Wednesday

BREAKFAST: While some of you may have spent breakfast paging through a newspaper, CJ and Annabelle enjoyed cereal while watching spent theirs staring at our triops.

We put the triops eggs in water on January 14 - just a month and a couple of days ago. The "living fossil" has a fossil record that reaches back to the Carboniferous, 300 million years ago, according to Wikipedia.

We finally decided to read up a little bit more on this creature, and learned that it breathes through its 140 feet (?!). We also read that it likes to eat carrots, so tomorrow we'll throw one in there and see what happens.

Annabelle's eagle eyes noticed something that looked like another triops floating around in the water. I told her that wasn't likely since we were definitely down to just one, but she was right - there was something that looked like another triops in there. Upon closer examination, I determined it had to have been shed by our triops. We talked about how since it's an arthropod, the triops needs to shed its exoskeleton in order to grow.

Unfortunately, when I scooped the cast off out of the water, it pretty much lost its shape, but it was still interesting to look at. I was able to find a cool video on YouTube of someone else's triops shedding its skin. Cool!

BOOKISH: We read a couple of books together this morning. One was "Pet Boy," about a boy who collects (and then quickly forgets about) all sorts of pets. When, after being abducted by aliens, he found the tables turned, Pet Boy had a change of heart. It was a cute story with engaging illustrations.

We also read "The Hippo Hop." It was pretty forgettable, according to my resident critics.

After our group reading, the kids each started a chapter book from the fun Geronimo Stilton series. Annabelle managed to finish her book by plugging away at it through the day. CJ was satisfied to get through two chapters, and that's fine, too.

HISTORY LESSON: CJ especially enjoyed our history lesson for the day, as it was a retrospective of "The Evolution of Fighting Games."

CJ has a pretty broad (and largely self taught) knowledge of video game history, but this lesson expanded that base. For instance, today he learned about Heavyweight Champ, a Sega arcade game from 1976, that featured two boxing gloves (one for each player) which could be used to punch high or low. It's believed to be the first hand-to-hand fighting video game.

We also learned that Midway's Mortal Kombat (1992) is pretty much the game that brought about the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) system, thanks to its bloody, gory features.

MARBLE MANIA: In the kids' science classes this afternoon they had all sorts of fun experimenting with marbles and pipe insulation. I know, it might not sound like much - but rolling marbles and foamy tunnels = tons of fun if you're, say 5 to 8 or so. Initially the kids were working in pairs, but pretty soon they realized it could be more fun if they started connecting their tunnels, so soon they were working in quads, then groups of eight and then the whole class was working together, which was great.

CITY IN THE CLOUDS: On the way back from Shoreline to Seattle, you could barely make out downtown through the low-lying clouds. Annabelle said there was a rainbow behind us, too, but I couldn't safely turn around to see it.
PARK PAL: Rather than going home, we buzzed up and over the crest of Magnolia and down to the park in town to meet CJ's BFF from kindergarten, exchange Valentines and play until the rain started coming down. It was c-c-c-old. I can see why snow is in the forecast for the next couple of days.

GRAPE FACE: Though it looks like a case of the mumps, it's really just Annabelle chimpmunking some grapes. :)