THE DISCOVERY CENTER

Today is when we got to go to the Discovery Center with our tickets we got from recycling hazardous waste items a few months ago.

The first thing the girls just had to do was, the pin wall.  They push their hands, arms, face, legs or whatever they want into the wall.

Then they run to the other side of the wall and see what pops out. 

It was not only fun for them to do, but, it was fun to watch as it was being done.  It was like seeing a wall come to life before your eyes.

It was then over to the bed of nails!

Yes, it is an actual bed with 3500 sharp steal nails. 

As you lay down on the bed the nails are below the sheet of plexi glass.  Then the employee pushed a button and up come the nails.

I'm told that while it doesn't really hurt, it can be scary. 

I wouldn't know really.  I didn't lay on it. 

Every so often there are new exhibits.  Right now it was the Mr. Potato Head exhibit.  So of course the girls had to spend a few minutes playing with Mr. Potato Head.

We then found our way over to the Dynamic Earth area.  There was lots of fun things over there.

Here Nikki is seeing what it would be like to be a fish in an aquarium looking out at the people.

Trinity is watching a tornado being formed.

Tuppence is finding out how a tornado falls apart when there is an interruption in the air tunnel.

Here are five lovely and beautiful sea maidens.

Tuppence, Jesse and Elizabeth are with the spring action figures.  I wonder who won?

Two good friends taking a picture break.

Here the troop is reliving our camping trip.  They all want to go again.  Soon, I promise.  Soon.

It was over to the rock climbing wall.  All the girls took turns climbing as high as they could go and finding out that climbing a mountain sideways is harder then going up or down.

The girls enjoyed spending time playing at the Stream Table.  They saw how the water would flow down the stream until it got blocked off by building up the sand and causing the water to back up.  Just like in nature.

They got to see how clouds are formed.  Here Tuppence is making a cloud.  Looks like she did a great job to me.  I see a perfect cloud.  Don't you?

The girls then took a Safari ride in the Jeep.  Their tour driver and tour guide was Jesse. 

I have to tell you, should you ever be on the road and see Jesse behind the wheel, watch out!  She is one crazy driver.

The girls decided to spend some time in the play ground area. 

Then it was time for another photo op.  This time I joined the girls.  They thought it was fun that I actually had to get my picture taken for a change.

Upstairs they got to play around and see how a vortex is made and how it sucks things down in the center of it.  They also got to learn that the fast the water is spinning the longer and deeper the vortex goes.

Have you ever had questions about a rainbow?  Have you ever made your own rainbow?  Well, the girls got all their questions answered and even got to make their own rainbow.

All this running around and learning can make a girl tired.  So, they all took a break and to lay on cloud mats and watch a movie.

After resting up they went to the ice hockey area.  There they got to try their hand at what it feels like to be the shooter in a hockey game.

They also got to see what it is like to the be the goalie.  Blocking those fast little black pucks is not as easy as it looks.

Learning about how the ice is formed and how it get cut up during a game was fun.  But, it was going on the Zamboni machine that brought the bigger smiles.

The girls got to see what hurricane strength winds feel like.    They all laughed so hard while doing this and had to go in the booth several times because it was so fun.

They also learned about flight and got to try their hands at flying a model airplane, seeing how wind speeds change how a plane flies and also to see a propeller up close and working, though it was behind plexiglass for safety.

We then headed outside to learn about Space Exploration.

I'm sure we have all seen the Big Cube as we drove by the Discovery Center.  Have you ever wondered what was inside that cube?  Did you even know something was inside it?

Yes, there is something there.  It's the whole Space Exhibit. 

Here the girls are standing under a real Rocket Booster Engine.  It simulates it's own launch.

There are movie screens all around, the loud speakers, fog/mist that comes from the Rocket and then you hear 3,2,1 Blast Off!

It's almost like really being there.

The last place we explored was the Dino Quest.   There you can learn all about Dinosaurs. 

This area was the one area I thought the girls would want to spend a lot of time at.  While I've never been a lover of dinosaurs, I thought kids were.

Turns out, not so much!  They only wanted to spend a few minutes here and then asked to go back inside.

They wanted to shop.  We went to the gift shop and they each bought what they felt were the treasures of the day and a snack.

We were all a little bit thirsty and the girls wanted to eat their snacks.  We went back to the Taco Bell where we had lunch and ended up staying there resting, having a snack, talking about the day and the girls showed each other what they purchased at the gift shop. 

Just as we were heading back out to let the girls go play at the play ground, the notice came over the loud speakers.  It was 5:00pm and the place was closing.  We had to head home.