Friday, October 25, 2013

Creation Museum in Kentucky!

At the end of August, we stayed four days at the Thousand Trails Indian Lakes RV Campground in Indiana.  The campground was fairly close to the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  This was another place on our "list" of things to do in the U.S.  We have really enjoyed visiting all kinds of natural history museums, but most do not even consider the possibility of God creating the world and everything in it.  Many people think science and God are two separate issues. We believe that true science actually proves that God exists...He is a loving creator and He displays His majesty in the world and in the living things He has made...from the very beginning.  In fact, God is the creator of science!

On our way to the museum, we actually crossed the border from Indiana back into Ohio...


And then crossed the border again into Indiana...


crossing the Ohio River...


into Kentucky!!!  All of this in just 30 minutes of driving! Ha!


Admission into the Creation Museum is good for 2 consecutive days, so we took advantage of that and visited twice.  There is SO much to see and do here!  We LOVED our experience at the museum and we highly recommend coming for a visit if you are in the area.


First, we viewed a really neat film in the special effects theater, and then we toured the "Walk Through History" exhibits.  This area of the Creation Museum displays scientific and biblical answers for the world we live in today. 


We were really impressed with the interactive exhibits, complete with talking historical figures from the Bible.  


The boys enjoyed the huge ark display full of fun facts, history, and educational computer games...


We also attended one of the workshops available that featured evidence on how birds could not have evolved from dinosaurs.  We all enjoyed this "hands on" presentation...



If you visit the Creation Museum, be very careful!!! You might run into one of these...


Some of the boys were a little frightened...


NOT!!!   They are quite the actors, aren't they?!?!?


During our second day at the Creation Museum, we spent some time walking through the beautiful Botanical Gardens outside...







A little way down the path we found the petting zoo...complete with all kinds of fun animals...


Joshua was just a little pumped;)



The animals were very tame. We all enjoyed petting and feeding many of them!




Ever heard of a Zebroid??  We had never heard or seen one before our visit to the Creation Museum.  They are beautiful animals! The common names for Zebroids are "Zorse" and "Zedonk".  They are"inter specific hybrids" with a zebra for the father and either a horse or donkey for the mother.  The first zebroids were bred by the British in the early 1800s in Africa.  These animals were used primarily for farm work until machinery became more popular.




The sign on the fence by the Zebroids stated:

"Genesis chapter 7 states that Noah took only two representatives, a male and female, of each unclean 'kind' on the Ark.  All of our modern equids, and many now-extinct species in this family, are descendants of this single pair.  These Ark 'horses' would be a bit different in appearance from zebras, horses, and donkeys since they were the ancestors of all modern varieties.  God designed each animal kind with the ability to speciate (form new species) so that they could survive in various environments.  Modern-day equids display the results of genetic drift, pre-programmed genetic responses to the environment, natural selection, and artificial selection (domestic breeding) within their own created kind."


There was a cute little wallaby there too...




Micah tried to help lift Daddy up to feed the giraffe...

No- It wasn't real! Silly guys! Ha!

I decided to try to feed a few of the camels.  They were actually very tame and gentle.  Although, I was a little afraid that they might decide to spit on me! 



They were nice...and none of them spit on me:) From my expression in the photo below, it kind of looks like we were having a deep conversation...

"Oh...really?!"


Caleb tried to explain to the camels that all of our food was gone....


"See?!?! No more food! Sorry!"

For the last part of our visit at the Creation Museum, we attended a dinosaur workshop with Buddy Davis! We learned a lot and had fun creating our own dinosaurs with clay...



Buddy Davis is a speaker, author, singer/songwriter and dinosaur sculptor! He created many of the dinosaurs at the Creation Museum.  He also has several fun educational videos out including "Swamp Man" and "I Dig Dinosaurs".


Our last stop before we left...photos of the boys riding a dinosaur!


"Whoa...slow down!"


Hang on Micah!!!

On our way home, we stopped by Sonic for dinner. But- it wasn't just any ol' Sonic! It was a "dine in" Sonic!! We had never seen or been to a Sonic with a dining area! Free refills?! We are so there!!!


Can you find Alan in the picture?:)

Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

OHIO!! - Lake Erie & A Surprise Visit With Friends!

After our visit to Niagara Falls, we continued to head southwest to Ohio.  On our way there, we drove past the Erie Canal...




We spent one day in Cleveland, enjoying the Great Lakes Science Center.  Admission was free with our national museum membership pass


There was a fun outdoor water play area with a wonderful view of Lake Erie!



The boys enjoyed all of the fun exhibits inside as well, including this NASA simulator...



Joshua liked making music using some flip flops on the pipe organ...



One of the boys' favorite spots was the air balloon exhibit...


...up, up and away!!!


The photo below is for all of our St. Louis friends!!!


On our way back to the RV campsite, we stopped by a small beach to dip our toes and touch the waters of Lake Erie...





We all agreed that it was pretty gross looking water!!! Lots of black stuff floating around...yuck! At least we can mark it off our "to do" list (touching one of the Great Lakes).  However, we all washed our hands and feet really well afterwards!


Yes- there really were people swimming in the mucky water (as you can see in the background of the picture below)!!!


The boys reminded us that we needed to mark another thing off our "list"...ice cream! Yes- as I have mentioned before, we offered to let the boys do one special thing in every state.  They very wisely chose ice cream! HA! :)



During our time in Ohio, we remembered that one of Alan's roommates from college had moved into the area last year with his family from Texas.   Josh was actually a groomsmen in our wedding 15 years ago! So- on a total last minute whim, we contacted them while we were on the road passing through their town.  So- with only 30 minutes notice, they graciously met up with us for dinner!!! Then, we got together again over the weekend for more visiting & fun times for the kids. (Thank you again Josh and Keana, for being spontaneous and blessing us with your friendship! We had a GREAT time!)



After a full day of playing, visiting and fun, it was time for a cool treat for everyone...yummy!



Boy- our kids sure know how to strike a pose for the camera! HA!


Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)