Day 1 of Creation Museum

They welcome us -- how nice. Heritage Home Educators. Tricia is our field trip organizer -- this is a field trip. Some field trip, huh? Wowza... so cool. I think we are blessed to have Tricia in our group. She got the trip planned. Got us a group rate to a snazzy motel. She's really great! Plus -- she left after us and BEAT us to Kentucky. LOL

Here we are. All 34 of us. 22 of them were kiddos. (That really made it nice... all my kids had built in playmates for this vacation.)


We split the Creation Museum visit into 2 days. So day 1 we visited the planetarium first. That was fantastic. It was sometimes above my head... well - the show was ALWAYS above my head physically, but sometimes intellectually as well.

After that we headed outside.

We visited a petting museum. Here is Tim -- talking to a camel. One fun thing about vacationing with other families is that you get to know them better. I'd only waved at Tim before, I think. Or smiled at him perhaps. But his dear daughter MayLee and my dear daughter Dani LUV each other. So we spent a lot of time with Tim and Angie. What a blessing for us. We like them too!




The outdoor gardens were beautiful! Angie went to Iowa State University and studied... something... horticulture. Does that sound right? So we really learned a lot while we were out there. My kiddos enjoyed the swinging bridge.



All around the nature trail there were these figures. Wire shapes filled with moss. Angie things they will grow vine plants all over them some day. I tend to agree. I think the nature trail is a work in progress. That means we'll HAVE to return to see if we were right. LOL I was impressed enough with the Creation Museum, that I would say we should return. And I would feel very comfortable recommending the museum to other families.


There was a very big pond in between the indoor Museum and the nature trail. These lotuses were in bloom all around. Beautiful. This one has the seed pod in the middle of the bloom.
I think my Wayne loved the "creek" running through the gardens best. It sounded heavenly. The nature trail was -- I can't think of enough adjectives... beautiful. Lovely. It was lovely.



After the first day at the museum -- all the families went their different ways. Some went to Toys "R" Us. Some went to go swimming. Others -- they went to rent a mini-van that had air conditioning. That would be US! Whew... we are spoiled. We really like air conditioning... and nothing makes you realize that more than a conversion van with NO air conditioning in July.

So -- we headed to the air port -- and got us a vehicle. Praise the Lord. There was a family who wanted to rent a vehicle that was more reliable then what they drove in Iowa. Interestingly enough -- since the flooding so recently -- they couldn't find anything. We were thankful that we found something so easily.

We headed back to the motel -- several of the kiddos were wanting to SWIM!

While swimming -- us ladies who were planning on eating out hatched a plan. We wanted to eat together. We'd let our husbands decide where.

We got out of the pool -- and off we went to the Tumbleweed. I did NOT stay on my eating plan, needless to say. But my chimichanga was delish!! They have sweet tea at restaurants in the south friends. Oh -- I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. AND -- it's nothing like Iowa McDonald's sweet tea. It's the real thing. Oh wowza... once again -- not really on my plan... but you know -- it was VACATION!!! Apparently vacation means no self control. What I drank in Kentucky -- stays in Kentucky (well -- now that I blogged about it... that's really not true -- is it).

After dinner -- I challenged the group to a game of C.O.D.A. I hear they aren't making this game any more. So I take extra special care of this game -- we put it up high out of kiddos reach. Yeah -- I know it's the kid's game... what 'cha gonna do about it? I like it -- I'm the queen of C.O.D.A. LOL Not really... I usually win the first game. Then when everyone else gets the hang of it -- I get hammered... but you know... I love to egg people on. Especially my competitive friends Travis and Robin. 2 of us had rooms that joined... so the adults played a nice friendly game or two of C.O.D.A. and the kiddos watch Star Wars on the big screen TV in the other room.




Some lasting longer then others. Won't they LOVE this photo when they are 18. :giggle:

Day 1 had come to an end.