a day in raleigh

Last weekend we packed up the kids and headed to Raleigh to go to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. It take a little over an hour to get to Raleigh, so we brought along some drinks and snacks for the car.

Lexie's ready to go!!

We were very excited that we made it for the last day of the Chocolate Exhibition. It is a traveling exhibit on loan from the Field Museum in Chicago and chronicles chocolate through the ages. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Christopher and Nicholas ready for Chocolate!

After learning all about chocolate, we set off to explore the rest of the museum. We learned all about the different areas of North Carolina!!

North Carolina from the sky

Acrocanthosaurus

The museum even has a living conservatory with butterflies flying all around. The kids were so excited to be up close and personal with them!

Once we finished at the museum, we went for a walk around the Capital.

Nick thought this was a porcupine!

And also wanted his picture taken next to a cannon.

We stumbled upon the artSPARK event while we were walking around downtown. Over 400 street painters decorated the street and there were all kinds of unusual pieces of art.

Raleigh artSPARK

We headed back to the Capital and walked around the grounds for awhile.

Entrance to the Capital

Jacob was a good sport and pulled the stroller up the stairs!

The grounds of the Capital.

On the way back to the car, Nick wanted to stop and get his picture with the replica of the Liberty Bell. He's just like his Auntie Janne!! :)

Nicholas and the Liberty Bell