Natural History Museum

Ryan and I took the kids to the Museum of Natural History on Saturday. I have been wanting to take the kids here for a few years but have never made it. It's a bit of a drive but it was worth it! It wasn't overpriced to get in, the gift shop had VERY resonable prices, and it had lots of different exhibits.

Landon was much more into letting me take photos of him than Adia was which is why there are more photos of him this time around.

Here is Landon in the section with all the rocks and minerals. He thought the green stuff was paint. It took a bit of convincing that it was part of the rock.

Here the kids are in Jail! These are the original cells from the Mesa jail that was built in the 1800's. There were 4-6 cells and all of them are explorable. There were also interesting facts regarding the cells and strange laws that are still in effect in Arizona to this day.

The kids were also able to pan for gold outside. Landon of course got soaked and I ended up having to find some gold for him. It was fun if not very profitable.

Adia put together this 3D mammoth puzzle

They both put together alligator puzzles while Ryan and I got to sit and relax on a couch.

Ryan and Landon did the large pottery puzzle in the Native American exhibit. Adia and I attemped to put together a lizard pot puzzle and didn't do such a great job so there are no pictures!

Here are all the dinosaurs! This picture reminds me of the movie Jurassic Park.

Here Landon is comparing his foot to a dinosaur foot. It shows that he really does have small feet!

In the Arizona and the movies exhibit the kids got to play around in front of a green screen. I got a shot of their big screen debut!

And finally with a very wet Landon we saw some prehistoric sea creatures. After seeing these monsters I don't know how we are scared of little old sharks in the water.

If you are in the Mesa area and have a few hours to kill you should for sure vistit the Natual History Museum. I was also very impressed with their gift shop. They offer items starting from $1 so that everyone is able to get a souviner. I got each of the kids the $1 pack and it came with two special rocks, a dino Arizona map, dino stickers, erasers ,and a pencil.

The only drawback is you cannot have any drinks in the museum. You can purchase bottles of water in the gift shop and drink them in the shop or lobby then re-enter the museum.