. She has never been to a Museum of Natural History. When we walked into the Great Hall with the giant dinosaur skeletons, Chuck was in awe. So much so that she looked up and said "wow, that's humongous". She didn't know where to look. There were giant dinosaurs in the center of the hall, there were smaller animal skeletons all around, there was petrified wood, and the skeleton of an archelon (an ancient turtle). Chuck's vocabulary amazed me; she was pulling words out that I didn't even know she knew (humongous for example). Yes, the hall was dated, but to Chuck it was amazing.

The museum currently has a special exhibit called Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies. It didn't look like much when we walked in, but soon Chuck discovered some hands on displays. She sat down, grabbed a brush, and started brushing away clay and dirt to reveal dinosaur egg nests. Then, I did that typical mom thing; I gazed around the room wondering what else would be of interest to her. After she had brushed her fair share of eggs, I determined there was nothing else to be seen here.

That's when Chuck ran a little ahead of me, around a corner, and discovered baby emus! Real. Live. Baby. Emus. As part of this exhibit, the museum has an incubator with a bunch of emu eggs, and several baby emus! It's hard to say a baby emu is adorable, but they certainly make up for it in personality. They playfully followed Chuck back and forth behind the glass. When her little fingers poked the glass, they pecked back with curiosity. She was absolutely in love.

I should note that the museum also has a small, but lovely Discovery Room with a whole bunch of stuff for Chuck to get her hands on. They have pull out drawers filled with all sorts of specimens of fossils, insects, shells, etc. Chuck got up close and personal with a Madagascar hissing cockroach. The ferociousness with which she explores these things amazes me. While I tried my best to hide my bias, she dove right into the insect drawer. She even found a magnifying glass and knew exactly what to do with it.

On our way out, we stopped by the gift shop. They have a great collection of books, and other educational toys. I was most thankful that they divided the shop, very clearly, into kid friendly/adult friendly areas.

It probably took us about an hour or so to explore the museum. An hour gave us just enough time to explore all the galleries, and spend some time bonding with the emus. We've even been keeping tabs on our emus virtually through the museum's live stream of the nest!