Canada Science and Technology Museum

The Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa has been fully renovated. When Boogs was younger, we visited this museum every time we were in Ottawa. It was closed for three years for renovation and reopened last year. We spent Christmas at home in Texas last year so this was our first opportunity to experience the new museum. GP and GM came with us.

The museum has added a video wall at the entrance of the museum. It was showing an underwater exploration video when we arrived and later showed a volcanic explosion.

The museum exhibits have almost completely changed. Boogs was happy to see that a couple of train engines were still housed in the museum. You are able to go up the stairs and sit in the conductor's seat.

 We found out how hard it is to climb onto a tall antique bicycle

The sound room, was Boogs' favorite exhibit area. This is a gigantic record player. You can choose from 6 songs. The "record" can be spun by hand. You can change the spend, change the direction, and even change songs while you spin it.

The Theremin is a unique instrument. You play it by moving your hands up and down in between two antenna. Daddy was able to make it sound the most like music.

 There were tons of electronic exhibits and buttons to push.

 Boogs was happy to see that they kept the crooked house.

This exhibit was kind of fun. You take a picture of yourself and it removes your eyes and mouth and turns them upside down.

Boogs must have moved while his picture was being taken. He ended up with a double mouth.

 Mine just looked plain creepy. It did not quite line up, either.

Boogs was able to defy gravity in the professor's lab.

 Daddy enjoyed exploring the museum.

Boogs was a little disappointed in our visit to the museum this year. He has always loved this museum so much. With the renovations, the museum claims to have made it more "interactive". Boogs would disagree. The old museum had lots of hands-on activities and vehicles to climb on, things to go inside, things to move and manipulate, etc. Now the majority of the "interactive" features are digital. Boogs said, he could practically do all that at home from his cozy chair with an internet connection. He said he enjoyed visiting it but not as much as the old one.

I enjoyed the museum. There were so many things to see. It was nice that Boogs is old enough for the adults to spend time looking at the exhibits instead of making sure he doesn't get lost. GM and GP said they enjoyed it, too.

Grandmaman let Boogs pick out a souvenir from the museum shop. Boogs picked out two miniature hockey sticks. Daddy and Boogs had fun playing with them in GM's basement.

Boogs is undecided on whether or not he will want to visit this museum in future years.

We had so much fun spending time with GP and GM during this holiday season. We already miss them terribly and are counting down the days until next Christmas.

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.

The Thinkery and Home Depot Kids Workshop

The Austin's Children's Museum recently moved and reopened as the Thinkery. When Boogs was younger, I used to purchase an annual membership to the Austin's Children's Museum. We were very curious to see how this new museum compared to the old one.

Boogs really enjoyed the outdoor playscape. It offered plenty of wonderful places to climb, play in a small pond/stream, and run. The museum was very crowded. There were some exhibits that Boogs decided he did not feel like waiting in line for. Out of the main floor exhibits, Boogs liked the simple machines wall best.

 

The Light Lab exhibit had many hands-on activities for exploring light. We waited in line for about 10 minutes for Boogs to take a picture of his frozen shadow. He thought it was very neat that the camera was able to only capture a shadow image and not a full person image. In the En Mi Familia exhibit, Boogs made sure he sat in the wishing chair. He never told me what he wished.

Boogs two favorite indoor areas were the Currents water exhibit and the Let's Grow farmer's market exhibit. There is a sign at the Currents entrance warning parents that there kids WILL get wet. Boogs spent quite a while with a drum set played by falling water drops. He also enjoyed turning a crank that made water shoot out all over him. The Chicken Coop and cooking area in the Let's Grow exhibit were a definite hit. Boogs kept gathering different ingredients to cook and serve me different types of omelets. Some of the omelets had interesting ingredients like lemon zest.

Boogs had fun at the Thinkery, but I believe he is right on the edge of being too old to truly appreciate all of it. We will probably go a couple of times this year, but are not going to get an annual membership.


Last Saturday, we actually remembered it was a Home Depot Kids Workshop weekend. Boogs is always happy when we get to go work on a new project. This month's project was to make a desktop calendar.

 

I love watching Boogs work on these type of projects. He is very careful about following the instructions exactly. He built the calendar and painted it at Home Depot. We had to wait until the next morning to put the number and month stickers on it. For the past week, Boogs has been using the calendar and changing the date each morning.

Next month's project is to build a race car. We have already done that project and Boogs is not interested in making another car. Maybe I can talk Boogs into working on one of the projects in the woodworking kit he got last year for Christmas (2012). For some reason, he prefers to make these kinds of project at Home Depot rather than at home.