Dinosaur museum

Or, why I hate crowds, part 2.

During the month of August, Thanksgiving Point had $2 Tuesdays. The Romgi and I thought it would be nice to give Krista a break (as best we could) by taking Anna and Brandon to the dinosaur museum (for the reduced price of $8 instead of $36). I figured there would be more people than usual, but it somehow didn’t occur to me that we picked one of the last Tuesdays of summer to go – so every kid in Utah Valley was there, enjoying what was left of vacation.

I hate crowds.

Let me tell you again: I really hate crowds. Something about the noise and the bustling and the chaos makes me anxious, light-headed, and a little bit nauseated. And crowds full of kids are the worst. They dart in front of you and cut you off and bump into you and in all ways drive you crazy. I don’t mean the kids you bring – I mean the kids who belong to everyone else, to the parents who don’t care what their kids are doing. (That may be unfair. I only have the Bwun to handle, and there’s not much he can do to annoy other people, aside from being noisy – and what does it matter in a crowd?)

I may be exaggerating the whole thing just a tiny bit. It wasn’t all that bad – except for the 20 minute wait to get into the museum. Should have worn sunscreen, huh?

The Romgi took over when we first got inside because after the drive and the line, the Bwun needed a diaper change and some food. I’m going to let his pictures tell the story now. (Well…I’ll let them help. Don’t worry, there will be captions.)

Anna explains. Or demands an explanation.

Next time we decorate a nursery, we're hanging these from the ceiling. I think prehistoric marine life makes a great theme, don't you?

Brandon had a sixth sense for when the Romgi was taking a picture. He wanted to be looking at the camera or posing every single time.

Ok, this part's good. First the Romgi takes a picture of Brandon in front of the dinosaur...

Then a picture of Anna in front of the dinosaur...

Next Brandon tries to get in Anna's shot, and she makes him cry as she pushes him away...

And finally the Romgi gets them both sulking.

That is an extremely large dinosaur.

This room, which smells heavily of chlorine, has a big wrap-around table filled with water and sand. Kids can build dams and create rivers and streams, complete with plastic dinosaurs and palm trees. I suppose on a slower day they could watch as the water washed away their dams and moved the dinosaurs and trees around, but it was packed when we went. See that crowd? Bleh.

Anna scooped sand to make a dam.

It was fairly sticky sand. I'm glad Anna was old enough to clean herself up.

More sand.

And water.

Brandon got tired of playing and decided to climb on the benches instead.

The Bwun was just unhappy all around.

The Romgi and I decided we’d been in the museum long enough, so we finished the trip up by letting Anna and Brandon each pick a flavor of fudge to buy. Anna got key lime and Brandon chose chocolate-vanilla. Of course, then we needed some for ourselves, but we stuck with traditional chocolate. It was a nice treat after a long, noisy afternoon. The kids were great, but…

I sure hate crowds!