AE | The Weekend Lens

It's been a sick couple of days around here. Actually, Simon was out of school two days last week for some kind of stomach bug. I came down with it on Sunday and then Anna followed Sunday evening.

But, we did have a healthy Saturday.

Earlier in the week I'd gotten a note that the Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum at the University of Oregon was having a free family day with activities for the kids. In my effort to get out of the house and do at least one fun activity as a family on the weekend this was perfect.

Our first stop as we entered the museum was to check out the forest of REPAIR-ations (seen in the image above) which was created by Virginia-based artist and arts choreographer Jennifer Van Winkle. It's a collaboration between Jennifer, local school students, and students from the UO.

Basically it's a super amazing forest built from cardboard and other recycled paper materials. The highlight for the kids were the awesome cardboard animals.

After checking out the forest we went into the art room to create some leaves that will become part of the exhibit.

On the tables they had recycled junk mail, old brochures, glue sticks, scissors, pens, etc. and templates to create leaves. I helped Anna make her leaf while the boys worked on theirs.

Following the leaf-making we got to see a puppet show.

I think she liked it.

And so did Simon. Big time.

After the puppet show we did a quick trip around the museum, including a stop for a cookie in the lobby.

The art museum has a really beautiful courtyard.

We took a stroll through there on our way out. Anna really wanted to go swimming in the water feature.

And of course a game of chase on the UO campus to round out the adventure on our way to have pizza for lunch.

I'll definitely be looking for more family days at the art museum in the coming months. Great way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday.