Dinosaurs are real

We were so lucky to go to the Dinosaur Park with some of our favorite people--Duane & Kirsten! What I learned there right off is that three-year-olds think everything is real. X was terrified of the dinosaurs and clung to his dad or to me (see below). It probably didn't help that we started in the animatronics section where the dinosaurs move a little in threatening ways to other dinosaurs and make loud noises...

After a while, though, he understood that they were not going to get him and even liked being the brave one in the animatronics section when we met up shortly after with Hannah (also 3) who was scared of the dinosaurs. He didn't go up to the dinosaurs, in fact, he stayed as far back as the wall let him and held securely to me, but he did bravely point out the baby dinosaurs to Hannah and told her they weren't scary. :) He still believes there are some real dinosaurs somewhere (we couldn't fully convince him that they were all dead).

Walking around the Dinosaur Park was a lot of fun and X's fear disappeared quickly. He loved climbing on everything and running around. It was hard to tear him away from the excavation area, our last stop, where you can use brushes to "find" dinosaur bones in the sand. Such a fun day!

"Whoa"

Jurassic Park flashbacks anyone?

The family dinosaur...

Just a sample of some of those dangerous humans...

Joe and I were a little creeped out when we saw something small swimming in the water.
We thought it was a drown-proof rat or an otter (our minds still in CA, I guess)
It turns out it was a muskrat, so we were close! It seemed cuter after the mystery was solved.

Future archeologists (sp?)