Field Trip Friday~Rochester Museum and Science Center

My husband took the day off so we could plan something fun as a family.  Our first choice was the zoo.  The weather was not so nice this morning so we headed out to the Rochester Museum and Science Center.  We do not head into the city as much as we should.  There is so much to do here!!  Since the yearly membership was only $3.00 more than what we would have paid to get in we got one.  The kids enjoyed themselves so much. 

Also at the museum is a planetarium.  For some reason it was closed today.  But we will go back soon to visit it.  Our first stop when we arrived was to eat lunch!  We wanted to beat the school kids out.  LOL!

After lunch we went to the Expedition Earth exhibit.   We reminded our kids that the world was not millions of years old like taught here.  We believe it's good for our children to at least hear what the world thinks. 

A nice 3-D movie about the earth.  I couldn't watch too much of it.  LOL  The display was really breath-taking.  It makes me appreciate all that God created more!  The earth is so amazing.

This was a computerized walking simulator.  In front of Hannah is a how you control it.  You walk through a local park during all different kinds of weather and terrain. 

Next we entered into a glacier.  It was really neat.  Once you enter the opening you immediately feel the temperature difference.  It was cold! 

This was the opening into the glacier.  Matt had to be very careful not to bump his head.  LOL!  It seemed every time I tried to get a picture of the opening a kid ran by me bumping into me! GRR!

This was a nice display of rocks and layers of earth.  At each exhibit they said that our area was once under water.  The kids all looked at each other and said "NOAH".  LOL! 

Digging for bones.  They had a lot of fun locating all the bones in here.  The black was ground up tires.  How neat!!  We learned how an archeologist located and dug at a site.  Pretty interesting to all of us.

Prehistoric animals display.  This Mastodon was HUGE! 

Each floor of the museum is set up in a circle.  So as you walk around you can view different kinds of animal habitats.  Here you see the beavers.  Not far from this was what it looked like underneath the beaver dams. 

The woodlands exhibit.  This I think was our favorite one.  We really enjoy being I the woods around nature and everything God created. 

Black Bear.  Who knew that when a baby cub is born it only weighs about a pound.  This was something we were all surprised to hear.

Earthquake simulator.  It was a weird feeling! One minute you are standing still and the next your whole body was shaking. 

Next we entered the "How things work" exhibit.  We could have spent hours here.  We learned about electricity, car wheels and more.

We have decided to get rid of our electric.  We will put some handles around and the kids can just spin them to light up the room.  Kids were not too excited about that possibility.

Katrina learning how a car wheel and brake system works.  This was very informative!  She could see exactly what happens when the brake is applied.

Next came learning how a pulley system works.  Also, learned the difference between a three pulley system two pulley system and a one pulley system.  They each sat on the seat and pulled themselves up.  The one pulley was very hard to do.

Our last stop was the weather center.  This was the area we spent the most time.  The kids have always been interested in storms and weather.

We were able to try our hand at being a weather reporter.

You could choose what kind of weather you wanted to report in.  Andrew chose an ice storm.  After you were done you could email your video to yourself.  That was a nice touch.

Weather Reporter Hannah waiting for her live feed.  She chose to report on local flooding.  Which was pretty fitting for today since we have local flooding.

Katie chose the flooding as well.   I think this was the kids favorite part of the whole trip. 

How lightening works.  They could touch it and see how it could move around.

How clouds form and the different kinds.  Andrew (of course)was pretending it was smoke.  LOL

This was such a cool place.  I am really happy we ended up getting the membership.  There are 3 floors of things to see and do here.  Also there is a planetarium which was closed for some reason today.  We will be going back here very soon!!