Taking Flight

SCIENCE FINALE: While the kids didn't have music this morning (their teacher is in NJ for a grandchild's arrival), they did have science class this afternoon. It is the last of the 6-session series organized by a Seattle Homeschool Group mom and conducted by Pacific Science Center staff.

Today's topic was energy - specifically exothermic and endothermic reactions caused by mixing common household ingredients.

The first experiment was dousing steel wool with vinegar and then wrapping the steel wool around a thermometer and seeing if its temperature goes up or down. (It went up - an exothermic reaction.) The next experiment was mixing yeast with vinegar (big foam and fizz, creating an exothermic reaction). The final experiment was mixing water with baking soda, sugar and lemon juice, creating a lemon fizz drink (it cooled slightly - endothermic).

When it came to paying attention and following directions, this was by far the best class for CJ to date. I could see him drift a couple of times, but I also saw that he snapped himself back to the here-and-now when it happened. He asked questions and offered answers and even sampled the lemon fizz drink (very uncharacteristic of He Who Will Only Drink Water).

TICKET TAKERS: This afternoon the kids and I went on a scavenger hunt of sorts, except the only places we called on were Starbucks' stores and the only items we were after were coupons for free Seattle Mariners' tickets. They were being offered as part of Starbucks' "We Love You (Seattlites)" Fridays. A limited quantity of Ms tix were being offered at participating Starbucks this afternoon starting at 2 p.m. They were being doled out one per customer.

Our first stop was the Starbucks in Magnolia "Village." We got our tix there by 2:05 p.m. and then it was off to the races and the Starbucks on Dravus, in Interbay. We got there by 2:15, and there was a line, but we scored another three tickets.

Not ready to call it good, I figured we'd head down 15th Avenue toward the Magnolia Bridge and hit the Starbucks there. Another line, but with just 5 more minutes of our time we scored 3 more tickets. Yee haw!Christian also scored a few, so we'll be able to take the whole fam damily of six out to the ballpark for free a couple of times. They're good for View Reserve tickets ($20 face value apiece), on one of six specific dates (basically against the As, Rangers, KC or Angels).

OLD SCHOOL LAUNCH: This morning thanks to a post on FreeStuffTimes (a great site for freebies of all kinds!) I was reminded there is a Lowe's "Build and Grow" workshop this Saturday. The kids participated in one a few months back (building a transforming "Lowes-bot: car/robot) and enjoyed it, and I've been meaning to get back to it.

The project this week is building a catapult. I thought this would be a great thing for MPA to have to mess around with and conduct some experiments. So, we'll be at Lowe's in the morning.

BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE TO FLY: Regular readers will know that we've had a butterfly project going on for what seems like months now. It started with receiving larvae in the mail. They grew and then transformed to chrysalids in a special cup that came with the kit.

Right before we left for Florida, we transfered the cocoons from the cup to the butterfly habitat (a small tube covered in netting. We were just sure that the butterflies were going to emerge in our absence. However, upon our arrival, the chrysalids were hanging there, just like we left 'em. To be honest, I was semi-sure they were gonzo. ...

However, this afternoon, the miracle of life was played out right under our spiral staircase. Two - and then three - butterflies emerged. Cool! We're pulling for the other two cocoons to come through overnight. ...

DUE PROCESS: I'm trying to get right on getting our Florida field trip photos organized. There are so many, it's a daunting task. Each one has to be checked out and corrected (color, contrast, etc.) in Photoshop, and then resized so that I can get 4x6 prints (in most cases). I spent probably 4 hours on it today and I'm about 1/5 of the way done, I'd estimate.

Here are links to low-rez slideshows of what I've got so far. ... They're on Walgreen's site (where I had 'em printed). If you're registered with Walgreen's you can see them. If not, either register (it's quick, easy and free) or just stay tuned, I'll be putting them in a no-registration required album before too terribly long.
ARRIVAL (travel/first day) PRINTS
LAUNCH PRINTS

SHUTTLE LAUNCH

Docked at the Station

This image features the Atlantis' cabin and forward cargo bay and a section of the International Space Station while the two spacecraft remain docked, photographed during the STS-132 mission's first spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA

SAFE AT HOME: A link to this photo, titled "Docked at the Station" was in my inbox this a.m. I couldn't help but make the analogy that we, too, are now "docked at the station," having returned home from our Florida trip to see the last launch of Atlantis.

Before 6 this morning, CJ was lamenting the fact that he was not in Florida, and declared his intention to live there when he's older. He intends to live and work at the Nickelodeon resort, and is trying to figure out how he can get away with playing on the waterslides while he's on duty. Annabelle reminded him that a wet uniform would be a dead giveaway that he'd been goofing off.

CeeJ and Bee, under the "mushroom" waterfall in the Nickelodeon pool adjacent to the mega waterslides

SUPER TROUPERS: The kids' body clocks were both still on Space Coast time, so we were all up and at it before 6 this a.m.

Bee had ballet, and during her class CJ and I took Kirby on a brisk and FRIGID 45-minute walk. OK, so it wasn't freezing out, technically, but after getting used to sunny 80-90 degree weather, cloudy, windy, drizzling and 50-ish degrees was downright chilly.

Of course, Kirby was happy for the outing, as she's been a week without our regular jaunts. And CJ just plugs along without complaint because that's what he and Annabelle do. Which reminds me, I need to give them Major Props for what stalwart travelers they were on our Florida trip.

The travel to and from (basically a day on airplanes or in airports each way) was brutal. The launch day was absolutely thrilling for a couple of minutes, but grueling for 98 percent of the day. And even Disney World is demanding - the place is the size of Boston (no lie), and it was 90 degrees and to capitalize on the time and money spent there, you have to plan the work and work the plan,and boy did we.

Despite all this, never once did they complain about the grind. They just happily plugged along - unlike so many of their contemporaries. I was absolutely dumbfounded by the number and percentage of kids their age and older who were being pushed around Disney World in strollers - and in many cases, a single large kid in a double stroller. It's DISNEY WORLD for CHRISSAKES. If you're a kid and aren't motivated to walk yourself around the MAGIC KINGDOM under your own power, then maybe you should just stay in the hotel room watching cable or playing video games. Egad. (And don't even get me started on the number of adults riding mobility scooters whose handicap was laziness ...)

One thing I took away from the vacation is that it underscored my belief that getting the kids outside and active a significant part of each day is as important as any seat work they do.

RECONNECTING: This afternoon, I reminded the kids that although we're home from our trip, the astronauts we saw blast off in Atlantis are still up there in orbit. That seemed to take CeeJ & Bee a bit by surprise.

We played catch-up regarding what the crew of Atlantis has been up.

I started by showing the kids some NASA video from launch day. The first was a video of the astronauts boarding the shuttle a couple hours before launch. Having been to Kennedy Space Center and climbed into Gemini and Apollo space capsules, CeeJ and Bee both had a better appreciation for the close quarters and lack of creature comforts in the space bound cockpit.

Next, we viewed a one minute video of Commander Ham conversing with Mission Control right before liftoff. It was interesting, insightful and even a bit poignant. We also checked out the oh-so-exciting "Go" protocol, where all the Powers that Be give their final go ahead for launch.

Though we have our own "home movie" we watched the official video of the Atlantis launching and Mission Control's play-by-play. It's the same "script" we heard as we watched in person, but it's neat to see the replay and relive what we were hearing and feeling, this time with a MUCH closer vantage point.

We also viewed a tribute to the shuttle Atlantis, which is flying its last mission after 25 years of service.

PRESERVING MEMORIES: For the next several days, the kids' writing and arts and crafts "school" work will be working on a scrapbook of our momentous field trip. Today, we designed the cover.

Nick of Time

LAST RESORT: On our final night, we caved (mostly willingly, actually) to the kids' request to stay at the Nickelodeon resort in Orlando.

After a mega-full day in the Magic Kingdom, we headed for Nick. When we pulled up I thought the kids' heads might explode with sensory overload. ;)

Bright colors and their favorite Nick characters were everywhere. "It's like I'm in the cartoon, but I'm 3D," noted CJ.

The place has a fantastic waterpark in the middle of it. Lots of huge slides and the water's not deep, so we don't have to worry about someone going under. Smart planning on Nick's part.
The central feature of the pool is a big bucket of "slime." At 4:45 it tipped and Christian, CJ and Annabelle were happy to be at the receiving end of its contents.


We'll be leaving here at 2 p.m., airport bound for the grind that will be getting home at 10:45 (1:45 "our'"/Orlando time).


In all, it's been a fantastic trip. We crossed every single item off our 'to do' list and then some!

In the House of Mouse

RESORTING: Monday night, we checked into the WDW All Star Sports Resort. We hadn't planned on staying "on campus" at Walt Disney World in our original plans, but as we researched it further, it was actually cheaper than any of the very average at best rooms we'd stayed in to date, and the proximity to our one and only day at WDW couldn't be beat.

Sports fans that we are, we dug the "stadium" feel of the place!
MAGIC KINGDOM: We were up and at 'em early, early this a.m. (a theme for our trip) to be at the park when it opened.
We made it there with plenty of time to spare before the gates opened at 9. It was already over 80 and it quickly bumped up to 90, but we found ways to beat the heat.

We hit Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin first - and most (CJ rode it three times). From there it was on to Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, a jungle tour, magic carpet rides, the Haunted Mansion, a Peter Pan attraction, Mickey's Philharmonic (a neat 3-D movie with other special effects including spraying water and wind in the theater), the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Space Mountain (I'd NEVER take that ride again), Barnstormer, and there are some I'm leaving out, I'm sure.

Along the way, (in Frontier Land) we ran into Donald!

Our day wound down with a very Disney song and dance number in front of Cinderella's castle. Several Disney Princesses were there, as was the duck, a couple of mice and even Goofy.



Tomorrow we will be heading back to the Great Northwest. Exhausted, but fulfilled. More words and photos to come.

Winter in Florida

The Clearwater motel we stayed in was called Pelican Pointe. Easy to see why ... although these aren't pelicans, this was the first thing I saw when we walked across the street to the beach, and there were numerous pelicans to be seen.

CLEARWATER: This morning the kids had a dream come true - they got to visit Winter the dolphin at the Clearwater Aquarium.

What makes Winter special? It's her tail, or lack thereof.
She lost her tail to a tightly wrapped crab trap line and was rescued and brought to the aquarium. Clearwater Marine Aquarium is not a Seaworld-type operation. It's really a marine research, rescue and rehabilitation hospital, and the specimens that can't be returned to the wild are kept on site. They serve as attractions to bring admission paying public in, which helps to fund the whole operation.

We got to the facility as soon as it opened on a stormy Monday morning and we were the only car in the parking lot. Cool! So we had the run of the place to ourselves for the first hour.

We paid the extra for a "behind the scenes" tour of the place. It was another $10 each well spent - and certainly the $ goes for a good cause. We had a private tour guide take us through the exhibits and through "staff only" areas, including the kitchen, where the marine patients' food is prepped, as well as the hospital, where procedures are performed.

Within two minutes of beginning the tour, the tour guide (a woman in her late 40s) began directing most of her narrative toward Annabelle the Inquisitor. About five minutes into the tour the guide told Annabelle she was "absolutely brilliant" and the woman began introducing Annabelle around to coworkers as "the most brilliant 5-year-old I've ever met." :)

One of the things the Clearwater Aquarium has done for Winter is to fit her with a prosthetic tail. It's an amazing device, and some of the technology used to manufacture it has since been used for human prosthetics.Here's some video of Indy "walking" on his tail...

And then a short of the ever popular splash the crowd trick ...

After Clearwater we were off to pay homage to the Corporate Gods - Disney and Nickelodeon. ... Details to come.