The Fulfillment of a Dream or: Dinosaur Day!

Landon was born to be a Geologist. His artistic view of the world, his never-ending curiosity, an aptitude for math, and a love for the great outdoors just = a scientist. He really could not have been anything else.

When he was a little boy, he was already obsessed with dinosaurs. His Grandpa Wilkes gave him a Newsweek magazine when he was about 8 that featured a famous paleontologist name Paul Serano. Landon pored over those pages almost like scripture and learned more about dinosaurs, digging for fossils, and the analysis of bones than most of us have ever known. Almost 20 years later, this passion for dinosaurs would translate into a career path. So basically, I have this man to thank for the never-ending years of school. :)

So, long story short, Landon called me at the beginning of last week and told me that none other than Paul Serano was coming to UW to give a lecture in conjunction with Dinosaur Day at the Burke Museum of natural history. We definitely could not miss this opportunity!

We decided to spring for a babysitter (a rarity for us) and make a date night of it! It was so much fun to listen to a grown-up lecture about dinosaurs in Africa and think about how Landon has made his dreams come true, one at a time. He's well on his way to being a full-blown doctor of Geology and, while he's not currently studying dinosaurs, the knowledge he's gaining and the research he's doing help scientists just like Dr. Serano better understand the environments that ancient animals lived in. It's easy to forget that this guy I married is brilliant and just basically amazing in the daily grind of changing diapers, time-outs, and working really hard to stay within our grocery budget. For me, it was a nice reminder of what we're working so hard FOR.

We promised to bring Walt an "Easter Egg Treat" when we left, so we stopped off and picked this up on the way home. I love this man and how he makes me laugh!

The next day was Dinosaur Day - I had a church obligation so Landon and Walter went on a father-son outing to the museum together. They had so much fun!

Even though they had to wait outside in the rain for over an hour (I guess this is an extremely popular event), Walt didn't even remember that part as he told me all about it later on. His favorite thing was the "dinosaur feet."

Landon said it was a blast for both of them. I'm so grateful he was willing to get out and do something special with Walt. It's great that Walt is getting to an age where he can appreciate Father/Son time. He loves visiting Daddy at school and is always wondering when Daddy's coming home. They do a lot of Duplo building, book reading, Nintendo playing, and show-watching together. Our little boy is so blessed with a great example of what a Dad should be!