Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs!

Every Wednesday our elementary school lets out at 1:00 p.m. This makes for a very long stretch between school getting out and dinner time. With the weather finally getting nice, and us planning to move, I decided we'd better get out and do some of the fun things we'd been planning and putting off. First on our list was the dinosaur park. I visited the website for the dinosaur park, but I wasn't that impressed with what I saw for the amount of money that you pay to get in. However, my awesome son won a family pass in a poster contest, so we got in for free. Once I went, I changed my mind. The playground was great, and all of the kids had fun. The whole park is totally fenced, so Josie couldn't run away. I was sold from the very start. If we were staying, I would definitely buy a family pass. As it is, this was probably our only visit, so I took LOTS of pictures.
The dinosaurs are sculpted to scale. This one stands over the entrance to the playground. I won't even attempt spelling all of their names. I'm better with the cartoon versions. This is a long-neck. Ha Ha!

Here's Mazie sitting on a hatchling in the playground.
This slide was fun, and the outside is painted like a giant bird-like dinosaur. The kids loved climbing all over it.
Then Dylan took Josie down the slide. She screamed for joy, of course.
Josie and Dylan climbing around in the dinosaur skull.
There is also a plain playground for toddlers. It's the first playground we've been to that Josie could climb up and slide down all by herself, and she was delighted! She always slid face first. Hasn't quite figured out the sitting down thing yet.
I love this picture. She looked at me at just the right moment.
I looked at this picture and thought, "Wow, my kids all look so grown up." How'd they get so big?
This is funny. It' looks like the dinosaur is nibbling on Mazie's hair.
The three-horn. We liked him especially because we have seen the actual skulls at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. They have a large collection of triceratops. They are enormous.
A nest of babies beside the walkway.
Look out everyone! You're about to be eaten!
Below is the T-rex. The sculpture includes the dead one in front that he just killed. In another area there is a fight scene and huge speakers playing the dino roars. At the dinner table that night I said to Josie, "Did you see the dinosaurs today?" In replied she roared. It's amazing what they pick up.
In another area, there is a dinosaur dig. The fossils are sculpted like the dinosaurs, and they're buried in sand. They have brushes available for the kids to uncover the fossils.

This was Josie's favorite part, and she screamed when I finally pulled her away from the sand.
Future archaeologists and paleontologists.
Inside the museum. This photo just cracked me up, so I included it. She was petting him a moment earlier. Don't ask me what it is. It's like a water buffalo with a horn on his nose.
This was one of those rare occasions when 1) the kids weren't fighting 2) no one was complaining and 3) we all had fun. If all our outings were like this, we might get out more often!