It wasn’t exactly like this…
or this…
but we DID manage to sleep in a room with dinosaur bones!
Last night was the Popcorn Overnighter with Trey’s cub scout pack. Last year, Matt earned every bit of his “Live Aboard the U.S.S. Lexington” patch, traveling 8 hours each way by bus to Corpus Christi, so it was the least I could do to accompany Trey to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. The plan was to meet at the museum between 6:45-7:00, have the boys experience several different educational activities, lights out by 11:00, up by 7:15 and on the road by 9:30 the following morning. Things didn’t go quite as planned…
We left in plenty of time to make it to the museum by 7:00…but what we didn’t count on was TRAFFIC. There was apparently a serious accident on 75 at Lover’s Lane, and for us the backup extended between LBJ and Midpark (that’s probably 5 miles for you out-of-towners). Not good, my friends, not good. We reached the backup at around 6:40 and didn’t get through it until 7:15. By the time we reached the museum it was already 7:30 and I was quite stressed thinking that Trey would miss the beginning of whatever it was that they were doing. Thankfully several other families were in the same predicament so they held off the activities until more people arrived. There were about 35 scouts from our pack, plus a pack from the Austin/RoundRock area there, which made close to 70 scouts, each with an accompanying adult. Translation: a FULL house!
Our first stop was in the old Science Place at the Electric Theater. I hadn’t been there since I was newly pregnant with Trey (so new that I hadn’t told ANYONE other than Matt – and they made an announcement at the beginning, “If anyone here is pregnant, you need to get up and move to the back just as a precaution.” Kind of an awkward moment, for sure!) – so it was good to be back. The boys received an “electrifying” lecture and demonstration of electricity, with all kinds of fun gadgets and gizmos that sparked and rumbled and lit up the night.
Then it was off to the “Baseball as America” exhibit for a scavenger hunt. Our den worked together to find the answers and did reasonably well – only missing two of the questions. The boys were too excited to really care about the exhibit but it was a great opportunity to work together and build some of the relationships and friendships within our den.
Apparently the thought was that we would have worked up quite an appetite by now, so they shuttled us back to “the museum” for a late-night snack of pizza, brownie bites, and bottled water. We sat in the hall of Texas mammals and ate (appropriately enough) between the stuffed bobcats and stuffed wolves (which later turned out to be grey foxes but don’t tell the boys that)…while the bobcats and soon-to-be-wolves stuffed themselves silly. I had brought a cake to share for Trey’s birthday but with the other pack present I had been told to wait until we were separated to bring it out.
Den 3 buddies after the scavenger hunt, waiting for pizza.
We then moved into the rotation time. This was a great disappointment to me, as I had different expectations of what we’d be doing. The boys, however, loved it anyway. The first rotation was creating a ball cap representing themselves. Trey used red glitter paint to draw a lego car and a Star Wars fighter. We wrote his name on the bill in green glitter paint – it came out very cute, and he was quite proud of his work. Our second rotation was a lecture on sharks in preparation for the IMAX film we’d be watching the next day. Trey, our future marine biologist, was heavily involved, sharing his knowledge readily with anyone who would listen…or not. At the end of the lecture, we made shark’s tooth necklaces to take home. Unfortunately, Trey found the burlap twine to be too itchy to wear, but he still thinks his necklace is very cool.
Trey’s hat. Mom actually wrote the name and traced the pictures.
Trey proudly displaying his cap.
Then it was lights out. For the uninitiated, lights out simply means “flashlights on” to a Cub Scout. For the most part, everyone bedded down and went (or tried) to sleep. There were a few, however, who found the “fun with flashlights” part too irresistible and enjoyed creating their own laser light show on the ceiling for another hour or so. Trey crashed so I don’t think it bothered him at all. We slept right in front of the Iguanodon’s “cage” but thankfully he was content to remain a fossil so we had no problems there.
We were awakened promptly at 7 A.M. and began the process of packing everything up. Though it took 3 trips to bring everything in, we managed to get it all out in only one trip. We enjoyed a breakfast of muffins, fruit and juice, eating amongst the mammals, and then headed over to the IMAX theater. The movie was about sharks, and was hugely entertaining and informational. Unfortunately, the introduction and my lack of sleep combined to create massive motion sickness so I had to “watch” the last 15 minutes of the movie with my eyes closed. Don’t worry, it was too loud for me to sleep. This was the last activity, so afterward, the pack scattered with some people heading to look at the exhibits and others heading home. Several families returned with me to share the cake that I had brought for Trey’s birthday. We still came home with way too much cake, but we can take it to Trey’s school to share with his classmates tomorrow at lunch.
Cub Scout Den 3 buddies waiting for the Imax movie to start!
So now, I can say I have survived a Night at the Museum. Not only was it wonderful one-on-one time with my boy, but as Den leader I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect a little better with the parents. Of the 7 boys in our den, 5 earned the trip, so it was a wonderful time for the boys to spend a little “unstructured” time together. I think the best part for me came during the snack, when one of the boys looked up at me and said, “Are you going to be our Den leader when we’re Bears?” I responded, “Would you like for me to?” And in unison, the boys responded a resounding, “YES!”
You know, it’s true…I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And gosh-darn it, people LIKE me. At least 7-year-olds do.