Monday, Monday

PUZZLED: A rainy Monday in Seattle. What to do, what to do? How about visiting the Pacific Science Center? We spent a lot of time splashing around in the fountains at Seattle Center this summer, but hadn't been inside the Pacific Science Center in months.

The kids have been wanting to see the new "Design Zone" exhibit. According to the PacSci Web site, "Design is everywhere we look and in everything we do, and math is behind it all. Behind every dance mix, there's a beat. Behind every thrill ride, there's velocity. Behind every half-pipe, there's a vert ramp. Design Zone uses hands-on activities to show how design concepts become real world experiences in the arts, entertainment, and extreme sports. Get behind the scenes and create your own dance beat, rollercoaster, skate park, video game and more."


The Design Zone exhibit was super cool and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. (No doubt this is due, in part, to the fact that my favorite time to visit such places is around 2-3:30 p.m., when we'll miss school field trips and the after school crowd.) It was all about math, but not in an overt way, which was fantastic. For instance, there was this larger than life Etch a Sketch type exhibit.
One player got to control the X axis, while the other one controlled the Y. With teamwork, you had to try to draw shapes the computer showed.


CJ LOVED this roller coaster experiment. By adjusting the height at which you released the ball up top, you would hit a particular tube producing a certain musical note down below.
There were a couple of other roller coaster themed activities. One let you move sections of coaster track around a display board. My personal favorite coaster themed activity was this one - where you were given a track to try to replicate. You could vary the height and depth of your whoop-to-dos (that's a technical term, BTW), to try to match the physics of the computer's track. Then there was this game - it was all about velocity. Three people raced to a finish line on the screen in front of them by pedaling with their feet or their hands. Christian won. :) There were a number of cool lights and music themed displays, too. Music = math, you know. CRAZY TRAIN: Before we went to the cool math-n-science exhibits today, we went to an IMAX movie at the Pac Sci Center. "Rocky Mountain Express." To be honest, I vacillated about whether or not to go. Would the kids be entertained for an hour by a movie about a steam engine? In a word: Hell yes! (Wait, that's two words.)

The film was about the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway. Christian and I were marveling at the story as we walked out of the theater and we agreed that if anyone proposed such a project today, it would sound ridiculous. Factor in that the railroad was built over 100 years ago and it's downright astounding.

The movie's cinematogrophy was breathtaking and the narrative was compelling. We were all rapt for the entire duration. We here at MPA HIGHLY recommend "Rocky Mountain Express."

WHILE WE WERE THERE: After the Science Center, we took advantage of our membership to the Space Needle and went on up. No surprise that the place wasn't too busy on a cloudy October afternoon. We enjoyed having free reign on the interactive displays on the Observation Deck. The view, even on a cloudy day, is wonderful.

On the way up, they FORCE you to take this obligatory tourist photo. Following is evidence why you should NEVER take the obligatory tourist photo.
FLY LIKE A BIRDY: Sunday afternoon we took a short jaunt down I5 to check out the crazy cool indoor skydiving facility iFLY Seattle. I had signed Christian up for a flight and he was a willing guinea pig. ;) No surprise, after watching Christian do it, CJ and Annabelle are all hot to earn their wings. We're hoping to go back there for Annabelle's birthday.