Walking with Dinosaurs

Anthony, Mark, Mimi and I went to Walking with Dinosaurs last night! When we first got to our seats, Anthony did this huge FREAK OUT where he was yelling, kicking and screaming that he was scared, wanted to go home, didn't get enough sleep at nap time and was tired, on and on and on...it was pretty amazing (and seriously annoying). A little tough love later (Mama's going to stay and watch, and so you can't leave. You can sit on Mama's lap and cover your eyes and ears, but we're staying.), and he calmed down, was ready to talk about all the dinosaurs we were going to see and was talking about all of the pictures in the program we had bought for him.

Then the dinosaurs came out. And he was, literally, enthralled. He sat on my lap for some of the show, but mostly he bounced around in his own seat and waved at the dinosaurs as they passed our seats.

Oh, and the seats? Totally awesome. Our original seats were a little higher up, but the lighting, sound and film crew needed the higher vantage point, so our seats were moved down a level. When the T-Rex came to our side of the arena and roared, you could almost smell her breath. :)

All of the pictures I have were taken with my iPhone camera. I have no flash or zoom, so they quality is lacking a little. But remember: NO ZOOM, so the dinos you see are just as we saw them!

Sporting his new dinosaur T-shirt


Showing off his program (the pictures in this program are GORGEOUS).


As the "paleontologist" talked about how lush one of the periods was, the greenery popped out of the center rock and all along the sides. When he talked about how hot the next period was, the plants slowly wilted. It was so neat how they did these effects.


Two Apatosuaruses (Apatosauri?): Mama and baby


Three Utahraptors


Anthony sat, wide-eyed, throughout most of the program.


Ankylosaurus (the best-armored dinosaur ever)


Mama T-rex does not like the Torosaurus picking on her baby T-rex.


I wish this wasn't blurry, but the T-rex came to roar at us, and this was exactly how close she was. Anthony (and Mimi) jumped! Literally, our seats shook! And as the Mama T-rex roared, her baby would "meow" right behind her. It was so funny.


As the "paleontologist" tells you about the big meteor heading to earth at 20 miles per second, you see Mama T-rex and her baby snuggling in the background.


The meteor is hitting!


I'm so glad that we were able to go, and that Anthony was able to calm down to stick it out. But mostly I'm glad that Anthony was well enough to go!

He has missed this entire past week at school because he's been sick. I received a call from the school on Monday morning around 9:30 that Anthony was running "a little temperature". I got him home and his temperature was 102! I took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday and he was diagnosed with the flu (rapid flu test was positive, it wasn't just a random diagnosis) and the pediatrician suspected that he had pneumonia. So scripts for Tamiflu and Zithromax were prescribed, along with a lot of rest. Anthony was fever-free by Tuesday, but his white blood cell count was pretty low and I was nervous about sending him back to school when his infection-fighting ability was low. We got the all-clear to go to the dinosaur show, and Anthony will return to school on Monday.

You wouldn't know he had been sick, except for the nasty cough that he's still occasionally sporting. We're going to skip his soccer game this morning so that his running is kept to a minimum (can't keep this kid down for long). I'm just glad this is over and he's healthy again!

Anthony, Nana and Grandpa will go back to the dinosaur show tonight. We were given four tickets by the RiverCenter as part of his wish trip with Kids Wish Network.

Speaking of his wish trip, we will head to Washington, DC mid-October. Be sure that pictures will accompany that trip!