the houston museum of natural history

some of our good buddies invited us to visit the museum of natural history with them and i learned that the museum does indeed have a weekly free day: tuesdays from 3(or maybe 2?)-8pm (something we had asked about before. i guess the museum wants to keep it a secret?). hazel and lucy were really excited to go. we arrived a few minutes early and played by the fountains:

and checked out the solar system on the courtyard:

i believe the girls are sitting by earth.

inside we met up with half of the group and the kids entertained themselves by watching their dancing reflections: 

once we were all together, we headed in:

hooray! dinosaur bones! this looks familiar:

hazel made sure to take a picture of the pterosaur that hung from the ceiling:

after the dinosaurs, we moved onto gambling:

and rode the "geovator" to learn how oil is drilled (important lessons for texans):

then it was onto the stuffed animals:

we learned more science-y things:

and lifted weights:

before saying good-bye to our friends, the fountains:

and pluto, the dwarf planet:

one thursday evening . . .

in the not-so distant past, we took hazel and lucy snowboarding:

surfing:

and rock climbing:

they made some neurons:

visited with the dead:

and saved the dying:

each donned some war paint:

and was ambushed by a giant tick:

before building a dam:

and washing it away:

the end.

[centennial] state adventures: part 14a: mesa verde

we woke up early on the 3rd, jumped in the car and headed up to:

we passed through the time tunnel:

and emerged in the past:

we followed the signs:

and met some of the locals:

before exploring the architecture:

after deliberating for some time on the wisdom of taking the girls down into a restored kiva, we bit the bullet (and put a stop to the tantrums):

we hiked back up to the car:

and continued our visit....

[centennial] state adventures: part 14b: mesa verde next.

it's electric! boogie woogie woogie!

at least once a week hazel asks if we'll take her to the museum. we very rarely do. last week she asked on a thursday and, conveniently, that happens to be the free night. so we went:

there was so much to do! phone calls to make:

people to spy on:

the dharma initiative to join:

faces to paint:

we also learned that each of us is a conductor:

...erm.....well....except grant:

wah wah waaahhhh!

(i thought i'd taken a picture of hazel as well, but alas! i didn't. rest assured she made the circle light up as well.)