The kids first ropes course!

Aunt Elena and cousin Alecs took us to the Tallahassee Museum, which is really more of an wild animal sanctuary and adventure center. Metal dinosaur sculptures made from scrap car parts are found all around the park.

First we walked the trails to see the bald eagles, bear, wolves and otters and this cute cross-eyed opossum.

The trail goes right over the water where the cypress trees grow. The water is so perfectly still that it provides
a mirror image that makes it hard to distinguish between where the tree ends and the water begins. 

 There are a few different ropes courses that run all thru out the park. It's neat to see people ziplining right by as you walk the trails.

The kids wanted to do the ropes course which fortunately has a 39" height requirement, because that is Journey's exact height! They were all excited until it was time to don harnesses, and that's when Journey changed her mind. I asked that she at least put on the harness for a photo and she agreed. We all walked to the course and watched Alecs and Asher receive instruction on how to clip and unclip at each new obstacle, making sure that the two clips were clipped in an opposite direction every time. This was the point where I thought, "oh no, they are not going to be able to do all of this by themselves!", as we were only to watch them from the ground and just talk them thru things. About 10 minutes in, Journey spoke up and said she was ready to do it. I clipped her in and she was off, having watched and learned from the other two. {This reminded me of when she learned to walk. She watched Asher and waited six more months to do it herself, but once she started, she had it and was soon running.}

The course took them 12 feet in the air at points, and ended with a 40ft zipline. They were so brave and so strong. There was one part when Journey's clips were hung up against the line, she became scared and started to cry, but just then her clips came loose. She shook it off and kept going. They all did amazing! While Asher and Alecs ran immediately back to the beginning to start over, Journey decided that she had fun, but was not interested in going back for seconds.

We played at the playground, visited the barnyard animals and explored the historical caboose.

It was a FANTASTIC day!

3 museums in 3 days (Georgia)

We spent three consecutive days at three museums in two different states. The first was the Muse in Knoxville, and the other two were in Georgia on our way to Florida. The Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia had five different sections of exhibits ranging from dinosaurs, to precious stones to antique cars.

Check out who loaned this piece to the museum....Dr. David Schwimmer, also the 

name of the actor who played Ross, the paleontologist on Friends. Interesting coincidence. 

Glyptodon, a 6ft armadillo-looking skeleton.

We learned the process of replicating bones for reconstructing dinosaur skeletons.

This baseball-sized meteorite crashed thru a local house at an estimated speed

 of 200mph. It is the only time a house in the state has been hit. It tore thru the roof, 

ricocheted on the joist and crashed thru the ceiling, leaving that large hole. 

Phosphorescent rocks on display under black light.

Picking out her favorite.

We loved the spheres. When Asher saw the cut gems, 

he said, "I want to buy that one, and that one, and that one....." Oh boy!

Their 7ft amethyst geode is one of the largest in the world!

Here is an EV1 by GM, the first electric car to be mass produced and leased (but not sold) from 1996-1999. In 2002, they deemed them unprofitable, repossessed all of the cars and crushed them, despite having customers who wanted them. It seems the there is some controversy about GM's true intentions of this car and if they really wanted it to be successful, or just a scheme to make the government back down on their zero emission requirements for car manufacturers, which they did in fact do after GM declared this a failure. The documentary Who Killed The Electric Car? aimed to shed light on the situation.

One of my favorite things is when in the middle of a long drive, we find a 

field to run and play in as a family. It's so fun just chasing each other and getting 

some energy out before the next long stretch of road. Asa loves the break too.

Our other stop was the Museum of Art and Science in Macon, Georgia. 

We arrived early and explored their nature trail before the museum opened.

Daddy found a letterbox. 

My aunt and cousin have been letterboxing for years and I think it's something the kids would really enjoy. Think geocaching (treasure hunting) but with clues instead of GPS coordinates. When you find a letterbox, you open it to find a notebook and a stamp. You press your stamp in their book and their stamp into your notebook, noting the location and anything you want to remember about it. I think we'll have to take the kids to pick out their own stamps soon so we can begin doing this as a family.

Where'd they go???

Ah ha! I see you!

Inside the museum they uncovered dinosaur bones.

 This place has it's own small zoo including snakes, an alligator, and these adorable monkeys!

We watched the planetarium show about constellations.

And Mommy got in the gyroscope. A training tool for astronauts that 

spins on three axes and gives you a sense of weightlessness!