New Orleans Bucket List

Oscar and I spent last week learning about World War II for social studies. For the first half of the week, we found some fun internet sites and colored maps, going over the Axis and Allies and troop movements. I came across a great choose your own adventure book that follows different paths of individuals in the war. From a pilot in the RAF, to a Dutch teenager joining the resistance, to an American officer on a boat in the Pacific, we read about the different paths in the war. Half the time you died, but Oscar found it more amusing that disturbing when his characters died (thankfully) and we'd go back to another option and see if we could survive. After we had the basics down, we headed off to the World War II Museum and got to cross it off our New Orleans bucket list as well.

We started off in the Boeing Center, which had an impressive collection of tanks and airplanes. This turned out to be Oscar's favorite part of the museum and we stopped by before and after the Beyond Boundaries movie. You know he's enjoying himself when he willingly poses for pictures!

So, to see the planes, you can go up 3 or 4 floors to look at them from all angles. Since Mommy and heights don't mix, Oscar headed out while I hung back and took a few pictures. In a lovely twist of fate, the elevator wouldn't close to take us back down. I was convinced it would work in a few minutes, but Oscar started to get worried about getting back into the elevator that wasn't working. The only other way down was to cross the catwalks and take the stairs down. So there we were - me panicking about crossing the catwalks and Oscar panicking about getting into a broken elevator… so I put my big girl pants on and followed Oscar across the catwalk, him leading the way with my hands on his shoulders, sticking to the middle and looking straight ahead. Apparently my fear of heights is no joke, but we were both proud of me!

At this point I am cowering in the corner while he checks out the planes from the catwalk. 

He's way off in the distance on the other side of the airplane, while again I'm hugging close to a wall. 

The movie Beyond Boundaries is the big hubbub at the museum. I was apprehensive because I wasn't sure how intense it would be, but after a few recommendations from families with kids the same age as Oscar, we decided to go for it. It was really well done and Oscar appreciated some of the 4D fun (like a machine gun coming up from the floor, and an airplane fuselage descending from the ceiling) BUT it focused a bit more on the human impact of the war and was ultimately a little heavier than I anticipated. I covered his face for the images of concentration camp victims and dead bodies, but it still was a little much. I honestly wished they'd had a parental warning, but I suppose if you're learning about the war the human toll is a huge part of it…. Expect for an 8 yr old boy, who focuses on the bombs and airplanes, and countries switching sides… We recovered nicely though with a second visit to the Boeing center to pose with some vehicles and a model airplane as a souvenir!