The Dinosaurs Are Back

Well, not exactly...

Joey, Johnny, Madi, and I went to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today for a members only sneak preview of the new Dinosaur Trail. Wow! The museum has done an excellent job creating giant dinosaur models and displaying them on a trail near the train and Explore the Wild areas. Kids are allowed to pose on one of the models, and the rest are for looking only. There is going to be a fossil pit where kids can dig in dirt trucked in from an eastern NC fossil site. You never can tell what you might find in there! The new Dinosaur Trail is scheduled to open for all museum visitors on 7/25.

Here's a photo collage that will give you an idea of the new exhibit, but make sure you go check it out for yourself!


We have a terrific time every time we go to the museum. Although there are wonderful exhibits inside at this museum like NASA items on loan from the Smithsonian, we continue to spend the majority of our time outside. I like to photograph nature, and the kids like to run.

Today was no exception. We worked our way from the playground area to the musical area over to the farmyard. They have a new pig...Miss Piggy. We heard her oink! She was quite the character, and the kids loved her.

We checked out the new Dinosaur Trail discussed above. I got to see a green heron and a great blue heron in Explore the Wild while the kids played in the water exhibits. We saw the bears moving around in their habitat as well as the wolves and lemurs. We enjoyed the dragonflies, turtles, and the vegetation growing in Explore the Wild as well. The pink hibiscus and black-eyed susans were so pretty today.

The kids always want to spend time in Catch the Wind, and they enjoyed going on the ornithopter again today.

We made the butterfly release at 3PM and watched the new butterflies take flight. The NC extension area had a luna moth and black swallowtail caterpillars. Neat!

Seriously, we were outside from 10-4 and totally entertained. I wish we'd had even more time, but we were plumb worn out at that point.

Here's another picture collage that captures some of the best photos I took today.


Now, there was one other totally cool thing that happened today. I was contacted by a museum staff member after one of our earlier visits this year asking if the museum could use a few of my photos. Of course I said yes, and I sent her the ones she requested. She told me to be on the lookout for the pictures on the website. I looked once or twice, but to be honest, it slipped my mind. Well, we sat down for a yummy hamburger at Grayson's Cafe for lunch today, and oh my, the picture of Madi and Johnny running down the boardwalk toward Explore the Wild was on a tent card on all the cafe tables! That was just such a totally awesome find and feeling for me and the kids. Wow. Thank you to the museum for using it. The kids were so pleased!





Here are the rest of the pictures I took today that I think are worth a look see:-)