Bug Maine-ia

We had the remarkable privilege of attending an annual exhibit at the Maine State Musem in Augusta (the State Capitol): Bug Maine-ia.  It was SO much fun!!!

We loved that there were SO many hands-on exhibits!  Here, the children are carefully handling butterflies and moths.

I can't remember what they were looking at under the microscopes....but they were enthralled!

This was my favorite exhibit:  We learned that the Declaration of Independence was written with ink made from wasp galls!  The girls got to try their hand at writing with wasp gall ink with a quill pen, just as they did in colonial times!  It is much harder than it looks (and you'll note ink stains on Angel's hands in other pictures), but they did a marvelous job!!

Next, we took a look at the 'fuzzy' caterpillars:

Then, it was the cockroaches.  I enjoyed most of the other insects, but.....ewwwwwwwwww!!!!

Grins was the only one brave enough to hold this HUGE tarantula!  EEEEEEEEEEKK!

We all enjoyed the walking sticks!

Next, we took a trip outside for some 'bug catching' fun.

The children were given small cups to capture bugs in, and then they took them to the park rangers, who told them what type of insect it was.  Then they released them back into the woods.  It was a great learning experience!

Then we headed back inside, because, though we'd been there for a couple of hours already and had seen a lot, no one was ready to leave!  We had to head back to the 'petting zoo' for more fun playing with insects!

This time, Angel got brave enough to hold the hissing cockroaches too!  Ewwwww!

After several hours, I finally managed to pull the children away (though not without many complaints!).  We took a quick peek at the Capitol while we were there (with some friends of ours)!  A great trip and very fun learning experience!  We will definitely go again next year! :)