First we stopped at the Education center where there was a Bonsai Expo was going on and the Blue Ridge Fiber Show upstairs. The kids weren't terribly interested in this- other than their amazement at the cost of some of these pieces. I thought they were beautiful- and can't wait till Spring when we shear the alpacas and I can start to learn how to felt and use fiber myself.
Then we went down to look at the Bonsai. Annika got a little bored, so we left Paul, my mom and the boys inside and went out to explore the gardens and fountains.
The other traveling exhibit is After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals and Ice. Now this was something the kids loved! My boys absolutely love to watch documentaries on this type of thing. They have watched them on all sorts of dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles and mammals. So seeing the skeletons and such of all of these animals was so much fun for them.
They had replicas of skulls, claws and teeth. They had huge electronic replicas of the animals themselves. It was pretty cool. Lakin was drawn to the Smilodon and other sabertooth cats. They had a huge ground sloth and short-faced bear- both of which they had seen videos on.
They had a little rice-filled pit to uncover bones in. Annika played here most of the time the boys were running around looking at the animals.
They had a couple of animals they didn't know much about- like the dire wolf and giant beaver. I am sure we will be searching for them soon in books and movies.
So that was our trip to the NC Arborteum this week. It's a lovely place with amazing gardens, exhibits and trails. If you want to see some more you can read my post about our previous trip to the Arboretum.
Do you have a field trip to share this week? You can link up any posts about getting out of the house and exploring life and learning first hand. Please link back here to help this blog hop grow!
Great field trip. LInking our garden trip up:)
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