Alma Mater: Trip to Squam Lake Science Center By: Stella

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Trip to Squam Lake Science Center By: Stella

Hello To All of Our Devoted Readers!
We recently had an amazing field trip to Squam Lake Science Center! (We also recently visited America's Stonehenge, but I didn't have my camera then, as it was raining :-/)
Well, the day of our trip, I was at a cousin's house on a sleepover. We got up and were just eating our scrambled eggs over a game of spoons when I got a call. It was Mom, saying that Filia's eye was completely swollen shut! Now, the day before Filia had gotten some sort of bite or something during her nap. She went to bed without a scratch (well, sort of...) and she woke up with her eye puffy. When she went to bed it was halfway open. The next morning, well...

Poor thing! Dad took her to Urgent Care, and she got some eye drops. Picking me up on the way back home, we decided that we were going to still try to head over to Squam Lake. After a hasty (delicious) lunch, we started out. The car ride there was pretty uneventful, and we were all extremely glad when we saw...

-Rus-

Daddy and Filia ;-)

On to the first buildings! We learned about the chain of life (see above pic. with Tert ;-) ) and we saw owls and different underground animals. Note: The owls in this post are dedicated to Aunt K! :-)

Then we saw some owls! They were both fake...

...and REAL! (See below)

We actually got to see them being fed dead mice (yuck!)

Slides and tunnels abounded!

Mommy and Tert

Daddy, Tert, and Filia :-)

Bobcats Snuggling :-)

On to the next building...

Here is the spider that 'bit Filia's eye' :-)

...and its web...

The boys loved climbing on it!

Awesome staircase...

Then we went on to the mountain lions! This one was positively restless! It kept pacing around and around! It must have been mealtime; the bears did the same thing!

Look at that monstrous tail and gorgeous exhibit!

Here is everybody, gearing up for a jumping contest! They had a fence marked to show how far a mountain lion could jump, and everybody wanted to try. Well, all except for Filia, who burst into tears. Oh well...

Deer

This showed how tall the moose was, and let you see how tall you were compared to it. From this picture, I think Tert needs to grow a bit :-)

Filia tugged at my shirt, looking at me with her one eye and saying 'Tissy, Tissy!' while pointing at my camera. How could I refuse?!

And now I dedicate THIS section to Tert, who absolutely adored the...
BEARS!

Standing next to stuffed bears

This picture is a touch blurry! It's because I had to zoom in like crazy ;-) We got spoiled last time when they were right outside the window...

As everyone walked on through the gorgeous exhibits, I found a perfect picture taking place! Mom and Dad complied to having a picture taken...

...and then Mom took one of us kids!

Then we went on to the bird exhibits (or in Filia's words...the 'peep-peeps')

We loved the beautiful exhibit for the birds! Hummingbirds, blue jays, cardinals, oh, and even butterflies! There were many varieties of bird feeders, including the suet feeder which Leo and Rus did for their science this year...

While we admired the scenery, the boys were busy playing a game where they had to fly a bird 'aka a golf ball' home without falling into the wrong holes. Eventually they were all safely home. :-)

This picture cracks me up! This is a REAL eagle, and it kept doing this weird 'cocking of the head'!

-Leo's 'wingspan' as compared with that of a Bald Eagle-

Then we came to a boardwalk. It was over a marsh and the boardwalk actually floated! See the below picture...

Here Filia looked right over the bridge, unabashed and yelling, "LALA! LALA! PEEP-PEEP!" Everything out of the ordinary is a peep peep! Mom caught her just before she did a head dive into the water.