Hillwood Museum and Gardens

This morning Diggory and I had the great pleasure of visiting Hillwood Museum and Gardens with our friend Christina.  I have to admit that our main impetus in making the sojourn was to see the temporary exhibition Pret-a-Papier: The Exquisite Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave before it closed, which it does, tomorrow, in fact, though since I had never visited Hillwood before, I thought it was just about high time.  I'm totally slapping myself for not visiting sooner.  I thought it was too far away and too hard to get to...but it's not...so go, you too.  

For those of you who know me, you know that I used to work for the Society of the Cincinnati, which maintains it's headquarters and museum at Anderson House, in Dupont Circle.  So the easiest way I, personally, can describe the grounds and mansion house at Hillwood is that it's like Anderson House, but even more fabulous.  Snicker, snicker.  (There's a handful of people who will catch this inside joke.)  As the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, who purchased the estate in 1955 and quickly decided that it would become a museum, the rooms and collections literally sparkle, filled with her collections of Russian imperial art and French furniture and other decorative arts.  Even the wallpaper is shiny and luminescent.  It's an absolute joy to see...and the plus side is that you can guide yourself with the handy 25-page brochure.  There are guided tours, but it's super convenient to go at your own (quicker) pace when you have a toddler tagging along.  In fact, Hillwood markets itself as a family friendly venue.  Before we visited, I browsed their website and was shocked/pleasantly surprised to find an entire page dedicated on how to visit with youngsters.  Among the most noteworthy amenities are stroller-friendly walking paths through the gardens, convenient parking on-site, frontal baby carriers available to borrow from the front desk (because strollers aren't allowed inside the mansion), complimentary coat and bag check, and a quiet room for nursing mothers.  Bravo!  Check out the calendar of events and look what's going on.  There's a preschool series of programs for children ages two through five, family fun days, garden days, concerts, and a variety of lectures and talks.

So, to sum things up, because I've decided to keep this one short...enjoy the images below...and imagine yourself immersed in splendor...and then visit yourself, you'll be glad you did.  Diggory is going to wake up from his nap at any moment...

Diggory, looking rather mischievous, posing for Christina.     

Admiring the very shiny displays of silver.  

The Japanese Garden is spectacular!  Plan on spending a good chunk of time just looking, pondering, and listening to the rush of water through the ponds and waterfalls.

A view inside the Adirondack Building, the main venue for the exhibition Pret-a-Papier.  Indeed, these garments are made of entirely of paper.  There were ten displayed in the mansion and the rest were on view here.  Absolutely awe-inspiring!

National Air and Space Museum (And Phillips Collection Repeat)

How is it already January 14th, and I'm already two weeks behind in posting new blog entries!?  So much for keeping up with my new year's resolutions!  Alas, let me try to recap our most recent museum adventures.

Two weeks ago we went to the Phillips Collection with our dear friend Julie.  We actually went here in April 2012 for one of our first blog reviews...and it's amazing to look back and see how much Diggory has grown!  His experiences in museums are now much more involved, and he's not so much just along for the ride anymore.  I usually have a moment of hesitation now before taking him to art museums because I don't want him to get bored and throw a fit, and I don't want him to break anything!  But, the Phillips isn't so large that it's hard to keep him entertained for the relatively short amount of time it takes to snake through the galleries, and there's certainly some very impressive and eye-catching art to see.  Practicing color, anyone?  

I won't go into all the details and logistics because you can get the info. in my earlier post, but we decided to forgo the stroller...and with two people available to carry Diggs when necessary, it worked out just fine and dandy.

Julie and Diggs outside the museum, posing with Xavier Veilhan's The Bear, 2010.

The exhibition Intersections: Xavier Veilhan, (IN)balance, on view until February 10, 2013, was a major hit with Diggory.  In fact, I think he would have spent hours in the gallery if we had let him.  It helps when there is a giant shiny, silver ball rolling back and forth on a teeter-totter like apparatus. (See photo below.)  That's all I'll say about this visit - that we had an awesome time, that's it's super fun to visit museums with a fellow art nerd and all around awesome friend, and that Diggory behaved himself and didn't touch anything.  

Julie and Diggs in the exhibition (IN)balance.

Our biggest adventure this past week was visiting the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the National Mall.  As one of the most visited museums in the whole wide world, I have to admit that I was a little intimidated.  And not just about taking my toddler there, but in how I would actually achieve covering such a huge museum in a blog entry without boring you all to death.  So, I won't go gallery by gallery (because there are a lot), and I won't describe the bathrooms (because there are a lot, all easy to find, stroller accessible, and all equipped with changing tables).  There are a bunch of hands-on activities and demonstrations for kids in the How Things Fly gallery on the first floor.  The Space Race, Milestones of Flight, and America by Air galleries are the multi-story spaces with the biggest, most totally awesome, airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft.  Diggory walked around aimlessly staring at the "sky," so make sure you're watching your kid so they don't walk straight into the bottom of the Apollo 11 Command Module.  (Oh, and apologies in advance for the blurry pictures.  I forgot my camera, so they're all compliments of my camera phone.)

Wandering the main entrance lobby and Milestones of Flight gallery.

Learning about stability and lift in the How Things Fly gallery.  It's always easier to fly an airplane if you stick your tongue out.

We went to the museum mostly to check out story time.  Yes, story time at the Air and Space Museum!  Yippee!  Here's the schedule.  They mostly do it on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and the book usually changes every two weeks, which also means that the gallery in which the group meets also changes to fit with whatever the story book topic is that week.  Last week's book was Airport by Byron Barton, and, not surprisingly, it's also available in the museum's gift shop.  It's cute.  We bought it.  Story time was adorable...rainbow rug, airplane toys complete with fuel trucks and luggage carriers, activity and craft time, etc.  Diggory was generally more interested in running around the gallery looking at (and inside) the airplanes, but he did do a decent job of sitting still and paying attention.

Climbing the stairs to check out the inside of a passenger plane.  We went up and through and down and around about a dozen times.  Also, notice that the staircase handrails have two levels...one at the perfect height for small children.  Bravo, NASM!  And ALL the stairs in the whole museum are like this!

Playing with the toy airplanes before story time.

 

Momma brought limited edition Space Adventures goldfish crackers for snacks.  Gold star for me!

So many buttons inside a cockpit!  (Or as Diggory would say, "Wow, buttis!")

After story time, we climbed the stairs to the second floor and went in and out all the galleries.  (There are also escalators and elevators.)  We spent a lot of time inside the Skylab Orbital Workshop (in the Space Race gallery but accessible by stairs from the second floor) and played with the hands-on activities in the Pioneers of Flight gallery for longer than momma would have liked.

I was mostly getting really hungry.  So, in order to obtain a complete NASM experience, we ventured back downstairs to the food court for some good ol' McDonald's fries and chicken nuggets.  Yep, I am that mom.  (Well, don't judge, I also give him kale chips and a variety of what my mother endearingly calls "alternative food."  It's just that fries are just so yummy!)  

So, with our visit complete, we headed back to the metro (L'Enfant Station), which I should have mentioned is only two blocks away museum, and made the trek back home.  We had quite a busy morning!  Stay tuned for our next adventure!