Museum of Natural History - the day before Sunday

Early Saturday morning, we drove away from another hot one in the Inland Empire. The sun was already a blazing 82 as we left the valley. It was much cooler the further we got.

We finally reached our destination of Exposition Park in Los Angeles, with a couple of detours and lots of traffic surrounding the park. Unknown to us, we would have to park a hike away from the Museum of Natural History amidst the party-goers and tail-gaters of the USC community and alumni.

As we waited in the long line of cars waiting to park (who knows why there was only ONE cashier collecting money and guiding vehicles...), I spotted a dude with a cool, home-made hat! Do you drink Bud Light? (I don't.) Anyway, I thought it was cute and got a pic!

Hey! Those people are serious partiers! I could not count how many pop-up tens and canopies there were. Everyone congregates together. There were buffets set up under tents of individual groups, with generators going, crockpots, microwaves and televisions. I wonder how many of these people actually had tickets to the game... To think they would have to pack up everything and not worry about theft before going to the game... Hmm...

Anyway, back to the Museum. And so we parked and walked to the museum. Down we went to the basement (had to use the ramps, you know... strollers), where the less-traveled entrance seems to be... and entered a really cool area where insects, spiders, and a touchy-feely exhibit of bones and stuff is on display for the kids to touch and feel. Great area. The kids loved it. I did, too. (It gave me a fresher look at our turtle's environment. I think I'm going to do some redecorating in my turtle tank!)

Then we went back outside, through the main entrance (lots of steps and a HUGE ramp, going through "party central"). On the lawn of the museum was the "Butterfly Pavilion"- the reason we came that day. The exhibit was due to close that weekend. My mom and her hubby were nice enough to treat us to a day to enjoy the wonders of the butterfly world and all that the museum has to offer.

Ms. Marissa was mystified as she entered. I couldn't get enough cute pics of her... She often tried to hold her hands out to get the butterflies to land on her, but they wouldn't. She got awfully close to them, so close she could breathe on them. Her wonderful smile and delighted face were worth it.

Stacy and Rey were having fun, too. They found all of the dead butterflies, spider webs and spiders. (They are looking forward to the new exhibit, coming at the end of September... Spider Pavilion... then the Haunted Museum at the end of October...)

Jake (my nephew) is always happy. There is nothing that doesn't make this little tiny thing happy. (His laugh makes us laugh, too... it's so cute!!!)

We went through other portions of the museum, too. Marissa had to scream, "Sharptooth!" just to add dramatic affect to the dinosaur bones exhibit. And, she had to see the elephant exhibit a couple of times. We finally told her we would come back again, otherwise she wouldn't leave the museum. Those were her favorites.

This photo was taken as we left, directly outside the museum. It was a hard pic to take. Two teenagers, who wanted to do gross things while taking the pic (Rey kept trying to put her finger up the statue's nose...) and two toddlers that want to walk off make it a hard picture to get. Got the best that I could.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and all of the kids had a good time... so did my mom and I! Thanks, Mom and John for a wonderful opportunity. We hope to go again soon! There is so much more to see!

For more information on the Museum of Natural History, visit http://www.nhm.org/ for updates on exhibits, information or membership. Also, to see our heartfelt thanks to Mom (Grandma) & John (Grandpa), visit this link: http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4d5445334e446b794e413d3d0d0a

Toodles for now! lisa