My Date with Lincoln

I should have titled this my "outing" with Lincoln, since he was not up to calling it a date, but I just couldn't resist!  I have recently started a tradition of taking my nephews and niece on a "date" by themselves with crazy Aunt Kirsten.  I have noticed that with four of them, I don't get to spend one-on-one time with them like I used to.  So having a special day just for themselves seemed like a perfect solution.

Last Friday Lincoln decided that on his special day he wanted to spend it at the Lawrence Hall of Sciences in Berkeley.  I was secretly excited since I had never been there before.  Lincoln had been on a field trip with his first grade class a couple years ago and had wanted to go back ever since, so it was fun to have him showing me around and telling me stories from his previous visit.

Outside of the Lawrence Hall of Sciences they have a large fountain, whale, and metal structure replicating a DNA strand.  I of course had some fun taking pictures and Lincoln was a total sport when asked to smile at the camera!

(MAKE SURE TO CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Can I just tell you how much I love learning!?

The Lawrence Hall of Sciences is a hands on discovery center for kids of all ages and needless to say, Lincoln and I had a blast.  He is going into fourth grade next year and had some really interesting questions.  We were also able to shine during the planetarium presentation about constellations.  We were the annoying people who kept raising their hands to answer all the questions!  There were so many great exhibits for us to explore and I loved watching Lincoln's mind work.

 They had just opened a new exhibit on dinosaurs.

My close friends know how I feel about these prehistoric lizards...they scare me to death.  I even still have nightmares about Jurassic Park, which I saw when I was 12!  Now usually in museums, they have exhibits of dinosaur bones, fossils, etc.  Here they had life-like moving replicas that clawed and growled when you walked close to them.  I knew the minute we walked around the corner and heard the roars coming from the dark exhibit room I was going to have a serious problem.  Of course, Lincoln on the other hand, loved every minute of it...

After our nerve-wracking adventures at the Lawrence Hall of Sciences, we drove through the Berkeley hills, Tilden Park area.  At the last minute we thought it would be tons of fun if we stopped at the steam engines for a quick ride.  It was a little chilly, especially for Lincoln only wearing his soccer jersey, but we had a lot of fun goofing off in the back of the train.  We may have done some song writing, a little bit of screaming, and I'm sure a lot of annoying our neighbors...it was perfect!

Even though we needed to get back for dinner, we decided one more stop was a necessity...frozen yogurt!  Because who doesn't want to eat dessert before dinner on their special day?

Love ya, Links!

Thanks for letting your obnoxious auntie take you out for the day!