Dozin' With the Dinos

I took off the last Friday in March. It was the last day of Spring Break and neither Noah or Wyatt had school so I pulled the other two from daycare and took them all to see Dumbo. I thought it was better than the original.

The real reason I had the day off, though, was to take Noah on our next overnight adventure. This time we slept over at the Field Museum.

Waiting for the orientation to start.

This is Max, the dinosaur who took over Sue's spot in the lobby.

They had some extra activities set up for the kids there such as dissecting owl pellets

And taking a field class where they made a drawing of some animals

They also had some extra objects out to look and learn about

The special exhibits were closed, but that didn't stop us from taking a picture at their entrance

Of course, we had to do the dinosaur wing. I had no idea that these prehistoric flyers were this big.

Sneaking a peek at the skyline out the window

Finally, we made it to the new Sue exhibit. They wouldn't let anyone sleep there.

This life-size dinosaur experience really made the exhibit come alive.

Check it out here:

https://youtu.be/NRQH-2vAXIQ

After snack they had a story time

And we were able to go exploring the museum in the dark. Our group was assigned to the African mammals section. Noah and I chose a cozy corner next to some antelope-type creatures.

I found the best spot in our area because it ended in a dead end.

This charming fellow watched me sleep all night. He was slightly illuminated, so whenever I woke up, there he was staring down at me.

In the morning we had breakfast and then got to spend the rest of the day in the museum.

But first we had to move the car to a metered spot.

We made a second stop to visit Sue

And I had to go back and put more money in our meter, so Noah hung out with friends while I made the long hike back to the car

Later that day, even though were were a little tired, we decided to go ice skating with Wyatt's best friend. This was Wyatt's first time ice skating (not counting the fake rink in the Commons) and he loved it. Noah also did much better than he did back when he briefly took lessons as a three year old.

He was so proud to show off to me that he was skating without the bars.

 CeCe and I had fun just watching.

Christmas Days 22-24

On the twenty-second day of Christmas, we met some friends for Christmas in the Commons ice-skating and hot chocolate. Noah was very brave and went out to try ice skating for the first time. Wyatt loved it too and now wants to learn to skate and play hockey. Later all twenty of us went out for dinner and caused a little chaos (and ran into one of my judges from work). It was a fun time and hopefully we can make it a tradition.

They didn't have skates small enough for Charlotte (even Wyatt had to use skates three sizes too big).

While the boys were skating, we went to check out the big Santa and meet Anna and Elsa inside Village Hall.

On the twenty-third day of Christmas, we continued playing with Legos (that Lego show was super inspiring).

And it was also cookie baking day! We skipped the toffee nut bars this year and made gingersnaps instead since we already had all the ingredients.

We also had a "picnic" in the family room (and wow I forgot that our Halloween candy was still out.)

On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, we celebrated.

We decided to resurrect our infamous Christmas Eve tradition of watching everyone's favorite hot mess of a holiday movie "Jingle All the Way".

The kids received some fun presents like Noah's Smashers (that the adults spent over a half hour later trying to figure out how to put back together).

He also got a robot puppy, a game called Shadows that you play in the dark with flashlights, a marble maze game, a fifty states book, Osmo detective agency game, and candy.

And he especially loved the Mommy Shark that plays the hit song "Baby Shark".

Charlotte got a doll beauty chair with accessories, a pony for her dolls, a Barbie car, farmer Barbie (with tractor), dress up Minnie and Daisy, a Lil Gleemerz doll, and a Peppa book.

Wyatt got a Succhomimus dinosaur, Jurassic Park and Iron Man Legos, Spiderverse robot, Top Wings aircraft, a couple books, and a game called "The Floor is Lava".

And Noah devoured a bunch of cookies.