Discovery Place!

One of our all-time favorite  museums. It's got a little bit of everything science-based, and was a regular stop for us, especially when we first moved to Charlotte and only lived a few minute walk away. The rainforest has always been my favorite.

These kids just love anything they can touch/build/do.

And this trip was made especially good because they had a tyrannosaur special exhibit going on.

It was incredibly well done and the kids loved it.

Unlike other dinosaur "digs" we've played with, these boys are actually stuck in some sort of hard-packed sand that has to be chiseled away. Made the whole experience more real, especially when we had to leave long before they'd uncovered much of anything. It would have taken days to fully dig out the bones.

There was also this fun touch screen game where you hatch the eggs, get clues about the dinosaur, and then fit them into the family tree.

And an interactive screen where the dinosaurs invade the museum. The kids had a lot of fun playing around with this one.

Eventually, we had to leave so we could meet up with another friend and explore the rest of the museum. It was a long, fun day.

A live Angry Birds game--

we had so much fun with this one!

Dinosaurs in Motion

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, we made a trip to Discovery Place over the break to see the temporary Dinosaurs in Motion exhibit.

 

It was very impressive, both as artwork and hands on science. The different dino skeletons, made of metal, were controlled by levers and pulleys.

 

The kids loved it! Well, the older two loved it. Peanut was a little nervous and wanted to be held most of the time, but I don't really blame him for that. And he did smile once he was safely in Daddy-o's arms.

 

The kids had fun figuring out how to make the various dinosaurs move.

The adults had fun with it, too ;)

It was really a fun way to experience dinosaurs. We've done our share of dino explorations over the years since we have a dino obsessed 8 year old, but this was something a little new.

 

And while we were there, we got to see the dino 3-D movie, the frog exhibit, and a few of our favorite normal exhibits. We hadn't been down to Discovery Place in about a year, so the kids were happy to make it back. 

Although, this sight, at Costco, was arguably the most exciting thing we saw that day. Gas under $2!

The Circus Comes to Town

Grandma, the Ringmaster!

And the Strongman

And the cutest bear ever! Discovery Place has a great exhibit right now where you can try out various circus tricks and costumes. I did the tight rope last time I was there with the kids, and the time everyone else got in on the fun.

Here's Daddy-o performing some acrobatics. He was pretty sore afterwards--its a lot more work than it looks like.

I'm still catching up on my blogs. This whole Lent thing is really slowing me down. I feel like I could spend all night on the computer sometimes, but I really do like to do other things as well. . . like hang out with my husband, read, maybe even sleep a little.

Discovery Place

I need to catch up on all the fun places we've found since we got here. So here's the first "Fun in Charlotte" post:

Just 3 blocks from our apartment is a great children's museum, Discovery Place. The have a puppet show, dinosaurs, rats playing basketball (Really! Only they go through the hoop with the ball--guess its too hard to teach them to let go), a rainforest, physics demonstrations, and best of all, a room just for kids 6 and under.

There's a water area, huge legos, a doll house, playhouse, nature area, dino dress-up, puppet theater, exploring your senses area--its really a fun place and its small enough that I don't have to chase them from thing to thing quite so closely (until a field trip shows up and then it gets pretty crazy in there).

We go once or twice a week--its a great way to get out of the heat and I love that we can just walk over there. I'm going to miss living so close, but then again, when we're in our house, we'll have a little more room for at-home play.