Aquarium

My kids had both been to The Living Planet Aquarium on school field trips, but I had never been. Growing up in the Bay area of California, I remember going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is amazing. I didn't think our land locked Aquarium would be remotely interesting after my experience in Monterey so I was never in a hurry to see what our local Aquarium had to offer.  

I was pleasantly surprised when we finally visited. It was worth going and all four of us had a great afternoon. I found out later that a new, much larger, Aquarium is being built and will be opening in December. I look forward to checking it out once it's open. I love seeing the wonder on my kids faces as they look at some of the exhibits.  Although, I can't wait to take them to the Monterey Aquarium someday.

Petting baby sharks

 Otters are hilarious creatures! 

 Feeding time!

Ashleigh's Piranha impression

Giant Octopus

 

 

The Jellyfish were my favorite, they are beautiful!

Natural History Museum

Jackson chose the new Natural History Museum for this birthday date with Grandma this year. He had visited a month earlier with a school field trip but didn't have enough time to interact with everything he wanted to.

I was invited along on this trip and I'm so glad I went. It was fantastic!

The building was beautiful and the exhibits were more impressive than I anticipated. We started with lunch on the terrace, then discovered for hours, and ended the day with a stop at the gift shop.

A beautiful two story Native American display at the top of the stairs once you enter the museum.

Preservation lab

prehistoric under water scene

Dinosaurs!

 Jackson describing a dinosaur fight

This guy was one of Jackson's favorites

This was an interactive display of the Salt Lake valley to show how the entire valley was once under water. He got to flood the valley then let it drain.

 The sticky note wall: post-it-notes and pencils were here to encourage visitors to leave remarks about the museum. Jackson's just stated, "awesome"

This was actually one of my favorite displays. Live brine shrimp. I've heard about them all my life and know they live in the Salt Lake but had never seen one. I hadn't realized how tiny they are! That black square Jackson is pointing to is a magnifying glass.

Jackson told us all about how marsh lands filter out pollutants

Cockroach time! A hands on demonstration. Jackson thought it was pretty cool

    

 People now enter the picture:

 Jackson telling us about early jewelry and how teeth were used for necklaces

 wall of weapons

 Jackson has always had an interest in arrowheads so this was a really neat display.

 Earthquake!

Make your own earthquake and see how it measured on a Richter scale

 This was a fun hands on demonstration and another favorite. Jackson built a structure then simulated an earthquake to see how much motion it could withstand. The black square he built it on moved and the display screen showed the Richter scale measurement.

Many exhibits were accompanied by these scents. Some scents were very pleasant like trees and flowers, some of the animal scents were pretty stinky. 

Last section on our tour:

 To remember the trip, my Mom bought Jackson a necklace from the gift shop (with a bug inside) that he had his eye on since his field trip and I bought him a couple arrowheads to add to his collection. The whole afternoon was wonderful. I'd like to take the entire family sometime.