On friday we ended our Dinosaur study at the DMNS! The kids were super excited when daddy stayed home on a WEEK DAY and we got to drive down to Denver to see real dinosaur fossils.

The kids happily posed next to their favorite prehistoric creatures. I’m totally not surprised on the ones they chose.

We also saw volunteers working on the excavation of a Mammoth body fossil in the Earth Sciences Lab, Thomas was enthralled with the Mammoth fossil that they had on display that was already uncovered.

As we were nearing the end of the displays, Molly spotted these and ran to them. “I want to take a picture with the PONIES!” She didn’t once mention that they were, um… fossilized prehistoric pony bones, so neither did I.

Not too long after we were posing with Stenomylus, circa Early Miocene, 20 million years ago. {While daddy got a shot of Thomas with Daeodon, a prehistoric warthog}

Then we headed over to the wildlife exhibits where the galapagos tortoise gave Thomas the creeps. Marcus, on the other hand, just kept pointing and calling, “Tuttle!”

Molly spotted the insects exhibit, or as Molly said, “OOhh! Butterflies!”

A quick potty break for the kids was in order by then, and I caught this lovely self portrait in the bathroom mirror as I was waiting, you know, to prove that I was actually there too.

From there we decided that it was time to explore the cosmos. On we went to Space Odyssey. Where, appropriately enough, Molly spotted the Butterfly Nebula.

…and the Spiral Galaxy.

Marcus loved the astronaut on the ceiling as we explored the Space Odyssey. Thomas and Molly even got to make craters by dropping large marbles into sand.

Our last stop was the Gem and Minerals exhibit. Although it was super dark in there, I can’t help but post these shots of Molly.

All in all, it was a great trip. While we were there, I asked the kids to pick something to cover next. Thomas said, “Hmm, well, I guess canaries would be cool.” followed shortly after by Marcus yelling, “BIRDS!”

Okay then! Bird Week it is.