Sleepin' with the T-Rexes (4th post of the night)

On Friday, Nathan and I (Todd) went for a sleepover at the Dinosaur Museum.  Yes, really, the Dinosoaur Museum.  It was Nathan's birthday present from Kristie and I.  Nathan, who always tells us he's going to be a Palentologist when he grows up, was in heaven.  The Dino Museum is his favorite place on earth and he actually got to sleep there.  Not just at the museum, mind you, but under the T-Rexes!  No joke!  Here's the view from our not-so-comfortable spot on the floor:

That's right, we were looking straight up into the gaping jaws of one of the most ferocious animals to ever walk the earth.  At least they were already dead.  Here's the run-down of the night:

We got to the museum at about 7 pm and checked in.  First up on the agenda was a movie in the 3D theatre.  They gave us popcorn, drinks, and a candy and we got to watch a movie called Wild Ocean 3D.  It was about the Sardine migration off the coast of South Africa and was pretty neat.  Nathan was excited about the part with the sharks, of course.  He even kept his 3D glasses on the whole time, though he did grab my arm a few times to make sure he was still grounded.

After the movie, we got a guided tour of the museum.  Here's some pics:

Nathan's T-Rex Claws:

I think the guided tour was a bit much for Nathan, though.  His attention span was maxed out before we got halfway through but he just went into his T-Rex mode:

The last room along the tour is a big sand pit where the kids use paint brushes to 'uncover' fossils:

As we were playing in the sand, the museum workers came in and asked if the kids would like to see them feed the fish - there's one part in the museum where they have a tank of gar fish that are descended from one of the fossils on display.  Of course, all of the kids were excited.  What they neglected to tell us, though, is that gar fish are carnivorous.  We were all surprised when instead of dropping in some flakes, the lady dropped in four live goldfish!  One of the girls in the front said, "They're going to die!"

Nathan was right up next to the tank and I watched to see how he would react.  A goldfish was swimming along next to one of the gar fishes when, suddenly, the gar snapped it's head to the side and grabbed the goldfish in its mouth.  It sat there for a second, with the golfish hanging out on either side, and then swallowed the fish.  Nathan had a look on his face like he couldn't believe he was so lucky to get a front-row seat for the extravaganza!  He was enthralled.

After the fish feeding, they had the kids gather around and one of the museum workers asked them to name something new they had learned.  Most of the kids mentioned things they had seen along the way - with one commenting that he had learned that gar fish are carnivores (I think that was new for all of us) - but Nathan raised his hand and said:

"Um, um, um, um, um, my Daddy, um, um, um, told me, um, that we were coming here, um, um, um, um, like three or four um days ago, um, um, but, um, I didn't um know it was today and um, um, then, um, today, um, he told me, um um um, that we were going."

I think I got enough um's in there.  Anyway, it was dang cute.  Next, we went on a scavenger hunt - with clues leading us around the Museum.  Nathan was the youngest one there and the hunt was designed for the older kids, but he liked it just the same.  At the end of the scavenger hunt, he got to pick a prize.  Since they didn't have any T-Rex toys, he picked a dimetrodon, though he made the best of it anyway.  At breakfast, he told me that if you take away the sail on its back and it stood on two legs instead of four, it would be a T-Rex so he was going to name it "Rexie" anyway.  That's the name he gives to all of his T-Rexes.

After the prizes, the kids had to sit in a circle while they told about the rules for sleeping. After, they asked if there were questions and Nathan looked at me and I could tell he wanted to ask me something so I motioned for him to come over to me.  But he shook his head and raised his hand.  When they called on him, he just said "I have to ask my dad something" and then he came running over and asked me if we could sleep by the T-Rexes.  It was silly that he felt he had to wait until they called on him.

Here's Nathan, getting ready for bed with his stuffed T-Rexes:

And here's a shot of exactly where we got to sleep.  Notice that we're as close to both T-Rex skeletons as possible.  No other spot would do for Nathan!

Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well but I actually felt more rested in the morning than I had anticipated.  We had breakfast and then there were a few activities before it was time to go home.  First, we got to meat a real live palentologist!  The first room of the museum has a big window where you can look into the palentology lab so we stood there and he pointed things out to us.  They just started working on reconstructing a long neck skeleton and he showed us the pieces they were working on: some vertebrae from the neck.  He said it will take about 10 to 15 years to finish.  Sheesh.  As he described his work, he told the kids that palentologists have to love puzzles and that they usually describe it as having a puzzle with 1,000 pieces but all the pieces are turned over so you can't see the picture.  Nathan leaned over to me and said, "I can do that!"  He's sure that palentology is for him.

The palentologist also described how they have to be very careful as the remove the bones from the dirt and rock so that they don't damage the bones.  Nathan told me, "Remember the alligator I got from Color Me Mine? [It's a ceramic alligator]  Sometimes, I take it down and I'm sooo careful with it so it doesn't break and then I put it back."  Well, he can handle the puzzles and he can be careful with things - he's got the primary qualifications covered!

Next, we got to put together a wooden model of a Triceratops skeleton and then the kids got to make a plaster casting.  Nathan chose the T-Rex tooth, of course.  No questions there.  Next, he got to choose a fish fossil out of a bin and us a real palentologist drill to write his name on it.  After that, we played in the sand one more time and uncovered a stegosaurus skeleton before it was time to go.

All in all, we both had a great time.  It was fun to have some good one-on-one time with him and to see him so enthralled in everything.  Maybe he really will grow up to be a palentologist!