Airplanes, Boats, and Submarines - Oh My!

We took the boys this past Wednesday to see the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in the city, and whoo buddy, Oscar was mighty pleased.  Oz is at the ripe age of three and a half and loves ANYTHING to do with transportation.  He doesn't know anything about the machine guns and missiles and whatnot attached to the planes and submarines, but that is a good thing, I think.  I want to keep him innocent of that stuff as long as I can - which probably won't be too much longer as he is nearing preschool.  Eek!  Did I actually write that?!?  My baby is going to S.C.H.O.O.L.  Yikes!

Moving on... The Intrepid (for those of you who don't know) is a WWII aircraft carrier that now serves as a military and maritime museum docked in the Hudson on the West Side of Manhattan.  The museum is a historical landmark and it showcases all sorts of famous stuff, like the USS Intrepid (well duh), the submarine USS Growler, a Concorde SST, and a Lockheed A-12.  And in a couple of months it will also have the Space Shuttle Enterprise!  While we were visiting, they had giant cranes moving airplanes in order to make a space for her.  Bonus! 

All of this was made possible by my lovely library and the museum passes they offer for check out.  Hot dog!  What a cool thing. I know I sound like I'm advertising or something, but I love libraries so much and being able to check out a pass to a museum (basically a free ticket!) is just plain amazing.  Also amazing was bypassing the 45 minute long line into the museum because we had a pass.  Sweet momma!  I foresee the using of many such passes in my future.

Oscar and Charlie quite enjoyed themselves.  Oz later told me that his favorite part was sitting in the space capsule (and when asked the same question, Charlie replies with a grin "Bah!" -so that could just mean anything).  We didn't get to see everything, but that just means we'll have to go back!  Warning: this post is about to get real picture heavy... I've been playing with Picmonkey since Picnik is no more.  Anyone else like it?  I really have been enjoying all the filters!  In fact, for these pictures, I used a filter called "Intrepid!"  How perfect.  My favorite picture is this one below of Charlie.  Doesn't that filter give it such a cool retro effect?!? 

Ready for more pictures?  Here ya go!  (Click on any of them to see them larger.)

Oscar got a penny that was smashed with the Intrepid design on it.  He was thrilled.

 Space Capsule!!!

 Oz LOVED the idea of bunk beds... I foresee these in our future.

 Did you make it?  Thanks for looking at our day!  And let me know if you are loving Picmonkey or if you found anything different to fill the Picnik hole in your photo editing!

Museum of the Moving Image

Tim and I used to go to museums all the time... pre-children.  Now it seems harder and harder to get interested in going.  It's like over half of your time is spent getting ready to go and the other half in trying to keep little people happy while you're there.  It's exhausting.  Totally.

Well, I have this list of New York things to do and we've knocked a whole lot off the list, but I still have a few museums and such to see.  I've REALLY wanted to see the recent exhibit of Jim Hensons' work at The Museum of the Moving Image, one of the museums still on my list.  I even had a little article pasted on my fridge just to remind myself daily of how much I wanted to see it.  Tim had MLK day off and suggested we knock it off our list, so away we went.

We met up with my brother Andy and his fiance Rachel (oh how I love saying that!) for a morning of Jim Henson and some lunch.  Well, you couldn't take pictures in the Jim Henson portion of the museum (since when does that stop me?!?), which was a drag and there were only a handful of puppets on display.  Bummer!  It was not a total waste though - at least I got to see the Muhna Muhnas and a puppet of Mayor Bloomberg.  I really wanted to see some items from The Labyrinth, though, so I could have bragging rights to my sister.  (She and I watched that together ALL the time growing up and lusted over some David Bowie.  Oh how young we were...) 

The rest of the museum was really cool too, though.  Of the costumes and props and such, there were some pretty fantastic pieces in their collection.  Things pictured: Andy and Charlie in front of Mork's suit from "Mork and Mindy" (squeal!), a miniature set design for a Muppet movie, a dress worn by Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons, and the miniature of the Tyrell Corporation from one of Tim's favorite flicks - Blade Runner.  Below that is a cute vintage Spock toy, Bill Cosby's sweater (eek!), and one of the animatronic Yoda's from one of Star Wars movies.  Wild, hey?  Great museum! 

We even got a bit of a family picture (thanks Rachel and Andy!!!).  Sure is tough to get these boys wrangled into a dang photo op.  Lordy.  And notice Charlie's shirt?  Why yes, I DID make that!  I freaking love freezer paper t-shirts.