Today was Paleo Fest in Rockford. Dr Scott Sampson from TV's Dinosaur Train (he is actually a well-known Paleontologist, not just a man who hangs out with cartoon dinosaurs) was going to give a kids lecture, so I signed us up.
We started off at the museum where we had to go from station to station learning about different dinosaur things. We got to one table with some college kids who were obviously not as dinosaur-savvy as Dharma. She was looking through a bin of dinosaur tattoos and picked one out. The poor college kid incorrectly identified the dinosaur, which led to a 3 minute "discussion" where Dharma belittled him for not knowing the many differences between an Ankylosaurus and a Stegosaurus. It is safe to assume that when I pulled her away from the table he knew the difference and would not make THAT mistake again.
Another station had green and red bean bags. You had to toss the green bean bags through the mouth of the plant eater and the red one through the mouth of the meat eater. When she was done she went and stood behind the T-Rex and put her head in his mouth. The guy running the station laughed and said "I wondered if anyone would do that." I was surprised no one had up to that point.
We completed the stations and she got to the end where she got to "dig" for a dinosaur. They were allowed to dig as much as they wanted until they found the dinosaur they wanted as long as they put the ones they found and did not want back under the rocks. She dug, and dug, and dug until she found her favorite: The T-Rex.
Then we went over to the hall where Dr Scott's lecture was going to be. We got there early and there were a few other girls about her age there, so they played. They pretended to be dinosaurs (of course). More and more people piled in the lobby while we waited to be let in the hall. Then it happened. Dr Scott HIMSELF walked into the lobby. He had to weave in and out all the kids that were everywhere to get through. Mostly because as soon as he walked in, one parent close to the door said "Look who just came in" and everything stopped. Every single child stopped what they were doing and stared, most with their mouths open, at this god before them. Eyes followed Dr Scott as he walked through, but no kid talked. They just stared. I looked at the mother next to me, who I had been talking with, and said "One would think the Beatles just walked in."
Since we were there early, we were one of the first ones in the lecture hall so we got front row seats. Dharma has never behaved in a theater as well as she did this afternoon. She hung on Dr Scott's every word. She agreed by nodding her head. She answered questions. She drank in any knowledge he was willing to share. At one point he went through some slides asking "Is this a dinosaur?" "Is that a dinosaur?" and then finally "Who thinks that dinosaurs are NOT extinct?" Dharma waved her arm and yelled out "MMMEEEE! They are NOT ESTINKED!!" I put my head down and leaned away a little. I thought maybe there was a chance I could still pretend I was not with her. Dr Scott pointed at her and said "You are correct!" I looked around to see if I missed the joke. He then went on to explain the connection from dinosaurs to modern day birds while Dharma sat in her seat with a gigantic smile. I don't know if she was smiling more because Dr Scott noticed her or because she could now walk around telling us we are wrong for saying dinosaurs are extinct.
All in all it was a good day. Dharma got a new stuffed T-Rex toy who she has appropriately named Sharptooth. We were about a block away from the theater and she said to me "This was the best day ever!"
