A family field trip to a dinosaur museum!
I’ll start off with a photo that’s especially dear to my husband’s heart. The GASosaurus.
Gasosaurus
I’m sure you can imagine all the jokes that were flying about the gasosaurus’s special skills (think skunk-like skills). This pretty much made the museum for my husband. The next few days were full of jokes about this “exstinkt” animal. And the gasosaurus became the scapegoat for any bad smell around the house as well. (Boys!)
Sprite was far more serious about note taking and sketching than I expected her to be. She certainly caused a few raised eyebrows among the staff and other guests.
Sprite sketching
Dinosaur notebook
Plesiosaur
sketching the plesiosaur
Isn’t this skull incredible? It’s one of the most complete skulls of its kind in the world. Most impressive (and understandably behind glass).
carnosaur skull
THIS was a brilliant display! Not only could you touch this fossil and pose beside it, but you really got a feel for the immense size of some of the dinosaurs. And this is a front leg not a hind leg! (Because of the photo’s perspective, it’s hard to see that the bone on top is a shoulder blade.)
elbow high to a dinosaur
studying the claw
These dig site exhibits really fascinated me. It reminded me so much of the Terracotta Soldiers, unearthed and standing upright in their original tombs. These are real fossils, exposed but still in the earth. I love how the museum was built right around the dig site.
looking at fossils
In this portion we were able to watch museum workers gently brushing dirt from the fossils.
husband with fossils
Sprite stood there observing for at least 20 minutes. Her intense concentration on this field trip was amazing to me. I knew she was interested in dinosaurs, fossils, paleontology, and such. But I quite obviously did not grasp how much she is fascinated by the whole topic.
She asked the workers if she could come down and help. No luck with that. Not even the “cute foreign girl speaking Chinese trick” worked.
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Hi, I'm Jimmie, and this is my online collage -- a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but mostly homeschooling with a loosely Charlotte Mason style. You're welcome to poke around and leave a comment if you desire. 
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I love your family’s zest for life! The way you mix learning with plain old fun.
.-= Queen of Fun 101´s last blog .."It’s Complicated" =-.
Great photos Jimmie. My husband (and teen boys) would find the “stinky” jokes there too.
.-= DebD´s last blog ..Friday Five =-.
What a great time to learn and have fun as a family! Thanks for sharing.
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Crossing the Suez Canal =-.
Sprite’s plesiosaur sketch is GREAT!
That looks like a really cool place, and your cute family photo reminded me that I really need to hand some strangers my camera every once in a while.
What a fabulous museum– and I’m with you on the gasosaurus. Oh my, that would’ve been the talk of the house for at least a month, I’m sure.
I have never seen an exhibit where you can stand right next to the leg of the dinosaur– not even in NYC. Wow, talk about a making a memorable impression!
.-= Marsha´s last blog ..They aren’t imaginary =-.
What a fabulous trip!! I’m sure that stinky dinosaur would have pleased my husband as well. LOL
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-up: Kind of Boring Edition =-.
Very neat museum.
.-= Martha´s last blog ..Homeschool Convention =-.
What an amazing museum! And, I love the interest your daughter is showing. My daughter has never cared much for dinosaurs.
.-= Dana´s last blog ..Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh (Day 7) =-.
This looks like a great time! The gas/skunk/stink humor would go over really well with our family too. Great day.
.-= Brenda´s last blog ..A, B, C or D? =-.
Your photos are amazing. I have bookmarked your post to share with my 2nd grade students. I teach a huge integrated unit every year and these photos will be a great addition. Thanks for sharing. I wish I could see this museum for real, but I suspect it would be quite a field trip from Vermont!