Chapter 128- Milwaukee Art Museum
So the twins turned 4 this past week, and instead of having a party or something else that would take up energy and not be that enjoyable for me, we let J & Little A choose a special date. And my heart swelled when Little A said she wanted to go to the Milwaukee Art Museum with JUST MAMA.
This morning, we got dressed up (because she requested “Mama, will you make your hair fancy and wear a dress?”) and hit the road to the museum. Our membership lapsed back in April, and I didn’t renew because the museum was under construction. But now construction is finished and YES WE’RE BACK!!!
It’s so beautiful. We saw like 15% of the collection, and it was incredible. I think there are something like 1,000 new pieces, and they’re big and colorful and thought-provoking and refreshing. We took a few pictures of our favorites.
And after taking a pit stop to look at Lake Michigan, we headed to the Open Studio to create some magic. We saw our friend Shannon, who has seen my kids create and make huge messes for the past few years, and she walked us through the different materials and techniques of the day.
Little A is an artist at heart, and went right to it, using stencils, watercolors, oil pastels and more. When I asked her how she felt while painting, she replied “proud!”.
Afterwards, we checked out the new Haitian exhibit and then made our way back down to the main hallways.
And to our surprise, we got to see live music! Painted Caves were playing some super calming and interesting music, and we sat in the front row to get the best view.
Little A was deep in musical meditation, and didn’t want to leave. It was also past lunch time and she was basically melting into my lap. I suggested we go get noodle soup (pho), which she loves, but she couldn’t bare to leave the museum and we ended up in the cafe downstairs.
A kind and funny and silly woman offered to take our picture. Little A joked with her and smiled and asked why she was so silly (I highly-regarded trait in our house). After our dishes were cleared, we found that our new photographer/silly friend had paid for our lunch as a happy birthday present. That’s never happened to me before, and wow…that was just about the kindest thing I could imagine. She saw the special one-on-one time we were having, and made it even more so.
Next, Little A asked for ice cream. I asked if she preferred frozen yogurt with toppings, or some delicious and SUPER YUMMY ice cream from Purple Door. Luckily, she took my bait and we ended up at the latter. She had chocolate and I had salted caramel.
We spotted a nice wall across the street, which had rich brown colored leaves and interesting vines, and decided to take a few pictures there. When we got close, we even saw small blue berries on the vines…such fun color-hunting with this one.
It was just as special for me as it was for her, I’m sure. I rarely get to spend one-on-one time with my kids, so it’s a real treat to devote my full attention to them. And as a bonus, we got to do all the stuff I really like doing. Making art, taking in beautiful works of art by all kinds of artists, listening to live music, and eating good food.
So in the name of Thanksgiving, I’m really grateful for this day! I’ll leave you with my favorite shots of the day.
A. Storm
(Yes she carried around a notepad all day, taking “notes”. When I asked her what her notes meant, she said “they’re all about my day, of course!”)
