Mold-A-Rama baby!

When I was a little girl, we would go to Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo. Around the zoo were these plastic mold machines, and by the monkey house you could get a monkey or a gorilla, by the big cats you could get a tiger or a lion. You get the idea. And so we would get to have one. A little sidenote: I have a thing for smells. Good smells, bad smells. I'm sensitive. So that being said, I could smell these things the minute we got off the bottom step in the hall they were in at the Field Museum. I *love* the smell these things emit. It is not something one can describe. Suffice it to say, it makes me happy and reminds me of my childhood. So of course I said they could get one. I ran out of time the first time we went, so we made it a priority.

So you put in your money.

Then hot plastic gets shot into this metal mold. (Smells soooo good!)

 

Then a bright plastic animal emerges (in our case a dinosaur).

Then that little spatula thing comes at it and pushes it off into the drop where you can reach in and grab it. Careful! It will burn you. (Last time I noticed at the zoo they didn't have these machines anywhere any more. I was sad. I suspect they got sued. )

 

 

Then you just hold it upside down for a bit and let it cool. (Didn't take long for us. It was snowing outside and we left right after this. :) )

I wish I could get in their heads sometimes. Doesn't she look baffled? Lost? Something? Give me and adjective here. 

Ancient America. A tour.

The other full exhibit we saw (and we actually *still* missed the last part of it for lack of time) was the Ancient America exhibit. It was just incredible the sheer amount of things on display they had. It was a little overwhelming actually, and for me a little TOO much. You know, like when kids have too many toys, they don't appreciate them as much? Same thing for me here, just too many things to see, and I couldn't take it all in.

 

  

  

 

And so begins our love affair with corn. And yet...it was problematic even then in it's purest form. 

Just thought this was interesting. We used to be too thin and malnourished,

 causing fertility issues. Now we are too fat and malnourished, causing fertility issues.

The pottery collection was outstanding. Sorry about the blur, it was really dark and then the signs were lit from behind and it made it really difficult to take a picture in here.
The next stuff is mostly for Katie, I just thought she would like to see some samples.

This is object #2 above.

  

 

 

  

  

This is number 7. 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Above are just misc. clothes from different time periods and tribes. The furry one's are from Alaska, as is the canoe and sled above.

Africa. A little visit.

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So while at the Field Museum we decided to take a little tour of Africa. Let me just say that I'm *really* glad this was not on my first trip or my first venture in the museum, because I would not be raving about the wonders of that museum. It was just sub-par. They really need to rope it off and update. The most recent statistics I saw were from 1993. That's not working for me. In addition all of the "stuff" for kids, the phones, the buttons, the roll over quiz boxes, etc...broken, missing, destroyed. It was in sorry shape. And I for one, was not impressed.

Here are some pictures anyway.

 

 Fun fact: This is Africa, with all these other countries on top to show the true size.

 

Some gorgeous beaded headdresses. 

 

Too bad the photography isn't gorgeous too, but I figured I would want to see what I wasn't able to see in pics, even if it was a little blurry. And over all underwhelming photography. I hope you can get something out of it anyway! 

Next we got to try out these fun furnace bellows. Even I gave it a try, and let me just say I'm glad that it wasn't my job to tend the furnace. What a pain! (Literally, I think your arms would fall off)

  

  

There was a lot of "do I use the flash, don't I use the flash?" going on in my mind. For future reference, when handing the child the camera (as seen in my other photos from yesterday), use the flash. 

These photo's are *SO* bad. And then I made them larger. And I just feel like apologizing. Truly. I can't do this place justice!

Now how stinkin' cute are these little guys! I've never even seen a picture before, so entirely new for me. (And Shawn too).

These are Dik-diks. And they are so tiny and fragile looking I just couldn't get over it.
Kira sat in a pic for me so you could see the size comparison!

 

 

See!? That baby is micro! And don't their little legs just look like they would snap like a twig? I just adore them!
And then there was this. Hello GORGEOUS!!!!

Evan liked the gross stuff. He is a 6 year old boy. I've come to live with it.

So of course he was fascinated by the eyeballs.

 

  Here they are checking out a water well for camels.

 

Kira was really great about reading everything to Evan, they were so kind to each other yesterday, while Shawn and I did "boring stuff, like reading *everything* that was BORING!" ;0P

How do you ride a camel? :) I know you are dying to find out. So I took a picture of the saddle and the sign! (You can thank me later)

 

 

Ok, so this next thing? I missed everything about it, when it was from, where, etc. You know, all the stuff you are there to learn. Because frankly? It was cracking me up! And then I started thinking about Lawson (Shawn's dad) and how much he would crack up at this contraption. And then I got all distracted and couldn't pay attention. (Tell me you aren't laughing at this Dad!)

Ok, seriously. It's a bike. With this huge wooden box contraption thing, with an 80's boom box strapped on and filled with cassette tapes!

And you can buy them! :)
There was a section following this on slavery, it was done poorly, imo. And it was dark. Darker than the rest of it.

So this is the end of our adventure to Africa. But at least I ended on a fun note! That bike is just Rad dude!