Corning Museum of Glass

All over our town are huge billboards advertising the Corning Museum of Glass. Kids Under 17 Free! Shows Daily! Just a Short Trip Down Route 15! I finally checked out their website and saw they had these family day programs and noticed that today they would be doing Rome. Well, what a coincidence! We're studying Rome! So we packed out water bottles and snacks and off we went.

OK, in their defense I was making them stare right into the sun. But good grief, can't I ever get a picture where all four of them are looking at me at the same time?!?!


Sweetness and light.
I'm not going to get all docent on you about the art, but there were two pieces I really found fascinating. This one, while it at first looks like a bunch of blood clots or something, is actually a family. Each "blob" is made up of spun glass letters that make up the names of the various members of the artist's family, and they're all connected.



This one is called "It's Raining Knives." Odd title, I know. The artist was living in Argentina when Peron was being ousted, and this is how she felt, like knives were raining down on her village.

Katie Grace and Nicholas made a bulla. This is supposed to ward off evil spirits. Michael refused to make one because he doesn't believe in evil spirits. Smart kid!



Making shields.
My inner eye tells me you are in grave danger, Harry!


99 Bottles of Butterbeer on the wall... OK, I think that's the last of the Harry Potter references.


All three kids with their shields, dressed up in togas with no place to go.

Nicholas loved this sculpture and really wanted to show Daddy.

A replica of an ancient Egyptian glassmaking oven.

Crawl Daniel! Crawl to freedom! A glorious ten minutes down from the sling.




Decorating a glass bottle for holding bath oil. Katie Grace is in the tub enjoying her Roman bath oil as we speak! Michael made a bottle but did not fill it with oil because--his words--"I don't want to smell nice."

And Katie Grace lost her first tooth at lunch!


OK, if you've gotten this far, I do want to say that if you're anywhere near Corning, NY, this is a great day trip. Not only is it an excellent value--kids under 18 are free and adults are $10.60 with a AAA card--but they were so family friendly it was just amazing. Now, I know what you're thinking. Who in their right mind would take four children under ten to a huge museum full of GLASS on her own? But really, it was very kid friendly. The docents were wonderful. Someone even helped me get all the kids safely to our table with their lunch trays! Lunch was pretty reasonable too, btw. And when Katie Grace lost her tooth they made a big deal over her and got her a little pouch for her tooth. They have lots of kids' programs coming up, including some exciting stuff on tap for the summer. We may just have to go back.