Museum of Ancient Life

My mom treated our family to a trip to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point!  She suggested it to Faye on Wednesday.  Watching Faye's excitement build every day leading up to Saturday made this trip 10x's more fun!

There was the cutest dead tree set up in the lobby and a table with paper hearts.  The kids wrote down something they loved and hung it on the "Heart Tree." Faye wrote "My Bestie," and I helped Sam draw Batman on his heart. 

Faye noticed several hearts had fallen off the tree.  She insisted on hanging every heart back on the tree causing my heart to melt.

The flex exhibit was themed around repeating geometric shapes.  Both kids enjoyed crawling through the unique playground and tunnels while we adults took our time reading each display. 

It was such a magical museum trip!  Watching Faye's mind make connections with interests, facts she's read, and her general curiosity was my favorite.  However, the kids enjoyed every exhibit. We walked through the "space tunnel," a  cylindrical black room with small flickering lights creating a 360 degree space walk effect, about ten separate times.

Watching the Fossil Cleaning room.

(Who knew they would have a Subnautica exhibit?)

(Faye's facial expressions crack me up!)

Faye and her Best Friend pose next to Megalodon pleasantly waiting to be eaten.

"It's head is the size of our car!"

"Mom!  I found a pretend dinosaur!"

We missed the erosion table during our first pass of the museum.  We briskly walked through the museum a second time in search of this fabled room.  It. Was. Worth. It.  We had a blast playing with the toy dinosaurs!  Talk about an awesome end to the museum.

 

Surprisingly, Sam is our neat-freak.  He has a meltdown should anything stick to his hands.  I thought Sammo would ADORE the erosion table, but he couldn't handle the feeling of sand sticking to his fingers.  Alan kindly cleared out a section to provide a sand-less puddle for our funny Batsam.  What a goof.

Thanks again, Mom, for such a fun outing!  And a double thanks for sharing your pictures.

Two Years Old

Our Sammo turned two today! 

 We started off his birthday with the requested "Bat-waffles."

 Sammo even helped mix up the batter.

I pulled out all the stops: sprinkles, frosting to drizzle on top, and batman shapes.  However, upon presentation, Sam had a fit when I presented his birthday-breakfast to him and insisted on the trimmings.  So Faye was bequeathed the festive Bat-waffles.

 

After church and a nap, Sam woke up to a birthday dinner of dinosaur chicken nuggets, breadsticks, and yogurt.

We had a quiet birthday celebration following dinner, just our little family of four.  Sam had asked for Batman cookies instead of cake, which everybody helped to decorate.  (I was excited to use the Batman sprinkles I have been hanging onto for months.)

With the recent practice from Christmas, Sammo knew where presents should be located and ran straight for the Christmas tree.  

 

Faye was more than happy to help Sam play with his new Legos from Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Kelly.

 My mom pitched in to help us purchase a classic Cozy Coupe for Sam, who has been tearfully envious of the neighbor's toy car.  Faye helped me spray paint the car to add some extra Batman style.  Sam was over the moon about his new toy!  We had to hide the car when it was bedtime to convince Sam to go to sleep.

At two years, Sam is a rascal to the core.  He is always busy climbing, running, falling, eating, laughing, teasing, crying, and playing.  Sam is feisty as well as independent; if he doesn't get things the way he wants when he wants it, he will let you know by a panicked-frustration or by punching you.  This tendency, pared with the logic of a toddler, can cause for long days, but his snuggles quickly make up for the frustrating moments.  

Sam's interests continue to be dominated by everything and anything BATMAN!  Between Christmas gifts and birthday gifts, he should be set for the next year with Batman goodies.  In addition to Batman, tractors have become a new love for our Sammo. His favorite food is toast, but it must be buttered on both sides before he will eat it.  Sam has also become quite opinionated on colors.  For instance, he refuses to drink out of a cup that isn't blue or green.

Sam loves his family.  Faye continues to be his favorite person.  He waits at the door while she is at school until it's time to pick her up from the bus, is always concerned whenever she is sad, and never wants to leave her side.  He is equally excited when Daddy and Grandma come home from work, too.  And whenever pretending to talk on the phone he calls those who aren't in the room: Grandma, Heidi, Vivi, Ricky, Daddy, etc.  

Our silly guy has come up with his own pattern of nicknames for our family members: Sissy-Sis, Mommy-Mom, Daddy-Dad.  It's so cute that the rest of us have picked up on it.

He's definitely a character, our little Sam, but we wouldn't have him any other way.