There was so many fun things to see and I had my camera handy to capture as much fun as possible :) Right off the bat, we headed out to see the "dinosaurs" and Eli was especially taken with them! Pretty surprising to me, considering the fact that he is our more fearful "quirky" child.
And there was a fun fossil dig area that got Jackson into the spirit of the day! Mostly, because he found a sharks tooth right off the bat!
Eli found some little shells that he was thrilled with!
Hi, Mema!!
I personally loved all the beautiful flowers I was able to snap pictures of! These tulips were the first to catch my eye, just before getting on the train ride!
The train ride was fun too & there were mirrors down the trail which provided me the opportunity to snap a picture of us zooming by!
But there were beautiful flowers everywhere!
When we went to the butterfly house (aka "the bug house" as Mema calls it!) and I have to admit it was probably my favorite spot of the day. At first, I was caught between being horrified at some things....
But I tried to get over my cringe instinct & just be mezmerized by the uniqueness of so many of the insects. 
Once inside the actual butterfly sanctuary, the real fun began! They were everywhere! And the boys & I were in heaven! Eli enjoyed identifying the ones that Jackson & I would spot!
After the butterfly house (or was it before? I truly can't remember), but either way- the boys got to steer some boats using the sails and the wind... They patiently waited for 2 boats to free up & I was so proud of their patience. When it was their turn... they got right to business....
I think they would've stayed here the rest of the day! But there was so much more fun stuff to squeeze in! They got to experience learning about how seed pods spread with a cool conveyor belt that used a magnetic "pod" & would pull them to the top before they would drift off the top & travel across the area...
And we got to spot a bear, wolves, lemur, owl, and many farm animals while we were there too! Mema even taught the boys about animal skat... (aka "dookie"- her words, not mine! And I thought the boys were going to die laughing to hear Mema use that word to tell them what skat was!)
And Grandad gave me a mini photo lesson. I kept getting this shot when I would take a picture of the waterfall. I was stopping the action of the waterfall... losing the beauty of the fall...
I wasn't thinking, because when he told me to drop my shutter speed to slow down the action & blur it, it made total sense! And here is the new & improved shot! Perfect!
We ran out of time at the end of the day so we had to whiz through the indoor stuff which was disappointing. But we did get to see a space module (that Jackson was freaked out would leave the building if Eli pushed any buttons & made it clear he was NOT to touch any of them!)
Eli was able to find Earth after a LOT of spinning of this nifty gadget...
And Jackson was SO impressed with this tornado! He really thought his Daddy would love it too (& he is right... he would have!)
Thanks Mema & Grandad for a great day together! It isn't often that we get some one on one time with you all & it was great! We love you! Don't the smiles say it all?
