Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Animal Grossology

Playing catch-up with a post on a field trip last month.  We were scheduled for an outdoor event, but with cold, wet weather, we opted instead to go to the NC Science Museum.  They had a special exhibit called Animal Grossology.  If you are in the area, I do recommend this exhibit.  It will be there until April 24, 2011.  It was entertaining, hands-on and very informative!  Oh, and did I mention FUN!  We were joined by some of our friends and spent a fun morning learning about ... gross things.











Everything was interactive with lots of games to play.  This is a giant dung ball.  There were 4 beetles that each raced to push their dung ball to the top of the hill. 

 
Learning about predators and prey with a cute frog game.  Eliana really just liked the balls.  The goal was to shoot the ball into one of the holes in the river so that it was safe from snakes and birds.

Another game.
Did I mention that most of these exhibits had to do with gross topics?  Maybe its obvious by the title of the exhibit.  This one talked specifically about leeches, mosquitos and some other gross bug.
This game was set up like a game show in which you learned about 3 different creatures and then voted on which was the slimiest.

 Ugh!  I'll never look at having a fly in the house the same way again.  Amazing and disgusting how many things they carry on their feet.
This game was all about blood.  They learned about different colors of blood and which catagory of animal had which color of blood.  It really was interesting.
Yeah, I know.  Gross.  LOL

There was more, but I didn't get a lot of photos.  There was a submarine you could go in and look around the room with periscopes.  There was a twisty slide to come out of it.  One of the exhibits was to test your sense of smell.  It was really yuck!  There was also a game show at the end of the exhibit so that you could see how much you had learned.

This was a fun morning and something I hope we'll be able to do again.  We were fortunate in that the day we went there were hardly any other people there.  It made it much easier to keep up with Eliana that way!

Blessings
Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Birthday Rebecca

The host site is down at HSB where I typically blog, so I'm taking this time to try out a new host.  So far it has taken me a LONG time to load the pictures individually.  Not sure if there is a trick that I'm missing on this!  (Please share if there is!)

This year Thanksgiving fell on the same day as Rebecca's birthday.  I remember a friend telling me when she was born that she really loved having her birthday close to Thanksgiving as an adult - because it meant she spent it with family.  I hope Rebecca will enjoy that too.  I will admit that it was a little challenging trying to celebrate both on the same day. 

We drove up the mountains to spend the holidays with my parents.  My sister and her family met us there.  Rebecca again baked pies.  Eliana found them while she was getting them ready this year and decided to try them out - before they were cooked!

We enjoyed playing games.

And of course cooking.

The girls had fun making and decorating cookies.  The boys liked eating them!

The boys received "money machines" as a late birthday gift.  It's a box with a tab sticking out of the top.  When you pull it, money comes out and out and out.  They both loved this!
I love spending time with my family!  I'm very blessed!

Rebecca and Keri making placecards for our table.

Keri and Laura made these great cupcakes!  Aren't they amazing looking?!

We celebrated Rebecca's birthday with gifts.
And a "birthday pie" (yes it is one that she made). 
Happy 15th Birthday precious girl!

Cousins having fun!

Some photos of my kids

Eliana found the chocolate in the pantry.
My sister and I with our hubbies.
Another tradition - a group shot of our children on this wall.
I love the tradition of being with my family at Thanksgiving.  I love that our children have things that they know "we do" each year.  This is such a fun holiday.  We relax, eat food, play games, read books and watch football (or the cooking channel).  Its sweet being with people you love and I'm grateful for my wonderful family!

Love
Leslie