Travel & Vacation: Dinosaur Ridge
Karlie and Brina ready to go explore at Dinosaur Ridge!
My cousin Renelle and her husband Eric took the girls on an adventure to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colorado. The girls were really excited to check out all the neat dinosaur prints, bones, and learn more about the dinosaurs in this area. We took a tour bus up Dinosaur Ridge and the guide stopped a few different places to let us get out and explore more. It was really neat! The girls had a grand time! Thanks Eric and Renelle for taking us up to Dinosaur Ridge!
Uncle Eric and the girls looking at the dinosaurs outside the visitor center!
The gray prints are dinosaur tracks!
If you look closely there is big track right next to a smaller set (a Mom dinosaur with a baby) and right behind the two tracks is another one that is chasing them. Pretty neat seeing the different tracks and how they can determine what they were and a lot of other cool details!
Up close picture of one of the big tracks.
They let you climb up part of the rock area to check out the tracks. The kids loved climbing up and putting their hands in the tracks!
A lot of different dinosaur tracks on this section.
Karlie all smiles as she comes up to the observation tower.
Karlie and Brina at Dinosaur Ridge.
All smiles! You can see the dinosaurs tracks in the picture behind them.
Looking at the tracks and listening to the guide talk about all the different ones.
Touching dinosaur bones in the rock.
Large dinosaur bone!
The guide told us how to locate them since not all were marked with signs. Karlie found one!
Brina found one too!
Another one has been found!
Karlie having a grand time at Dinosaur Ridge!
Listening to the guide describe and show all the interesting pieces in this area.
Karlie touching the dinosaur footprint. If you look closer the rocky area dips down where the dinosaur footprint is outlined.
Hanging out at Dinosaur Ridge. Fun times in Colorado!
Travel & Vacation: Boston Museum of Science
Our visit to the Boston Museum of Science
Another fascinating place to visit with kids is the Boston Museum of Science! The girls LOVED the Boston Museum of Science. We spent the first two hours in one room they enjoyed it so much. They probably could have spent an entire day going through everything. We covered the majority of the museum in several hours, but they would have been happy to stay longer if we had the time.
We went to the Lightening Show! It was awesome! If you look closely there is a lady in the giant “bird cage” which was struck by a large bolt of lightning.
Anything with animals is a hit with our girls
Mesmerized by the tornado display.
Karlie showing her electricity capicity.
The computer, electronics, and robotics room was a huge hit with the kids. In this picture they are putting together pieces to build robotic components that make noise, light up, turn on fans, and more!
Really Mom, it wasn’t me making that beeping noise!!!
Watching to see what robotics challenge is being giving. This was really neat! One of the workers kept giving them harder tasks to accomplish!
Working together to get the robotic to get through the course. They both finished their missions and earned their certificates.
Jake teaching Brina some computer coding skills!
One huge dinosaur!
Silly mirrors!
The musical steps were neat! I think the girls did several sets of stairs just so they could create music!
Yes, she is holding a skunk in her arms only a few feet from us!
Playing for a few minutes on the seesaw!
It was a blast exploring the Boston Museum of Science. The girls loved it! The only sad part is we had to go because the Museum was closing and we had to get moving on to our next stop. We stopped outside of Boston at a Ninety-Nine restaurant! Instead of serving bread before the meal they brought out fresh popcorn. The kids meals included an ice cream sandwich. It was nice to sit, relax, and talk about our fun adventures for the day. The food was delicious too!
Vacation & Travel: Smithsonian Institution – National Air & Space Museum
Jake and his girls at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.!
Our family was able to spend some time at the Smithsonian Institution of National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. this summer. The first time we drove by the building and Karlie saw the sign she was ready to go explore it! The Smithsonian Institution buildings that we went into were really nice, very educational, and the best part is that they are FREE! You cannot bring in any food or drinks, but there are water fountains and a McDonald’s at one end of the Museum if you get hungry.
So excited to explore this building that they had to get a picture by the sign!
Over-the-top excited to go into the Air and Space Museum
Both girls love science and learning, however, Karlie loves anything relating to space so this adventure was a big hit with her!
So many things to look at and explore in the Air & Space Museum. As you can see Jake is the only one actually looking at me, ha! Thanks Babe! The other two were mesmerized by all the displays!
Karlie all smiles as she touches a piece of moon rock. This particular piece was brought back from the moon on Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Brina touching the moon rock….how cool to think that it was once on the moon!
Jake is so good about showing the girls the various items and explaining it to them. They love soaking up all the cool information!
Having fun at the Smithsonian Institute National Air and Space Museum!
We thought the room with all the history about how planes and other flying items were created was pretty neat!
Brina all smiles waiting in line for the next activity and you can see Karlie in the reflection checking to make sure her Air & Space Museum pictures were turning out! Silly girls!
Brina flying the plane!
Karlie’s turn to drive! They’ve got their eyes on what’s in front of them! Whatever it is better look out!
Soaking it all in….
Wow, what a huge carrier. Even the display model was big! Love that they are so fascinated by the display they don’t even realize I am on the other side taking their picture.
Having fun at the Air & Space Museum!
Karlie wanted a picture by her favorite rocket – The Apollo! The space rooms were a hit with Karlie!
Karlie all smiles as she gets a picture in front of Buzz Aldrin’s astronaut suit. Earlier this year in March she had a chance to see and hear Buzz Aldrin speak at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC!
Mommy and her girls!
It didn’t take Brina long to figure out all the computer activities!
Showing Daddy what she put together on the computer!
Fascinating, this was probably Brina’s favorite rooms with all the interactive science activities, experiments, and fun information.
Gravity, force, magnets…..all kinds of fun activities to check out!
This picture cracked me up – all three Karlie, Brina, and Jake have their heads down looking at the all pictures in the displays.
Someone really liked this room!
Having fun at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Karlie and Brina loved all the neat activities and displays at the Smithsonian Institute National Air and Space Museum! I was shocked at how long we spent there since the time went by so quickly. They could have spent the entire day just in this museum. Karlie was really hoping we had “extra” time in Washington, D.C. so we could go back and go through the museum again, maybe next time sweet girl!
It was educational, fascinating, and a fun place to explore for the whole family. They did a great job with this museum. Washington, D.C. is a great place to visit the only hard part is fitting in all the amazing places to visit into one trip! We packed in as much as we could in the couple days we were there, but I am sure we’ll have to go back at some point to explore some more!
Family STEM Activity Night
Karlie watching the robotics demonstration right after giving her speech to the students, faculty, parents, and family members in attendance. So proud of her! She was the only 3rd grader to give a speech that night!
The girls had a blast at their Family STEM Night! Karlie gave a presentation to everyone in attendance about their STEM Club and robotics competition. That night they had a lot of fun activities as well as informational meetings throughout the evening. Brina and Karlie had a blast learning, soaking in all the great information, and participating in the various activities. It was neat to see them work both independently and together to create some neat projects in the evening!
Learning about the cool pieces and their purposes. Karlie was thrilled to hold the one that had been up in space!
Karlie testing her dragon racer.
Brina testing her dragon racer.
Putting together a soft bed for the raw egg.
Almost done with wrapping our egg!
Final wrapping to their egg nicknamed “Pink Flemingo” for the egg drop competition. I remember doing a similar activity in elementary school. Super Fun!
Under all those pink and orange feathers and bubble wrap is a raw egg – “Pink Flemingo”!
A little concerned that the Pink Flemingo may have broken in the drop so they are hurrying to get back and unwrap her!
Brina so proud of her Pink Flemingo egg drop activity and wrapping skills! The Pink Flemingo did survive the egg drop! Yay! The girls loved this activity!
Making their airplane gliders to fly and measure!
STEM Robotics Competition
The “Crosswell Flares” logo and design the kids came up with for this year.
The girls STEM Robotics Team – The Crosswell Flares – did a great job this weekend! It was their first year in the competition and a long day (left the house at 7 am and wasn’t back home until around 7 pm that night), but all their hard work paid off they got 2 Trophies!!! The girls had a blast, learned a lot, and met a lot of people from various schools in the area!
The tagline they came up with was “Keep your flame in the game” which was on the back of their shirts along with the list of team members.
With so many people around the robot table during the competition this was the best picture we could get that day. This is their robot going through the course. They were able to accomplish all their missions that they had programmed and practiced.
The team getting ready to start the competition!
Brina very excited about her “swag bag”! As part of the competition each team made swag bags for their team members then they would have the opportunities to trade items with other teams. It stimulated a lot of interaction among the various teams. They were actually judged on this piece of the competition as well.
Karlie showing off her swag bag! Their team actually won a trophy for this part of the competition which included their sportsmanship and values.
They won 2 trophies! It was a long day and a lot of work, but they did fantastic! The kids were troopers! This was the teams first year competing against 17 teams (most of which have been competing for several years). Proud of all the kids and coaches for all the hard work. Good Job!!!
