Day at the Museum

On Friday, we went on a field trip with one of our homeschool groups. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and  saw the film Animalopolis (very funny), toured the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit, and went through the insect and butterfly areas of the museum.

a reproduction of one of the warriors

Alex by some of the warriors in the gift area -you can see how they are in different positions. They also each have a different face!

The guard at the end of the tour explained to our kids that the warriors were actually brightly painted! The color has been fading as they dig up the warriors. However, MOST of the warriors are still buried and they've now found a way to preserve the paint in the future.

Here's a poster about Forensic Entomology that I shared more about  on my new nature blog,

My Father's World.

Alex and the other children LOVED playing this insect quiz game. We could hardly get them away!

(The grownups, too.)

 There were LOTS of butterflies out this day. They were so beautiful and it was so peaceful.

I was surprised to find this beautiful millipede AND a toad! One of the volunteers was concerned, too, but when he asked another volunteer he was told they sometimes allow "other" creatures in the butterly habitat to keep the ant population in check.

I really enjoyed talking with this volunteer.

Here's the walking stick he was holding.

And, this reminds me of our nature journals! It says "Before photography, entomologists drew their subjects."

I mentioned on my other blog that if I ever go back to college, I want to be an entomologist. I just find insects so fascinating and wish I would have realized that when I was younger! But, I'm enjoying them now.