Arizona Museum of Natural History

So it's summer in AZ, and that means we have to stay inside during the day. Couple that with keeping the house clean for realtor showings, and you've got a recipe for disaster. I decided to get the kids out and visit the Arizona Museum of Natural History. We had just seen Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, so the kids were really in the mood to hit the museum anyway. Rylee was at a friend's house today, so it was just Tatum, Connor, and me.



We love Dinosaur Hall. If you've never been to this museum, you really have to go. They have an awesome palentology exhibit, complete with anamatronic dinosaurs. My kids really loved this T-Rex fossil because it reminded them of "Rexie" from the Night at the Museum movies. And yes, I forgot my camera again, so the camera phone pictures will have to do.


We also loved the Lost Dutchman/Arizona Southwest exhibit. We got to see lots of Hohokam indian artifacts. Connor learned about the Hohokam indians this year in school, so he's our resident expert. He can tell you anything about them, and served as our tour guide. Next we moved on to the Lost Dutchman's mine--and learned a lot about the Lost Dutchman. That exhibit really scared Tatum because it was a dark mine shaft replica that you walk through. Then we panned for gold in the courtyard. It was a lot of fun, and the kids got to take home a little baggie of gold that they found.

And then we looked at the mammoths and early mammals. This is actually an American Lion fossil. We didn't even realize that a lion used to roam the Americas. It was such a fun adventure. We rounded out our afternoon with a trip to Soccer Shack and lunch at Sauce. What a fun little field trip--and no fighting, which makes it a great day in my book!