DINOSAUR MUSEUM

Today we went to the Dinosaur Museum with the kids. It was a $2 admission day and the entrance line was a mile long, but it moved fairly quickly. The exhibits were full of kids and moms with strollers... some double wide. We were as excited as the kids to see the exhibits.

Right in the door and there they were... huge dinosaurs!

Brady had bigger eyes than normal as he scanned the room filled with lots of dinosaurs on the floor, walls and flying in the air above him. I think they would have been happy to have just spent time looking and taking it all in right there in the lobby.

Waiting in line was almost fun. We were all struck by the spectacle of the displays.

We left our friend the dinosaur behind as we got our tickets and ...

each of us got our hand stamped. We were now certified dinosaur food!

As we entered we went through the creation room... total darkness except for the billions and billions of stars portrayed on the walls and ceiling. As we exited that room we came into a room with fish hanging from the ceiling and lots of fossil-like creatures. The kids could sense the size and hunger of the big fish... remember we have been certified fish food too.

McKay was brave enough to sit down by a slab of fossils. It was a little hard to smile with all those things hanging around.

Brady found an octopus in a snail shell.

We checked out all the windows with big fish and little fish and even a sea dragon.

A nautilus cut in half caught their attention for a minute.

I think McKay would like to have this one as a pet. What do you think Jana?

The kids crawled through a cave a couple of times and then into the next room filled with...

...filled with more dinosaurs and bigger dinosaurs! Remember the movie "Night at the Museum"? This place must be a real hoppin' place at night!

A look around the room.

We moved through the room and up a ramp to the next area.

Dino was there to say good bye... or maybe see if we looked like a tasty snack!

This fella looks like he is in the mood for a meal right now!

We made it through the dinosaurs and into the room with the sand tables. The kids played in the sand and water and enjoyed the reality of simple sand and water.

Brady thoroughly enjoyed getting his hands into the wet sand with grandma. No wonder grandma is one of his favorite people.

McKay enjoyed digging in the sand and created a beach with a palm tree.

Next we left the sand tables and went to the sand pits to excavate and find fossils.

This was a favorite of most all of the kids. It seems like digging in the sand is just what kids were built to do.

One final dig and a little dusting with the brush makes it an official fossil find for Ryan, McKay, Bryson and Brady. A day that will go down in history... at least the Lindsay family history.

Out the door into the car and on to grandma's house for Kraft macaroni and cheese and a turkey sandwich for those brave souls. It's amazing the appetite you can get working with dinosaurs and digging for fossils.

Ryan rides shotgun with grandma. What a great help he is with his brothers. I think he is the only one in the family that can herd cats or even little brothers.

It was a fun time together, thanks to Ryan, McKay, Bryson and Brady.