We don't do many family outings, mostly I take the kids during the week to different places and then we spend time together at home on the weekend. But this week I asked John if he could take the morning off to go to the Heard Museum with me and the kids. We were going with some other PAMOM friends, but I really wanted to let the kids walk vs. take the stroller (and it's best to have one adult to one kid when they're walking in public - they always go in different directions!). He surprised me and the kids by saying he was going to take the whole day off and so we started our family fun day by heading off to the Heard Museum to see some dinosaurs, butterflies and other wild animals.
We got there about 9:30 and it was already getting hot. The kids immediately jumped out of the car and began running through the gardens. Pointing and looking at each tree, plant, flower and rock along the way. I joked with the attendant inside as we were buying our tickets that it took forever for us to get here. She asked where we came from and I said the parking lot. With two 18 month olds, we have to stop and investigate EVERYTHING! They were so cute though and very excited about the adventures ahead.
We had the butterfly farm in mind as our first stop and headed off in that direction, but before the butterflies was a petting zoo. I didn't think the kids were old enough for that (plus could you imagine the fear on those animals faces when they saw 16+ twins all between 18 months and 3 years old coming towards them!) so we opted to stay outside the fence. That worked well for the kids. They could still pet the animals and explore all they wanted with a bit of safety between them and the animals. Although Jake almost got his finger bit by a donkey. He was of course sticking his finger in the donkey's nose and apparently donkey's don't like that. We were wearing the leashes though so as soon as I saw the teeth come out and around his little finger, I yanked on the leash a bit and pulled Jake out of harms way. Whew! First catastrophe of the morning avoided!
After the petting zoo we continued on our way to the butterfly farm, but found a lot of "wild" animals along the way. They had lemurs, mongooses, monkeys, even a couple of kangaroos! Abby & Jake loved the fact that they had short fences that marked the path. They thought they made great ladders to get a more up close view of the animals.
After making our way through the wild animals, we finally arrived at the butterfly house. It was really neat and the kids enjoyed seeing all the plants. Abby really got into the butterflies, but Jake was really more interested in the rocks and dirt. Such a boy!
After the butterflies, they had a dinosaur exhibit that was really the main attraction. It was a half a mile walk to see all the dinosaurs and I didn't know if we'd make it or not, but we gave it a shot. We actually started at the end and worked backwards (we never do things the typical way). The first dinosaur was a large t-rex that moved and made loud sounds. Jake was really unsure and wanted to be held at that point. Abby was really intrigued and wanted a closer look.
But, by our fourth dinosaur, both started getting scared and started to cry. We decided to turn back since we weren't that far in to the walk yet. We really didn't want to walk half a mile carrying the kids on a gravel path in the heat! I tried to get a shot of me and the kids at the fourth dino, but it kept roaring and they wouldn't look at the camera for anything. They were also really scared and didn't trust that thing behind them!
We cut across to the picnic areas where they had toy dinosaurs the kids could sit on and play in sand. They still weren't amused.
We finally headed indoors where they had a small exhibit and some more hands on dinosaur stuff. They kids liked playing in the sand with the toys.
We had a really fun morning with dad, and the day wasn't over! We headed out to eat pizza and then it was back home for our nap! What would the afternoon bring?
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