Dinosaurs and Hot dogs

Ever since I went to college at Iowa State I had always wanted to visit Reiman Gardens, but I never took the time to go. Well, this year when I heard that they started a little dinosaur exhibit among the flowers, I knew I just had to take JJ. Yesterday morning I woke up, and decided that it was a good day to go…so we went!

Once we got there I realized Jayla was not in a very good mood.
No, she was not scared of the dinosaur….she was crying because she was hot and the ground I put her on to take this priceless picture was wet. Of course, JJ is still playing his little hide from the camera games as well. I cannot stop laughing at this picture.

But, as we strolled around, JJ got more and more interested in everything!

I thought it was so funny that he walked around like a little old man with his hands clasped behind his back! I didn’t even tell him not to touch anything, he just started walking like that for some reason.

JJ has to name everything. Here he is telling me which dinosaur is which, “That’s the daddy, gee gee (JJ), bobby (Jayla), and grum Lori (grandma). No mommy one.”

The best quote of the day came when I showed JJ these cattails…

I said, “Look, these are named cattails cause they look like a cat’s tail.”

He said, “No mommy, look like hot dogs.”

I stand corrected.

We ventured on, and Jayla continued to share her opinions.

And JJ continued to stop me at certain spots so I could take his picture...really he did! I couldn't believe it!

Then, we found a spot to dig up fossils…

And, suddenly, Jayla was all business. This girl loves to dig in the dirt.

We spent a lot of time at the watering troth!

And I got some fun close-ups of the flowers…

One thing that caught my attention was this section…there was an entire area dedicated to this:

Looking around at this beautiful place, and then seeing this sign made me sad that all this beauty could be attributed to something other than God’s own creation. When I first became a Christian I remember it was like seeing the world all for the first time…realizing the intricacy and order and details that God had ordained in nature. I remember going through my first season of spring as a believer and realizing that God designed spring to be a picture of our souls. I cannot fathom how plants and trees can look so dead, but then come spring they grow new leaves and buds and show such magnificent signs of life. It reminds me of this verse:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!