Austin Nature & Science Center!

Yesterday Carter saw something about paleontologists on one of his shows, and decided that he wanted to go digging for dinosaur bones too! And where's the perfect place for a kid to dig for dino bones around here? At the Austin Nature & Science Center!! I thought I had heard something about this place, but had never checked it out. What a dummy I am!! This place is completely up Carter's alley!! Not only did they have a super fun dino pit for my little paleontologist (aka a huge sandbox with replicas of dinosaur bones buried and waiting for discovery!), but also a bunch of rescue animals on display - a coyote, a bobcat, a red fox, a VERY STINKY skunk and more, as well as a building with aquarium animals (fish, turtles, frogs, tarantulas) and an area with big beautiful birds (hawks, lots of owls...). Actually, we saw some "real" nature too - it was dinner time for one of the owls, he had a big mouse hanging out of his beak. Carter found that VERY interesting! And if you're thinking, "well, ok, animals and dinos, but it isn't EVERYTHING Carter loves, because there are no trains!" - I'm happy to report he got to see the Amtrak going down the middle of Mopac on the way there, so our morning was complete. :-) Here are some photos from our dino dig...
In this final photo, Carter is saying "Look at the elasmosaurus I found!!" Which I later read was a mosasaur. What can I say, Mommy is NOT a paleontologist - but I do know more about dinosaurs now than I did four years ago! HA!

So this was a fun place, and we will probably be back often. I still cannot believe I didn't know about it. I am now wondering what other great places are around here that I just don't know about!! I didn't even mention the best part about this place - it's FREE! And, it opens at 9am, which is nice. A lot of places we go don't open until 10am - it's nice to get out and do something even earlier!

Thanks for stopping by today!