Dinosaur Museum

One place that my nephew, Mason, had to go to was the Museum of Ancient Life (Dinosaur Museum) at Thanksgiving Point. My boys were happy to escort him there. We happened to go during the Museum's 10th birthday celebration.

As we entered the Lobby we saw several activities for the kids. The first place we stopped was the table with dinosaur bones. I think the boys could have stayed there the whole time. They were able to touch the bones and ask the assistant Paleontologist questions.

While the boys were checking out the bones Austin headed for another activity. He tried his hand at the Bolo Toss. A Bolo is a short rope with a ball secured to either end. It was funny to watch him. Nana showed Austin how to throw the Bolo and then Austin had a turn. At his turn he ran right up to the ladder (at the other end of the room) and threw his Bolo down. He got very excited each time he tried. It was really cute.

When the other boys (all except Mason) noticed what Austin was doing they decided to give a try. The boys had a lot of fun.

One of the reasons Mason wanted to come to the Museum was because of an visit he had when he was younger. Mason really liked watching the Paleontologists work on the dinosaur bones through the big window in the museum. The head Paleontologist noticed Mason and asked him if he would like to come inside. Mason was so excited - what kid wouldn't be! Before he left the Paleontologist gave Mason a fossil.

Mason brought his fossil on this trip. We inquired whether the same Paleontologist still worked there and found out that he still did. We were able to visit with him as we entered the museum. It was so fun to see Mason (and his Dad!) so excited to visit with the Paleontologist again (sorry I can't remember his name).

While Mason was talking to the Paleontologist Devon was getting excited about everything he was seeing. He kept asking me to take his picture by different bones.

The Museum has a wonderful collection of mounted dinosaurs. In fact they say it is the world's largest display.

They also have several interactive stations. One of the first stations we came to was the Erosion Table. The boys had a lot of fun making dams out of sand and playing with the toy dinosaurs.

We had to stop and take pictures with this good looking dinosaur. Austin was pretty excited to get out of his stroller and climb all over the dinosaur. He wasn't very happy when all of the other boys wanted to get on the dinosaur as well. He wasn't too keen on giving up his spot!

By the end of the museum the boys were getting a little restless - especially Austin. It looked the shark was the last exhibit, so I called all the boys over to get a quick picture. Not a smart move with tired hungry boys. Devon wasn't happy at all (he's sulking in the picture). So instead of the normal picture I told them all to act scared. That pretty much did the trick, the only one we didn't get was Devon. Oh well, it is still a cute picture. I love Tanner's face!

After the picture Austin was letting me know that he was done so I told Chad I would see him in the lobby. I took Austin and went out the door that said "Exit". When I got through the door I saw that we were in another exhibit. I immediately thought I would just go through it, but then I noticed that it was the Fossil Dig. I had a feeling that Austin would settle down if I let him out of the stroller to walk through the sand - I know smart huh! Austin loved it. I gave him the paintbrush and he went to work. Shortly after his brothers entered the exhibit. They were equally as excited to find some fossils.

We had a lot of fun at the Museum. It was a little tiring for the adults, but the kids loved it! It was fun to see the boys having so much fun.