Kentucky

On our last weekend in Ohio, we went to the Creation Museum. We had been there twice before, but the children really wanted to go again. My nephew who lives in Ohio was turning six that weekend, and he wanted to go, and my sister who lives in Michigan had a birthday that weekend as well, so she and my mom came to Ohio for the weekend. Gayle’s mother and sister, and his brother and his family, also decided to go, so we had a group of around 25 people! We were thankful for people who had guest passes that they allowed us to use to get in. As always, the museum was fascinating.

We spent the morning touring the botanical gardens and the petting zoo. It was very hot and humid, but the gardens were gorgeous.

One of our nieces discussing a huge dinosaur with my mom.

Mr. Diligence with my sister.

Black-eyed Susans always make me think of my dad. They were one of his favorite flowers. He claimed it was because he knew what they were!

There was papyrus growing in the bog garden. I had never seen it before, but recognized it from pictures. Fun to see it for real!

The koi pond was beautiful.

My brother had an extra leash for their wandering toddler, so we put it on Little Miss for awhile.

The Garden of Eden.

The result of the Fall—death.

Life after the Fall—hard work, thorns and thistles to contend with.

Methuselah talked to us about life just before the Flood.

This dinosaur moved and roared!

A diorama depicting people trying to escape from the rising Flood waters.

Praising God after the Flood.

One fascinating room, new since our last visit, held an amazing collection of insects!

Just before we left, Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Intellectual got to hold a snake.

While we were in Ohio, we wanted to go to Kentucky to visit Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter. This is a life-size model of Noah’s Ark, with an incredible museum inside showing how Noah and his family could have cared for all the animals and provided for themselves. There are many other amazing exhibits, as well; my favorite was one displaying various Bibles through the centuries. The ones from before the invention of the printing press were especially amazing to me. I was fascinated to see the hand-copied manuscripts. They were so neatly done they looked just as if they had been printed by machine!

Approaching the giant boat: 510 feet long, 55 feet high.

Bird cages and food storage.

Mr. Imagination admiring the bow end of the boat.

There were displays of various animals, each cage representing a different “kind” from which many of today’s animals could have descended. Fascinating!

Noah and his family praying as the Flood began.

The kitchen area. Little Miss stood and stared at this scene for a long time. I believe she thought the person was real and would move! There was a sound recording of someone chopping food, although the mannequin didn’t move.

Ham and his wife in their private quarters.

Something I had never thought of before: They have tiny gardens under the skylight for fresh food! Sure makes sense to me.

One exhibit that really intrigued me was the room that showed Bibles from the past thousand years. These are hand-copied; this first one is a Latin Bible from somewhere around 1200-1300 if I remember correctly, and the second one is from Ethiopia in the 1700-1800s. I couldn’t believe the perfection of the hand-copied Bibles from the Middle Ages! I never dreamed they could be so neat, looking just like a printed book.

Little Miss and her cousin, tired at the end of the day but having fun together.