Fieldtrip Wednesday!

Rilyn's Fieldtrip and our visit to Daddy's work!

Rilyn standing next to an open area overlooking a dinosaur skeleton.
Today Rilyn (4) had a fieldtrip to the Musuem of Natural History in Downtown Denver. I originally wasn't going to go but then I had second thoughts and signed up at the last minute to go. I'm SO glad I went. I also brought Tyler (2) along.

We saw a lot of displays about various types of habitats for birds in different areas of the US and even other countries like Africa. It was fun to read about birds and habitats in the Desert, specifically the Superstition Mountains, since we used to live near there.

Tyler checking out these birds.

Rilyn and the bird display.

An eagle with it's prey. Unfortunately, it's prey in this display is a little kitten.


I was amazed at how big some of these birds such as eagles and California Condors are, they are easily bigger than my little 4 year old and 2 year olds and I'm afraid they could swallow me up a little too easily also!! We also saw some huge alligators and snakes.

We saw a couple of entire rooms on Benjamin Franklin and Mummies, but Rilyn's favorite section was the Dinosaur's!! She knows lots of facts about dinosaurs since they have been learning all about them recently at school.

Her favorite dinosaur is the triceratops. She says triceratops kill people with their horns. She also was able to brag a little with some of her new found knowledge to some of the workers in the museum. Once she told the museum worker that Tyrannasaurous Rex's are meat eaters, or carnivores. The worker was showing us a cast of a real T-Rex tooth at the time and found Rilyn's knowledge quite impressive!

We met up with several friends there who also have children in preschool. It was fun to see them all and chat. Rilyn is especially fond of McKenna and Lexi, too bad McKenna is in the afternoon preschool class and Rilyn is in the morning!

Tyler and Rilyn checking out the dinosaur display.

McKenna, Lexi and Rilyn at the Dinosaur Exhibit.

The girls and some other kids listening about how dinosaur eggs are hatched.



After we were done at the Museum, we ate a sack lunch and then we drove over to Laren's office in downtown Denver.

McKenna, Lexi and Rilyn eating lunch together at the Museum.

He works in one of those huge skyscrapers on the 21st floor and my kids always think it's so great to ride the elevator all the way up 21 stories! Plus, aside from seeing Daddy midday they love to get candy from his candy dish and the receptionist desk right when they get off the elevator!

We unfortunately didn't get a close parking spot when we went to visit Laren so we had to park about 3 city blocks away in lots of traffic. But the blessing was hearing these wonderful bells playing as we walked the few blocks to his work.

This is the first time we had ever noticed those bells playing. Maybe it's because we usually park closer to his work and further from the church, or maybe it's because we had never been there at exactly noon before? Whatever the reason, it was a musical treat for our ears!! I recognized the tune being "Come Thou Font."

The Church was so amazing that I had to get a couple of shots of it on the way back since Laren was there to help me with the kids in the traffic. Otherwise it wouldn't have been possible. Luckily, because we were coming back from the fieldtrip, I had my camera in tow which is unusual for me.



It is a BEAUTIFUL rock church, and the music was absolutely amazing, more amazing than the building itself. It seemed weird to have a classic looking church juxtapositioned against a backdrop of skyscrapers and street signs and traffic.




It almost seemed even more incongruent to hear such a heavenly song competing with the noise of the traffic and the beeping sound of the nearby parking garage. I was so grateful for the music and since I heard it, I've been singing that song in my head ever since.

Laren and I getting a self portrait, much to his chagrin, right before I took off with the kids to get home for Tyler's nap.