The Clinton Museum

(Meant to post this several weeks ago but I've been too busy)

Christie and I never got a chance to visit when we lived here and the boys have never really walked the streets of Little Rock, so we decided to hit the highlights before the holidays were upon us. Rich just finished a small project about the history of the Lego company and the museum had the Art of the Brick exhibit on loan, so it seemed like a good time.

Everyone used to joke about the Clinton Museum looking like
a giant house trailer. 

This was our first trip with two Flat Stanley's - they were
sent by our friends Max and Kate Foley.

The Clintonmobile. Rich though the bullet-proof glass was cool
and we learned quite a bit about the Secret Service.

Having never been to a Presidential Museum before, we weren't sure what to expect. There were a few cool Presidential things on the first floor, but the boys were anxious to get to the Lego display, so we hit that first, rather than forcing them through all the other stuff that was closer. I'm glad we did, because after seeing the Legos, they were able to slow down and take interest in the other displays. 

                                      

We tried to get Flat Stanley into as many pictures as we could.

The portraits were amazing to me. These are all made on Lego
plates with flat, smooth pieces. When you stand about 3-4 feet
away, they look like any normal painting. 

The whole exhibit was done by Nathan Sawaya and you can see his other works HERE. The story goes that he was a NY city attorney who played with Legos during his off-time to relieve stress, and it eventually grew into a full-time endeavor.

The Presidential displays were great, but we spent a lot of time looking at the Timeline display, which detailed events around the world each year of the Clinton Presidency. It was sobering to remember so many triumphs and tragedies from the 90's, before the internet age. We lingered a long time at both the Little Rock Nine memorial display, and the Matthew Shepherd display, reading and talking with the boys about the significance of these events. We normally rip through museums pretty quickly, letting them lead the way and not necessarily looking at every single thing. In this case, I think Rich at least understood the weight of these two events, and Christie and I both got choked up several times while talking about them.

Rich watching a video about the Little Rock Nine. This will be one
of my favorite pictures for a long time.

In the President's chair at the cabinet meeting table

Note Flat Stanely in both pics

We met another Flat Stanely who wanted his
picture made with our two guests.

And the security guard wanted to pose with them.

We rode the trolley (alone) over to Clinton Ave./Riverfront for lunch

A short walk from the trolley through the Rivermarket to...

Juanita's! Mine and Christie's favorite LR Mexican place.
We moved to Bentonville before the boys were old enough
to eat here much.

Fajitas, relenos, enchiladas, and Hornsby's Cider to boot. Love this place!

Quick trip to the State capitol to see the...

...giant Christmas tree, which wasn't quite as giant as I remembered it.

I don't think the Supreme Court was supposed to be left unlocked, but
the boys got a taste of the sitting in the jury box.

Nice to spend our last day in Little Rock visiting old haunts and taking our time at the museum. The next day, my parents came to help us pack for the move to Searcy (1 hour away) where we are staying with Christie's parents until after Christmas. Then my parents came back two days later and helped us clean the apartment, took us to lunch, and gave us a Kindle! Not a bad way to end our stay in Little Rock.