F is for flap and footprints!

Daddy and Creed at the local aquarium.

"It flapped me!" Creed squealed as the sting ray went by his hand at a local aquarium. Friday wrapped up our fantastic week with the letter f. Creed had been talking non-stop about sting rays asking to go see one and touch one. Lately he's been watching Sesame Street Elmo's World "The Great Outdoors!" and learning a wealth of information while Elmo explores the great outdoors and learns all about wild animals, fish and weather. I asked him what it felt like as we were watching and petting the string rays. "Jelly!" he said. It certainly did feel like jelly as we slid our fingers over the string rays head and down it's spiny back. I loved feeling their "flaps" as they went by, which were about 1/4 or less inch thick. It felt slick and slimy in the water. We both enjoyed feeding them fish, watching as many gathered anticipating their next snack. 

Creed posing by his favorite dinosaur, along with the stuffed dinosaur on the ledge.

The next day we visited the paleontology hall at the Natural Museum of Science. Creed's love of dinosaurs is getting contagious. We were gaily enthusiastic pointing out the skeletons of those dinosaurs and reptiles we recognized. I asked him if he wanted to take a picture by his favorite dinosaur, the T-Rex, and he agreed noting that his stuffed blue dinosaur needed to be in the photo as well. Before I knew it he had hauled off climbing straight away on a clear mission scaling the exhibit. Just as his little legs were clearing the top I swept him back into my arms, in the nick of time explaining that dinosaur bones are really old and we were not allowed to touch them. I get it. It really would be cool to stand under a real "live" dead of course, Tyrannosaurus Rex. It'd be doubly cool to run your hands up the bones of those massive legs. Moving along, after a brief understanding and battle of the strong-willed child we weaved in and out of the exhibits, discussing which one was this and which one was that. I was really surprised to see how big some of those bird species were and not at all surprised to see how small some of them were. One grand adventure was watching as Creed rode their mechanical T-Rex. That was icing on the dinosaur cake. To further explore we brought home a bag of our very own fossils, which included 19, plus a larger shark tooth. Later on that evening as Creed was peering through his magnifying glass he'd say, "Hmmmmmmmm …. interesting," moving on to the next specimen. Did you know that researchers announced this week they found fossils of a sauropod dinosaur, one of which was the largest creature to ever walk the earth? Dr. Ruben Cueno, director of Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina, said the dinosaur would have weighed at least 77 tons and grown to triple the size of a T. Rex. "Hmmmmmmmmm … now that is interesting!" For more on that story click here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/researchers-discover-fossils-largest-dino-believed-walk-earth/story?id=23762377.

Today we searched for caterpillars at the local botanical gardens. We found two, one white and one brown, both fuzzy, to add to our collection at home. How exciting to see if they'll be moths or butterflies. Metamorphosis is truly something to behold. On the way home we stopped at the welcome center and walked their scenic byways also in search of caterpillars. I told Creed we would have to look for evidence of caterpillars to spot one, pointing out a leaf with chewed holes. He spotted another saying, "Look! Footprints!" "It is like footprints huh?" I noted, "We can definitely tell one has been chewing on the leaves." We did not find any caterpillars to take home, but did find a wasp clutched to one on the railings, without a doubt laying it's eggs on it so the babies can eat it alive once hatched. We've recently read of this in one of the bug books checked out from the library. It was really creepy to behold. The wasp injects a venom paralyzing the caterpillar so this process can take place, all connected in the circle of life. Two ladybugs hitched a ride in our paper bag to bring home to release in our vegetable garden (I seriously want to order a bunch of ladybugs to protect our garden from aphids, but can't find any online. If you know of a site please comment below!) and a sac with tiny white eggs stuck to a leaf, that I'm really hoping is baby caterpillars. I put the prospects in a jar, in case it's a bunch of spiders I wouldn't want loose in the house!