Going Waaaaay Back in Time....Millions of Years

After years and years of driving by on the freeway, I've always wanted to stop and check out this museum in Lehi, Utah.  I finally got a chance to this week with Jed and our son, Ronin.

It's a good thing we brought Ronin along, he is our little expert on dinosaurs.  He knows all about them.

So excited to be here!!!!!

First we went to the 3D movie:

We would be such an easy lunch for a Teradactyl.  I love this museum, everything was life-sized!

Standing underneath one of the "long necks."

I was amazed at how truly gigantic these creatures are, they completely facinate me!

I found this guy to be the most interesting one, just because I'd never seen such a skull like this before:

There were lots of hands on activities for kids to do too:

Triceratops has always been my most favorite dinosaur:

My most favorite portion of the museum was the ancient sea life section.  To see the true scale of these creatures was sooooo cool.   Huge, HuGe, HUGE!!! 

The largest sea turtle ever found:

This ancient shark was ten times bigger than today's Great White Shark.

Wooly Mammoth

Checking out all the cool stuff at the museum store.

We let Ronin choose one thing so he picked out a plush Triceratops and named him Spike.

Afterwards, Jed HAD to go visit his "Mothership" as he so affectionately calls it.

Coming here means there's no rush getting out.

Ronin's favorite - the White Artic Wolf.

Jed has wanted this "man chair" so bad for a few years now.  But, until there is room for it in our house, it's gonna have to hang out at the store.  This is what Jed's gonna gonna be doing when he's 80 - a grumpy old man:

The real reason for our Utah visit was for a medical procedure Jed's been waiting for ever since he got back from Iraq . . . . . which was 6 months ago!  (I swear snails move faster than the Veteran's Affairs - VA for short.)    Someone FINALLY called and scheduled it last week.  They insisted that instead of having the procedure done locally, they wanted him to head to the nearest military base...almost four hours away.  They certainly know how to make things convenient for their veterans. :/

The night before the procedure was a rough one due to the nasty gallon of crap Jed had to drink.  He was violently puking up all night long.  But the actual experience at the hospital was a good one with great nurses taking care of him:


Jed also got to sport some snazzy socks.


Meanwhile, this is what Ronin did for 2 hours while we waited:

 And took a few pics of ourselves too. :)

Jed was groggy from the anesthesia but Ronin and Spike helped cheer him up.

Since Jed was too out of it to drive I was his designated driver.  He slept all the way home.  :)  A fun, quick trip!

Sea World

Yes, people, I promise this is the very last post about our California vacation.  Whew.  That's what happens when you take way too may photos - you feel like you have to share at least a "few" of them. 

Sea World Here We Come!!!!

Anyhoo, the last day of our trip was at Sea World in San Diego, California.  First thing we did was go to the Shamu Show.  I figured if we were just in the very highest soak zone seating area, we wouldn't get too terribly wet, right?   Maybe just a little spray at the most (it was a little chilly that day and I didn't want to freeze.)  Holy crap....we got completely drenched!!!!  Even several seats in the "safe" zone got it too.  Lots of little babies crying after that.  Suddenly, there was a lot of seats available in those soak rows.  People were heading for the hills!  (Well, the top part of the stadium at least.)  It was great.  Though I did make sure to stear clear of any other chances of getting wet the rest of the day.

 (Internet pic - I was too busy trying to keep my camera dry instead taking pictures.)

There is a killer whale somewhere in this huge blue expanse of a water container.

This is the picture I would have loved to have gotten with my own kids.

(Below, you can faintly see the killer whale in the background in this one.  He was resting on the other side of the pool.)

Happy, completely soaked, and ready to do it all over again.

Dolphin Show....Jed and Aubs sat in the soak zone.  The rest of us sat up higher - it took me all day just to dry up from the Shamu soaking.

Before we left for the day, the boys wanted to take a few more runs on the Atlantis ride.

We did manage to squeeze in some swimming time at the hotel pool during our last stop before home.

Who-Can-Hold-Their-Breath-The-Longest Contest.

Rigdon declared himself the winner.

 What a great trip! 

PS: We did not enjoy coming home to the freezing weather.  Although, I understand we were lucky enough to be gone during the first snowstorm of the autumn/winter season.  Nifty.