Among other things, the Allen family has lately become very interested in fossils- (of which Cormac likes to remind us "Fossils tell us about earth's past!"). Here's Vera standing in the midst of the deep past pointing out some fossilized Paleocene sea life:

And later, some close examination of our collection, the smaller contents of which tend to ebb and flow under toddler use (fortunately the supply of fossil shark and ray teeth, the most commonly lost items, is basically endless):

While not of great interest to our under-4 set, I was very pleased to recently discover a buried lower Cretaceous fossilized forest a mere 4 miles from our apartment, yielding specimens like these that could almost be mistaken as coming from contemporary trees:

Finally another recent discovery of a different sort, at the juncture of early modern history and paleontology, look at these gorgeous illustrations, c. 1685, of fossil ammonites, by Susanna and Anna Lister, for their father Martin's Historiae Conchyliorum:

One more, this one with a lovely little ornamented frame: