Struggling to make a plan for the day this morning, I took a look at my Gargantuan Master List of Kid Activities I've made for the summer and decided on the Sculpture Garden in downtown Minneapolis. As far as outings go, I'd give it about a 6 out of 10. It was easy to get to (20 minutes), free street parking right in front, lots of open space but plenty of shade if it's super hot out and plenty to look at.
It was really hard to explain to my natural climbers, though, that the sculptures weren't to be climbed on. I feel strongly about respecting the request not to climb - anywhere else it's appropriate, I encourage monkey-like behavior. I think Pacey especially was confused about why I was being so restrictive about what they could do in this outdoor space. There was one sculpture in particular that basically looked like three giant intersecting slides. Pacey kept pleading with me to let him climb on it and didn't understand that it wasn't ME saying no. It was really annoying when another mom came along and let her kids climb all over it, REALLY confusing the message for him.
Anyway, the kids' favorite part of the whole place was a pedestrian bridge that was built spanning several different freeways to connect the garden with a park on the other side. I was kind of terrified walking across this thing, multiple lanes of traffic whizzing underneath. They thought it was great fun though and were sorely disappointed when their desire to just run back and forth all morning was denied.
A good enough way to spend a couple of hours outdoors for free and without worrying about the kids annoying lots of other people, but I think I'd prefer to return on my own to really see the sculptures (although I think I don't really *get* a lot of them). I would imagine it looks really different in the winter too, which could be fun. I did get to take a lot of fun pictures despite less-than-willing subjects :)
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| Bridge of doom |
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I broke my own rule and let them sit in these "windows" while they had a
snack |
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| Looking so OLD |
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This sculpture was called something like
"Five Panels and Two Rods." I sort of
appreciated the straightforwardness of it. |
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| This picture just encapsulates my girl so well |
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| Possibly the most famous sculpture at this particular location |
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| Some sort of mirrored thing |
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| Great energy-burner |
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| View from the bridge |
2 comments:
I hate when other parents ignore the rules and then my kids don't understand why they can't do it too.
Looks like fun though!
I studied that giant spoon sculpture in art class.It was made by Alexander somebody
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