This post sponsored by Staggered Start

We have had a busy and fun summer, with many things on our must-do list, many of which we did, and of course, some that we did not.  As the last days approached, Stephanie asked when we would go back to the Greensboro Science Center.  Unfortunately, we were out of time.  Which is where Staggered Start comes in, the delicious breakfast cereal that will let you too miss the first day of school... Okay, it isn't actually a breakfast cereal, but, at the end of May, I had our start date of school as this past Monday, only to find out about staggered start in the middle of August, a new (at our school, at least) program that splits the K classes in half, so 50% of the kids start on Monday and have Tuesday off, and 50% of the kids have Monday off and start on Tuesday.  Stephanie was assigned to the latter, and suddenly we had a new day on the calendar when the museum was pretty much guaranteed to be super quiet, as it was the first day of school for all of the other grades. 

First stop, a Q&A period with a diver in the shark tank.  She spoke through a microphone and her breathing was loud (Darth Vader like, as described by the employee out of the tank that was coordinating the Q&A), and it flipped Gwen out.  She hid her face, and I eventually just stepped around the corner because I felt bad for her.  When I told her it was over, she looked back, saw the diver still in the tank (not talking, and thus "over" in my mind) and quickly informed me it was not over and hid her face again.  Later, we went by the tank again, the diver was gone, and she said "Darth Vader not in there" and was okay with the tanks again. 

We got to pet the bamboo shark, and then later in the day, we got to hold the eggs they laid that day.

Gwen always rushes to be in pictures and then becomes fascinated with the scene behind her.  I have a lot of photos like this!  This water fountain was set to music and fun to watch.  We were last here during colder weather, and this was tucked away a bit in the zoo area, so it was a total surprise find for us this time.

Stephanie really wanted a photo with one of the loose peacocks, and managed to plan a nice one without disturbing the bird. 

So I do stage some of my very favorite photos, but this one at the Meerkat exhibit was a natural moment of them standing the same way. 

Stephanie the frog.

Notice the adorable red panda in the enclosure.  They were so very cute, I could have watched them for much longer than we got to. 

Gwen initially refused to go into the goat enclosure, and then became very agitated outside of it (with me).  Finally I realized she was saying, "I brush hair", and so we got her into the enclosure with a brush, and she was very pleased. 

Gwen climbed into the tunnel and requested a picture. 

Back at the tanks, post Darth Vader.  Stephanie really wanted a picture with the very large stingray, and we had to wait patiently for some time for it to come into view, but we prevailed. 

Catching a good breeze from the "air machine" as Stephanie called it. 

So that was it!  Our last big adventure before the first day of Kindergarten, and I am grateful that we had it!