On Monday, May 21, Chihuly Garden and Glass opens at Seattle Center. The exhibition will include both interior and exterior areas--eight galleries, three walls of Chihuly's drawings, a Glasshouse celebrating Chihuly's love of conservatories, garden space dotted with more glass artwork, and a 50-seat theater showing short films about the life and work of Chihuly.

This 1.5-acre exhibition far surpasses what you might see in a museum or gallery. There is plenty of glass artwork, large and small, selected from the span of Chihuly's career as well as created specifically for Chihuly Garden and Glass. Glass is a given. What makes this exhibition special are the bonus items. Inside the Exhibition Hall is the Collections Cafe, and here visitors will find pieces from Chihuly's own expansive personal collections. Items as varied as vintage carnival chalk figures to old accordions to ancient radios make this cafe unlike any other.

The exhibition is also aiming to be green and is expected to received a Silver LEED certification.

Pacific Science Center gets some cool exhibits coming through, but opening in May 2012 is one of the most impressive by far. Tutankhamum: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs showcases artifacts never before seen in the United States, and they will spend the rest of this year in Seattle!

What's so unique about this exhibit?

Mainly its size. The number of artifacts totals over 100 pieces, coming from King Tut's tomb, but also from other archaeological sites around ancient Egypt. Objects date between 2600 BCE and 660 CE. Expect to see items such as Tutankhamun's golden sandals and a ten-foot-tall statue of the boy king, as well as a statue of Amenhotep IV (also called Akhenaten), who was King Tut's father.

This is also the exhibition's only stop in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the most complete collections from Egyptian antiquities to go on tour in the U.S. ever. There's also an audio tour narrated by Harrison Ford. There is also an IMAX film about mummies.

The exhibit is on from May 24 until January 6, 2013. Tickets range in price. Mondays through Thursdays are discounted, as are tickets for children, seniors, students, and members of the Pacific Science Center.

International Museum Day is upon us! And for this reason, May 17 and 18, 2012, are great days to get out and enjoy the local museums.

Friday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Asian Art Museum are open to the public for free! All exhibits in both buildings are open for this deal.

Tacoma Art Museum is combining International Museum Day with its monthly Third Thursday event. On Thursday, May 17, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., TAM admission is free and there will be some special events centered around Tacoma's Bike Month, including free posters and a film screening.

Museum of Glass in Tacoma is also open for free for Third Thursday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Summer camp is one of the best things to do for kids over the summer. Most summer camp programs last a matter of days, while others last a couple weeks. Most are day camps, requiring little more than dropping the kids off in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon. Most have options of full days or half days. Still, if you want your kids to have that quintessential away-from-home overnight summer camp, there are those as well. Specifically, look to Wilderness Awareness School or the YMCA.

No matter what your kids are into, summer camps in the Seattle area can accommodate. Learn about theatre or performing arts at Seattle Art Museum or Camp ZinZanni. Kick a soccer ball around with the Sounders Summer Camp program, or shoot some hoops with the Seattle Storm programs. Or even learn how to program a computer or write a play with the University of Washington's many courses available to kids and teens!