Royal Ontario Museum

I will totally freely admit that in the morning, while I attempt to shake the grogginess from my brain with way too many cups of coffee, I let my son gap out with a sippy full of milk at cartoons. He never used to care what he watched, you know, as long as it was a show with bubbly animated characters, but lately he has been completely and totally enamoured with Blue’s Clues. And there was this one episode in particular about dinosaurs that really caught his attention. I’m kind of grateful that I PVR’d it because Nate has asked to watch DINOSAURS no less than 14 million trillion imes.

To be honest, I actually like Blue’s Clues, but it has to be said: The human interpretation of a T-Rex totally looks like you’re twittering your own nipples! And because my kid is two and his brain is in that spongy learning stage of absorbing everything around him, I frequently have to leave the room to stifle my giggles while Nate stares in complete awe at the DINOSAURS!

Sensing an opportunity to broaden Nate’s ever-expanding list of life experiences, I decided to take my him to see the REAL DINOSAURS at a REAL MUSEUM. So, one sunny Saturday morning, armed with an overflowing cup of goldfish crackers, a sippy filled with milk and an overzealous toddler hyped on promises of seeing a prehistoric bones, my husband, Nate and me buckled our bodies into our jumbo family-sized van and set out on a Natural History dinosaur hunting adventure at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Knowing that not a yet two and half year old toddler’s daily nap schedule is directly proportional to the speed with which he will have a colossal meltdown, we were, well, more than a bit miffed that we spent almost an entire hour circling deeper and deeper into the depths of underground parking garages trying to find somewhere, anywhere, to park. And this is exactly why I am destined for a life in the suburbs because that sort of frustration is not something I ever have to think about when I pull into the parking lot at Wal-Mart to buy a box of pull-ups.

After finally convincing our now cranky toddler that, no, our family outing was not about driving in endless circles through low ceilings and dimly lit corridors, we finally found a parking space, breathed a sigh of relief and dished out the $42.00 price of admission for two adults (children under three are free), and quickly made haste to find the Dinosaur exhibit because I had a squirmy toddler nestled in my maternal hip repeating over and over and over that wanted to see the Dinosaurs. "DINOSAURS MOMMY! I WANNA SEE DINOSAURS MOMMYYYYYYYYYY!"

Ok, and this is where like, I so deserve a total FAIL sign glued across my forehead because I swear we were at the museum no longer than 15 minutes before Nate looked out of a window and saw that there was a McDonald’s across the street and well, yeah, that was pretty much the end of that attempt at a cultural experience because there was no reasoning with the one-track mind of a toddler with a penchant for French Fries.

So, to sum up our day, we spent $42.00 plus parking to pretty much go and sit at a McDonald's and munch on $2.00 worth of french fries.

When Nate gets a bit older, I am most definitely going to buy a yearly membership to the Royal Ontario Museum. The $139 price tag will more than pay for itself tenfold because I love museums and could spend days just touring and absorbing the culture of Ancient Egypt and ogling rare Earth Treasures and appreciating the beauty of Chinese Temple Art. And what a small price to pay to have a place to take a child where there are plenty of kid-friendly activities focused on learning and discovery to enhance their ever-evolving need for imagination exploration.

I’ll just have to remember to a) arrive early for a good parking spot and b) not walk by a window where my kid can spot the most recognizable sign on the planet; the golden arches of a McDonald’s.

This is an original post to Canada Moms Blog. Karla Cadeau also writes on her personal blog Untangling Knots.