Fun at the science musuem

Hunter and Andrew have spring break this week...so I have some fun days planned.  Today we drove to Durham to go to the science museum there.  It was a beautiful day, so we didn't even do any of the indoor stuff...we were there from 11-3:30.  It took us 4 1/2 hours to do the entire outside and that didn't even include riding the train, which we skipped this time.

The first section you hit outside is a play area. 

Hunter waving, while Austin, Ella, and I were up high.

Some music...

Checking out the "choo choo"

Next stop...farm animals:

For whatever reason, Austin was scared of the animals.  The only place he would let me put him down was by the duck.  He looked at it quickly and then made me hold him again.  So, needless to say, I couldn't get many pictures by the other animals because Austin was attached to me.

Outside of the butterfly/insect house there was this cute bench...I wanted to get a picture of the four kids together on it.  From the looks of it, everyone seems happy and/or laughing at Austin, but...

...right before I took the picture the train (off in the distance) made the toot toot noise, which freaked Austin out...as you can see...he was screaming.  Not sure why the train scared him, but at this point I was thankful I didn't buy train tickets.

Hunter really liked the tarantula.  There are a ton of cool (or gross) bugs in this section of the museum.

Butterfly house...

Break for lunch...

Next stop...dinosaur trail with the fossil dig:

I guess Austin and Ella needed a break, because they pretty much just sat with me while the boys were digging for fossils and shark teeth. 

Again...proof I was there:

Hunter with a shark's tooth he found...he was happy to now have 9 in his collection at home.

Dinosaurs...

Up next...wild life (bears, wolves, and lemurs)

Even though they were so close to us, the boys still had to try to find the bear with the camera.

All four bears were out together...the worker said they rarely are all out together like that at the same time...and so close to us!

These two red wolves were WAY high up in a little spot...you can see the one to the left of the tree, but there is one up higher to the right as well.  Ironically, Austin liked the wolves.

Ella and Austin checking out the lemurs inside that structure...

Here they are zoomed in:

This part was called "wetlands"

Just about finished and we hit the "Wind Catching" section with different mist machines, boats, and a model of how leaves move through the wind.  Hunter and Andrew did a good job sailing the boats. 

We made it home by 4pm and no one fell asleep in the car...therefore...no naps today for the younger ones.  My boys were in bed and asleep pretty quickly tonight.  Hopefully Ella and Andrew fell asleep easily as well.

Enjoying a little ice cream after dinner.