Bill told a big whopper last night: “I had a good time today.”

We went to the National Gallery of Art. I had a great time. It was a bit difficult: besides our 5 kids, we had our guest. Our kids were pumped up to go. I had printed a sheet with 13 works of art on it. The kids were on a scavenger hunt for these paintings. They had seen postcard-sized prints of most of these paintings and I had downloaded all of them to my screensaver a few weeks ago, so they had seen them flash by all day long. We talked about the art. They had tried to copy the art. When they would find a painting on their list they would be so excited I thought my own heart would burst.

Our ADHD guest was not as thrilled to be in a museum. The rules of talk quietly, no running, no climbing, no touching and the rooms with nothing in them except maybe a couch (oh, and some things hanging on the wall) combined to make him wish he were anywhere else. Bill made the mistake of threatening to take him out of there, so he then proceeded to try to earn this reward. Bill missed the Duerer Madonna because he was eating crow in an atrium for a bit.

Bill also didn’t like that the security guards felt the need to stay within 5 feet of our group at all times, mainly because our ADHD guest looked like a loose cannon. I didn’t notice this, but Bill insisted it was true. Perhaps he’s paranoid…or maybe I just get those looks so often I don’t even notice it any more.

Anyway, we saw all but one of the pictures on our list. We missed an Audobon, and I’m really sorry for that. We’ll have to go back. We ran out of time and ended up blowing through a whole section of the museum on the way to find one Da Vinci (“oh, was that a Botticelli? maybe next time….”). I almost blew off three other paintings. We were eating pizza in the cafeteria and I suggested to Bill that we eat and then head home. Fritz had a piano lesson at 1:30 pm and Jenny was approaching nap time. Fritz heard us and said, “But Mom, I really wanted to see Homer. That’s my favorite.” What’s a mom to do? We saw Homer, Picasso and Miro and then ran home.

That part, when Fritz expressed excitement and desire to see a painting, was the best part. Next best was Jenny, only 2 years old, saying TWICE, “There, Mom” and pointing to one of the paintings on the list. And then at dinner last night, we all discussed which paintings we liked best and talked about various techniques and themes and stuff…now that was really cool.

I love field trips.