Holiday Trip

My husband's family lives in Canada. Every Christmas, Boogs looks forward to visiting Grandmaman, Grandpapa, Aunt J, Uncle R, and SNOW!

Boogs was a little disappointed with the green grass in Grandpapa's front yard. Where was the snow?

We spent a day at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. This was our first time visiting this museum. The Science and Technology Museum we usually visit was closed for renovations.

We started our museum tour with a 3D showing of the BBC film Tiny Giants. The cinematography was amazing. The shots they captured inside a chipmunk and a mouse burrow were impressive.

Our favorite exhibit was the Bird Gallery. There were many multi-media experience, interactive displays, and hundreds of birds on display. We spent well over an hour in the Bird Gallery.

Boogs and I played a matching game where you asked questions about bird features to narrow down your choices to pick the bird your opponent chose.

 

I told Boogs this turkey reminded me of him. Gobble-gobble.

 Daddy was excellent at the bird call memory game. He beat us all.

Bugs Outside the Box was a special exhibit the museum was hosting. It featured lots of live bugs to watch and a huge array of preserved specimens.

Boogs bought some honey mustard flavored roasted crickets for a snack. They didn't taste that bad but we each only had one.

This wall had a constant stream of giant bug images crawling across it. Boogs wanted to get a picture where it looked like a giant bug was attacking him.

 We learned so many interesting facts about bugs!

The Queen's Lantern staircase was beautiful from the outside, where it showed off a giant jelly fish form,

to the inside. Boogs had fun running up and down the staircase. It felt like the staircase swayed a little bit. Yikes!

 We quickly moved through the Earth Gallery.

 There were several interactive displays where you could make earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Next, we went to the mammal gallery. We were able to see all kinds of mammals who have adapted to the cold Canadian climate - cougars, bears, bison, moose, caribou, and others. Boogs enjoyed figuring out some of the puzzles in the mammal gallery.

Boogs decided to be a seal hiding from the polar bears.

Boogs also pretended to be a big horn sheep. I don't think his horns would have helped him out in a head butting battle.

 I had to be a seal for a little bit, too.

We briefly visited the Water Gallery. Boogs favorite part of the Water Gallery was the pump station. You had to pump enough water to use in a typical day. It was hard work to pump enough to reach the top of the chart. Look at the determination in Boogs' face.

The Fossil Gallery was our last stop on our tour of the museum.

 This was what I looked like after 5 hours in the museum.

 We ended our day with a short film in the Extinction Theater.

The Canadian Museum of Nature is a beautiful place to visit. We learned a lot of interesting new facts. It was a great way to spend a cold day without snow.