One kid looks up, the other kid looks down

B has joined us!  Which means that we are supplementing our air-and-space tourism with some paleontological adventures.  We've been digging around in the area of the Jurassic Cliffs, on the south coast of England.  

[A couple of specimens from the fossil museum in Lyme Regis--an ichthyosaur, above, and a HUGE heteromorph ammonite, below]

And I mean "digging around" literally, because there are areas near Lyme Regis where the layperson is welcome to excavate for personal treasures. Some of the fossils are a bit too big to pack into the carry-on luggage....

But some of them are more portable that the giant ammonite above, and we've found ancient life aplenty in the cliffs and along the beaches--belemnites and ammonites primarily.  

It's fantastic for me to be with these guys for a while, and to supplement my endless obsession with mountains with more down-to-earth pursuits. Being with my kids provides its own altitude.