dino playdate

We met my sister in law and her adorable kiddos for a playdate at the dino park.  I had never been there and found it to be such a great place.  First we wandered the small museum.  Upstairs, we first found the hall of animontronics.  Butterfly loved the huge dinos that slowly moved and growled among the foliage covered set.  Ladybug immediately panicked and cringed away from it and Lovely clung to be, watching nervously.  So we continued onto the fossils, mostly gemstones and beautiful precious stones.  Butterfly raced around exclaiming and picking out favorites for Grandpa (an avid fossil/rock collector).  We headed downstairs and Ladybug recovered from her previous panic and crankiness to excitedly explore with her sisters, finding the giant skeletons and naming each one "Rexy".  The loved the small kids center at the end and colored for a few minutes before we continued outside.  The "backyard" of the museum was huge, with pathways that wandered around sculptures that depicted all kinds of dinosaurs.  We found a few of them before settling in to play at the playground for awhile.  The sand was too hot to wander very far so the girls stayed together in the shade, playing among the toys and making piles of sand.  Soon we were joined by cousins and the girls were thrilled to play together.  My sister and I sat on the benches with her baby, talking, lounging and watching the children run around.  Eventually we meandered the paths again, finding more dinos, reading the placards and letting the kids play and explore.

Soon the kids had their fill and were getting tired so we continued onto Chili's for dinner.  The two older girls from both families played so well together, using little princess figurines from my bag to entertain themselves.  The two younger kids (my Lovely and her cousin) stayed with their moms and we tried to keep them entertained until the food came (the baby slept through the whole meal, what a great baby).  Our meal got cut short by Lovely's upset tummy but all in all, a great playdate.  In fact, it's hard to tell who enjoyed it more, the girls playing with cousins, or my sister and me getting to hang out too!