Thursday started cloudy and rainy, but by the afternoon it was hot, but not as hot as it has been recently - last weekend it was as much as 39c. While 30c is still far to hot for me, it is definitely a lot more comfortable than what it had been. Older_Rah finished his preschool on Tuesday (although he will be back in for two weeks summer school later in the month before we go on holiday) and likewise Younger_Rah is still in the nursery, but on a summer break basis.

Incidentally, I know there has been some confusion recently with how I refer to my boys and so now I have settled on Older_Rah (now 5) and Younger_Rah (now 2) as these will have a greater permanence than using Little_Rah and Big_Rah because as they grow up they will both become big.

For his birthday back in April Older_Rah got for a present from his grandparents on my side of the family, money to cover the cost of going to a Lego Exhibition and to see the "Dinosaur Bones". We did the Lego thing some time ago, but hadn't had opportunity before Thursday to go and check out the dinosaurs. 

And so it was, in the late morning we caught a bus (something else he enjoys) to the city centre and after a brief pause to grab a snack we headed of to the Museum of Evolution. It was quite small, but to be honest the price reflected that and the truth is that you get what you pay for. I am not sure if Museum of Evolution is an apt description as the displays were limited and there was nothing about human evolution - which is implied in the title. It did have a few significant bits and pieces, for example a display of early lungfish dragging themselves out of the sea and a protoceratops (think tricerotops with neck frill but no horns, a predecessor - hence the prefix proto-). Having said that, most of the displays were fossils and as such a more appropriate name surely has to be the Museum of Paleontology.

While there were some other reassembled skeletons (for example a terrorbird), the two centrepieces of the museum had to be the unspecified sauropod (think diplodocus and brachiosaurus as two of the most well known examples) and a tarbosaurus (a relative of the infamous T-Rex) and they were massive. Their immensity was so impressive that it was overwhelming and what caught me by surprise was how their sheer size made me feel. I always thought I had been to the British Museum as a kid, during a trip to London, but given what I encountered I now have some doubt. Had I seen them in London (including the world famous "Dippy" I am sure the memory would have been lasting.

"Dippy" the Diplodocus - At The British Museum

The picture above showcases the sheer size of the dinosaur, but somehow you really don't get a sense of perspective until you get up close and personal with them. 

The unspecified Sauropod above (too big to capture in one image in the tight space we had) and the tarbosaurus below. And yes that is Older_Rah in both pictures (face deliberately obscured). It somehow captures the scale of the beasts - magnificent and in the case of the tarbosaurus terrifying - and to think he is smaller than the T-Rex.

After we were finished we went for pizza and Older_Rah was absolutely delighted when it was delivered by a robot.

A still from the video I took - sorry for the poor quality.

Older_Rah has a few passions in his life - already - and with one of them being dinosaur bones and the other being robots it made for a perfect afternoon out.

As always stay safe and well my friends