A Birthday Outing to the Henry Ford Museum

Today is Brad's 33rd birthday, and to celebrate it a little early we went to The Henry Ford Museum on Monday. A Detroit area landmark, Brad thinks it may have been over a decade since he's been in the museum and we don't think we've ever been there together. We bought a membership, that includes Greenfield Village and we're looking forward to spending a lot more time there!Right now they have the PLAY Exhibit visiting; it was our first stop. Filled with larger than life versions of games, ER really liked the giant pool balls.

We attempted the bowling activity. You're supposed to get a group of people to act as the bowling pins, hit a button, and see if the ball would knock down all your pins. Our group of three was easily knocked over every time. The giant dominoes was the other big hit with ER. She helped set them up a few times and giggled with the rest of the kids as they were all knocked down.

After that we headed over to "Your Place in Time", most of which got a cursory glance from ER. Except for the classroom from the 1950's that Brad told her is like one Grammy might have attended when she was seven years old.

This car exhibit was also a lot of fun for her, she liked climbing in and getting to push all the buttons in the front seat. I thought my Dad, a GM retiree and car enthusiast, would get a kick out of seeing this picture.

When we got to "Hero's of the Sky", ER told us she was all ready to fly to AZ and see Alicia, her Godmother, as she sat in the model Boeing airplane.

Here is the birthday boy and ER pretending to be wing walkers from the 1920s. The white projection screen makes it seem more like you are on a the wing of a plane turning and spinning about. Just standing and looking at the screen too long made my stomach feel a little woozy, no wing walking for me!

And in case you were wondering, yes I really was there too. Here's photographic proof; the closest anyone will ever get to seeing me "fly" a plane! In this area there is also a neat activity where you can make a paper plane and then see which ones fly the farthest.

The "Automobile in American Life" was pretty interesting to me because I love road trips! Lamy's Diner is that exhibit, once in Marlboro, MA it opened for business in 1946. I thought it seemed pretty narrow and cramped. I can't imagine how tight things would be on a crowded day. ER liked sitting in the booths and on the stool while looking around. Brad and I noted the five cent egg price. Another piece of history in that area is the limousine JFK was assassinated in.

We hit "With Liberty and Justice for All" on the way out and I'm glad we did. It was quite moving for me to sit in restored the Rosa Parks bus from Montgomery, AL. It was my honor to met her when I received a Rosa Parks Scholarship for college. She was quite an inspiration for women, minorities, and civil rights.

Happy Birthday Brad! I hope you enjoyed your birthday outing, as much as we did! We love you♥