A "real" Night at the Museum

Now this was way cool. First, we were going to be the first to see "A Night at the Museum." Then. we were going to be the first actually to spend a night at the museum. The New York's Museum of Natural History had extended to me and my family--along with a few hundred other members of the media--an invitation to the premiere of the action-comedy starring Ben Stiller as the naive night watchman who's in for a big surprise when he reports to his new job; afterwards, we'd set up camp under the famous whale and, a la Stiller, spend a night poking around the premises with flashlights before finally hitting the hay.

The kids, of course, were bonkers with anticipation, as well as the envy of the entire elementary school that they attend--their classmates were jealous of the fact that they'd get to see the much-anticipated movie before anyone else, while the teachers were intrigued by the prospect of one of their students spending an entire night in a darkened Museum of Natural History.

After driving from the Long Island suburbs into the city and Central Park West--which can be an adventure in itself--we checked in and promptly staked out a spot in front of a display case containing Dad's favorite fish, the barracuda, before grabbing an early dinner in the cafeteria.

Back at our "campsite," there were lots of cameras and media awaiting Stiller's arrival. However, he was running about an hour behind schedule, so the start of the movie was delayed amidst some grumbling from our tribe. All was forgiven, though, as the film was quite entertaining and proved a big hit with everyone. The after-party was mobbed, of course, but there were animal-shaped balloons for the kids and the food was delicious--and it was kind of neat seeing the people on screen in person, especially Mickey Rooney, a longtime favorite of ours who's an absolute howl in the picture.

We cut out of the party early to give us more time to prowl around the dimly-lit premises. The only disappointment here--at least according to the kids--was that the characters in costume (purportedly from the movie) who had greeted us as we entered a few hours earlier did not "come to life" and "jump out to scare us" as they had done to Ben Stiller in the film. Actually, it was just as well because Dad is a real fraidycat and would not have reacted well to any such "surprises." Besides, creeping through a few of the museum's various halls on the way to the bathroom during the night was excitement enough for me.

Dousing our flashlights, we made our way back to our barracuda barracks, bid the whale sweet dreams, and caught some much-needed sleep before rising with the dawn (it was, after all, a school night), grabbing a quick breakfast and complimentary T-shirts, and heading home with a pocketful of guess-what-l-did-last-night stories.

Anyone interested in spending an actual night at the museum should check out amnh.org/ sleepovers.

--WAYNE M. BARRETT

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

COPYRIGHT 2007 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning