Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Class Trip - Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Noah's class took a field trip yesterday to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.  We are so fortunate to live in a city with so many great places and museums at our fingertips!  I was lucky enough to join the class as a chaperone...I was as excited as the kids...this was the ONLY place in Chicago I had not visited! 

This was my group to look after. They behaved soo well - the whole class did. It was so fun for me to see their excitement....


(Noah and his two friends)

One thing this museum is known for is their Butterfly Habitat. It is a beautiful area that is dedicated to butterflies. There are flowers and lush folliage all over to make them happy.  I apologize for not listing the names of each butterfly...it was just a little crazy in that place with excited kids everywhere!

(Noah looking at all the butterflies flying around the amazing waterfall)

Randomly placed plates of fruit are what the butterflies love to eat...funny, my kids would make great butterflies...except they aren't quite as quiet as butterflies. Hehe.

(See the pale green one sitting on the orange?)

For some reason, Noah has always said..."Mommy you love flowers and butterflies!"  Well, Mommy does love flowers...she does NOT love butterflies, well at least not some butterflies.  I don't mind the small, colorful, fluttery type - I can appreciate their beauty...but the huge, harry, moth-like ones - NO THANKS.  For some reason (Silence of the Lambs, maybe?) they give me the heebeegeebee's.  I just picture them getting tangled in my hair and flapping around and I can't deal...
This was one of those...it was huge!  Good thing for me it was up pretty high.
(note: as far as Noah is concerned, I do love all butterflies and even pointed this one out for him to see...why should my 'phobia' ruin it for him?!)

(huge, very creepy butterfly - probably about 12in across - yikes!)


(I did like this one - his wings looked like fur with an 'eye'spot.)

The 'lab' part of the habitat where they monitor the hatching of new butterflies.


Another exhibit was the National Geographic Crittercam.
They showed how cameras are attached to different animals in order for us to learn about how they live.

(Noah and friend peeking at a penguin)

Next was the 'Water Park' (my name for it)...
a hands-on area where the kids could pull levers, push buttons, float boats, etc to change the movement of water

(Noah and his class-mate getting their hands...and shirts, and pants, and shoes... wet)

We all had so much fun, but boy was I BEAT when I got home...so was Noah. Luckily, Jon worked from home to spend some time with Millie while I went.  When I got home I CRASHED!  I don't know how his teachers do it everyday!  As tired as I was, I know that I am very fortunate to be in a situation where I can volunteer in Noah's class and see first hand what he is learning...that made every minute of the crazy day worth it!  Thanks for a great day Noah!

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