Night at the Museum

Ben is fascinated with the "Jacob's Ladder" exhibit;
an electrical arc ascending between two electrodes.

Benjamin and I returned home a short while ago; a bit tired from our night at the museum. Sleep eluded us until well after 1:30am. Every time I glanced over at my son, he was wide-eyed; apparently fixated with the long shadows cast about the room as the ambient light fell across the various exhibits. Having all settled into our sleeping bags; voices trailing off and simmering down to a few sporadic whispers, one incessant noise remained. Some ten yards from my pillow was an exhibit demonstrating the various components of music. It was an interactive computer program where one can point and click on a piece of music; playing it in various keys and tempos. Apparently, after a few idle minutes it defaults to its starting page; some instructions on a colorful screen complete with a looping rhythm track - some sort of Latin or Mambo beat, I think. After several minutes of this, it became apparent to me that there wouldn't be a museum staffer appearing any time soon to relieve us of this torture.
Was I the only one in the room who noticed? The other group nestled in and around the display seemed oblivious to the contraption and it's obnoxious vibrations. "OK", I thought. "I'm not gonna get a minute of sleep while that machine is alive. I must kill it!" ...And I had just gotten comfortable! I crawled out of my warm bag and found my way over to the offending party; a wonderful, educational tool by day, an evil robber of slumber by night! "How do I turn this blasted gizmo off?" I mumbled under my breath. It was dark and I was fumbling around; looking for a switch; a thing-a-ma-jig; something. I moved the computer-mouse and suddenly a new screen appeared; a nice quiet screen! Relief, at last!
I tip-toed between the guys in the other group and made my way back to my section of commercial carpeting. Having settled back into a reasonably comfortable position, I laid my head back down. Thump dee dee thump, thump dee dee thump, thump dee dee thump... It was back! "That's it, where's that exhibit showing various building materials; I need to borrow a brick!" I tip-toed back over to my nemesis. "Aha, there it is; the power switch! Where were you hiding before?" The bright, colorful screen collapsed into white dot in the center of the monitor and disappeared. Vanquished! Once again, I maneuvered myself back into my bedding. I was just at that point; you know the one, where the line between awake and asleep is blurred; that's when the snoring began! Somewhere miles away, a woman was getting the best night's sleep she'd had in recent memory - her husband was with us! Either that, or the Toledo zoo was missing a walrus!
All that aside, we really did have a great time. Ben enjoyed the evening very much and I enjoyed watching him. There's nothing quite like seeing the wonder in your child's eyes as they experience something new.
Now, I think I'll go and take a nap!

Here, Ben is learning about civil engineering;
designing a sturdy bridge.

Ben and his buddy are testing the alarm circuit
they've just built.

Bed-time.