Thick as a Brick

SANDCASTLES: Today at science class the kids got to pick up the objects they molded last week. Annabelle had formed a pair of people (?) lunching at a picnic table out of sand and a cornstarch-and-stuff binder. There's a short fence in front of them. Can you see the scene?
CJ's sandy sculpture was shaped like a fat pancake and he did an impression of his fist in it. Out of clay (light gray above), Annabelle made a strawberry (or so she says). CJ made a happy face.
Today, the kids got to make their very own bricks. They used soil, water, straw and some sort of powdered clay. It was a messy proposition, to be sure.

For the second week in a row, Mr. Tactile Sensitive did not take to the project like a fish to water, but he soldiered through. After they'd mixed the muck, they pressed it into little aluminum foil pans. Hopefully a couple of weeks from now they will have solidified into bona fide bricks.

The science teacher told the class that she grew up in the Midwest and how sticky the clay in the soil is in the region and how it sets up so strongly, it was used underneath the space shuttles' launch pad a Cape Canaveral.

She also told a story about learning to Jet ski on the Mississippi River and how she learned the hard way about its muddy bottom.
FLOODWATCH: First thing this a.m. we turned on the TV, which is not our norm. However, we wanted to check out how the folks in the region of the Mississippi River were doing. I started with CNN, but they were discussing Bristol Palin's "TMJ" surgery.

Funny, I know people who have had TMJ surgery and none of them ever look like a different person post-op. Maybe Bristol's TMJ stands for "Totally Michael Jackson." ... I know, I know, catty of me, but you can't expect to have half your face drastically rearranged and not have people go, um, WTF? And if she thinks people are going to buy the "TMJ" line, I have a bridge to nowhere in Alaska I'd like to sell her. But I digress. ... We were talking about the Mississippi, right?

We tried finding coverage on other news channels with no luck. Apparently the region's largest flood since 1937 just isn't that big a deal to them. We wound up on the Weather Channel. Not surprisingly, they were covering the event in detail. Once story showed airboats shuttling people to and from casinos, and talked about how much the area's economy is going to be hurt by so many casinos having to shut their doors for awhile.

QUIET TIME: After school, the kids retired to their room. I assumed they were in there computing and went to check on them after a few minutes. What did I find? ...
NICE!

ROCKET MAN: First thing this a.m. the kids and I marveled over footage of Yves "Jetman" Rossy of Switzerland zooming over the Grand Canyon wearing his jet pack. Amazing!

PLAY TIME: This evening the kids knocked the dust off a game they haven't played in months - Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. CJ was operating the main character, Luigi, and doing most of the heavy lifting. Annabelle was player 2, who is limited to being a Luma, or a floating 'helper' star that really can't do much other than collect random star bits here and there.

Most of the time their play was cooperative and complimentary (things like Annabelle saying, 'Nice jump!" and CJ saying, "Why thank you, Annabelle." But one exchange was a little bit frosty, and cracked me up.

At one point Annabelle counseled, "There's no need to go on that platform."

CJ quickly fired back, "Why do you judge me like that?"