Ok do NOT ask how old this is (even though the date is right there… baaaad Lisa). I have decided to push through and post these crazily old posts now before I never get them up!! Hopefully our collection of links are helpful… and still active!!

For Emanuel’s (and now Trinity’s) first dinosaur of the 2013-2014 school year we actually went reptile… giant reptile with the Archelon turtle. This late Cretaceous period reptile was believed to be slow moving and only dove deep to hibernate. A Potential omnivore it spent its entire life in the ocean except to lay eggs. It is thought to be the predecessor to our current turtles.

What I found interesting was that it was soft shelled AND around during the END of the dinosaurs. And HUGE!!!

We watched a short independently made video about our reptile on youTube by Sarcosuchus7 titled Archelon The Biggest Turtle. 

And now for our link list:

• BBC has some images and a blurb HERE
• KidsDinos.com has their article HERE
• EnchantedLearning has their information HERE
• Animal a Day has a great fossil image HERE
• Las Ecomujeres has a great article HERE
• Euro Turtle has another great image HERE
• Wiki as ever has their say HERE
• And of course our colouring page from Super Coloring HERE

I hope these links are helpful!! Enjoy our turtle learning!

Our youngest is a full on school age kid now! Where has the time gone? Yup, Miss Echo is officially 7 as of Sunday, August 13th. My Friday the 13th baby.

We actually had a rather fun weekend for her. Saturday was a trip to the Science Museum to see the Pixar exhibit (not that she enjoyed that all that much, so many other things to see). We went with our homeschool buds. It was fun. Expensive (the exhibit was an add on, which was annoying since we got memberships to AVOID that), but there was things to see and do that we hadn’t seen or done before.

It was nice to get out and run around and enjoy ourselves before heading back.

Before that we had spent an hour at the YMCA to swim and play.

Saturday NIGHT we had cousin Robbie over. Which is always exciting for the whole family. He is a family favourite after all.

Sunday morning we slept in a little… well some of us did. Before packing up Echo and going to take pictures out by the local library. We were going to do it at the flower beds but people were busy weeding so we improvised.

After pictures it was picking up the much anticipated cake! Then preparing everyone to head out the the birthday girl’s restaurant of choice – a McDonald’s with a play area. This was a total homeschool buds weekend as they joined us too.

Since it was a rainy day we had to table the beach plan and instead head over to our house for cake and presents.

After all that fun it was off to the YMCA for her swim lesson. Add in calls from Grandma and Nana and Baba and I think little miss had an absolute blast.

To top it off – she lost her first tooth!!! It was quite the milestone weekend!!!

Now sit back and enjoy the science museum images!

Echo and Nate

Sorry no picture with this ancient dino post. BUT as I did last year, this year is the year to catch up. So posting the dinosaurs it is. Enjoy this Australian dinosaur post. I promise December VERY soon!

What a name – Diamantinasaurus Matildae, known more commonly in Australia as Matilda. This Cretaceous period sauropod is still mostly unknown. Only portions of its skeleton have been recovered to date. It is possibly the biggest sauropod in Australia. In comparison to the other large Titanosaurs, Matilda is actually on the small side. It is considered to be stocky and round with an almost bow legged appearance.

We had one video from LatrobeUniAustralia called Australian Dinosaur – Diamantinasaurus.

The link list is relatively short but definitely interesting…

• Australian Age of Dinosaurs HERE
• Australian Museum HERE
• Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
• Prehistoric Wildlife HERE
• Dinopedia HERE
• Wiki HERE
• There is a rather fanciful picture HERE that I have to share just due to its beauty by Sauropod Vertebrae Picture of the Week
• And our colouring page… from the Disillusioned Taxonomist HERE