Pilatuses and Pirates

Teag needed to fly the Pilatus to Denver for a quick maintenance run, and rather than hanging out at an airport all day waiting for it to be completed, he got permission to bring the whole family with him. Teag's been gone so much lately, we thought it would be a great opportunity for some family bonding time. Sadly, what ensued was more like a lot of family shouting time. And whining time. And crying time. Oh well.

Rory, looking deceptively happy.

Denver is hosting a special exhibit at their Museum of Nature and Science about the sunken pirate ship, the Whydah (pronounced wid-dah). The girls love pirate stuff, so we thought we'd take them to see that, and fill the rest of the four hours looking at all the other exhibits there. It seemed like a great idea at the time; a great place to be able to keep the girls entertained for an extended period. And it would have been if Rory had cooperated and slept in the plane on the way there. They wouldn't let us take any pictures of the actual pirate stuff, unfortunately, but the girls got to touch actual dubloons, see real-life cannons and other ship paraphernalia, and read all about the doomed crew. After we went on the "treasure hunt", they got a little pirate hat to prove they'd completed it successfully. As you can see, Rory had a little trouble with hers.

But Dad helped her sort it out.

We forgot our camera, so all the pictures from this event were taken on my Ipad. The camera's obviously not too hot. After the pirates, we walked through a mummy exhibit, some animal exhibits, a butterfly and other bug exhibit, and an interactive body exhibit where you got to test all different things about your own body. One of the girls favorites was the Prehistoric exhibit with all the dinosaur bones.

Maisie and Dany holding their hands in a dino footprint

Rory seemed intent on trying to climb anywhere she wasn't supposed to be. Teag and I took turns chasing her around exhibits and pulling her off railings.

One of our favorite finds though, was the Discovery Zone. It's a place for kids to go and play and do little science experiments. They got to color and dance and even excavate a dinosaur skeleton, among other things.

We spent a good hour there, and it provided a much needed break for me and the Beagle.

The day certainly didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped, but hearing the girls go on and on about how much they loved the museum, and how they wish we can go back soon, helps us feel like maybe it was worth it after all.