Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)

We went to OMSI for the first time today with a few friends from our ward. It is a huge museum with tons of hands on stuff for kids, a perfect place to hang out on a rainy day.

Along with the rest of Vancouver. Spring break + rain = OMSI around these parts.

Going to a hands on museum always reminds me of the time I was at one in Michigan and put my arm around a boy I thought was my brother. Well, it wasn't him and I thought his dad was going to have me arrested even though I was only about 12. It was real awkward and I'm pretty sure I've written about it here somewhere but I'm too lazy to link to it. Sorry.

OMSI has a ton of fun stuff but one of the most fascinating exhibits was one that showed the development of a fetus from about 4 weeks up to 32 weeks or thereabouts. They did this with about 30 specimens of preserved fetuses and even though it was interesting to see that development up close and personal, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness because each of those babies was a loss to someone. In some of those cases the placenta and/or uterus was included and I wondered if the mother had died as well. I don't know if the miscarriage makes me more sensitive to stuff like that or what because it wasn't intended to be a sad exhibit at all.

Anyway, on a lighter note, there were also fossils there!

I love fossils! Can you imagine a saber tooth cat sneaking up on you while you're just casually geocaching or something. No! Thank goodness! Or one of these guys lurking behind a ginormo pine tree? Bah! I like to think about it sometimes just to give me the shivers.

(Please notice my precious baby sleeping away. Thank you.)

We also checked out the gift shop where I contemplated buying space ice cream but I couldn't justify the $3.50 for something that weighed about half an ounce and wasn't gold. Then I teased Logan with a stuffed animal.

If I had known how much he was gonna love it I wouldn't have shown it to him at all. Now I regret not buying fake ice cream and Nemo.

After the gift shop we hit up the space exhibit where I read up on Buzz Aldrin so I could be better prepared for Dancing with the Stars. A show that I watched for the first time last night, and can I just say No. Kate. No. Stop. Dancing. Now.

Then I voted for her because I like drama.

Where was I? Ah yes, the space exhibit was ok. Not as fun as the gift shop although I did find it amusing that there were more people in line to find out their weight on Earth than on the Moon.

 

So fun, so fun.

We even ended the day with a moment of sweet awkwardness.

I had put Logan in the car and was getting ready to load his stroller in the trunk. I always talk and smile to him while I do this, so I didn't think much when I called out "hey baby!" and grinned at the backseat. I really need to stop calling him baby before he starts to think that's his name. Anyway, I sang "hey baby!", smiled, and then noticed a teenage boy in my line of sight grinning right back at me.

Oh good.

I saw him start to head my way so I quickly opened my trunk and hid behind it while I made a big show of loading up my stroller and pretending I didn't see him. The next time I was brave enough to look his way he was walking toward the building and texting.

Crisis averted.