Day at the Museum

Saturday I took my girls to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. We had a blast going through the exhibits. The first thing we saw was... the women's restroom (not an exhibit). I was there with 4 small children and I knew we'd be heading to the potty at some point... I just didn't think it would be so soon. Next we saw real meteorites (that the girls got to touch and handle), colorful natural stones (my rock collectors were captivated), a crystal cave exhibit (purple and sparkly.... perfect for little girls), and best of all dinosaur mountain... a three story mountain with mechanical dinosaurs, complete with thunder, lightening and a flash flood simulation.


Maya, Ella, & Aubree peeking through one of the most unusual meteroites ever. It hit the ground near Tuscon, Arizona. This is a bronzed version... the real ones at the Smithsonian.



The girls loved seeing the colorful rocks of sorts. And after seeing all the ones in the glassed cases, they were anxious to get their hands on this one.







They really enjoyed the "please touch" exhibits.



As we exited the cave exhibit, we came upon dinosaur mountain. Ella was very excited when she spotted her first dinosaur. The funny thing is, the life-sized toothy creatures didn't scare her at all... but she was terrified of the flash flood.



Kate was an angel. She was happy the entire time.... and that made the trip very nice for mom.

I'm glad I didn't live when this guy inhabitted the earth! Look at those teeth!

The girls are sitting on a real fossilized femur bone of an Apatosaurus.

They found lots of (pyrite) gold, while panning in the courtyard. They even got to take it home with them. The girls thought we were rich and started making plans for what they would do with all the money. And although I didn't want to, I had to tell them that it wasn't actually real gold.... they were disappointed for a moment... then they scampered off to the next exhibit.

There was also a real live aligator named "Elvis" and "Bubba" the "aligator snapping turtle". Yes there is such thing-- not in these waters though.