A Day At The Museum

The Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh opened a new portion last year including a large world with a movie inside.  We checked it out when we were there last, but didn't see everything inside the newest portion.  We headed to the newest section first to check out more of the exhibits.  They have a good sized tank with....

a Bonnet Head Shark!

It looks similar to a hammer head, but quite a bit smaller.  :0)

There were some good sized fish in the tank.  Too bad we could fish here.

My favorite was the Lion fish.

They are pretty cool looking.

This little shark kept cruising the back and left sides of the tank.  

Another lion fish.

I can't remember the name of this one.  It was red with light blue spots across it's back.  They look white in the picture.

Another favorite the Puffer fish.  The kids were trying to think of a way to get it to puff up.  That would have been pretty cool.  However this little guy was pretty chill and just hung out in the corner.

A trip to the museum isn't complete without a visit to the butterfly house, so we headed there as well.

There weren't very many kinds of butterflies in the house.  There were several kinds still in their cocoons waiting to hatch.  We were just there on the wrong day.

This milk snake was also in the butterfly house.  Don't worry!  He was behind glass and couldn't mingle with the other residence.

After the butterfly house we headed to the bug wing of the museum.  They have giant bee heads you can look through to see what they see.  It didn't work very well...either that or bees are really pretty blind!  They did make for some fun pictures though.

Eliza

Daniel

Bradley

Dad

Mom

Before leaving the kids wanted to check out the ocean wing.  Dad likes to read ALL the plaques on the wall.  He says you learn all kinds of neat things.  I thought I would try it and this was the result.

Nathan crawled behind the display into the window.

Bradley was close behind.

Whose kids are these?  What kind of a parent lets their kids climb behind the display?

"There's no one back here but us dust bunnies. :0)
This is what happens when you read the plaques and no one watches the kids.  Fortunately we didn't get kicked out.  :0)

On our way back to the van we walked past the large globe that is part of the museum.  It is three storied tall and they show video clips on the inside.  Since it is rounded it makes for unique viewing.  We are going to get one of these for our next house.  ;0)

Nathan, Eliza, Daniel. Bradley and Dad

Nathan near the base.  Nathan loved the museum and being able to wonder.  He likes to feel big, so even though we had the stroller he wanted to walk.  The only problem is that he wanted to go his own way.  He wasn't worried about keeping track of anyone in the family.  He is cute though. :0)

Jan. 4, 2014