Our Most Solemn Holiday

MEMORIAL DAY: For kids in a standard school, today represents the Memorial Day holiday - a harbinger of summer vacation. No such luck for the kids of MPA. Today, class was in session and what did we study? Memorial Day, of course.

I started by asking the kids if they knew anything about Memorial Day and was met with two blank stares and silence. Time to remedy that!

We started with a nicely done video on the History channel's Web site. By viewing it, we learned the holiday's roots are traced back to 1868 and "Decoration Day," an observance started by a Union Civil War general Gen. John Logan. Gen. Logan hoped the "Decoration Day" sought a way to help the country come back together after the horrors and divide of the Civil War. He purposely chose a date (May 30), that was not of significance in the Civil War to either side.

I was surprised to learn that Memorial Day didn't become an official federal holiday until 1971, when Congress passed the National Holiday Act, creating a three-day weekend at the end of May.

Next, we watched a touching tribute the History Channel produced regarding our most solemn holiday.

After that, we turned to good ol' BrainPOP to learn more about the military, its branches, and the branches' characteristics/duties. Afterward, the kids took an online quiz on the topic (and did OK).

BACK TO NASA: Today my thoughts turned back to the quiet Astronaut Memorial plaza at the otherwise bustling Kennedy Space Center. There, men and women who gave their lives while serving in the U.S. space program are memorialized. Many of them were active duty military assigned to NASA when they died in the line of duty.

The largest feature in the plaza is the The Space Mirror Memorial, which was designated as a national memorial by Congress and the first President Bush in 1991.

The Memorial honors the 24 U.S. astronauts who gave their lives for space exploration. It features the names of the fallen astronauts from the Space Shuttle Columbia, the Space Shuttle Challenger and Apollo 1, as well as the astronauts from training and commercial airplane accidents. The monument is a 42-1/2-foot-high and 50-feet-wide black granite surface. It's polished to a gleam, slightly tilted and backlit so that it appears as if the names on it are being projected into the heavens.WHEN PENGUINS ATTACK: While on BrainPOP today, we wound up venturing to BrainPOP Jr. and watching a movie about bullying. It included a segment on cyber bullying.

Later this afternoon, I overheard the kids incorporating some of the lessons from the video into their play (yay!).

Apparently Annabelle's penguin had been posting stuff on the Internet about the Jester Clown Penguin. Here's a photo of the pink penguin in action, at her computer ...

None too happy, the Jester Penguin arrived on her igloo's doorstep, yelling threats about calling the police.
Annabelle reminded CJ that BrainPOP Jr. suggested "treating other people the way you want to be treated," and encouraged his penguin to use a friendlier tone.

At that, CJ changed the Jester's tune. He politely said, "Excuse me, cyber bully, but I don't want to be bullied anymore." :)

The penguins resolved their differences and ended up playing together quite nicely.

CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS: The maintenance director for MPA spent the entire day pouring a 6-by-8 foot concrete pad at the 'campus' front door. (For months/years now, our entry has been a combination of gravel and mud.) It was a gargantuan task involving 36 60-pound bags of concrete, a whole lot of lugging and grunting and mixing and lugging and pouring and lugging. In the rain, of course.
When Christian was just about finished, the sun made a rare-in-recent-memory appearance here in Seattle. I ordered the kids and dog outside, post haste. The kids each got to help spray some water into the cement mixer. However, mostly they were directed to stay away. So they frolicked on the hillside for awhile. Part of Annabelle's frolicking involved kicking an orange rubber ball. Which, of course, rolled. Down hill. Into the wet concrete. ...

I could see it going down in slow motion. I screamed at Christian let him know INCOMING!!! Not like either one of us could do anything to stop it. ... The ball wound up bouncing a couple of times on the wet cement, but it didn't wreak too much havoc.

MINDING OUR PEAS: Part of today's outdoor activities involved harvesting some peas - four whole pods in all. Woo hoo!!
FIELD TRIP REWIND: Last weekend we took a field trip to the Volunteer Park Conservatory with Nonnie and Bops. I never did get around to posting any pics - until now.

Some parts of the present day conservatory date back to 1912, including the "lunette" (half circle) beveled glass window above the entry door (pictured below). There are five houses in the conservatory (the Palm House, Seasonal Display House, Cactus House, Fern House and the Bromeliad House), each of them breath-taking.

The Palm House includes the Orchid Collection, which dates back to 1922.CJ is a cactus fan, and the Cactus House was his favorite. I thought these specimens looked a bit like lethal Cheetos!
Of course meat eating plants are always of interest ... [Do NOT stick your finger into this pitcher plant. ;-) ] This beauty was a favorite of Annabelle's (it's pink Pink PINK!!!)
And the Seasonal Display House had the most gorgeous fuchsia I've ever seen ...