I had the wonderful privilege of being a nanny/tutor for a young boy from Portland who was visiting the apprenticeship with his mom the week or so before Thanksgiving. We had a blast! In addition to his regular studies that I helped him walk through, we took little adventures in Austin together.
The Texas State Capital Building.He loved the law-making rooms, and the
visitor center (which is more kid friendly with hands-on things to do). He bought a handful of various/gems rocks as a souvenir (and learned their names and uses by the end of the week). Among other facts he learned that the capital building was once made of limestone, but now is constructed of pink granite. He made sure he bought those two for sure.
[At the end of that day we met up with the PDX-team
at Einstein Bagels for a little prayer and fellowship.]
Hook 'Em Horns with Grammy & Mommy & BEVO.
The next day I decided to tap into his immense love for all things Dinosaur and fossil with a trip to the
Texas Memorial Museum on the University of Texas campus. I wish I could have had a video of his face each time he saw something new or whenever he made some connections. It was priceless. (Hannah D, which I'll call you in this post since his mom's name is also Hannah, I was sad to discover his visit was right during your road trip to MA. Maybe next time!) We even made it to all the floors of the museum (even though the Dinos and fossils are mainly on the 1st and 2nd floors). This boy
loves museums. Of course, at the end was a visit to the gift shop where he picked out an actual fossil of
ammonites. I was again amazed by his desire to have something more authentic than to choose some plastic toy-like thing from the horded collection displayed in the gift shop.
Posed with the awesome Texas Pterosaur.
And here with the Onion Creek Mosasaur.
And the highlight... the T-Rex skull!
On Saturday we all went out to a professor's ranch out in Elgin, Texas for a college outing on the later half of the book of Exodus. He enjoyed playing in the dirt mounds with the other children there. He found two fist-sized pieces of limestone to bring home with him.
Half Price Books.We totally checked out the Dinosaur books section... and then had to look for books on fossils and rocks. We picked up two little encylopedias on both subjects and brought them home for reference. Later that afternoon he learned which of his rocks were
igneous and what that meant. He's a smart little cookie always absorbing new information.
Butler Park.At Austin's newest
Butler park he played in the pond, the interactive fountain, and collected nine more pieces of granite to take home to share with his class. Such a thoughtful young man.
Dinoland.What luck!
Zilker Botanical Gardens was hosting an exhibit on Dinosaurs in addition to their usual Dino-portion of their gardens. We had a blast discovering the next location of the hiding dinosaurs. Too bad my camera battery died part way through.
