Exhaustion set in...

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of accompanying 120 first graders to the new Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  We left the school early on two school buses ( a first for most kids),  drove into San Francisco (another first for many) and then headed into the newly remodeled Steinhart Aquarium....at least that's what it will always be to me.  

I couldn't believe how much I remembered from my childhood visits there.  The African Hall, the tanks down stairs, the planetarium...not to mention the Japanese Tea Gardens and the De Young, which we didn't have time to visit yesterday.  But the best memories have nothing to do with the aquarium and everything to do with running around in the courtyard out front.  So, after I drug the kids in my group through the African exhibit, the tanks, and the new rain forest, I took them out front and made sure they had lots of time to play hide and seek in the trees, run on the big wide paths around the fountain and hop from bench to bench, bothering couples seeking a bit of San Francisco's notorious romance.  

Once we got out front there were probably 4 or 5 other groups of kids from our school running around.  Attached to every group kids was a parent who grew up in the Bay Area and remembered much more about the park than about the museums.  So, while we native parents stood by the benches and traded park stories, the kids ran around and made some of their own memories.  

By the time we headed home, everyone was tired.  The new Academy is worth a visit even at the new high prices.  Much to my delight, the old diaramas are still there, so are the penguins and the samples of butterflies from all over the world. The live butterflies in the rain forest are amazing as is the albino crocodile and the tropical fish swimming around the planetarium.  But no matter how much they fixed up the building,  I think kids will remember running around the park most of all.  Some things never change.