Discover the Dinosaurs

My boy is no fool.  You never, never EVER turn your back on a dinosaur.

My girl has always had a love for the dinos.   By the time she was two, she could name them all and tell you a mass of cool facts about them.  

My boy is on the cusp of Jurassic love.   He just started learning about the creatures and showing an interest in reading books and playing with his hand-me-down dinosaurs.   We decided to fill a Saturday afternoon taking with our extinct friends, and we had a fabulous time, no doubt.

The event was held in a huge auditorium that is mostly reserved for concerts and sporting events.   The whole place was really done up, and from the moment you entered the doors, you really did feel like you were in Jurassic Park.  

That, coupled with the LOUD dinosaur sounds coming from within, made just getting in the door with Seth and adventure.   It did kind of sound like they were torturing rhinos inside, so it took a lot of coaxing to convince my guy nothing would be eating him.

  

The entry consisted of a huge  path with large exhibits of many different types of dinosaurs.   Very cool.   My boy kept with the theme, and NEVER turned his back on any of them.   We stopped and enjoyed some interactive exhibits and fossil bone digging. 

Kaelan did a great job on her Dino Scavenger hunt. 

Seth wadded up his checklist paper and threw it at T-Rex.

The kids had a great time riding on a few dinos.  Seth chose a plant eater, but kept a close eye on Kaelan’s meat eater.

There was a football field size area just full of dinosaur jumpers and slides and jungle gyms.   We turned them loose and sat down to enjoy a $7 watered down frozen mango drink and took turns taking 5 minute naps. 

And it was magical.

They soon tired of running crazy and were ready to head to the movie and 4-D area.   We cried for more naptime, but they are slave-drivers.

Kaelan found her happy place in the mining area.    It was a really neat “cave” area that was basically constructed within the bounce house type things.  It was dark, cool and wet feeling inside, and she got to go in and mine for actual fossils and gems.   There were several different caves, and she had to go in ALL of them to find the perfect stones. 

While Kaelan worked to make us rich with gold, we took Seth over to the awesome Dino Tot area to run off the last wisps of energy. 

Doug and I sat down and enjoyed another $7 frozen fruity strawberry watered down drink until Kaelan caught us in the act and made us fork over the last few sips.  She then joined brother and ran off her last bits sugar buzz before dragging us to the face painting and game area.

We would definitely do the Discover Dinos again. 

Note to cheap self:   Sneak your own fruity/frozen drinks next time.  Bring an airplane pillow for quick naps. And maybe a box of peanut M&M’s as well.