The NC Museum of Life and Science is a huge indoor/outdoor YAY place to learn. On rainy or super cold days, you can spend hours inside running playing, building and learning. On beautiful cool and true southern humid and hot days, you can be outside, run, explore and observe life, all while having fun.
When first going outside of the museum, you pass by the 'castle', the drums, chimes, sand pit and train caboose. Both kids climbed the rope ladder into the castle by themselves and when Cool Dude climbed to the top of the castle all by himself, he screamed "I'm King of the Castle!"
1, 2, 3, GO!
Of course, they have a train. Cool Dude loves trains. We have come to this Museum for years, and every time we do, we take "Selfies". I was thinking yesterday, that I wish I could find all the train selfies and make a post just of those. Now that my babies are not so much babies, they love to make faces. So here are our obligatory train selfies. All of them. ;)
They have two separate places outside where the kids can get wet and learn at the same time. One section requires both kids and adults to move pumps to move water which splashes out in surprising areas. I knew this, so the kids came in bathing suits and had a blast!
I didn't really get an good pictures of the pumps, because, well, I was pumping!
As you can see from the above picture, there is a center spring that bubbles up pretty fast, and leads into a little 'steam'. They both loves jumping, slapping and sitting in this spring.
Look at that.
She lied down in the 'steam'. The sound that erupted from her was amazing.
She giggled and giggled and giggled. Then she stopped.
She just lied there with a smile on her face and her eyes closed.
I named this picture "Free"
A second 'wet area' in further back of the Museum, past the bear, the red wolf and lemers, back, back "Into the Mist".
This area has rolling hills the so the kids can run through the mist. A side area has a flat area and when there is no wind, you can get 'lost' in the cloud.
I been coming to this Museum for years now, and yesterday I found a new area just past the mist. It had little hobbit tunnels, bamboo archways and a mud hut. YEARS and I'm still finding areas!
Below, is a 'green tree' that drips water like its raining when someone presses buttons around the structure. (Note: all water in is reclaimed and re-used for irrigation purposes)
We enter the land of the 'fake turtles'.
Sorry, personal joke.
When Great Aunt Laurie came to visit, we came to the Museum. When down by the pond area, a row of turtles were sunning themselves on a log, and an adjacent family was close to us. The children were pointing to the turtles and their mother said "Oh those are fake".
I was stunned.
"Um, excuse me Ma'am, they are real, they are alive" I said, because my kids ethre there, and I didn't want them to think these animals were fake....
"She gave me an annoyed look and said "Then why haven't they moved?"
"They are cold blooded, they are sunning themselves to warm up."
(Even more annoyed look from the mother)
Well, they haven't moved since I've been here."
You know what happened next right?
They moved.
So......while in the Museum of LIFE and SCIENCE, they have a POND filled with FAKE TURTLES. Right... uh huh....
Obligatory Dinosaur hugs. Because, who doesn't want to hug a dinosaur?
The sun was getting hot by the end of the day. It was decide that Cool dude wanted a bigger hat. So cool dude took Grandma's hat.
