Living History- Utah Museum of Ancient Life

The Physics Demonstration Room

I think we could have spent hours just in this room

Science teacher dream land here

Giant turntable showing centripetal motion

Everything had stools so Logan could reach

The teacher starts attracting random students as he explains things more in-depth to Aidan

Dinosaur Themed Toddler Play Area

The shape sorter was a big hit

Shifting Landscapes
Canal building and sand/water play







Hands On Dino Exhibits

Measuring bones like an archeologist

Assembling Skeletons

A giant I-spy panorama display

Creature Displays

What do you think Kylee thought of the Megalodon?

A favorite of the boys- The Wooly Mammoth Hunt

Quarry Dinosaur Dig

We forgot the stroller but it didn't matter- plenty to keep this guy busy!

We have been doing one museum membership/year in addition to our zoo membership and we are thinking we might go with this one for next year.  It is a little pricier and further away than our current museum (the Clark Planetarium), but it includes the gardens and a working farm (with pony rides).

Wait- Time Out!

No, not the kids.  

This mom needed a time out.  

Maybe because I realized we hadn't left a 30 mile radius in almost 9 months.

Just sitting in our winter pollution filled smoggy valley.

Cabin fever to the extreme.

So I made a plan.

Aidan had a gymnastics meet we had to be at 8:00 sharp on Saturday, over an hour away.

I loaded up the overnight bag straight out of the dryer.

(The kids never saw me do it.)

When Tim got home we told them we would be running errands.

Our first stop was the Museum of Ancient Life** on our way out of the Salt Lake Valley.

We followed up with dinner at Applebee's.

(The kids still thought we were going home after that.)

Instead we watched The Princess Diaries and ate popcorn in our last minute hotel room.

Everyone was so worn out they stayed in their own bed the entire night.

(I didn't actually know that was possible, but now I suspect a conspiracy afoot.)

Morning didn't come quite as early since we were only 5 minutes away from the meet.

There was an awesome play area for preschoolers & up that was totally worth the $3.00/kid.

Aidan had a great meet.

We all came home.

The end.

**More museum pictures tomorrow :)

Brotherly Love

Little Mom

I'm breaking the rules a little bit by doing two Kylee posts in a row, but it's ok.  

She's cute like that...even with straight out of the bath hair.

This year for Christmas we splurged on a pair of Bitty Twins from the American Girl company for Kylee.   Actually, we used our insurance money because I had an American Girl growing up that was lost in the fire, but I couldn't replace her exactly because the girl I had is now retired (Kirsten) and I didn't want to buy just a random used one off of Ebay.  I wanted something nice for Kylee, which is what I would have eventually done with mine, but it seemed silly to buy a historical girl and store her for 4-5 years until Kylee is old enough.  So, we decided to give her boy-girl Bitty Twins instead.

Kylee hasn't always been the most gentle with her dolls so I was a little worried about buying such expensive dolls, but I shouldn't have been.  She has cherished these dolls up down left and right, even waking up in the middle of the night crying because one of them fell out of her bed or is otherwise missing.  She has a pair of pajamas that match Sarah's pajamas and for many mornings she carefully changed both her and Sarah's pajamas and folded them into her drawer and then dressed them both for the day.  At night she would reverse the process.  She doesn't play with Pokey (the boy) quite as much but she is always willing to share him with a brother who wants to play too.

But they aren't allowed to play with Sarah.

She is much too in love for that.  

I don't know what it is, but Pokey and Sarah have definitely brought out the little mom in my little girl.

*Anyone notice she gave her dolls 5 letter names in alphabetic order?  I swear I had nothing to do with it.  Good job, Kylee!

Knock- Knock

I have posted before about certain materials that seem to attract the other kids even though they are well past their use.  Materials like the pink tower, Race to 100 Game, and other things just bring everyone over for "lessons"!  In our house, one of those other things is the Knock-Knock Game.

The Knock-Knock game is really a variation on the 3rd step of a 3 period lesson (naming).  Using the sandpaper numbers or letters, we turn all of the ones that we are working on upside down, then knock on the back saying, "Knock, knock!  Who's there?"

Then we turn it over and say the letter sound or name of the number.  

Simple, but always a favorite.  Even our little one enjoys knock-knocking and flipping over cards with a big grin just to show us how he knows this game too!  I remember when that little girl above used to do the same thing to her older brother.....