Weekend Adventure // Peabody Essex Museum

Let me share with you a parenting hack for making sure that you never miss out on an exhibit/special event at a museum: as soon as you see it, look up the day that it ends and put it in your calendar at least two weeks before that date, even if that day is months in the future. Bonus if it is a museum that has free entry days and you can book it for that day. The two week buffer you give yourself allows for a reschedule if absolutely necessary, and sometimes you even get close to the date and are pleasantly surprised about the adventure you booked and may have totally forgotten about. You know, hypothetically, for a friend...

This weekend happened to be the one I put in our calendar to visit the Peabody Essex Museum to see Playtime, which is an interactive and super fun exhibit for kiddos and grown ups alike (and ends on May 6th). We went down late knowing the museum closes at 5, figuring it would help us beat the crowds, but this exhibit is a big deal so we had a long line to wait in for the balloon room, but like a Disney ride the 30 minute wait was totally worth the 90 seconds immersed in hundreds of pink balloons. Oh, and the girls loved it too :) The rest of the exhibit had some cool pieces and an art station for the kids (and was less crowded) and we were able to see everything we wanted to in the 2 hours that we alloted ourselves before closing. Bonus, the interactive light exhibit XYZT was in its last weekend so we got to see that again as well (we were there in the fall to see a horror movie poster exhibit that I put in our calendar months in advance because HORROR MOVIES!).

The PEM is such a great museum and they have a big area just for kids to create, touch things, read and play in a way that feels like they are interacting with art and not just being distracted by toys. They regularly scheduled crafts and activities for kids to participate in and rotate through a diverse range of collections. Amidst an Annie meltdown she and I checked out a really colorful exhibit my Native American artists T.C. Cannon which served as a great distraction of colors and animal subjects.

Another reason we planned to go so late in the day was so that we could get in a pre-rush dinner at Turner's Seafood, which is just around the corner from the museum. Their menu is awesome, they have local beers on tap and the kids menus come with Wikki Sticks, so it is pretty much the best place ever. Oh, and they have a lobster tank, which Annie kissed the glass of as she said goodbye to them after dinner (this is why my kids never get sick, the gross little humans). Both times we have gone the staff has been super nice and engaged with the kids, which I never expect but always really appreciate.

Hopefully next time we actually walk around Salem a little more, since we have yet to do so with our little witch/wizard/monster loving humans, but knowing it is less than an hour away from the city (with potty and iced coffee stops) I see us going down again this summer to do.

Thanks for a fun day, North Shore!