Perfect Fall Day

After spending days lounging around the house for Thanks-
giving break, we finally got off our rear-ends and out the door for some family fun time. I bought a Groupon to check out the new Leonardo museum a few weeks ago and it seemed like the perfect time to pull it out and give the museum a go. But first, we needed lunch. Shockingly, not much was open downtown. Lucky me, my favorite, the Beehive Tea Room was so I won and got to take my boys. They made my girly hang-out more masculine by playing with their lego mini-figures on the table. I can't help but wonder, though, if the ambience of the place didn't wear off onto them a little when they made those mini-figures perform a square dance. After our lunch we kept walking on to the museum. While I can't claim that I am a fan of the new museum, the boys had a nice enough time trying out some of the exhibits. Romney really enjoyed turning this motion detecting virtual knight into a pretzel by making him break dance- doing the worm and the coffee grinder. I am not sure who was giggling more, Romney or the small crowd watching him.


This exhibit was fun, for a minute. A series of mirrors set up to let you look at yourself and ponder how others see you, complete with white board markers to graffiti up your image. William enjoyed drawing a top hat and handle bar mustache onto his reflection.



Romney and I braved the "trace your face" exhibit. Romney concen-
trated hard on getting it just right. It wasn't happening. He quickly recycled his. I gifted my masterpiece to him, because he kept making fun it of it. Sucker then felt obligated to carry it for a few minutes, until I let him off the hook and recycled mine as well.


This was Romney's favorite stop of the whole museum, the stop animation board. He sat for as long as long they let him, placing paper figures in different funny situations. My favorite was Einstein vs. the Robot. All of his movies had a common theme of one character bonking another on the head, and off the screen, back and forth. Never gets old.



We felt completely done at the Leonardo within a couple of hours. My head was pounding from the dark and the electronics housed in the museum. Though the idea of merging art and science is a favorite of mine, this museum is not. It is not terrible, but it is far from great. Since it is one that is supposed to be in constant flux (like art and science), hopefully it will get better.


Outside the air was crisp the light was perfect, a much needed anti-dote to the dark and airless museum. From dark and color less to bright and colorful, our next stop was the new toy store housed in the Grand America hotel, Jou Jou. It is not very big, but was fun to explore. Lots of bright colors and cool kiddo gadgets and play things.



Last on our agenda for the day, grabbing a hot chocolate and walking home through the lights at the Gallivan Center and Temple Square. The sun was heading over the horizon for the day but the temperature was still not too cold. No snow on the ground and only a mild wind may the night pleasant viewing conditions for this holiday tradition.