Natural History Museum

Things I know about the Natural History Museum

• It is amazing
• Like most museums, it is expensive
• It is not quite as exciting as the movie "Night at the Museum". I am quite sure Luke begged me to take him because he was convinced that the dinosaur skeleton would come to life and chase us around.  Alas, it did not.
• It is worth going to, at least once.

I also know that 

• I should attend museums without my children, or husband. My children ran from display to display, never pausing for a moment, except maybe to yell "Look at this" and then by the time I arrived to take their picture and teach them about the display (I am MOTHER OF THE YEAR), they would be off and running again.  Seriously annoying.
• Todd does not really care for culture.  At least not for longer than 30 minutes.

The dioramas (is that what they are called?) and the ant display were among the kids favorites.

This is their scary faces.

Or their "special" faces as it were...

I loved the puzzle of the cell. Very cool.  Luke is looking through a microscope at something.. well...disgusting.

My favorite was this gigantic crocodile.

After our Day at the Museum, 

I wanted to take a little hike on the Bonneville Shoreline trail, 

which goes right behind the museum.  

My kids legs were tired from their Museum Sprints as I like to call them,

and did not want to walk at all.

Sadie whined about being tired after about 10 steps.

Her legs hurt.

She was tired.

I reminded her about our Pioneer heritage.

I reminded her that little children walked all day long and never complained.

She replied, "Well, my legs still hurt!"

Super awesome.

I decided to continue our hike.

The only way I could distract them from their tired legs-

(I AM SO SORRY YOU HAD TO WALK FOR 1 BLOCK!)

-was to offer them money if they could spot any cool animals or birds or insects.

More specifically, it was coins I offered.

Luke made 51 cents for his efforts and Sade 26. 

It worked -- for another 42 seconds there was no complaining.

Then Luke started in..

"My thumb really hurts and my legs hurt too"

Holy crap!!! I must start an exercise regime for my little puff pastry kids.

Maybe just get a year membership to the museum so they can do their sprints regularly.

Lame, totally lame.

We stopped under the shade of a tree and looked out over our

spectacular valley.

Boy, do I love where I live!!

There is nothing better than this valley in the fall.

Stupid winter. I know you are coming and I hate you.

This is Sadie doing her tricky trick.

Her legs are tired from walking, but by damn,

they had enough strength to hold her water bottle for her.

Sadie and Luke were thrilled to find a Scrat nut.

We had to carry some Scrat nuts down to the car.

My kids are constantly collecting little mementos from our adventures.

I am sure, some time in the near future, I will step on a Scrat nut 

and I will foul the air with a horrible word. Or 2.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!??

BEAUTIFUL!!