McCord Museum

We nearly didn't make this outting. When we were on the metro, the metro line was stopped due to someone being injured. Just as we were about ready to hop off and hike the extra metro stop home it cleared up and we decided to hop back on and continue to the museum. Let me tell you, being stopped in the metro for a prolonged period of time - not a favorite place of mine to be. And, in the even you are wondering, the man who got hurt seemed to be doing quite well when the paramedics were attending him. So that's good!

As for that museum. We headed to the McCord Museum, primarily to check out their toy/space exhibit but we also took a look at the aboriginal exhibit as well. 

To be honest, I found the toy exhibit completely void of any real purpose, short of being small, gimicky and super overwhelming for the senses it really didn't seem to have a purpose. The kids just ran around, played hop scotch, checked out some strange looking old school toys, drew some rockets and collected information for a launch code. The kids did seem to like it, but not for the museum sense, more for the play sense. In any case, I'm glad we checked out the aboriginal exhibit first - that display triggered those curious questions for the kiddos that I love so much. And as for the toy exhibit - I'm glad the kids had fun - positive experiences in regards to places like museums are always a good thing. 

One thing that was pretty cool is that the museum shop is stocked with vintage-style toys to go along with their exhibit. And I'm kind of in love with those. I think I preferred checking out the gift shop better than the actual exhibit! 

One thing is for sure, that we enjoyed our outing. And, despite the wind being painfully chilly, the sun was shining and made for a fairly pleasant walk to and from the metro. I think I would like to go back and check out the couple other exhibits a little closer, but for now we have a few other museums to tackle! Love these outings with the family!

Atticus and Milayla are pretty obsessed with shadows right now. There are grumpy days where they get touchy if someone steps on their shadow. But most of the time they just want us to look (and often take pictures of) how tall their shadows are. Here are Atticus and I as "tall shadows" on our way to the metro. Atticus thought our winter jackets made us look a little like snowmen.

The kids cannot get enough of the metro. They are so fascinated by it.

Contemporary Art Museum Montreal

One of the things that got me excited about moving to Montreal was the lovely (and large) selection of museums. Unfortunately, we don't really have room in our budget to go on a visiting spree to all those lovely museums right now. Soooo, that makes me infinitely more grateful that some museums have evenings where you can come and check out their exhibits for free. It also helps to take the stress of going with young children who may or may not want to stay and see every.single.exhibit in one go - something that tends to be more of a pressure spot when entrance fees are high. 

Thankfully, our kids get pretty excited about going to museums and I thank my lucky stars for that. 

They also get pretty excited about riding the metro. So that's always half the adventure right there. 

Positive attitudes make a pretty big difference when you spend a hefty amount of time wandering the general vicinity just looking for where the entrance to the museum is. 

The kids were pretty impressed with this though, where they could look down and see people walking around the underground. 

After wandering around outside, we wandered around inside and finally asked for some directions (yet, only the 3rd person we asked actually knew where it was). 

Getting lost in the underground was fun though.

Since we got a little lost finding the museum we sat down and gave the kids a little snack before heading in.

No pictures allowed inside the museum. But we thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits at the Contemporary Art Museum. It wasn't as big as I was expecting (particularly after being at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) but it was a perfect size for us to check out with the kiddos in the evening.

Atticus sat and watched this video that they had playing of this town in Italy where all these people lined up in a square for the honor of shaking an artist's hand. He literally jumped in excitement when he saw one of the ladies in line holding a Lidl bag! And he said "Mommy! That's from Lidl! We've been there, too!".

And Milayla took it upon herself to make sure that everyone understood that you were not to touch the artwork. When she would walk up to a piece of art to check it out she would wave her hand in the air and say "Don't touch" then turn to anyone around here and repeat herself. She found this blue gradient painting that looked like it had textures merely by the use of color and sat and looked at it for a good chunk of time before daring to venture onward.

And me, well, I just love watching my kids absorb that art and build up that appreciation for all different kinds. Just the other day Milayla made a remark that music is art, too and I smiled. We love music around here. And art.

After the museum we lucked out and got to see them setting of for this big light festival. The pictures don't really show much - sorry. But it was cool.

They had this one display where you could stand on this interactive board and open curtains on a building across the street, or project your face on to a big face shape on the wall. It was interesting.

Not too sure the kids knew what to think about that one.

And with that it was time to head back into the underground for our metro rides home. It was a great family outing. We have a few more museums on our list that the kids have been really been counting down to so there will certainly be more to come!

Ubersee Museum Bremen

Well, it took us 2 years to see every single thing in this lovely museum, but we finally did it! And we all loved it. If the kids didn't love it so much I'm not sure that it would have taken us quite so long to see everything; every time we went to visit the kids had to see all of their favorite things from our previous visit (which turns out to be a lot). It's all fun though and they walk away with lots of new little tid bits of information and I get to see their curiosity grow a little bit more. It's great. Here are the pictures from our last couple of visits. 

The kids thought this was the greatest thing ever. You had to turn the handle in the middle to power the unit and it would slowly count how long each of the pictures displayed typically live. We were there for some time and still didn't get to the end! But we did learn that the Galapagos Tortoise lives over 300 years (and it is theorized that under the right conditions they could live to be 1000 years!).

Atticus and the tortoise.

By far one of our favorite discoveries of the day. The kids used this computer that had tons of different eyes, face shapes, hair etc to create a face that looked like Jason. I think they picked pretty well.

Milayla was a little cautious of the "red apple". Can't say I'll be campaigning for us to go live in the Arctic anytime soon...

Milayla LOVES the old Celica that they have in the museum. As soon as it was in eye sight, nothing else mattered. 

Watching a chinese opera. They were pretty enamoured.

Atticus thinks the Mongolian round house is really neat.

Examining the world map.

So glad to have had this museum right at our fingertips for exploring!

Botanika Gardens Bremen

Change, particularly in the form of moving, always seem to bring about a slightly awkward time where 'lasts' and 'firsts' collide. As we close our chapter of living in Bremen, we have get togethers with our friends in this setting for the last time (I specify 'in this setting' because I'm sure that we will see them again soon - when they visit us in chilly Canada :) ), we visit some of our favorite places to make a few more memories and take a few more photos, we try our best to make sure groups we have initiated or places we have serves are taken care of (and of course, they will be). And we prepare ourselves for everything to change. I say everything and that seems to come across slightly dramatic but in truth, everything does change. Our surroundings change, our home changes, our group of friends evolves and grows - we change. Some changes are immediate. Some are gradual. In either case, we do our best to ensure they are positive changes. Though one should only expect positive changes when you are moving in the direction that you feel is best for your family. 

There is a funny thing about 'lasts' that seem to make everything just a little bit sweeter. Moments are sweeter as we try to savour them a little bit longer. Places are sweeter as we know it is, quite possibly, the last time we'll be hanging out there. And it even goes into the realm of ridiculous when places that you never particularly cared for before even become a little bit sweet. Maybe it's just me. Me wanting to remember everything being good. That said, there certainly has been a lot of good here. And for that I am very grateful.

And with that very long introduction, I bring you our 'last' trip to the Botanika in Bremen. 

The kids love this place. It's a nice mix of cultures, gardens and science to keep us all intrigued and in an exploring spirit. 

When we first moved here I wrote this place off, thinking it was only a generic green house, but I went upon recommendations of friends and I am glad that we did. It's been a favorite of ours ever since. We even got to check out some reptiles and exotic birds this visit. 

The things that I particularly loved about this visit were: seeing the kids really explore every nook and cranny. Since we had been here a few times already, they began to see and notice things they hadn't before and asked a lot more questions. I love their questions. I love their curiosity.

And I loved seeing Milayla proudly walking around with their little back pack on. That was Atticus' backpack when he was Milayla's age and he would wear it when we visited museums back in Leiden. That cute little backpack has now won favour with Milayla and despite me having packed both their waters in that backpack (making it a tad heavy) she would not part with it, nor even let me lighten the load. She is determined.

I loved the fish. Not because I am particularly fond of fish but because the children are. With noses pressed against the glass I have to wonder what exactly they look like to those little fish..

I loved having the kids cuddle up to me while we watched a little video (projected on the ceiling) in the science portion of the Botanika. 

And I loved seeing the kids take initiative to explore the stations around them.

 In the long run, I'm not sure the children will not remember much of their visits here as the years pass on. They likely won't remember that they first learned about color mixing here, or the video that was here, or the flowers they smelled, but I do hope that it fed their thirst for knowledge just a little bit more. Because, really, that is what will help them learn all those other things.