The Dinosaurs Are Here!

Reiman Gardens continues to impress me. Last week they started to set up a traveling dinosaur exhibit which will end up including over 25 realistic, life-size dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. I knew this would be a huge hit with Peyton, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed over there during James' lunch break to see what kind of dinos they had so far.

I had really been looking forward to exploring the dinos with my kids, so even though it was predicted that we'd have thunderstorms off and on all week, we took a chance and went anyway.

Here's how the day went:

Peyton's at school - no rain, no rain, no rain

I pack us a picnic lunch - no rain

We arrive at Reiman Gardens - POURING RAIN

The rest of the day - no rain.

I'm totally not complaining, I just find it amusing.

And here are the cutest kids in the world with their cute umbrellas.

Ella is just now learning how to control her umbrella in the wind and rain - it's tough work for a 3-year-old! See how hard she's concentrating?

I don't think I can even describe how excited and amazed Peyton was to stand THIS CLOSE to a T-Rex skull. And when have you ever seen a freaky-scary dinosaur head nestled among beautiful red tulips? Never. And you never will again I tell you! I'm your only link to dinosaur heads in tulips. You are welcome.

Peyton has read a zillion dino books, watched a zillion dino shows, but to see one up close added a whole new level of understanding. When he first walked up to this one, he said to me, so matter-of-factly, "It's so big! But dinosaurs aren't really this big." It's funny, because so many of his books say things like: "Tyrannosaurus Rex was as tall as an elephant." And "The Pteranodon's wings opened as wide as a small airplane." And we talk about the size of dinosaurs, but obviously nothing is as good as seeing them in real life. Which is another reason I think this exhibit is so awesome. I could say to my son, "This is exactly how big they were." His eyes seriously lit up with his new-found knowledge. So cool.

And off the dinosaur topic, we got to see a Canadian Goose family! With baby goslings! The same little babies that used to be in the eggs we saw at the Reiman Garden Spring Fling. Go here to see the nest they used to live in. It was so neat see these little guys start out as eggs. Ah - nature!