Museum of Natural History

Just in case any of you are keeping count, this is the third time we have been to the Museum of Natural History in NYC since we have lived here. Jaron had been asking if we could go back for WEEKS. I discovered through our library I could reserve FREE museum passes.....um, heck yeah!!!! You just have to reserve them several weeks in advance because people snatch up the good ones, like these. So, I reserved them a month ahead of time, wrote it on the calendar, and the kids counted down the days.

Jaron was desperate to see the dino bones again, so that's where we headed first.

The awe-inspiring T-rex!


And the Triceratops........

And last, but not least, the Megalodon teeth. I have tons of great pics from this section of the museum, but it would take me the rest of my life to download them, so I just picked the best ones!


We probably walked the dino section for an hour, discovered this little circular room and decided to rest our feet. It had a fabulous view over Central Park East. The kids have no idea how lucky they are!


There it is!
Jordan wouldn't take a picture of me so I had to do it myself.


After our break, we headed to the Gems and Minerals section. That's what Jordan wanted to see, and we hadn't ever been there, so it worked out well. Aren't they cute looking at that petrified tree stump? I remember going to New Mexico as a kid to see the petrified forest.

Pretty little girl :)

They are standing next to a huge piece of jade.....

And another quartz cave.

Our last stop was the Hall of Ocean Mammals where we got yet another picture of the enormous blue whale that I can't fit into one picture. They did have some stations set up for the kids to touch different sea remains and fossils. I learned something very interesting from it too. Did you know when you hold a sea shell to your ear and you "hear the ocean", it's actually the echo of the blood flowing through your body. WILD!!!!

We had a great time. The museum was pleasantly uncrowded that day. Of course there were plenty of people, but we were actually able to walk around at our pace, stop and read about things and I wasn't a nervous wreck making sure the kids were always in my sight. And I am convinced it is the easiest museum to get to.....we rode the train in with Chris, got on the subway train he takes, he got off at 42nd street and we just stayed on until the museum stop at 81st. There is an entrance into the museum from the sub station. After we finished, we just hopped back on the subway and got off at the theater stop to have dinner with Chris. I was probably the least stressed out I have been in the city with the kids! We are looking forward to going back.......next time it will either be the Museum of Modern Art's free admission on Friday nights or the free admission to the Bronx Zoo on the first weekend of the month!