LA Trip Part IV: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History

Last stop - The LA County Museum of Natural History

T-Rex and Triceratops fossil display

Silly Elise posing by the dinosaurs

The girls loved the extensive dinosaur displays

Elise enjoyed the mineral display

Minerals & gems at LA County Natural History Museum

Animal exhibits and the preserved mega mouth shark

Our very last destination during our LA trip was the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. We got the double entry pass for both La Brea Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum and while we thought it would be a quick trip, it turned out that the girls did not want to leave and made sure to explore every corner and exhibit. They really loved this place and I would highly recommend making it a top go-to spot while visiting LA. The highlights were the dinosaur exhibit the extensive mineral and gem exhibit. The girls were in awe over the colossal dinosaur bones and Elise especially loved the colorful mineral displays. She declared that she planned to start collecting "beautiful and colorful rocks" once she gets back home. We also paid a little extra to visit the butterfly pavilion and they loved getting to locate and identify the different butterfly species on their guides. 

What a great end to a very fun trip. We had plenty of relaxation, family and beach time early on, so it was nice to spend the last day doing a bit of sightseeing. Elise was thrilled to see the Hollywood sign on our drive back since she recognized it from the movie "Hop". The kids did surprisingly well on the drive back home. We only stopped a couple times and there were no are we there yet's uttered, so all-in-all success. We are looking forward to visiting LA again soon. We want to see our family more often and visit a few more Southern CA beaches. I really want to take the kids to Laguna Beach as I have some great memories there visiting the tide pools with my grandparents. We also still have the California Science Center (home of the Endeavor Space Shuttle) on our future to-do-list. 

Cute Alina posing with the polar bear

South American art exhibit

The Nature Lab was another highlight for the girls

Elise identifying butterfly species; she had it down!

Fun in the butterfly pavilion

Alina found this beautiful monarch butterfly

View of the Hollywood sign on our drive home

LA Trip Part III: La Brea Tar Pits & George C. Page Museum

The entrance to George C. Page Museum

The Lake Pit at La Brea Tar Pits

The outdoor sights at La Brea Tar Pits

Giant Columbian Mammoth

The girls were impressed by the massive fossil finds

A wall of Dire Wolf skulls on display

On our final day in Los Angeles, we were very excited to get the opportunity to visit The La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum. This has been on mom's list of places to visit for a while now. We weren't sure what to expect with the girls and whether they would really be able to appreciate the museum at their young ages, but they loved the experience! They marveled at the size of the massive Ice Age fossils, especially the giant Columbian Mammoth. 

We didn't have too much time to explore all the excavation sites and pits, but the museum itself was more than enough entertainment for the girls. They enjoyed the brief movie on the history of the La Brea Tar Pits and learning about how all the animals ended up stuck in the tar and eventually became fossils on display in the museum. There is also a spot in the museum where they were able to try and pull metal bars up from the tar, just to show how tough it really was to escape once stuck. Elise was proud to put her reading skills to the test and educate us on what animal was on fossil display and the history behind them. After a fun morning at La Brea Tar Pits, we headed over to the LA Museum of Natural History. More photos to come...

Adolescent mammoth fossils

Fun exploring the Page Museum exhibits

Elise educating us on the fossilized bison

Fossil puzzle piecing in the Fossil Lab observation room

The bubbling Lake Tar Pit

A fun end to our La Brea Tar Pit adventure

First Trip to The Bay Area Discovery Museum - Sausalito

Making music at the Bay Area Discovery Museum

View of the San Francisco skyline from Sausalito

The Bay Area Discovery Museum's Bay Hall is fun, fun, fun!

The cute kids art at the museum

Outdoor play time at Lookout Cove

Climbing through the giant tree trunk

Elise and Grams enjoyed dressing up and green screen fun

Several weeks ago, we made our first trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito and this place was serious fun for the kids (as well as Mom, Dad and Grandma). There are plenty of fun/unique kids activities, but perhaps the best part of this place is the idyllic location with lovely views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. I know I say this all the time, but thank goodness for Groupon deals because we got half off admission for the entire family. The girls favorite part of the museum was the Bay Hall, which is basically a play set version of San Francisco complete with a mini grotto and fishing boat that rocks back and forth. The girls enjoyed fishing for toy crabs off the boat.

Sausalito is one of our favorite places to visit. We spent our anniversary here a couple years ago in a scenic hilltop vacation rental overlooking Richardson Bay. It really is as quaint and charming of a city as one could imagine (especially being so close to the crowded and bustling San Francisco) and there are plenty of fantastic restaurants in the area. Being the girls first trip to Sausalito, we wanted to make sure it was special, and while I think that they were happy enough after a fun day exploring the Bay Area Discovery Museum, afterwards we treated them to a nice dinner at Scoma's Sausalito overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We plan to visit again soon.

Exploring the wave workshop and outdoor play areas

Mom joined in on the green screen fun

Gears, gadgets, and gizmos

Cuties posing by The Golden Gate

Enjoying dinner at Scoma's in Sausalito

Beautiful sunset view in Sausalito

The Girls First Trip to the California Academy of Sciences - San Francisco, CA

A day of fun at the California Academy of Sciences

Claude, the albino alligator. A true rarity

The girls loved the Steinhart Aquarium

Mr. Albino alligator closeup, yep he's real alright :D

Grandma and Momma enjoying the peaceful aquarium

Several weeks ago, we took the girls on their first trip to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Grandma also accompanied us on this very fun winter day. Dad had originally wanted to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I talked him into the Academy of Sciences as it's closer and really a great alternative. The Steinhart Aquarium is beautiful. We spent the majority of our time at the aquarium exhibits, and ended the day in the planetarium with a very fun and informative journey through the solar system. Truth be told, the girls were a bit overwhelmed by all the explosions and edge-of-your-seat realism during the planetarium show. We loved it, them not so much; though they did sit through it extremely still and wide-eyed. Elise screamed a couple times while Alina just ducked out of the way of the asteroids. The girls loved the aquarium though, so while we were there we let them lead the way. They especially loved Claude, the albino alligator, "Mouthy" Mr. paddlefish, and the enormous leopard stingray and sharks. There was another exhibit where they were able to touch live starfish and other interesting seas creatures and they found that quite fun too. We didn't get a chance to take them to the living roof atop the building, so we are saving that for our next trip. We look forward to taking them back again soon.

Strangest fish ever, the elusive paddlefish

Sea dragons, jellyfish, spotted filefish and a leopard moray eel

Elise dubbed him, "the silliest green toad ever"

Admiring the Steinhart Aquarium & huge leopard stingray

Gorgeous albino Burmese python; yep we love snakes!