Butterflies and Dinosaurs

Yesterday we took the kids down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for the morning. We had a couple of reasons for making the trip. First, I had been planning to take the kids last summer, but the day we had planned on going we heard about a lot of flooded roads in the downtown area, so we decided to play it safe and stay home. I told the kids we'd go back another time (we never did make it last summer -- something McKay reminded me of several times). Second, McKay has watched some educational programs about IMAX movies and has really wanted to see one. Since there are no IMAX theaters in Amarillo, we figured it's about our last chance to take advantage of some of what downtown Houston has to offer.

The museum offers several different attractions (each with their own separate entrance fee -- yeah for coupons!). We saw two. First up was the Cockrell Butterfly Center. This is a big enclosed rainforest-type setting that has lots of different butterflies in it. The butterflies fly everywhere!



We came in at the top and walked down past the waterfall.



They have a few feeders around that the butterflies come to.


The museum worker who took our tickets told the kids about the most important rule (DON'T touch the butterflies), but he told them if they wanted a butterfly to land on them, to try sitting on a bench and being as still as a statue. The girls really wanted a butterfly to land on them, so they sat as still as they could on the bench. Lots of butterflies flew around them, but sadly, we had no actual landings. Here are a couple of pictures where you can see the butterflies by the girls:



McKay, on the other hand, had no great desire for the butterflies to land on him!

A few more pictures exploring the butterfly center:




Part of the butterfly center was also a bug exploration area geared towards the kids (separate from the live exhibit). They had some fun bug exhibits and games.


Here is Courtney by the bugs that give me the most creeps -- cockroaches (YUCK!):


In the bug exhibit is also where they have the butterflies in chrysalis form. This is how they receive the butterflies for the center (from all over the world). A museum worker pulled us over to point out one that had just come out a few seconds earlier. They stay in these cases until their wings dry and then they are released into the main center.


And here's a big giant bug!


After we saw the butterfly center, we went to see one of the IMAX movies they are now showing -- Dinosaurs 3D.


As I mentioned, McKay has heard about IMAX films and has really been wanting to go see one. They give everyone the big 3D glasses:


This is how Hayley first put hers on:


I was a little worried about the girls and the whole dinosaurs and 3D thing. While the movie was partly showing research and talking about exploration, of course, there were scenes with dinosaurs jumping out at you. Hayley got pretty scared and ended up taking her glasses off about halfway through the movie (and sitting on my lap with her face buried in my neck) for a good part of it. Hannah and Courtney kept their glasses on for most of the movie, and got scared at parts, but did pretty good overall (I think McKay also got scared in a few parts, but I wasn't sitting next to him, so I don't know how scared he was).

(McKay's regular glasses also broke while we were in the theater, but I'll write about that more in another post coming soon.)

After the movie, we walked outside around the museum a bit, which is located in the large Hermann Park (where the Houston Zoo is also located). Just outside the museum was this large stone globe, which you could spin on its base in some shallow water:



We also saw this big statue of Sam Houston:

and the reflecting pool:


We all said goodbye to downtown Houston as we drove home. Who knows if we'll ever be back! I'm glad we took the time to go -- sometimes it takes a deadline (like moving) to get us to set aside the time to do little day trips like this.