Thursday, February 03, 2011

Roamin 'round Raleigh

The kids had school off for a teacher workday on a Friday a while back.  We took a little family field trip up to Raleigh for our own educational experience.

First stop:  NC State Capitol

As we walked up, I talked to the kids about how each state has their own lawmakers and that THIS building is where ours work.  And then we went on the tour.  And found out that in NC, the house and senate actually meet in a different building.  Oops.  So it was more of a historical tour than a political learning experience.  It was still good, just not what I expected.

The docent who was giving our tour, taught us about an
artistic motif known as the "Greek key."

And we proceeded to find it all over the building.

It was a little scavenger hunt!
And Whitney was good at it.

We also learned that you can find rocks and debris in the
barrel of old WWII cannons out on the grounds.

Next stop:  Spize Cafe

We don't know our way around downtown Raleigh at all.  The receptionist at the Capitol Building pointed left and told us, "There are lots of restaurants down that street."  So we went exploring and the first place we found that looked interesting was Spize.  I read the kids the menu and they thought it sounded good, so we gave it a try.

It was so yummy.

I got cumin chicken over rice.  
The kids both ate baguettes--shrimp for W, chicken for B.
Caroline ordered rice.
Then refused to eat it.
She nibbled on the chips that came with the baguettes.

Then we visited the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.  We've been there once before and LOVED this second visit.  And...it has FREE admission.  Highly recommend it. 
We learned:
that Caroline fits nicely in a dino footprint,

that baby rats are pretty darn cute,

 that you can order volcanic ashes on the internet 
for your pet chinchilla to roll around in.
But the rodent expert does NOT recommend chinchillas as pets.  
Too bad, because Whit was getting her hopes up.

And that Darwin frog daddies hold eggs in their mouth
then burp their babies out when they hatch.  Nice.

They have a traveling exhibit there right now called "Animal Grossology."  You can imagine it, right?  Blood, poop, slime...the kids LOVED it.  It normally has an additional cost, but our science center membership got us in free.  Great investment.

At the end of this exhibit, there is a submarine with an eel slide.
 The kids went on it over and over and over again.

B-train had fun chasing and being chased by this little girl.
He's growing up.

5 comments:

Natalie said...

That museum looks like a lot of fun. I can't believe Brandon is chasing girls already...

shelley said...

i would not be able to handle the animal grossology - what am i going to do with a little boy?!?

i like the simple "he's growing up." made me laugh, and a little sad, at the same time.

Mom Sweat said...

I swear I learn so many things from your blog! I was watching Jeopardy and one of the categories was "more" and the question to one of the answers (tee hee) was "Biltmore" - and I got it! That guy in the background of the picture at Spize looks like he should be related - he's so engaging!
XO
Mom Sweat

The Oregonians said...

You mean that wasn't Andrew?
Thanks for the update.

Anonymous said...

Good!!!!! I like it!