A Return to the National Gallery of Art

To quote Colin this morning, "Mom you are a total mess today!" And bless his heart he was right. I didn't have the kids in camps this week because we're heading off to Door County on Thursday so I've really been looking forward to no schedule and doing whatever we want when ever we want. Well apparently I'm not as great with spontaneity as I think I am. 

After hopping in the car to take the kids to see a play of The Cat in The Hat at Glen Echo Park I called to make sure there were tickets, low and behold some overly scheduled moms had clearly pre-purchased all the tickets. boooo! While driving on the Parkway I quickly decided to shift plans and take the kids to the Phillips Collection (my favorite private museum in town) only to remember two exits later that museums are closed on Monday. You'd think after missing the David and the entire Uffizi gallery oh so many years ago I'd remember that. Well  God Bless the Smithsonian for always being open! After circling around National Airport twice we were off to the National Gallery. The boys and I decided to pick our favorite paintings to recreate at home. 

The boys deep in thought over... what's for lunch.

The boys were so well behaved, and even got into the fun of the game. Colin liked the sculptures but Will was not a fan of Degas' ballerina. When I asked what about the sculpture he didn't like Will plainly said, "I don't like ballerinas, Mom." Ok. 

I loved talking to them about the artists and the style of the different types of painting. Colin thought Seurat's pointillism was really cool but his favorite was Claude Monet's The Cradle-Camille with The Artist's Son Jean because "there is a baby in it."  I bet Namma would be happy about that. I still remember her love of his water lilies.

Will's pick was, Gustave Caillebotte's Skiffs because "it has cool boats." This is a new painting to me, though I've written (on another *cough cough* blog) about some of his other paintings.  I loved talking to him about the thickness of the paint in certain parts and why the artist might have chosen to paint it that way. 

After a tour of the gift shop and two stuffed animals and three books purchased we were off to throw pennies in the fountain. I had promised the boys they could make a wish in the fountain before we left if they were well behaved. This, as it turns out was the boys' favorite part of the expedition. And though I repeatedly told the boys not to tell me what their wishes were I couldn't stop them. Colin wished for a water gun and Will wished for more stuffed animals. 

After a little relaxing at home our darling little neighbors came over for some super hero fun! 

All in all it was a great day!

Till Next Time, 
Mamma, Toad & Frog