Mummies! Part 1

The less frequently I update the more blog followers I get. Are you guys trying to tell me something?

So the California Science Center had a new exhibit on mummies. I saw the sign and mentioned it when I was driving. Our five year old daughter, Bella got instantly excited.
“I want to see the mummies,” she said.
“Really?”
“Yes. Are they real?”
“Yes, they are real. But they don’t walk around”
“I thought you said they were real.”

It occurred to me she was thinking of a Scooby Doo episode.

“They are real, but they don’t walk around,” I explained.
“Are they dead?”
“er… yes. They’ve been dead for a very long time. Like the dinosaurs.”
“Did the mummies used to ride the dinosaurs?”
“… Yes. The mummies used to ride the dinosaurs.”

Let her teachers sort that one out.

So we went to the California Science Center, which is “free.” Yes, “free” means you pay for parking, Imax movies and any other big exhibit you want to see like, I don’t know, say, MUMMIES. Way to nickel and dime me, California Science.

So we went in and her eyes immediately lit up. She saw a sign for the mummies. “Is that what they look like?”
“Yes. Too scary?”
“No.”

I went to get us tickets and that’s when I saw the warnings. Mummy exhibit may be too intense for children, talk to your child before you take her to the exhibit, you’re a horrible parent, and no refunds, etc.

Great. Now I was getting worried. Would it be too much for her? But she was so excited. She’s be crushed and I would have to hear about it on the long traffic laden ride home.

But I was genuinely concerned. I kind of pride myself on making sure our children only see age appropriate material in the movies, on television or in books. I didn’t want to upset her.

So I started asking some of the employees more questions and didn’t really get any good answers. Half of them were volunteers and hadn’t seen the exhibit and the others weren’t really sure what “too intense” meant. So it was on me. And to be honest, as a parent, it should be. But I was in a situation where I wasn’t able to preview the material before making a decision so it was tough. To make matters worse, Bella was getting angry that I was asking so many people about how intense the mummies exhibit was. She knew if I got the wrong answer she wouldn’t get to go. She was right. But I really didn’t get any answer at all.

But before I had to make my mummy decision we went to the Imax Hubble movie narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. You know what? It was really good. Great 3D and an interesting movie. Bella liked it too. Maybe she would forget all about the mummies. Yeah, right.

So then it was game time. She wanted to see the mummies next and was not going to take no for an answer. Curse you, Scooby Doo.

(The conclusion of Mummies! The Musical will be within a week, I promise)