First I would like to say that I did not have to clean up any sickness messes, and not just because Michaela made it to the toilet...there never was a mess. Phew. Thank you for your sympathetic comments. No one likes the prospect of a sick child, nor the aftermath! There were some leaning-over-the-trash-can moments, but nothing ever came of it. She slept through the night, and was relatively fine today.
Last night I thought that I was not going to be able to go to the dinosaur show since she was going to be sick, but this morning we decided that she would stay home with a sitter and Eliana, and I could take Christian. Then someone in his class called and asked if she could buy the extra ticket and I said,"Of course!" I'm glad we didn't have to eat that.
I had canceled with the original babysitter, and then called back to say how about two kids, one who's possibly sick, and her mom said that she would see how she felt after her ACT exams!! I thought about it and decided to ask another woman from our church to come over; she loves on the kids every day. Literally. They go visit her in her office, and she has some treat for them, and she wants to know how they're doing, and they give her hugs, and she feels like a grandma, and everyone is so happy.
She was totally willing to come even though it was last minute. Christian got dropped off from his campout (they had to return early for the field trip, but he managed to get pretty good and dirty in just 24 hours. I can't imagine what he would have looked like after two days. And they said to pack soap and a towel. Why?! It's not like it gets used for its intended purpose. Maybe they do a soap carving and use the towel to catch the shavings?) and I popped him in the shower so that he could scrub off the layer of mud that had accumulated all over.
Can I just say how thankful I am that we live in a place with clean water and soap? I am.
Once we were ready (I even showered!) we slipped out the back door while our sweet friend was entertaining the girls in the living room. Eliana never knew I left, until later, and she was fine.
We arrived safely and in plenty of time (this is a concern whenever I drive in any downtown...I almost always get lost). The lights went down, and the show began...
Walking With Dinosaurs...
The action took place in an arena (normally for basketball, but for now the dinosaurs were in charge). There were also screens so that those who were far away could see close-ups of the narrator as well as the dinos.
The show takes an old-earth stance for obvious reasons, so for now we'll go with that.
The narrator (let's call him the paleontologist) spoke of a time when the world was without flowers, as well as hairless mammals (that would be things like us), and of a time when the continents were actually joined together in one giant land mass, Pangaea. (I was so excited...I remembered learning about that in school! I felt smart!) Anyway, he explained that everything back then came from eggs...
The first action we saw was the hatching of some Plateosaurus eggs, which were promptly discovered by a meat-eater, the Liliensternus.
(A disclaimer: I began taking pictures with a telephoto lens, but with no flash-not allowed-and because the dinos were almost always moving none of the telephoto shots turned out clear. The above is hard to make out, but it is one dino sniffing out the eggs which are in the tip of that rock looking jut-out thing. I switched to the other lens which is better for low-light/no flash photography, and did much better, but got no really zoomed in shots with that one. I picked a couple of the blurry ones, just because for some of the dinos it's all I had, but most of what I will put on here is taken with the other lens. Sorry about the blur. It was a cool action shot, as is the following...)
Unfortunately, one of the hatchlings met an early end. This was life, and death, during the Triassic period. (Although blurry, if you look closely, the Liliensternus has the Plateosaurus in its mouth). The rest of the babies were saved by their momma, however, who came after the Liliensternus, even though she was a plant-eater. She was fierce when it came to protecting her little ones.
Because of her size she was able to run off the predator. It seems that early on the plant-eaters had the advantage since their bodies were so large...they were able to defend against the smaller meat-eaters.
Time passed (like 30 million years or something) and the climate changes and global plate shifting and stuff like that made for new vegetation; and new dinosaurs dominated...
like the Stegosaurus. (You can see how big he is next to the paleontologist-kind of above the dino's head in the picture). The Stegosaurus had all those funky plates, which scientists think may have been for body temp control, and of course his spiky tail to ward off any Allosaurus which may have come along to attack!
The Jurassic period was just as fraught with danger as the Triassic!
The Allosaurus tried to sneak up on the Stegosaurus, who really was just minding its own business, eating peacefully...
They confronted one another, and roared and waved their heads about threateningly, but before they could finish their fight something else came along and created danger for both dinosaurs...
As the climate continued to change and the plates continued to shift the dinosaurs faced challenges which affected their very survival. The Allosaurus was a survivor. Toward the latter part of the Jurassic period the Brachiosaurus, one of the largest animals ever to live on the earth, thundered across the land, and as the Stegosaurus had, also dealt with the attacks of the strong Allosaurus.
However, the smaller dinosaur was no match for a Brachiosaurus with a friend...
and the two gigantic plant-eaters were able to run the carnivore off.
Christian thought all of this was very cool.
Next, we got a glimpse of some raptors that had successfully defeated another dinosaur...
They may have just called it getting lunch.
The Utahraptors didn't eat all together, though. There were those who went first and then those who had to wait. And you'd better not try to go outside of the proper order, mister, or you'd get slashed.
The Utahraptors were among the dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period. This was a long, relatively warm and humid period. This period saw a great deal of volcanic activity and plate movement; the land masses shifted further and further apart during this time.
We watched as the climate underwent significant changes, and the landscape sprouted lush vegetation and flowers for the first time.
The paleontologist introduced us to a new dinosaur, the Torosaurus.
He was a big guy.
Our paleontologist friend described the Torosaurus' horns and crest and voiced the question,"Who could threaten or challenge this well-armored dinosaur?"
Then he ran to get out of the way...
and answered his own question with,"Only another male Torosaurus, challenging the authority of the leader..."
The two dinos fought horn to horn, and the younger Torosaurus defeated the elder and took his place as the new leader of the herd.
Another well-armored dinosaur of this period was the Ankylosaurus. He was like a tank walking around with a giant mace attached to the end of his tail.
The Torosaurus and the Ankylosaurus met one another and recognized that they posed no danger to each other...
They snorted a greeting and went on their ways.
They carried around a lot of armor on their bodies, but the herbivores needed all this protection. You never knew when a mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex would come around and try to eat you up...
Well, he's awfully small! And the big tanks were not even phased.
Not...
one...
bit...(they had him cornered here, but he still thought he could take them)
until...
one angry momma appeared on the scene!
She came roaring out of the dark, in order to protect her ambitious little one...
Don't mess with Momma's baby...
The Tyrannosaurus Rex was successful at redirecting the attention of the two other dinosaurs from her baby. But, the Ankylosaurus actually knocked the leg of the T-Rex with its armored tail before the two plant-eaters went away, escaping the anger (and possibly the hunger) of the King Queen of the dinosaurs.
She did what any good mommy would do...and checked on her sweet infant.
Then, just to prove that she was indeed bad to the bone, she went around and roared in all of our faces.
ROA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OARRR!!!
It was loud, and it shook the arena. Her little one was inspired...it copied its momma, as most babies do, with all of the fierceness it could muster...
RAWR!
It sounded like an angry little kitten!
Although I'm sure it could have eaten me in one gulp. So, I wouldn't laugh in its face or anything.
In spite of its tiny little roar, it shared a great big love with its momma...
and together they faced a danger greater than any dinosaur they could have come up against...
a comet that slammed into the earth, annihilating the dominating dinosaurs forever...
It was quite a show.
(Another disclaimer...I wrote this based on what I remember, and a little googling, so please take it with a grain of salt. It really was a fun time, and I'm so glad we were able to go.)
Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 10:16PM 
