Our Visit to The Dinosaur Resource Center

Today the boys and I headed up to Woodland Park to pay a little visit to the Dinosaur Resource Center.  We've passed this place a number of times on our various excursions up in the mountains above Colorado Springs, but we've never gone in.  Partly because from the outside it looks pretty small, but the price for admission is pretty big.  I'm not about to spend a huge amount of money getting our large family in there, only for the fun to be exhausted in an hour because there isn't a lot to do, even if the few things there are to do are pretty cool.  So when one of Josh's kindergarten classmate's mothers set up a summer outing for anyone interested from the old kindergarten class to go together at a steeply discounted group rate, we thought it was time to go! 

We were running a little behind, and our guide was waiting for us outside.  He spotted us immediately, and said the other moms in our group who had already arrived had said to look for "the mother with five boys who looks amazingly calm and in control."  Hahaha!  I am glad I fit the description at that particular moment...it means I fake control well!

It was a pretty cool place to explore.  We had a fun tour with a great guide who knew exactly what to point out that would be interesting to the young majority of the group, just when to mention a cool dino movie or TV show to recapture attention, and the precise moment to move on as interest waned.  Following the tour, we were free to look around on our own.  The boys really liked the exhibits, displaying bones and skeletal models, fossils and information on many different dinosaurs.  Luke was particularly excited by the dinosaurs that he recognized from one of his favorite PBS shows, Dinosaur Train.  Our guide told us that Dinosaur Train is actually very factual, more so than many Discovery Channel and National Geographic shows on dinosaurs, and that our kids should feel free to repeat any information they glean from that particular show.  Even with all the interesting things to see and learn, the place was as small as I suspected from the outside and, indeed, the boys were done looking shortly after our tour ended.  I was happy we went in with the group rate, it was well worth it at the lower price!

We wrapped up the outing with a picnic under the trees by the Center.  The kids ate and then played a game using the light-up roadside billboard for the Dinosaur Resource Center.  The sign would rotate through a cycle of event announcements and then a big dinosaur would appear before the announcements cycled through again.  The kids squatted down, watching the sign do its thing.  Then every time the dinosaur would come on the screen, the kids would run from the sign, screaming, and then when it went away, they'd creep back and squat down, waiting for it to come again so they could scream and run away all over again.  It was cute!  Josh was blessed with a fantastic class last year, and the kids come with pretty awesome moms too.  We had a great time visiting with everyone!

The large brown thing on the right side of the picture is the humorous of an Ultrasaurus.  It's HUGE!

Luke is on the lower left of this picture.  He was really excited about that skeleton on the ceiling, one of his favorite Dinosaur Train episodes focuses on a swimmer like this one!

Megalodon jaws.  Glad those are extinct.  I wouldn't want to be swimming in an ocean with that thing!

This giant prehistoric fish was not a replica, those were actual fossilized bones.   Really cool!

Digging for "dino bones."

Ben could jump as far as an Apatosaurus!

Josh loved the fossilized dino poop hidden in this box.  You were supposed to put your hand in and guess what it was you were feeling...Guess what...it's POO!  Classic boy humor.

Tommy enjoyed playing with the dinosaur puppets.  They were the highlight of his DRC experience...the puppets and my magic purse full of snacks.

Feeling the fossils was pretty cool; along with the jumping, it was Ben's fave.

Most of our group.  The five kindergarten friends are in the middle--starting with the boy in the green shirt left to right: Kellen, Josh, Gabby, Natalie and Aiden.

Zac's idea for a pose.  These guys crack me up!

When we got in the car, Zac made sure to say, "Thanks for a great day, Mom!"  I am glad they had fun.  I did too!