Vacation, day 6

Our 6th day of vacation landed us at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. It's actually just over the OH/KY border, very close to Cincinnati.

This actually was the "base" of our vacation. I had heard great things about the Creation Museum and the girls have loved it when a "creationist" visited NHCS...and when we found out that it wasn't TOO far away, we planned our trip around the Creation Museum!

First of all, it was BEAUTIFUL. It looked brand new, but it is 8 years old!
Secondly...it had a much different feel/crowd than any other museum we've visited. I think there was just 1 handful of small children and 2 of that handful were Ava and Colin! I saw 2 other strollers in the whole museum while we were there!
The crowd had NO bratty, sassy behaviors (that we noticed). It was very pleasant to spend the day there! The crowd was also very friendly--at one point, Ava fell while standing in a line and the reactions of the strangers around us made us feel like they were members of our church or even people who knew us!
Finally, there was A LOT of reading involved in the tour. We were handicapped by our 2 little ones and the stroller we were pushing, but Andy snapped photos of almost every place that reading was required. So if you want more than this blog entry, you can check out the photos! :)

We started our day out with one of their planetarium shows. No photos from this, but needless to say, it was very interesting.

(You might want to click on each photo below to view it larger in your browser, to fully see the details!)

The museum is all about God's CREATION, specifically the 6 days of creation. However, as seen below, the 6 days of creation set the stage for everything else that has happened in this world:

There was a lot of reference to the "7c's"...
Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation

There was also an explanation about fossils and how they "became". It was all very interesting.

And, there was a lot of focus on THE DINOSAURS!

The dinosaur issue has never been one that we've really thought much about; we've never even had a child that was "into" dinosaurs. It was neat to read the thoughts on dinosaurs from a creation based viewpoint. In short, the dinosaurs were created on the 6th day, were on Noah's Ark, and gradually "evolved" into extinction. There were displays showing how other animals have evolved from a creationism viewpoint. It really was like nothing we've ever seen; yet to the children, it was exactly what they are learning in school! So very cool!

The sets were UNREAL and very realistic! According to Wikipedia, some of the sets were designed by someone who used to create sets for Universal Studios! This photo below gives you a glimpse into the amazing "real" quality of the sets:
The photo above also shows some of the emphasis the museum put on "the 1st sin" with Adam and Eve. Ultimately, the 1st sin set the stage for all of the "bad" in the world; again, very interesting to see/read about this:

The museum also had a lot of statistics and frank statements. Chilling...not surprising...yet surprising altogether...
There was also a lot of emphasis on the flood and Noah's Ark:

The Noah's Ark area was HUGE and very interactive. The kids just LOVED this.

While at the museum, we had lunch (delicious cafeteria!) and went to a movie that portrayed a young woman questioning life, struggles, and her worth. It was entertaining and informative...and was 4D--we all got a burst of water in our faces when the movie referenced the storm and flood of Noah's Ark!

We also viewed a short movie that wrapped up the meaning of the "7c's" and ended with the story of Salvation. Again, everything was done amazingly well.

After we had walked through the museum, watched the movies and shopped in the bookstore, we wandered outside to the most beautiful gardens/walk ways we've seen! There were also animals to see and pet:

Beautiful flowers galore:And MANY opportunities to get a "christmas card photo"!
Colin was cute:and the girls were great sports for Andy...

He must have snapped a hundred photos in the gardens. At one point, they grew tired of picture taking and I heard him say "...just a couple more....then we go get Graeter's ice cream!" That will do it everytime...SMILE! :)

But before we could have ice cream, we had to have dinner. The restaurant of the day was the Oriental Wok in Cincinnati.

Chinese food is actually a really good option for a dairy allergic person and Ellie LOVES shrimp lo mien. Andy did some research on award winning chinese restaurants and found this place called "The Oriental Wok". I happened to call them 2 weeks before our trip to verify there was safe food for Ellie and had the nicest conversation with the daughter of the owner. The restaurant is fully family owned and the mom and dad actually immigrated from China in the 70's. They worked their way up to being able to open a restaurant and now have 3 different chinese restaurants in the Cincinnati area! A few times a year, they hold chinese cooking classes...what fun it would be to live near this restaurant!

We had had a long day at the Creation Museum....and the children were a little slap happy...

above, Colin is playing the trumpet, I mean playing with his chopsticks....and sitting on the "look mom! A BED" chair!
Below, some more pictures of our time at the restaurant--they had coloring HATS for the kids instead of coloring pages! Thankfully we were the only ones in the restaurant during our late afternoon dinner...because by the time we were finished eating...everyone was a LOT slap happy!
But as we left, it was onto Graeter's...the reward for all those photos at the Creation Museum!