Tag: Sloan Museum of DIscovery

Life’s Little Moments

I feel like it’s been forever since I posted a personal update. My wife’s surgery, her recovery, the daily features, and this week’s Share Your Nostalgia, I’ve been a bit busy. So let me bring you up to date.

My wife is recovering nicely. She will be heading in for another post op check up next week. Her hope is that they clear her to go back to work. She had made it no secret that she is bored and hates laying around. She’s already been her stubborn self and doing things that the doctor told her not to do. That’s how I know she is ready to go back!

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Our photographer, Beth, at Enjoy The View hosted a Spring Mini session recently. We love taking our kids here. The session is 15 minutes long, which is about how long they will behave. Beth had a dog that the kids loved named Roxie. They asked her where Roxie was when they walked in. Beth whispered to us that Roxie had passed away a few days before. Ella heard her and after the session, she told us she had to get a card for “Miss Beth” because “she has to be really sad.”

When the session started, they were ok. However 5 minutes in, they started to get crazy. They were moving SO much. I cannot even believe the great shots she got of them. Sam and I looked at each other when we saw the photos and asked, “Were we at the same session? I could swear they never stood still!”

Here is one of my favorites:

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My brother came up for a visit over the weekend. The kids have been cooped up and wanted to get out of the house. We decided to take them to the Sloan Museum, which has a lot of fun for kids. They have this huge water area for them to play.

They also have a cool treehouse that they can climb in.

When we pulled in, we could see just how busy they were, but we ventured in anyway. It was packed. We had the two kids and four adults and it was a challenge for us to keep them in our sight. They love playing with the other kids, but for us, it was wall to wall people and I was afraid we’d lose sight of them. In the end, they had fun and I was glad to be out of there!

We all went to dinner afterward at our favorite steakhouse – Lucky’s. My brother had never been there before, and we have never taken the kids there. Andrew was a hoot.

They brought out a salad and he was eating it when he found a leaf of spinach. “What?!  A leaf?!?  Who puts leaves in a salad?!”

There was a bottle of wine on the table and they asked if they could have some.  We said that it was not for kids and it was alcohol.  Andrew says, “Alcohol?!?  People die from that on Dr. G!”

(Dr. G Medical Examiner is a show that follows this doctor doing Autopsies!)

Despite the 30 minute wait, the food was excellent. My brother and his partner decided they would go back to the hotel because it was close to bedtime. Sam and I walked in the door and we were ready for bed.

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My brother has read just about everything on Anne Frank. Sam knows that I read a lot of World War II books. She had asked if we’d ever been to the Holocaust museum here in Michigan. I had no idea that there was one. We looked and they were open on Sunday, so we met there about 1pm. We took the kids to Nana’s.

When we walked in, the first thing I saw was a train car. As many know, German soldiers loaded many Jewish people on these cars and took them to the gas chambers. I had read about these cars, which many books describe in detail. I felt it was smaller than I pictured.

This museum not only looks at the events of WWII and the Holocaust, but it takes it a step further and features the stories of survivors who moved to the US and to Michigan. I was disappointed when we found out that one of those survivors was there doing a talk an hour before we arrived. Her name was Irene Miller.

She has written a book about her experience and they had copies in the museum shop. My brother and I both bought copies. When I got home, I noticed she had autographed them. I cannot wait to read this.

It took us about 90 minutes to go through, but I can see where it might take longer. There are many of those codes you can scan with your phone and it takes you to videos with more information. As you get to the end of your trip, there is a hallway with Michigan survivors.

It truly was a very moving experience. I am so glad that we all decided to go. I hope to go back again soon and revisit some of the things we didn’t do.

One of the most sobering facts was that there were over 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust. A quote on the museum website from a Midland High School student makes a good point:

“The Zekelman Holocaust Center shows how much of an impact the Holocaust had on the world. Looking at the number six million in history class doesn’t show much, but seeing the impact here does.”

On the outside of the building are six peaks. They represent those 6 million lives.

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My brother’s visits are never long enough, but I am always glad to see him. We’re hoping to make the trip down to see him over the summer, if possible.

A Fun Family Night

Because of work schedules, it is not often that I get a night with the family. I swapped nights with a coworker because I had hoped to go to a daddy daughter dance with Ella. Tickets went fast and I was put on a wait list for that, and it never panned out. However, the program that is helping Andrew with his speech had a family night scheduled at one of the local museums, and we went there instead.

I hadn’t been to the Sloan in some time because Dante’ and Dimitri are older now. A couple years ago they had something on the ballot about funds for the Cultural Center area. I voted for it and it passed. So they put a bunch of funds into it and the newly opened Sloan Museum of Discovery was part of the results.

Thursday evening was our first visit there and the renovations are just amazing. They brought over some of the stuff from the old museum, but also added SO much more! Only parts of the building were open that night, so I hope to be able to go back and check out everything we missed.

There is an entire area of water play that the kids just loved!!

The water room was long with a TON of things to do. In the above picture, the water in front of the kids has smoke under it. When you turn the orange thing in front of that, the water turns off and the smoke rises. It’s actually very cool.

In the middle of the water is a little “Michigan” with trees and clouds to make rain. It is the little details that I was really impressed with.

Another new addition to the museum is a HUGE tree house. Both kids played in it, but Ella loved climbing up to the top!

One of the things that came over from the old museum was an ambulance. This one may have been a newer model than the old place. Andrew spent a lot of time in it!

All of the switches do something. Some turn on the siren, some turn on the flashers, some turn on the dome lights, etc. Andrew was just happy to be at the wheel!

Another things that came over from the old museum was a “car” that you can work on. Ella wasted no time tackling the battery on it!

They had crafts set up for the kids to do when we arrived. One of them was “marble painting.” You took a piece of construction paper and put it in a tray. Then you put drops of paint on the paper. Then you rolled a marble all over the place and the marbles “painted” the paper. They really came out neat.

They had a place to make friendship bracelets, but Ella saw the water room and that was where she wanted to be! At one point they gathered the families who were there into an area in front of the tree house for story time. They read a book and each kid got to take a copy home. Ella was angry that she had to stop playing for the story. All she wanted to do was run around and play. When we tried to get her to sit for story time – she dropped on the floor and it was obvious she was not happy!

I shouldn’t laugh, but this is my favorite photo from the night!

Her and I ended up walking away from the story and she played in the “store” at the museum. They have food items you can shop for and a cash register where you can scan items and pay for them. They also have a “post office” there where you can address envelopes or boxes. She kept very busy.

Andrew stayed for story time and they had some music to dance to afterward. It truly was a wonderful night out with the family. There is a planetarium nearby and I would like to take them there when Andrew is a little older. We are lucky to have such a cool place nearby!