To Not Decide . . . Is To Decide: Dem Bones

Well, if this isn't perfect timing for this post!

By the way, I am just going through my Dropbox Camera Uploads folder of pics that I have uploaded from my phone over the past several months and recapping for you as I go. Sooo, the next pics up are...drumroll...

The Museum of SKELETONS!!!

Yep, you got that right! Actually, more technically, The Museum of Osteology (a.k.a. Skulls Unlimited, Inc.). At the time, it was the only one in the country. Since then, the same people have opened a second one in another state. However, the original...the first...at the time, the one and only...is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!

No, really. For real. Yes, it is.

And we went there with my precious dad and step-mother and uncle when my awesome uncle (who is a glutton for punishment) took a several-hour road trip (8-11 hours depending on who you have along for the ride...namely a small baby, among others) with me and my littles to visit my dad and step-mother in OKC before our big move overseas. Mind you, I and the littles had only been living in North Louisiana for a few DAYS after our big move and road trip from the south before we turned around and did this even bigger road trip.

Whew!

Anyway, my uncle originally told us about this place and he had been there once before after convincing my dad to go with him on a previous road trip he took up there. My uncle, by the way, is a science teacher. So, between him and my son who LOVES science and bones and all that fun stuff, this was quite the museum opportunity. If you ever have the chance to go, please do! It's well worth the trip, and not very heavy on the pocketbook, either.

Well, I took lots of pictures, so I will try to let them do most of the story telling for you.

Here you go!

Entrance display (once you pay in the lobby and enter the main door from the lobby). However, in the lobby they have a very cool, live display I didn't think to take a picture of. It is a glass case which has flesh-eating beetles "cleaning" a bone, so you can see how the museum does part of their bone cleaning process. Really cool! (*eew!*)

Whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling. Also in the background is an elephant skeleton. (This place is 2 stories tall with the second level looking over the railing down to the first level. That's how tall the elephant is.) Also in the front right side of this pic you can barely see the leg bones of the giraffe skeleton. It's huge!

Grandaddy Joe (my dad) and my son having a deep conversation about the hippo skull in front of them. Particularly those horrifyingly huge teeth and the position of them!

He's saying, "You don't want to get caught in between those!"

A little birdie skeleton and a squirrel skeleton. The displays in this place were really creative, by the way. And as far as the two fingers up, peace-sign-like gesture, I apologize in advance for all of the silly finger gestures you will see my son do. I don't think any of them mean anything bad, though if they do it's truly innocently that he is flashing them. It's just his silly new picture thing.

Pretty cool fish bone display

Wish this one wasn't so blurry. Oh well. #realLife Anyway, that's a racoon skeleton...eating Milk Duds! I told you they were creative. Oh, and there's those silly fingers again! ;)

Buffalo / Bison skeleton

Bottom left corner is a Chihuahua skeleton (yes, I googled the spelling of Chihuahua!) and to the right of it is a Great Dane skeleton.

The large one in the center is a lion skeleton that was used in a reality TV show about them called Skeletons, Inc. Actually, they have been featured in several shows including Dirty Jobs and Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

Though I don't personally believe in evolution (as you can see from countless posts of mine over the past few years), I do think it's cool that they have the "Lucy" skeleton.

More about the "Lucy" skeleton...although I don't buy it. I believe it to not be scientific proof of evolution. I won't get into that here, though.

"Lucy's" museum tag

SKULLS!!!

The cheetah! (And the fingers again...)

The mole. Had to zoom in on that one for you. It's ONE of the smallest ones...but there is one smaller.

The SHREW! The smallest skeleton in the museum, to my knowledge.

Cooelest skull of all...to me the techno geek, at least. This is the skull of the owner of the museum...who is still alive and well!!! How did he get his own skull in here, you ask? Was it the flesh-eating beetles and a miraculous survival?! Nope. He had a CT scan (or two or more) done and then used a 3-D printer to print his skull so he could put it on display! Genius!

My son. Always the actor. One day he will win an Academy Award. He comes up with this stuff himself. I promise I don't put him up to it. If anything, he puts me up to it. "Mom, take a picture."

By the way, that's a rhino skeleton chasing him.

A very special rhino skull

How unique!

The fingers...again! Oh, and the whale behind him. This time from the second floor.

Sorry for the blur. Cute face, though. Oh, and I think we were looking at the baby birds. Can't remember.

Birds and eggs

Yay, son! You can count to five with your fingers! ;)

Just had to remind you how small the shrew is. Wonder why it's so hard to tame...

Alligator snapping turtle shells

Love this pic! Handsome boy with the giraffe skeleton behind him. He is on the second floor and level with its head while its feet are down on the first floor. That is also the whale skeleton behind him and the giraffe.

They also had several fun, educational things throughout the museum like this scavenger hunt paper the kids (or adults) could do. Also several educational signs I took pics of but spared you of in case you are getting overloaded with pics. By the way, that's another cool thing about this place. They welcome you to take and share all of the pics you want! :)

Another neat feature is the gift shop at the end. It has some pretty unique things in it, like these gross / scary things. But it also has several bones and fossils and even owl pellets (for dissection) you can purchase. Fun place to browse!

And of course, I couldn't end the post without the obigatory Baby Girl pics!

Those sweet rolls and cheeks!

And I might as well throw in a few from our road trip home, since I didn't catch any of my awesome Uncle John (nor my sweet step-mother) in the museum he suggested we visit. This is him with the kiddos at one of our stopping spots along the way home.

An awesome family-style Italian restaurant we found in Oklahoma's Little Italy (Krebs, OK). Highly recommended! (And I've eaten in NYC's Little Italy...several times! Love the atmosphere of this place. And the food. Great place.)