Saturday = Museums, Dinosaurs, Butterflies and Lots of Questions

Collin, Grandma H and I went to two different museums today.  First, we went to the Natural Science museum thinking Collin would really enjoy the new Hall of Paleontology where all of the dinosaur and prehistoric creatures where.  This just opened a month or so ago so we had not seen it yet.  As soon as we finally found that part of the museum, he said "Where are the frogs?"  I told him that these were the dinosaurs and that we would see a T Rex.  "But where are the frogs?"  He said this over and over again as he tried to hurry through the exhibit.  I finally figured out that he thought we could see live frogs and snakes.  I told him this was the Science museum and that the frogs and snakes were at the zoo.  He did not like this answer and wanted to leave the exhibit.  Grandma H and I were enjoying looking at the fossils and walking around so we stayed as long as we could take Collin asking about the frogs.  The museum did such a fantastic job with the exhibit so I wanted to take some time to enjoy it.

Here Collin is looking at the map to help us find the next place we wanted to go to.

Next, we went to the special exhibit of Warriors, Tombs and Temples which was about the Terra Cotta Warriors unearthed and on display.  He was a little more interested in these.  There were some smaller terra cotta figurines and he announced, "Why are these guys naked?"  Awesome!  Gotta love when a kid asks this innocently in a quiet exhibit.  I explained that they once had clothes on but they are gone because these guys were so old.  We moved on.  At the next display, he said, "These guys are naked too Mommy!"  Ugh!  "Yes, they sure are Collin".  We moved over to the bench and he laid down on my lap waiting for Grandma H to go through the exhibit and enjoy it.

We had lunch and then went to the Butterfly Center.  I was not sure if Collin would like all of the butterflies flying around or not.  When we first went in, there were contained live insects.  He was a happy boy now because 1) he was looking at live things and 2) they were insects!  He really liked the spiders, frogs, and butterflies.  When he was ready, we entered the butterfly habitat.  The butterflies were flying everywhere and they were so beautiful.  Collin stuck close to me but was not too scared.  He walked fast when he saw some butterflies flying near him. He laughed really hard when one landed on Grandma H's hair.  We stayed in the habitat awhile identifying the butterflies based on the mat that we had with all of them listed.  When he saw other people with butterflies on their finger, he wanted to try to get one.  He stuck his finger out and patiently waited but no butterfly landed there. 

Blue Morpho butterfly.  Isn't it gorgeous?

Waterfall in the habitat

Mommy and Collin

We were leaving the habitat when I saw the large green iguana being carried outside by one of the museum personnel.  I called over to Collin to go outside and see him.  The iguana's handler explained that the iguana needed sunlight for his bones.  Collin stood far away at first to observe him and then did finally get brave enough to come closer and even very quickly pet the iguana. 

Collin at the bottom of the stairs thinking about petting the iguana

Yeah, he finally got the nerve to do it, touch him and then ran back down the stairs as quick as he could

As we were leaving to the next museum, Collin said that the butterflies and the iguana were his favorite part and he smiled really bid.  Boy, that made it worth it.

We then walked to the Holocaust museum because Grandma H wanted to see an artist's paintings that were on display there.  Of course on the way, Collin's legs hurt and he could not walk.  He wanted me to pick him up and carry him the 5 blocks it took to get to the museum in 97 degrees.  I guess I do really love him.  When we got there, he and I played with his new small dinosaurs and butterflies while Grandma H looked around.  He was quiet and really good while we were in there. I was really proud of him for that because we had already been out looking at the museums for over 3 hours by now. 

We walked back to the car, stopping only to get a drink for the ride home.  What a nice way to spend a hot, Saturday.  Now, TIME TO PUT THE FEET UP!!