Night or um Day at the Museum

Thursday bright and early we headed off for the City :) Our girls, and Katelyn and Cara came along to the Museum of Natural History. This was our big outting for the March break! LOL
We drove down in the Explorer, plenty of seats :)
We got there in time for a very early lunch, eaten in the car, then piled in to the Museum! I had one rule, that they had to stay where I could see them at all times! And those little darling children...stayed where I could see them at all times! Thank GOODNESS! The crowds were crazy! It was pushing space only! Holly and Katelyn stayed close together, and Cara and Taylor were my little Annika watchers! They All stayed together almost the whole time!
The exhibit at the museum right now was the Reptiles Real and Robotic.
We started our tour at the Robotic Reptiles. :):)
Holly gave this Rattlesnake a wide berth! LOL
This Chameleon was SO cool, it's tongue came out and zapped the bee! LOL
These things were really big!
We quickly zipped around the corner to see some Bullfrogs, snakes, and a few other things. They quickly found the first Real snake to hold!
This Garter Snake didnt cause anyone to panic so I worried a little less about the day. LOL
They took turns holding this harmless little dude til they got totally crowded out!

We then almost RAN through a bunch of exhibits. I was trying to get them to slow down and read some of the stuff on the plaques to them. NOT interested. I occassionally got them to glance at interesting arrow heads and spears from NS but they didnt have a great lot of interest in anything that was not moving and/or breathing LOL.

A Milk snake was waiting around the corner! They were fascinated with the feel of the snake skin lol.

Then there was time for a little down time. There was a sand box with some little artifacts and snakes buried in it. There were paint brushes and little shovels to use to excavate the site and find the hidden things LOL

A little magnetic puzzle caught Holly's attention and kept it.

Time for a bathroom break in the basement, and there we found a lounge for a snack and drink! Good time for a break.

Near the lounge in the basement was a room. "sigh" I knew as soon as we walked in, it was not going to be a quick stop. The Ag awareness Exhibit from the fairs and exhibitions we went to all last summer was IN THE BASEMENT lol. and the kids were SO excited! Farmer for a Day! LOL We spent half the summer looking at this stuff! But they pretended it was the first time! The milked the cow
And got a sticker for their efforts.
They stuck their hands into boxes and guessed what they were touching. Things like apples and potatoes and pig waterer nipples and milking inflations. LOL
And they got to touch the newborn chicks! LOL There was an incubator with eggs in it that were hatching! They watched for a long time but no eggs hatched LOL but you could see the chick trying to peck it's way out. And the chicks that were more than a day old were able to move to the warm pen and the kids could touch them! I settled in and watched them for a long time but eventually had to drag them back upstairs to catch the Lizard Brain lecture.
They had a little talk about Lizard brains and touch a Gelly brain that looked and felt surprisingly like real brains. Then they made some neurons out of clay, pipe cleaners, and sequins to be the cell body, dendrites, and cell nucleus. It was soooo cool! The kids...were slightly less impressed but still did like their craft.
The kids checked out some fish exhibits, some real salt water tanks with live sea creatures in them, and poor Holly couldnt keep up, she was so excited about the sea worms and urchins. There was lifesized whales and dolphins, turtles and eels. Bones to look at and bones to touch. And then yes, another live snake.
This ball python was the biggest one they got to touch!
Friendly little creature, it climbed right on and they carried it around on their necks.

Taylor was in her glory! I dont think she realizes that her snake doesnt do that...neck thing. It needs to be held in her hands and supported along it's length. She's going to want a Python next.
Holly had a little moment with said Python, before handing it off
To Annika who actully seemed the most unsettled with this snake being on her neck, when it wrapped its tale under one arm, and it's head under the other, she struggled til she found the head and then she proceeded to tell it to behave. LOL

A group photo of my little tired museum goers. They were starting to slow down at this point.
We heard the announcement for the Live Reptile show and headed down to the corner where the show was to be held. The kids had a few minutes to rest before the show started.
In the show they talked alot about reptiles and how they are different from Amphibians LOL Using lots of big words. The girl had the milk snake and the fellow had a 3 foot igunana. Sorry no better photo :)
After this show we went back and finished the exhibits. Then we went for another snack, another rest, another look at the Farm exhibit. The chick they had been watching hatched "sigh" lol. Cute! And they milked the cow again. And did a spin the wheel thing to earn a pencil. And they coloured. And then finally Scott called and it was time to go meet him.
Good trip home :) tired kids :)