Wildlife, Then and Now

Nan and Pop have returned to England, but while they were here, we checked out some local wildlife attractions. Above, we visited with a little friend at the Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar.
It was my first trip to the Learning Center, which is small but sweet, and worth an hour or two.

We also went down to L.A. to the new dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Juliana, Maya and Natalia met us there. We all had a great time and learned a lot - what a great exhibit! Cora has been interested in dinosaurs the last couple of months, so I knew she would like to see the museum for the first time.
Stace suggested I bring Cora's color pencils and paper, so she could draw the skeletons she was seeing. Great idea. Cora and Maya both enjoyed their little art project.
Here we are in front of three T. Rexes of varying ages. Cora now can tell you a lot about dinosaurs; it's hard to believe how much she remembers and understands. How is it that we're going to a grownup museum together and she's as interested as I am? She loved listening to me read the blurbs in front of the fossils.

Last night, Cora told me she sometimes dreams about spiders, and sometimes dreams about a T. Rex eating a duckbill dinosaur. She said that she wakes up when he roars. (Thankfully, since she hasn't been exposed to any media with scary dino images, she hasn't had any nightmares.)
The weather for Nan and Pop's second week here was predicted to be really hot, around 100 degrees. Thankfully, it ended up much cooler, and we were able to go out and about during the day. On Wednesday, we went to the Placerita Nature Center.
After the nature center, we went over to Hart Park and ate our picnic lunch before checking out the farm animals. That's the great thing about having family in town - it spurs me to actually go out and do the fun local things with the girls that I don't always make time for.