A Few Critters -- Living and Otherwise!

This seems to be the year for home reno in our world. You've heard about my basement, but Rick has also been hard at work -- first, on his rental duplex and now on one of his bathrooms. Kevin came to help him tear things apart and since Molly and the Camster had another engagement, I said I'd have a Carson day! It would include a play, some dinosaurs and more than a few fish!

We started out with the children's play, a new piece called "What If Wilhelmina," based on the children's book. Prior to the play, kids could get their faces painted (my guy declined!), color, or play a matching game and see some art, which we later learned related to the play.

The play involved audience participation and while some of the kids got up and danced, my guy preferred to participate from his seat! After the kids got to meet the cast and touch the puppets.

From there it was lunch and then back home to do a craft project. We made stained glass hanging pieces -- and they were pretty cute! 

As the bathroom work was finished (for the day -- it will be a long time before it is finished!), we were joined by the Camster so we could have more fun and a sleepover. That was when our critter adventure began. We headed to the natural history museum to see the dinosaurs! 

The bones were huge and some almost close enough to touch.

The Habitat Hall had some beautiful dioramas. (We have a similar place up north that my cousin's son used to call the Dead Animal Museum and I couldn't help but think of that here!)

There were also some exhibits more of interest to adults but if there is anything that's interactive, these guys were on it!

 

After that, dinner, a movie (Peter Pan) and a couple of sleepy heads, gearing up for the next day!

We had to deliver the boys back to Mom and Dad in the afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of time to "play" (and the weather wasn't exactly "let's go to the park" weather) so we decided to hit a pet store in town that we'd heard about but never visited. When we arrived, it was packed -- and when you went in, you could see why! This place was loaded with fish! Row after row of tanks.

The kids found Nemo -- and Dory, along with some fish that were large enough to make a nice dinner!

I think you could buy any aquarium fish that ever existed and I saw things I'd never seen before, like this one. (I forgot to photograph the label -- sorry.)

Then there was this one -- not fancy . . . 

. . . but very pricey!

This one seemed to just be climbing the wall of the aquarium. He was fascinating to watch.

(I really need to take pictures of the names next time -- but I was herding kids and taking it all in myself -- along with looking for the cat food section, which was surprisingly small.)

They also had a huge selection of birds, including this impressive fellow.

And then there were the reptiles. 

I'm not big on the reptiles and smalls, but the kids were!

 

 They also had the biggest koi pond I'd ever seen inside! It was very relaxing.

 All in all, it was a great  couple of days, time to commune with the kidlets and have some fun ourselves. It was also educational.

I learned that the price of fish has come up from the old goldfish-in-a-small-bowl days and that I could never afford to have an aquarium at home.

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