Lawrence Hall of Science

I take my class on a field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science every year, and every year they send me a free "teacher preview pass" which I have never used.  I'd been waiting until Owen was old enough to enjoy it.  Well, today was the day.  As per usual, he started out scared of everything-- the noises, the giant bugs (the new XTreme Bugs exhibit), the dinosaur bones...but now that I know to anticipate of these fears, I am learning how to trick Owen into having fun.  Once I got him into a quieter room where he could just play, he was sold on the rest of the museum.

He used a brush to uncover fossils like a "real scientist."
He saw a cast of a Tyrannosaurus skull and a mastodon, and real triceratops bones.
He watched a model of the earth, which changed into other planets and the sun.
He saw all kinds of small animals (geckos, turtles, boa constrictors, snakes, bearded dragons, chinchillas, rabbits, fish, frogs, a tarantula, and more), and he got to pet a rat named Pixie.
He saw three brains: bottle-nosed dolphin, monkey, and human.

He is turning into such a smart little kid.  I was fascinated watching his little mind take in everything and how much he learned and grew in just a few hours.

Owen and a beach ball being blown into the air

Logan playing in a life-sized kaleidoscope

Owen making shapes with his hands, face, back, etc. (germs, germs, germs is all I kept thinking)

Logan played with that big orange foam block for a long time, just pushing it around on the floor and giggling.  That's me taking a selfie in the mirror.  Some rare photographic evidence that I was there, too.