Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Trains and Dinosaurs and Butterflies, Oh My!

From the 'things I want to do with the kids before baby #3 comes along and mucks everything up' file, I decided to take Sam to the Museum of Natural Sciences today to see some dinosaur bones. We had a few scheduling changes this week which put Lucy at school today instead of tomorrow, meaning Sam and I had the world at our fingertips! We called Aunt Yani and headed out on our adventure. 

I decided that since the weather was nice, we would take the train into town. The museum is only a few blocks from the station, so I grabbed the small stroller in case someone didn't want to walk Allison. Naturally, the train was Sam's favorite part. He clutched the ticket receipt from the conductor to his face. He even liked it better than 'the TV that lets dinosaurs eat you' as he called it. 

Ah green screen technology. What can't you do?

We saw lots of bones and lots of other dino-related items. And that was just the first floor! We also saw lots of fake, stuffed, real-ish looking animals like tigers and yaks. And some actually real animals like bunnies and turtles, and Butterflies! Oh the Butterflies!

Can you guess which part was mommy's favorite? 

Then another short walk and we were back at the train station, where I peed in an underground train station bathroom. Check that off of the list of things to do before I die. 

(Also check off bathe in iodine. Because that's what I did once I got home.)

On the return ride, we were on a new train where the seats can be reversed so that two rows face each other. I guess this is for groups traveling together, or for people who detest riding backwards. Sam just about popped a sprocket when the conductor showed him this trick and made it so that he was facing me instead of having me sitting behind him. He's been up in his room for almost two hours now, not sleeping, talking to himself about this amazing train feature. When I asked him his favorite part about the dinosaur museum, he said 'the train and the seat that goes backwards.' 

Boy am I glad I shelled out $34 bucks for the bones. At least I got to see pretty butterflies!

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6 comments:

susan said...

Awesome. That's Mommy of the Year caliber stuff!!! Aaron's still got his train tickets from our trip in November, although as often as not they're maps or compasses (compi?) instead of tickets.

Anonymous said...

How fun! No doubt the train would be the favorite part! I haven't taken the kids there yet. So you think it's better a solo kid trip? Might have to plan that one of these days!

Unknown said...

What a fun museum day! I went this summer and the butterflies were my favorite! The stuffed animals did scare me though. My mom still talks about the time she took my brother (now 23) to see the disney ice capades in DC, front row and everything. What did he like the best and talk about forever? The $2 ride on the DC metro!

super des said...

Well you have to take the train SOMEWHERE, right?

Arizaphale said...

In the UK we used to take the kids on the train, get out and go to the nearest pub with a kids playground (most of them have one) have a beer then get back on the train and go home. The kids thought it was heaven, adults loved the beer; RESULT!!! I must admit as they got older though they LOVED the dinosaurs and mummies at the museum.

Amy Jo said...

Wow. That is an awesome idea. I want to live in Australia!