The Renwick Gallery.

I know I've mentioned this before but one of the perks of living close to D.C. (yes, two and a half hours is close to me) is going to the museums for free! If I lived here I know we'd be checking out every museum, and historical site, and this past weekend we had the opportunity to go to the smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. It was under renovation for two years, and I'll tell ya, seeing the WONDER exhibit was worth the wait, not to mention the line we had to wait in to get in. Especially to see the second floor. Luckily lines flowed pretty quickly, and thank goodness for good traveling, and patient kids that didn't mind waiting in line for awhile. I'm glad their tummies were full, and that everyone went potty before we arrived so that there were no "mommy I'm hungry, or I need to go to the bathroom" sayings. The kids did well, and it only took us about three hours to see the entire exhibit (that's including waiting in line.)

We walked in and were amazed at all the exhibits. There sure are some pretty talented artists out there. I have to say that my favorite was Gabriel Dawe's plexus A1!

I felt as if I was walking towards an indoor rainbow. I was talking to one of the workers, and he said that the artist used 16 different shades of thread, and that it was about 60 miles of long! If you stare at it long enough you can get dizzy! I was enthralled with this one, and really didn't want to leave the room! I captured a few shots in a few different angles, and every time I looked at it I was just imagining. Imagining the patience, and will to create such a beautiful, unique piece of art hooked from floor to ceiling. Absolutely amazing! 

Noah felt as if he was walking in a winter wonderland with this exhibit. It's an untitled exhibit by Tara Donovan, but I call it "the college life." Probably because she used a ton of index cards! Noah was really interested as to how everything was put together, and when I told him there's also tooth picks, and straw inside he was like "awesome!" He was so good at keeping his hands to himself too.

Now this exhibit you can touch! I swear when we walked I felt as if I was on the set of "where the wild things are" which is one of the kids favorite movies. They are huge nests created by Patrick Dougherty called Shindig, and I swear they could have played in them all day long!

We finally made it to the second floor where they had more amazing exhibits including this one done by Chakaia Booker. An exhibit made entirely of tires! By massing slashing, and reworking these poor leftovers that were left in a melted pool of rubber due to car fires she just put all of this together! Absolutely genius! 

Jon and his little photo bombers in the background!

...and a marbled floor which Noah was so tempted to pick at. Luckily there was a string to prevent people from crossing over. 

Can you guess what this one is? It is a huge tree branch made entirely out of cedar trees, and once the exhibit is over they are going to toss it in the woods to decompose! Pretty awesome!

 This was such a beautiful room to walk into. A room full of insects glued to the wall! Noah and Chelsea were in awe with all the insects, and when we asked Noah which one was his favorite he pointed at a cicada. 

There were all kind of insects inside these drawers too. Noah was so curious in every single one of them. He's still waiting for me to buy him that magnifying glass, and now wants to collect bugs!

This net was hooked on the ceiling, and displayed in the ballroom on the second floor. Another interesting sight. 

We really enjoyed our time at this museum, and if you are an avid art goer I highly recommend checking this exhibit out. Hurry because the second floor exhibits closes on May 8th, and the first floor exhibits, which had the rainbow,  index cards, and nest exhibits will be open until July 10th.

Hope your weekend was as just "wondrous" as ours!