Mommy is in Timeout

Today is “Crazy Mommy Monday!” I blog about throwing away my weekend to-do’s for fun with my kids. If you want to know more about the series, read here. For this edition, I let Crazy Fun Daddy come with us. I was feeling generous. Alright, I’ll be honest, I really wanted the extra hands at the museum.

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You may remember how Charlie used his mad Google maps skills to win a dino egg hunt back in March. The prize was 4 free tickets to Dinosaurs Unearthed at the Detroit Science Center.

Since it was cold and rainy this weekend, we decided to redeem our passes to the exhibit. Not only would they have the typical showcase, but they were also hosting an Easter egg hunt. Booyah! Free candy for the parents the kids.

The boys were both ecstatic to spend the morning there. Well, I believe Cooper was ecstatic. He clapped when I told him we were leaving the house, so I took that as a thumbs up. We packed up the car and headed down to Detroit.

I’ll be honest, when we first walked in it was a toss up as to who knew more about these extinct creatures – me or Cooper. Yes, I did just compare myself to a 16 month old. No need to judge.Fortunately, we had Lanagan, aka mini Ross Geller, as our tour guide. He quickly filled me in on all I could have ever wanted to know about dinos. And then some. And then some more. Didn’t you know? Lanagan is a dino expert. He’s actually a self proclaimed expert in three areas: pee, poop and dinos. The proud mom that I am, I pay attention to the latter.

After our 5th lap, I decided it was time to move on. We had to drag Lanagan out of there. You think I’m kidding when I say drag. Not only because he loves dinos, but he swore there were more hidden eggs to find. After I explained that 6 dino bracelets and 4 mini Mars bars were enough, he gave us the green light to head back downstairs.Of course when we left, I was hit with the question “when can we come back?” I’m pretty sure when this exhibit leaves town, we will be moving with it. Hopefully it’s to a destination mommy really likes. For now, we’ll enjoy it until Labor Day weekend.

At 4 p.m. on the last 3 Fridays, the Detroit Science Center has tweeted coordinates for a location where they have hidden a dino egg. Yes, that’s right. A dino egg. The best kind of scavenger hunt LJ could have ever imagined.If you figure out the coordinates and you are the first to find the egg, you get 4 free passes to the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit. We were on a mission to win.Well, we participated in the first hunt. I say that very loosely.I googled the coordinates. Charlie packed the kids in the car. Off we went to the location I deemed to be the dino egg destination.My poor husband was running around the front lawn of Chrysler World Headquarters, looking like a maniac. Everyone was leaving the building for the weekend and here is this man frantically running around the courtyard. You can imagine the looks. As I sat in the car planning my escape route watching the kids, I gave a shrug to people who passed by, pretending I didn’t know him.Obviously, it wasn’t there. Needless to say, I was off by about 50 miles.  After that little mishap, we decided it was best if Charlie did the googling.This past Friday, he figured out the egg was right on his way home from work. He thought he would give it a shot as a surprise to LJ.Mission accomplished. He walked in the house, dino egg in hand. Actually it was hidden under his sweatshirt. Tomato, tomahto.Daddy gifted his DELIGHTED son with the egg filled with 4 tickets and a stuffed dino. Daddy hugged his delighted wife, who was ecstatic to have free tickets to yet another dino exhibit.

a boy and his dino egg.

introducing the new dino in the house to the current residents.

p.s. If you live in the Detroit area, follow @sciencedetroit. Maybe you can win too. Just don’t call me for help with finding the location.

p.s.s. Just to be clear – winning these tickets was in no way affiliated with my blog. It just so happens Charlie is an awesome dad & obviously more Internet savvy than I am.

This post was linked up for Wordful Wednesday. Please visit some of these great hosts at their lovely blogs: A Beautiful Mess, Live and Love…Out Loud, Seven Clown Circus and Parenting BY Dummies.