Thursday, January 15, 2009

t-rexes, raptors and mammoths, oh my!

I took Tuesday of this week off to go with my son's class to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). Holy crap. The last time I was there was a year or so ago, before they had finished the construction of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Am I ever glad I went back! It's phenomenal. We had such a great time there, even though corralling a bunch of 9 year olds really wipes you out. I was way more tired after that that any day at work! But well worth it, no question. I only seem to have pictures of the dinosaur exhibit that was housed within the crystal areaMy son, using his new camcorder to record stuff...

an interior shot of the angles of the Crystal, as well as a prehistoric sea turtle...

A huge prehistoric fish skeleton...

A velociraptor, I believe. My son the basketball player needed a picture of a "real Raptor"...

And of course, T-Rex...

I think I was too awestruck in the minerals and gemstones area to take any shots - man o man, were some of those gemstones stunning! The kids were impressed, but we moms were REALLY impressed...

And currently, there is the Nature of Diamonds exhibit on. We were barred from taking any photographs here - this left you breathless. The third largest diamond in the world is on exhibit here.

Now, I'm doing the single parent thing while my husband is off in Newfoundland on business. Can I comment on the irony that while it is minus eleven million degrees here (actually -20C, which is -4F), he's basking in above freezing temps of +4C?? And when this cold front hits St. John's, he'll be leaving to come back here. His timing is impeccable.

And during this cold snap, the zipper on my son's winter jacket decides not to work anymore. I jury-rigged it for a day or so, but today it finally gave up. I have to get a new zipper pull this weekend, but in the meantime, he;s layered up with shirt, hoodie, vest, jacket, etc. Great timing all around in this family...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My husband times it so he's away during the massive snowstorms, with the massive accumulations!
What is jury-rigging?

Philosophical Karen said...

We haven't been to the ROM since it was redesigned. Looks like it's worth a visit.

To the previous commenter:

Jury-rigging means getting something to work any way you can, rather than fixing it properly. It's usually meant to be a temporary measure.

Carol said...

I heard about the diamond exhibit. Maybe I'll get off my behind and go....