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.