Behind the Scenes at The Children's Museum

IPL’s Lights-On Hours

(Recommended for younger children who scare easily.)
Tuesdays–Saturdays: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Tuesdays: 3:30–9 p.m.
Sundays: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Halloween*: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
 (*only the Haunted House will be open on Halloween. Museum closed.)

Defender Direct’s Frightening Hours:

(Lights out for older children who dare to be scared.)
Wednesdays, Thursdays: 3:30–9 p.m.
Fridays, Saturdays: 3:30–9:30 p.m.

I think I was in junior high when I had the opportunity to build a robot. I don’t remember exactly why I built it, other than it was part of a special class for brainy kids. The robot wasn’t anything spectacular. I think it just drove around bounced off of things. To put things in context, this was back in the late 80’s when computer class consisted of hours of writing lines of code in order to get a green ball to bounce across the screen.

At the time that robotics project was just a fun thing to do with my classmates. Now I’m struck by how often I think back about that experience and the influence it had on my decision to get into technology. Of course, technology wasn’t my first career choice. That’s not really what pre-teen girls did in the late 80s (I wanted to be an MTV VJ). It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I even started thinking about technology as a career. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate having had that opportunity in junior high. I didn’t get much more exposure to technology until I got into college.

One of the many reasons I love working at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is because we deal in informal, hands on learning – like that robotics project. It was an informal learning opportunity. It was a chance to get away from Math and English classes, and get my hands on something that I’d never done before. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say it was one of the singular most influential educational experiences I had when I was younger.

I still love robots, which is why I’m really excited about Robotics Day on Saturday. My son is at the age where he is developing interests, and he loves robots too. Every once in a while I’ll grab a robot kit from the Museum Store and take it home for a weekend project that we do together. He now has several of our little robots proudly displayed on his “science shelf” in his room.

My family will be here Saturday to play with some robots and to do some informal learning. I encourage you to bring your boys—and especially your girls—and join us! You never know what one little unexpected learning experience might lead to later in life.

Robotics Day Activities

Transformers Challenge (10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, and 2:30) in the Sunburst Atrium. Sign-up to compete against other visitors and see who can “transform” their Transformers figure the fastest!  Each competition session will last 15 minutes.  Fun prizes will be given to the winners, including preview tickets to Transformers 3:  Dark of the Moon.* 

Robo Challenge (techZone) (10 a.m. -1 p.m.) infoZone
Can you conquer the crazy robot obstacle course? Pilot a real robot, then try programming one!

Design A Robot Drawing Activity (10 a.m. -3 p.m.) in the Sunburst Atrium. Have fun designing and drawing your one of a kind robot.  What kind of robot will you create?

Live Robot Demonstrations (10 a.m. -3 p.m.) in the Sunburst Atrium. Come see the K.N.E.R.D.s -- Knightstown New Engineering Robot Design and enjoy live robotics demonstrations.

Robot Petting Zoo (10 a.m. -3 p.m.) in the Sunburst Atrium
Join us for a fun hands-on exploration of robots at our Robot Petting Zoo!  Learn how different robots move.  All robots on display are available in the museum store.

Transformers:  More than Meets the Eye (2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.) in the Welcome Center
Meet our mechanic character who will share interesting facts and background on the Bumblebee movie prop and other characters from the Tranformers films.

In honor of Father’s Day, we invited blogger Daniel Incandela to write a guest post about his thoughts on fatherhood.   
by Daniel Incandela

I was honored when the The Children’s Museum suggested I write a post for their blog. I adore museums. And I’m still a kid at heart. I love dinosaurs. I love video games. I love robots. I love cartoons. I love making a mess. As a result, I’ve always loved The Children’s Museum.

Oh, I’m also a father to Oliver, who’s almost 2.

There are so many great things about being a father. There are special moments I share with my boy. I get to teach him. I get to make him laugh. I get to eat his leftovers. We have similar tastes when it comes to the television. We both like long walks. We share toys. We go shopping and cause trouble. And we’re into the same activities, like riding the Carousel at The Children's Museum. So far, it hasn’t gotten old. I’m discovering, with Oliver’s help, that there is a new lease on life for me. I get to continue being a kid. I’m in no rush to grow up.

I’m still enjoying my fairly new role as a Father. It has already given me a new perspective on this responsibility and it inspired me to write about my father on my own website. 
 

And now, it makes me consider new activities for father/son bonding opportunities. Our current favorites include, visiting our favorite toy store to buy robots for my collection of course, the The Children's Museum for the Carousel, Dinosphere and anything train related, water parks, now that’s it’s warm, trips for ice cream, playgrounds, and watching vintage cartoon episodes of the Pink Panther.

Honestly, these are all things I would do with or without a kid. I’m just lucky that my son has already reached my level of maturity. I’m hoping we mature together. I plan on being there every step of the way, making him laugh and taking his food.

Happy day-after Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there. If you’re like me, you’re relishing the chance to be with someone who makes you feel like a kid again, someone that makes you laugh and helps you think about the future in an entirely different way. My son definitely does.

Look for us at The Children’s Museum. I’ll be the father pushing his son out of the way to get to the vintage video games.

You can learn more about Daniel Incandela, here: http://danielincandela.com/

This week Josh and Mookie get a bit more serious as they talk about the three children featured in our Power of Children exhibit and the positive impact they made on the world. They also introduce viewers to some of our past Power of Children Award winners who are making an extraordinary difference in their communities today.

If you know a middle or high school student (grades 6–11) who has made a significant impact on the lives of others and has demonstrated a commitment to service and the betterment of society, nominate them for a Power of Children Award. The award will provide support and funding to help further their cause.

I am a working mother. Like many other families of the 21^st century, my family life revolves around technology. I send birthday party invitations via Facebook, I check Foursquare to find deals when I’m out running errands, and my family photo albums live on my phone.

At The Children’s Museum, we realize how important technology is in your family’s busy life. In the past year we’ve been doing more to meet you where you are in cyberspace. We talk with you and other visitors every day on Facebook and Twitter. We take you behind the scenes in our Weekly WOW videos on YouTube and on our blog. We post our photos on Flickr, along with thousands of photos from our visitors. We even recently opened up public wi-fi during our normal business hours to help families stay connected with each other—and connect with us—during a visit.

We’re going mobile in lots of different ways. Do you have an older child in your family? Why not let him or her “drive” the phone while playing our Museum Adventure, Riley Health Trek, and Incredible Costumes games on SCVNGR. All our mobile games can be played by text messaging or with the SCVNGR smartphone app.

You can also look for QR codes around the museum that will take you to our blog or (coming soon) to Wikipedia to learn more about our exhibits and collection. You can even get a call from Barbie if you send her a text message!

If you’re always on the lookout for cyber-deals, check in on Foursquare for deals in the store. You can also follow us on Facebook for our fun, family-friendly games and giveaways. With the recent launch of our new website, you can see a mobile-friendly version of childrensmuseum.org with just visit information and our calendar. It’s pretty handy if you’re on a family vacation and just need the details about getting here and events happening during the day.

We’re always open to new ideas. Post a comment and let us know how else we can bring the world’s biggest and best Children’s Museum to you, virtually! 

By Kerry Baker, Manager of Security Operations

The holiday season is a busy time of year at The Children’s Museum. With so many people and so much activity, we encourage you to go over a few visit tips with your family before you come.

Scott Soladine is one of many security staff who work hard to keep visitors safe.

First and foremost, the museum takes your and your family’s health and safety very seriously. Our security specialist staff (who can be seen in the yellow shirts) are always keeping an eye on what’s happening throughout the museum and the garage.  We have trained EMTs on staff and a first aid room where we take care of visitors who might need first aid. If you or someone with you needs help, let a staff person know or pick up a red emergency phone. The red phones are located on each level around the ramp near each elevator. Picking up a phone will automatically dial the museum’s security department.

Red emergency phones are located near the elevators.

When the museum has a high volume of visitors, it’s easy for family members to become separated. We recommend you talk with your children about what to do in case they can’t find you. Each gallery has at least one museum staff person working at all times. If a child gets separated from you, we recommend you instruct the child to find a staff person wearing a museum badge or stay in one place so their grownup can find them. If an adult can’t find a child, we recommend again telling a staff person or picking up one of the red emergency phones. The security department will be immediately notified and will dispatch a call to staff to help find your child.  Please remain calm.  We are trained to find your little one.

Even though we are constantly monitoring the museum, sometimes valuables get lost or turn up missing. We recommend locking valuables in the trunk of your car, and avoid leaving purses and cameras in unattended strollers. For your convenience, coat check is available for $1 and self-serve lockers are available for $.75 and $1 on Level 1 in the Welcome Center. All items that are found get turned in to the museum’s Concierge, who keeps a log of all items. If you’ve lost an item, we encourage you to contact the Concierge and ask if it was turned in – even if it’s following your visit. If we have the item, we will mail it to you at no charge.

We want you to have an extraordinary experience at The Children’s Museum, which is why we work extra hard to make sure your family is safe and well-cared-for while you are here. If you keep these few tips in mind, you should have a wonderful and worry-free visit with your family.

By Kellian Adams, Institutional Mastermind, SCVNGR

I love my job. I admit it. There are days when I’m mired in paperwork or totally overwhelmed with massive projects (a job is a job) but then I get to do awesome things like travel to Indianapolis and visit the largest Children’s Museum in the world and work with their incredible staff to build a game for their holiday visitors, and that’s pretty fantastic.

So let me back up a little bit. My name is Kellian Adams. I’m from Boston and I’m the Institutional Mastermind (ie: museums specialist) for a pretty amazing location-based gaming company called SCVNGR. I work with museums to help them create adventures out of their collections, which people can play off of their own phones either via text or our free SCVNGR app. People go places, do challenges and earn points while they learn a thing or two about art, history and culture.

I worked with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to create two treks for Jolly Days. Our first trek explores the hidden holiday gems in the museum. The Children’s Museum has the largest collections of any children’s museum in the U.S. so there are plenty of mystery things to find in corners and cases.

The second SCVNGR adventure asks visitors to share their holiday traditions. My Irish-New England family always bakes a fantastic pumpkin pie and traditional Indian pudding. My fiancee’s Italian-New England family gets together to make homemade Christmas ravioli and canolis while my best friend’s recently immigrated family from China celebrates with jiao-zi or Chinese dumplings. What a cool place we live in! I know, I’m waxing poetic, this is a game. But I’m proud that we were able to build a simple and fun way for families to connect around the holidays at the Children’s Museum. I’ll certainly share my favorite traditions and I can’t wait to hear what you’ll have to say.

So I returned to Boston after seeing Egypt, dinosaurs, a gigantic color explosion made of glass, a full steam engine, many Barbies and some polar bears. Not a bad trip! Not only that, Indianapolis is about 10 degrees warmer than Boston and that’s worth something. Back at SCVNGR headquarters in Boston, I’m working on my boss to see if we can get a giant dinosaur statue outside our office Second St. poking his head through the window. (There was one at The Children’s Museum and it was SO COOL! Why can’t we do that??)

So when you visit the Children’s Museum this holiday season, remember to take out your mobile device and play one of our Jolly Days adventures. Have a very happy Jolly Days and I hope that you enjoy playing our games as much as we enjoyed making them!

Every day museum employees are asked hundreds of questions by you, the visitor, as you explore the museum. How does that work? Why is this exhibit built the way it is? Who builds the exhibits and how long does it take? Are those real paleontologists in the Dinosphere Lab?

Well, this blog is here to answer those questions, and take you where few visitors have gone before. It will give you a unique look behind the scenes of our world-class museum, and show you how and why we do what we do. You’ll hear from exhibit designers, curators, scientists, educators, and more. We want you to get to know the people who make us the biggest and best, and who work so hard to make sure you have a great visit every time you walk through our doors!

We’re kicking this blog off with a bang…or should I say a WOW. This is the first in a biweekly series called “This Week’s WOW!” This week, you’ll meet Josh Estes and Mookie Harris who will show you how we make the thunderstorm in Dinosphere. (Haven’t you always wondered?!) Also, check out the special bonus “making of the video” with Josh and Mookie!

Josh: Hey Mookie, they asked us to write a blog post to go along with the video that we made about Dinosphere’s Thunderstorm.

Mookie: What do they want to know?

Josh: You know; how we made it, stuff like that.

Mookie: Oh, like you see on DVD’s when the cast and directors talk over the movie to get their take on the movie making process.

Josh: Precisely.  But in written form.

Mookie: We should mention that none of what we said was scripted out.  We just improv’d back and forth and came up with ideas on the spot.

Josh: Yeah, that’s good.  We should also tell them that we actually work in Dinosphere and aren’t a couple of good looking actors hired to portray Dinosphere staff.

Mookie: We really got to be ourselves and be creative.  They just let us go, man.

Josh: Yeah, we were pushing the limit of silly and they just said “Go with it”.  My favorite of yours was when you said we should stand on those stools to get that shot of the lights.  That was all you—you were just vamping and I was trying to keep up.

Mookie: You came up with those flash cuts for the “Wow” moments.  I liked that a lot.

Josh: We did about 10 different takes just on that Water Fountain Wow thing.  I didn’t realize that when you are acting, you don’t actually have to drink.  I’m dumb.  I drank about a gallon of water one sip at a time.

Mookie: Those behind the dome shots were tight (in a slang way).  We used my tiny flashlight that you can barely see in my right hand.  I didn’t think you could hear our shuffling feet, but you could and it worked.

Josh: You know what we haven’t mentioned yet, that I think was probably the hardest line to get through… Your sciencey talk about why we have a thunderstorm.

Mookie: Yes, I was surprised.  It took me 5 takes to say our prewritten ending line “Thanks for joining us, see you next time”… but every time I did that long science part, I feel like I nailed it.

Josh: You did.  At first, I was a little upset that they sped that part up because it was so good; but after watching it over, it was a good decision and now it’s one of my favorite parts.

Mookie: And for you science nerds out there, what I really said is “You see a paleoclimatologist is a scientist who studies microfossils from a loooooooong time ago – I mean like millions of years ago – that tell us that these Mesozoic beasts roamed around an environment similar to that of modern day Florida.”

Josh: Do you have anything else you want to say about the film shoot?

Mookie:  It was a lot of fun to make!

Josh: Are we done?

Mookie: I think so.

Josh: Bye.

By Angie McNew, Director of Websites and Emerging Media

Things are really starting to shape up around here in preparation for our annual Jolly Days exhibit. The snowflakes have been hung, lights are lit, trees are trimmed, and perhaps the most fun part of Jolly Days - the Yule Slide - is up and ready to be opened on Nov. 26!

Santa makes his big arrival on the Yule Slide

For those of you that don’t know about the Yule Slide, the museum builds a two-lane slide on top of the grand staircase in the Sunburst Atrium every year at Christmastime. Families line up to race from the second floor down to the first floor to see who can make it to the bottom first.

Some folks on staff (like me) have been known to make a trip or two down the slide when the museum is closed. After all, we have to try it out to make sure it is in proper working order! Speaking of work…it takes a lot of work to put that slide together. The slide comes in eight sections and exhibit production and facilities staff usually need at least a few days to put it together and polish it up, though they’ve been known to do it in less than 24 hours.

Here are a few quick facts about the Yule Slide:

• Rumor has it the inside track is faster. (I have just scientifically proven this to be true as it took me exactly 5.8 seconds to make it down the left lane as opposed to 6.8 seconds to make it down the right lane).
• About 1,000 people go down the slide every holiday season.
• It takes two full time staff to run the slide every day. One at the top to hand out the slide mats and tell people to “go!” and one at the bottom to collect the slide mats and name the race winners.
• Museum workers have been putting the slide up and taking it down every holiday season since about 1994 when we first built the Yule Slide as part of what was then the new Jolly Days exhibit.
• The slide is stored in a warehouse along with the rest of the Jolly Days stuff. A shipping company delivers it to the museum and we start setting it up around Thanksgiving.
• In 2008, the Yule Slide was brought out of storage and turned into the Ohana Slide for the museum’s “Vacation Nation” spring break event.

The Yule Slide officially opens when Santa makes his exciting grand entrance Friday, November 26th during Santa’s Big Arrival. The slide will be open from 10 am – 4:45 pm daily (except closed Mondays) through January 9th.

By Kerry Baker, Manager of Security Operations

The holiday season is a busy time of year at The Children’s Museum. With so many people and so much activity, we encourage you to go over a few visit tips with your family before you come.

Scott Soladine is one of many security staff who work hard to keep visitors safe.

First and foremost, the museum takes your and your family’s health and safety very seriously. Our security specialist staff (who can be seen in the yellow shirts) are always keeping an eye on what’s happening throughout the museum and the garage.  We have trained EMTs on staff and a first aid room where we take care of visitors who might need first aid. If you or someone with you needs help, let a staff person know or pick up a red emergency phone. The red phones are located on each level around the ramp near each elevator. Picking up a phone will automatically dial the museum’s security department.

Red emergency phones are located near the elevators.

When the museum has a high volume of visitors, it’s easy for family members to become separated. We recommend you talk with your children about what to do in case they can’t find you. Each gallery has at least one museum staff person working at all times. If a child gets separated from you, we recommend you instruct the child to find a staff person wearing a museum badge or stay in one place so their grownup can find them. If an adult can’t find a child, we recommend again telling a staff person or picking up one of the red emergency phones. The security department will be immediately notified and will dispatch a call to staff to help find your child.  Please remain calm.  We are trained to find your little one.

Even though we are constantly monitoring the museum, sometimes valuables get lost or turn up missing. We recommend locking valuables in the trunk of your car, and avoid leaving purses and cameras in unattended strollers. For your convenience, coat check is available for $1 and self-serve lockers are available for $.75 and $1 on Level 1 in the Welcome Center. All items that are found get turned in to the museum’s Concierge, who keeps a log of all items. If you’ve lost an item, we encourage you to contact the Concierge and ask if it was turned in – even if it’s following your visit. If we have the item, we will mail it to you at no charge.

We want you to have an extraordinary experience at The Children’s Museum, which is why we work extra hard to make sure your family is safe and well-cared-for while you are here. If you keep these few tips in mind, you should have a wonderful and worry-free visit with your family.

By Kellian Adams, Institutional Mastermind, SCVNGR

I love my job. I admit it. There are days when I’m mired in paperwork or totally overwhelmed with massive projects (a job is a job) but then I get to do awesome things like travel to Indianapolis and visit the largest Children’s Museum in the world and work with their incredible staff to build a game for their holiday visitors, and that’s pretty fantastic.

So let me back up a little bit. My name is Kellian Adams. I’m from Boston and I’m the Institutional Mastermind (ie: museums specialist) for a pretty amazing location-based gaming company called SCVNGR. I work with museums to help them create adventures out of their collections, which people can play off of their own phones either via text or our free SCVNGR app. People go places, do challenges and earn points while they learn a thing or two about art, history and culture.

I worked with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to create two treks for Jolly Days. Our first trek explores the hidden holiday gems in the museum. The Children’s Museum has the largest collections of any children’s museum in the U.S. so there are plenty of mystery things to find in corners and cases.

The second SCVNGR adventure asks visitors to share their holiday traditions. My Irish-New England family always bakes a fantastic pumpkin pie and traditional Indian pudding. My fiancee’s Italian-New England family gets together to make homemade Christmas ravioli and canolis while my best friend’s recently immigrated family from China celebrates with jiao-zi or Chinese dumplings. What a cool place we live in! I know, I’m waxing poetic, this is a game. But I’m proud that we were able to build a simple and fun way for families to connect around the holidays at the Children’s Museum. I’ll certainly share my favorite traditions and I can’t wait to hear what you’ll have to say.

So I returned to Boston after seeing Egypt, dinosaurs, a gigantic color explosion made of glass, a full steam engine, many Barbies and some polar bears. Not a bad trip! Not only that, Indianapolis is about 10 degrees warmer than Boston and that’s worth something. Back at SCVNGR headquarters in Boston, I’m working on my boss to see if we can get a giant dinosaur statue outside our office Second St. poking his head through the window. (There was one at The Children’s Museum and it was SO COOL! Why can’t we do that??)

So when you visit the Children’s Museum this holiday season, remember to take out your mobile device and play one of our Jolly Days adventures. Have a very happy Jolly Days and I hope that you enjoy playing our games as much as we enjoyed making them!

By Angie McNew, Director of Websites and Emerging Media

Things are really starting to shape up around here in preparation for our annual Jolly Days exhibit. The snowflakes have been hung, lights are lit, trees are trimmed, and perhaps the most fun part of Jolly Days - the Yule Slide - is up and ready to be opened on Nov. 26!

Santa makes his big arrival on the Yule Slide

For those of you that don’t know about the Yule Slide, the museum builds a two-lane slide on top of the grand staircase in the Sunburst Atrium every year at Christmastime. Families line up to race from the second floor down to the first floor to see who can make it to the bottom first.

Some folks on staff (like me) have been known to make a trip or two down the slide when the museum is closed. After all, we have to try it out to make sure it is in proper working order! Speaking of work…it takes a lot of work to put that slide together. The slide comes in eight sections and exhibit production and facilities staff usually need at least a few days to put it together and polish it up, though they’ve been known to do it in less than 24 hours.

Here are a few quick facts about the Yule Slide:

• Rumor has it the inside track is faster. (I have just scientifically proven this to be true as it took me exactly 5.8 seconds to make it down the left lane as opposed to 6.8 seconds to make it down the right lane).
• About 1,000 people go down the slide every holiday season.
• It takes two full time staff to run the slide every day. One at the top to hand out the slide mats and tell people to “go!” and one at the bottom to collect the slide mats and name the race winners.
• Museum workers have been putting the slide up and taking it down every holiday season since about 1994 when we first built the Yule Slide as part of what was then the new Jolly Days exhibit.
• The slide is stored in a warehouse along with the rest of the Jolly Days stuff. A shipping company delivers it to the museum and we start setting it up around Thanksgiving.
• In 2008, the Yule Slide was brought out of storage and turned into the Ohana Slide for the museum’s “Vacation Nation” spring break event.

The Yule Slide officially opens when Santa makes his exciting grand entrance Friday, November 26th during Santa’s Big Arrival. The slide will be open from 10 am – 4:45 pm daily (except closed Mondays) through January 9th.

Every day museum employees are asked hundreds of questions by you, the visitor, as you explore the museum. How does that work? Why is this exhibit built the way it is? Who builds the exhibits and how long does it take? Are those real paleontologists in the Dinosphere Lab?

Well, this blog is here to answer those questions, and take you where few visitors have gone before. It will give you a unique look behind the scenes of our world-class museum, and show you how and why we do what we do. You’ll hear from exhibit designers, curators, scientists, educators, and more. We want you to get to know the people who make us the biggest and best, and who work so hard to make sure you have a great visit every time you walk through our doors!

We’re kicking this blog off with a bang…or should I say a WOW. This is the first in a biweekly series called “This Week’s WOW!” This week, you’ll meet Josh Estes and Mookie Harris who will show you how we make the thunderstorm in Dinosphere. (Haven’t you always wondered?!) Also, check out the special bonus “making of the video” with Josh and Mookie!

Josh: Hey Mookie, they asked us to write a blog post to go along with the video that we made about Dinosphere’s Thunderstorm.

Mookie: What do they want to know?

Josh: You know; how we made it, stuff like that.

Mookie: Oh, like you see on DVD’s when the cast and directors talk over the movie to get their take on the movie making process.

Josh: Precisely.  But in written form.

Mookie: We should mention that none of what we said was scripted out.  We just improv’d back and forth and came up with ideas on the spot.

Josh: Yeah, that’s good.  We should also tell them that we actually work in Dinosphere and aren’t a couple of good looking actors hired to portray Dinosphere staff.

Mookie: We really got to be ourselves and be creative.  They just let us go, man.

Josh: Yeah, we were pushing the limit of silly and they just said “Go with it”.  My favorite of yours was when you said we should stand on those stools to get that shot of the lights.  That was all you—you were just vamping and I was trying to keep up.

Mookie: You came up with those flash cuts for the “Wow” moments.  I liked that a lot.

Josh: We did about 10 different takes just on that Water Fountain Wow thing.  I didn’t realize that when you are acting, you don’t actually have to drink.  I’m dumb.  I drank about a gallon of water one sip at a time.

Mookie: Those behind the dome shots were tight (in a slang way).  We used my tiny flashlight that you can barely see in my right hand.  I didn’t think you could hear our shuffling feet, but you could and it worked.

Josh: You know what we haven’t mentioned yet, that I think was probably the hardest line to get through… Your sciencey talk about why we have a thunderstorm.

Mookie: Yes, I was surprised.  It took me 5 takes to say our prewritten ending line “Thanks for joining us, see you next time”… but every time I did that long science part, I feel like I nailed it.

Josh: You did.  At first, I was a little upset that they sped that part up because it was so good; but after watching it over, it was a good decision and now it’s one of my favorite parts.

Mookie: And for you science nerds out there, what I really said is “You see a paleoclimatologist is a scientist who studies microfossils from a loooooooong time ago – I mean like millions of years ago – that tell us that these Mesozoic beasts roamed around an environment similar to that of modern day Florida.”

Josh: Do you have anything else you want to say about the film shoot?

Mookie:  It was a lot of fun to make!

Josh: Are we done?

Mookie: I think so.

Josh: Bye.