Dragons and Damsels

Bubba loves pretending to be a Knight in Shining Armour. He also has an interest in bugs though thankfully not as much as he likes dinosaurs.

The other day we went to a program called "Dragons and Damsels at the Pond." I wasn't too sure about it since it was an evening program and the Pond is a 40 minute drive. I am so glad we did it though. We both enjoyed it quite a bit so it was worth the drive and late bedtime. 

I never knew there was such a thing as a damselfly. They are smaller than dragonflies and when they land, they fold up their wings. Dragon flies keep their wings open when they land. The instructor said there are over 500 different types of dragon and damselflies around this particular pond and over 3000 varieties worldwide.

Besides Bubba and I there were only two other people, another boy and his mother. I think it was great that there were so few people because the two boys got to do a lot of hands-on "work" and personal attention. They actually caught both a damselfly and a dragonfly. They also caught some little tiny fish and a few tadpoles. Thankfully, I brought Bubba's boots so he got to wade into the lake a little bit. I'm sure if his father had been there, he'd have been able to go in further but I didn't want him to slip and fall in...

I've really been enjoying all the classes and courses we've taken at the various recreation centers in the county. I can't believe how much they offer. It's too bad we didn't find out about them sooner but I'm so glad we've had them to keep us busy while Daddy is in Iraq...

Dinosaurs Galore!

Bubba LOVES dinosaurs. He's not obsessed like some kids I've seen but he sure does enjoy talking and reading about them as well as playing without large assortment of dino toys.

The last two weekends we've attended dinosaur themed events at two of the recreation centers in the area. The first one was an outside event where we learned a little about dinosaurs and then got released into the park area to make a dinosaur fossil, to dig for dinosaur fossils (they were actually marine fossils from TX) that we got to keep and to generally run around and play. We also got to look at a pond where there were hundreds of baby tadpoles.

The second event was an inside event where the kids got to play with a ton of different dinosaur figurines for a bit, then listen to three dinosaur stories, and then they got to make their own dinosaur fossils. Since Bubba had just done this the weekend before, he was an expert at fossil making and said "I can do it by myself, Mommy." What a wonderful thing to see them working on something by themselves. After we made the fossil, we went outside to dig for other fossils. Each child was given a quadrant of the dig zone and was able to find one or two fossils. When put together, they made two incomplete baby T-Rex skeletons. The instructor noted there are only about six "complete" T-Rex skeletons in the world and even those are really only 90% or so complete.

One of the interesting things I learned at these events is that the Brontosaurus that I grew up with as the main long-necked dinosaur never actually existed! It was made up of a body of one type of dinosaur and the head of another so was never a true dinosaur at all. Crazy! Looking up this information on the internet it seems as if way back in 1903 the scientists knew the Brontosaurus was actually the same thing as an Apatosaurus. Yet, somehow the brontosaurus name lived on...

Bubba had a good time. We got to explore two different recreation centers and we made lots of cool fossils. The instructor gave us a couple extra hunks of dough since we helped clean up so we made "Matthew Fossils" (hand prints) when we got home. Looking at his hand prints made me a little sad - I can't believe how big he is getting. But he's so much fun!! :)