The Natural History Museum

It's not everyday you get to pose in front of a giant replica of the HIV virus.
Fit right into Zhara and I's germ discussions of the last few days.

We had a blast today. We did the scavenger hunt at the Natural History Museum and peeked and poked at everything along the way. We did dinosaurs, bugs, prehistoric mammals, Comanche the horse from the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the panorama of 200 year-old stuffed animals from the 1880s World Fair... the whole nine yards. We stopped in the middle and went over to the student union for a snack, then back to do evolution, bacteria, viruses, and snakes. Then afterward we had a picnic in the park and played. The weather was perfect and the kids loved it. I really love being an unschooling mom. I really do.

Zhara and Winnie viewing the panorama from above.

Sadly we got to put some more "germ" info into use.
The bees that have ALWAYS been there in the bee tree,
since I was a kid, that are allowed to fly in and out of the building
and pollinate the prairie around the university,
were killed in the past few months by a fungus.
The kids cried reading the sign. It is so sad.
We will be very glad when the bees return.

There are how many insects for every human on Earth?
150 million, you say... "Nasty," says Zhara!

The girl loves her a scavenger hunt. Glad we printed that off before we went.

DINOSAURS! says my little paleontologist with a maniacal grin.

"It's bigger than you," says Zhara, about this giant femur.

Nothin' like LOTS of dead stuffed animals!