Ruth's 8th Birthday

For Ruth's 8th Birthday we did a last minute trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The kids had been wanting to go there (they adore natural history museums) and there was an exhibit on dinosaurs that was about to close. So, we worked ahead in school and took the day off. Ruth declared it her "best birthday ever."

We started with a birthday squeeze for Ruth. It got a little crazy, though.

David liked this one-he said it looked like a Night at the Museum

The kids and the Haplocanthosaurus

And of course, Dimetridon-David can spot one a mile away

A really cool, rare dinosaur (only one of 3) but I forget it's name

Byron, helping David measure his femur against a Triceratops fossil femur. David is yelling because he can't lift his leg high enough and Byron nearly dumped him.

Balto under glass. The kids were so excited to see him.

Outside the exhibit...and their best dino faces.

The boys and some fossilized vertebrate-it was from a very large dinosaur-Apatosaurus, maybe?

There was a really neat display that showed the different kinds of dinosaur footprints-this just doesn't do it justice

Parasauralophus

Pachycephalosaurus, or as the kids call him-The Mushroom Head Dinosuar

In the basement of the museum, there was a display on Ohio-all sorts of things, but we passed that over for the time because we were running short on time. We went straight to the kids discovery room where there were things to touch, play and learn. We only spent about an hour there, but it was a fun time.

The friendly dinos from the dino table

The dino table was a big hit

Reading about trash and recycling-a fascinating read.

Checking out the Praying Mantis in glass

This was supposed to be a memory match game, but being snowflakes, I didn't think I could handle how long it would take to do it, so Byron and I just matched them face up.

The dinosaur dig was the favorite-everyone got to wear vests that said "Paleontologist" on it

Craft time-making t-rex out of a lunch bag