No good deed goes unrewarded... I know, that's not the way the phrase goes, but I think it's truer. Last night I got an emergency call from Saara's teacher asking if I could be a chaperone for today's field trip. I could, so this morning I headed to the Indianapolis Children's Museum with four sixth grade classes.

The museum has opened a new dinosaur display which is really, really good. Some of the highlights were: real fossil skeletons, not just casts. Viewing of a newly discovered species (it's only been on display for a couple of weeks.) The first trial of a new program which allows the students to make presentations within the gallery space using power point and their own research. I was amazed at some of the questions the kids were investigating -- things like are the eggs of herbivores different from the eggs of carnivores (turns out the answer is yes!), can we tell from the teeth of a dinosaur if it was a predator or a scavenger (assuming a meat eating dinosaur). I know we hear alot about the dumbing down of school, but I was impressed with this unit and the technology that these kids are learning to use as a matter of daily life. Also, a real live meteorite which measured some half meter long and about a third of a meter wide and deep!! That alone made my day! Hands on exploration of field cast and how palentologists prepared them for study one they get them back in the lab. And so on. A really excellent new display that I highly recommend to anyone living in or passing through Indianapolis.

But the real treat was out in the main hall -- the Children's museum is going to be home to the newest, and largest glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly Dale's work is internationally reknown and truly spectacular. The coolest part is that the installation is going right now, so we got to watch as they assembled the sculpture. It looks like assembly is going to take several days, if not weeks, so, again if you are living in Indianapolis, or passing through in the near future, I would strongly recommend stopping by to see how it's done. It's really a once in a lifetime chance. Click here for a slide show of some of his other chandellier installations.

When I said yes this morning, I had no idea that I was going to the dinosaur exhibit, that I'd see this enormous meteorite and be able to touch it, or that I'd get to witness part the installation of a Chihuly sculpture. Like I said, no good deed goes unrewarded!  ¶ 5:31 PM