We rounded out our four days of fun with a trip to Madison on Sunday, May 31st. I was able to get a Groupon deal on admission to the Discover the Dinosaurs exhibit at the Alliant Energy Center. We didn't really know what to expect, the TV commericals looked fun, but you never know how it's truly going to be. I'm happy to report that we had a great time! :)
The exhibit opened at 10AM and we were there, ready to go right away. I'm glad we did go early as the activities got very busy, very quickly. We walked through the dinosaur scenes first and helped the kids work through the questions on their scavenger hunts.
We thought the baby dino was pretty cute!
Nate likes the T-Rex - they're his favorite:
This display had the potential to be neat, it said that you could control the dino's movements. None of the buttons seemed to work except for the one that lifted the tail up and down. Oh well.
Some tough fighting dinos:
Eeek! Scary triceratops!
I was joking with Nate and said that these dinos might be playing "monkey pile." He informed me they were probably going to hunt. Too smart, this kid.
After seeing the dino displays we headed to the activity area. Mads started out sweeping for dinosaur fossils.
We found a cute little triceratops, just the right side for riding! :)
Our Groupon included mining tickets with each child's admission. The kids went mining for gems and fossils with their lighted hard hats on.:
The caves were dark and you truly had to use the lights to figure out what you were mining! Here they are with their finds!
We couldn't pass up another face painting. These were the real deal!! Look how well they turned out! With glitter, too!
Mads went first and chose a butterfly:
Finished product!
Then Nate chose a T-Rex face:
His finished product:
And without a smile, so you can see the T-Rex mouth:
Our beautiful butterfly and scary T-Rex:
They even had paint on their eyelids. Probably the best face pain they've ever gotten!
Next stop was to Ride the Dinos!!
Mads gave this guy a go:
Yeeeee haw! :)
And Nate, of course, wanted a ride on the T-Rex!
He wouldn't let go long enough to wave - apparently T-Rexes give quite a ride!
Then this little guy was by the exit door. Mads snuck on for a picture. Notice her new stuffed Diplodocus in her hands!
Then it was time for lunch!! We went over to Ella's Deli for the fun of looking at all the moving figures while eating, and then hopped aboard the carousel. By this point Nate was getting a bit tired and his allergies were bugging him quite a bit.
Sleepy T-Rex Nate:
A ride on the carousel!!
He is smiling!
And Mads is waving!
Nathan chose the "On Wisconsin" horse
and Mads chose a pretty pink horse:
We finished our day of fun with a stop at GiGi's Cupcakes for an afternoon treat and then it was back home to Monroe!
Oh, and we can't forget about this beaut! On our way in to Discover the Dinosaurs they had us pose for a picture. I love it! Andrew and I were both surprised how well the kids did acting for the picture! This is definitely a keeper!!
We had such a fantastic four days of family fun. The memories are what make these adventures fun. I hope that the kids will look at this goofy picture of us screaming at a pretend dinosaur in 50 years and remember the fun that we had!
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