The field trip!!!!

We went to Dig It! The Fossil Workshop. It was a neat experience. Of course, all his buddies were there which was priceless. But they all got to burn off a little energy at the soft play area which happened to be adjacent to the Dig It location. They all lined up and filed into the back area where they were seated and given a few basic pieces of information and shown some fossils. MOST, if not ALL, of the pieces of information were over their heads in understanding, and definitely in retention.... but it's the attempt that counts sometimes with this age group. (Ex: there are 3 basic things that are in ALL rocks... Yeah, my four year old knows that.)

But then they were given aprons with pockets and allowed to go into the digging areas, one area at a time and a total of three areas. They found all sorts of things. They could pick up ANYTHING they wanted, but had to choose just ONE at the end (that was probably the hardest part of it all!) But they found dino backbones, shells, ebbeded and loose shark teeth, dino poo (yes, that's correct), quartz, polished rocks, geodes (both open and whole), etc.








It was fun to watch them all belly up to a sand "quarry" and start pushing sand around to discover what it underneath. And all the fossils are supposed to be real! Caleb had a very very tough time deciding which ONE he wanted. He finally chose two shells. BUT, when he saw one boy get to smash a rock (aka geode) with a hammer.... he just jad to exchange his shells for something he could smash! Then he got to sand it out on the edges and make it smooth. We browsed the store a bit, and then played just a little more at the play area, and that was it.


It was fun, although I think it would have been fun to go through the steps of an excavation and see a real, ebbeded skeleton/fossil unearthed, but I suppose the kids might get bored, want to take it home and not be able to, and Dig It! can't sell a whole skeleton of a dinosaur and actually make money, which let's face it, is their whole purpose, they really are trying to capitalize on a specialty product/experience... duh, they are in the MALL. But all in all, it was a very neat experience. Caleb wants to go back soon! (Maybe in May for his birthday, but it can be pricey.)

So that's our big adventure today. Tomorrow we will head up to Anacortes to camp. And so far the weather is looking nice out, although I haven't looked at the forecast. Ignorance is bliss and all that...
Have a nice weekend if I don't post more later.