Stasia, Peabody

It was a crummy day: wet, cool, and dreary. Had I been alone, I would have gone out anyway, but instead, my wife and I decided that granddaughter Stasia was old enough to be introduced to the treasures of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, so it was time for a road trip. The introduction, at what I hoped would be an awe-inspiring experience with the dinosaur skeletons in the Great Hall, didn't go well, and Stasia seemed both overwhelmed and even a bit frightened. But in the Discovery Room, a kind of mini-museum for kids, the mini-naturalist rallied and fell in love with the discovery boxes. In this one, she reached in and stroked the spiny skin of... well, something familiar. "A starfish," she declared happily, as she opened the door that confirmed her hunch.

Stasia, Peabody 2