Denver Museum

On our second day back with the Muellers we went back to Denver to check out the museum (after a hilly morning run, of course).  We started in the space area.  There was this huge presentation going on with representatives from NASA and Lockheed talking about the imminent launch of the JUNO mission also showing live feed from the launch pad on a big screen.  A probe/satellite was being sent to study Jupiter. But for the first 30 minutes, we couldn't get the girls away from the "sandbox".  Oh how they love to study landforms and erosion.    Or, oh how they love to play with dirt. 

 Jen, Isaac and I listened quite a bit and also checked out several other exhibits. 

The girls did go into mission control, but the uniforms were made for smaller astronauts   

 This was fun.  You can see yourself in thermal vision.  The girls saw that their mouths are warmer inside than out.  You could breath on a your sleeve and make a temporary hot spot.  My nose, and fingers were green and blue.  Scientific proof of bad circulation?  

We spent a bit of time with the puppets.  

Then we went to see the dinosaurs. These are the first big skeletons that my kids have seen (that they remember).  They were having visions of Night at the Museum.  

There is something much more impactful about seeing a huge skeleton towering over you rather than reading about how big they were in a book.  

Makenna let out the dinosaur in herself while looking at jaws and teeth. 

Can you read the sign on the wall?  Climbing is encouraged!

This area was the highlight for my kids.  They got to put on lab coats, goggles, and gloves to run different experiments.  Jess and Makenna are doing one here testing the sugar content of two different breakfast cereals.  They measured some cereal, added water, made a pulp, put it in a centrifuge, extracted some liquid and ran the analysis.  Very cool. 

Here are Alie and Isaac at a different station.  They picked 4 things to see how well they kill bacteria.  They chose bleach, hand soap, antibacterial gel, and a kitchen spray (I forget which brand).  The gel was completely ineffective.  hmmm.

Here's the whole gang subjecting Daphnia (water fleas) to alcohol, caffeine and sleeping pills and watching their heart rate under a microscope.  The caffeine really worked.  After one minute of observation, you write down your data and then slide the Daphnia into the "retired daphnia" chute.  They aren't killed.  Just "retired".  I think I need to have Isaac read The Giver.

Also in the Exhibition Health, you can test your energy output pedaling a stationary bike over a course, test your energy levels while walking/running past a camera, climb a rock wall, measure your stride, catch a glimpse of what you will look like in 20-50 years, test your brain power, heart rate, calmness levels and so much more.  It was a really great area.

The artist who designed most of the big animal dioramas hid several elves in his work.  They are tiny and extremely hard to find.  You can get a sheet at the front desk that guides you to them.  Ex: In the East Coast section, look for the skunks.  On the left you will see the burrow of a ground squirrel.  Two feet behind the burrow is a clump of orange flowers.  The elf is about 6 inches to the right partially concealed behind some grass.  So easy.  Years and years later as thy have added new exhibits, an artist has slipped in a new elf or two.  Apparently when the current curator found out about this one painted on the back of a dinosaur on the wall, he flipped out.   My camera is on super zoom to capture it.  We thought it was completely fun.  

Climbing on wolves on our way out.  I don't have pictures of the gem room or the Egyptian Room (with two real mummies!!) or any of the dioramas.  We stayed till closing time.