Scrubbed

ALL FIRED UP: Today was a special day at MPA because it was a scheduled shuttle launch day. We love us some shuttles 'round here. :) (Royal wedding? What royal wedding? We were tuned into NASA TV before 6 a.m. today!)

A couple of weeks ago, we watched Endeavour roll out to the launch pad for its 19th and final mission. And today, the shuttle was set to lift off at 12:47 p.m. our time, and there were hours worth of pre-launch festivities to watch. The weather was a bit iffy this a.m. - last night there were storms near the launch pad (see above) and this morning there was lots of cloud cover and some light drizzle. However, we were optimistic. ...

One of the things we did to prepare ourselves for today's launch was watch a fascinating video about an incredible piece of machinery onboard STS-134, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS).

No doubt in your lifetime you've heard about more than a few things that could Change the Face of Science and answer the mysteries of the universe. The AMS actually lives up to that billing. No, really.

Fifteen 15 years in the making and larger than a VW bug, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is a state-of-the-art, high energy particle physics experiment built in Geneva by a collaboration of 16 different countries. When deployed on the ISS it will sift through space particles, searching for clues on what the universe is made of and how it began. Using a magnet it will separate the matter from the antimatter and in the process, perhaps unlock mysteries about the origin of dark matter, strangelets, pulsars, blazers and gamma ray bursters and more. (For decades, scientists on Earth have speculated about such things, but the Earth's atmosphere has made it impossible to conduct these experiments.)

Try as I might, I'm not doing the AMS justice here. Do yourself a favor and watch the video.

SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS: All morning I was exchanging messages with a friend who was in Florida for the launch. I virtually 'rode along' with her on the bus to the Kennedy Space Center and then another bus trip to the Causeway, for launch viewing. About 2 hours before launch, she had a seat in the bleachers at Cape Canaveral and here in Seattle we watched the astronauts get into their van and head for the launch pad.

I joked to the kids that Commander Kelly was probably saying, "Hey, can we hit a McDonald's drive through? I want some fries."

About that moment, the astronauts' van did a u-turn and they headed back toward the Kennedy Space Center.

"I guess they really wanted fries," CJ cracked.

So, so disappointing. According to a press release I got tonight, "Mission Management Team Chair and Shuttle Launch Integration Manager, Mike Moses explained the importance of the APU heaters that keep the hydrazine fuel from freezing in orbit. There are two heaters on APU 1 and both are required for operations. 'It was pretty straight-forward scrub today,' said Moses. 'The team made a very good call.' "

A bit earlier I heard the launch director say he'd rather be on the ground, looking up and wishing he was in space than he would like to be in space, looking down, wishing he was on the ground. I can appreciate that.

So many people were disappointed today - including none other than President Obama and his family. At least they got to tour KSC. They even got a VERY close up look of "our" shuttle - the one we saw launch last May - Atlantis.

BTW, though Endeavour was foiled, Annabelle had her own launch of sorts. She was playing with a blast-off balloon, which rocketed all 'round the house when she let go of it. Its motion and sound were probably enough to entice Kirby, but to make the balloon even more enticing, Annabelle taped a doggie treat to its end!

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?: We finally got around to putting our seed starts into outdoor soil today.
First, we had to add a couple of bags of soil to the planter boxes Christian built. CJ and Annabelle troweled and raked and tamped and got the beds ready. Then they dug a couple of holes - one for a tomato plant and one for a tomatillo plant we bought at Lowe's a couple of days ago.

We'll see how they grow. Fingers crossed.

GLORY, GLORY: Knowing we were heading to 'The Village' today for Annabelle's ballet, I started rounding up books to take back to the library. One I knew was due soon was "Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln," by Patricia Polacco. What a wonderful history lesson it turned out to be.

The book is about a pair of modern-day brothers whose grandmother takes them to a museum in Maryland, where the curator sends them out the back door on what they believe to be a Civil War re-enactment, but turns out to be a time-traveling adventure.

The action occurs in September of 1862, right after the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties. (I explained to the kids that 23,000 people is akin to when we go to a Mariners game that's VERY busy, and suggested they picture every person in the stands being a war casualty. In one day. Wow.

The story told of the brothers becoming increasingly embroiled in what didn't seem like a re-enactment any more, especially when they met Lincoln and saw the war casualties. Through the museum curator had told them not to say anything to anyone about who they were or where they came from, the boys eventually found themselves consoling and encouraging Lincoln - telling him that the North WOULD win, that the war was worth it and that one day a black man would be president.

The book ended with the boys making it back to the safety of the museum, where they saw a photograph by renowned Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner of Lincoln meeting Union Army General George B. McClellan.

I loved that the book gave us a jumping off point to go search for source documents, and lo and behold, we found the original photo that was copied in the picture book depicting Lincoln and McClellan's meeting.We also checked out some of Gardner's other work, including a photo of soldiers killed along "Bloody Lane" during the Battle of Antietam.
We also took a look at one of Gardner's most famous photos,"Confederate Dead at Devil's Den" (in Gettysburg).

There's a bit of controversy surrounding this last photo. Some claim that Gardner moved and posed the body in it. :/ (Apparently this wasn't all that uncommon back then. Go figure.)

It's Drafty in Here

HELLO, RUBY THURSDAY: First thing this morning the kids asked to check on their crystals. I love it when they're so enthused about a science project.

Just checking the bowl on the counter made it seem as if nothing had changed, but when we lifted it up and looked at the bottom, and then tilted it to expose the bottom, we could see a big change, indeed. The entire bottom of the bowl is covered with rock salt sized ruby crystals.

Interestingly, the rocks we were instructed to put in the bowl are entirely crystal free. I'm still not sure why the rock was supposed to be in there, and mystified by what size rock it was supposed to be. Hmm. ...

ADD IT UP: We did some more math this morning - more mostly mentally adding numbers two and three digits long. CJ has taken to this more quickly than Annabelle. I have to think it might be in part due to his playing video games (who says they're good for nothing?). WE GOTTA GO: This morning I was alternately trying to talk myself into and out of going to Costco. I finally decided to Just Do It. When I told the kids, Annabelle took it upon herself to get a pad and pen and quiz me about our shopping list. And then (unlike her mother) she actually remembered to BRING the list to the store and consult it while shopping. Nice.

While there, we scored a new (to CJ) "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book (#3 in the series). In what has become a familiar scene, he curled up on the couch and pretty much didn't move until he'd finished it a couple hours later.
UP TOP: Today, by gum, was THE DAY we WOULD pull the weeds in the parking strip. I feel like such a loser every time I drive up and see the dozens of weeds there, mocking me. While I got down and dirty, the kids played soccer in the too long grass.
Their game had a lot of Rules, mostly of Annabelle's making. I told Annabelle that IMHO, too many rules sometimes sucks the fun out of a game. ... Apparently CJ agreed, cause he ditched that in favor of getting his book and reading it outside.

THE WAR ROOM: We rarely turn the TV on during the day, but today I made a couple of exceptions. First, the Mariners' game was on at 10 a.m. (they were in Detroit playing a matinee game). So that was our background noise for a couple hours this morning. The Ms won for the third day in a row which is, unfortunately, shocking.

Late this afternoon I watched the clock with my mind on the start of the NFL draft. I was thinking I was going to tell the kids about the draft as we watched it, but it occurred to me we could do a quick lesson ahead of time. I went and grabbed the white board.

I asked the kids if they know what a draft is. Neither one of them knew, so I explained that it's just another word for choosing players for your team. They both have experience with that in schoolyard type games and video games.

I asked them if they could think of a video game where they have lots of choices about whom they play as. They both struck upon Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Perfect! I asked them, "What are some of the things you consider when choosing your player?"

Annabelle said she always wants someone who can float. CJ said he considers how much damage their attacks do. Annabelle said she also considers how fast they can run, and CJ said he looked at "how long range" their attacks are.

With those criteria in mind, I asked them each to draft 5 players for a Super Smash Bros. Brawl team. I explained to them it would be a serpentine draft. That means there's a first pick, and then the person who picks second also picks third, then the first picker gets picks 4 and 5, then it goes to the second picker who gets 6 and 7, and so on. They made their picks and afterward, I asked them why they picked each of their players. We talked about how you wouldn't necessarily want a team full of people of the exact same characteristics (all floaters, for instance), and how versatility is important. I asked them how they determined what a character's strengths were and they said by reading about them and watching them. I told them that's exactly what people drafting players for pro sports teams do, too.

I pointed out to them that the things they were looking for - floating (vertical jump), how much damage they could do (strength), how fast they can run, and how long range they were (stamina, endurance), were all things the teams would be looking for in players for the NFL draft. I thought our draft lesson plan went REALLY well and was actually educationally sound, I do believe. ;)

Soon, it was time to turn on the TV where we saw Cam Newton picked first overall (dubious choice, IMHO) and Jake Locker of UW go 8th (excellent- even higher than projected!). I am going to predict right now that Locker will have the more notable career of the two.

P.M. PARK: After dinner, we walked up to the neighborhood park, where CJ, Bee and Kirby all enjoyed some more fresh air. After a session at the playground, we walked up and over to the baseball diamond. There, Bee worked on her (imaginary) fastball, and they both ran the (invisible) bases. ABOUT FACE: This afternoon Annabelle asked me if she could be on Facebook. Hmm. I tried to think of really good reasons to say 'no,' and didn't come up with anything. ... The obvious response might have been, "Well, you're too young." But really, I don't think age has anything to do with it - what's important is using Facebook wisely/prudently. And so, I helped her sign up and we started a Facebook 101 session.

About the very first thing I explained to her is that on Facebook when you make a post or comment, it's not like an email or an instant message, just between you and the other person. It's out there for your friends and your friend's friends to see. I know she grasped that because she said, "Well then you'd have to send them a private message," and pointed to the icon to do just that. Another thing I explained to her is that while there are games on Facebook, that if she chooses to play games, it can clutter up her friends' Facebook newsfeeds and some people might choose to unfriend a person over that. She looked horrified and said, "They can UNFRIEND you?!?!" :)

I told her that there are enough games available elsewhere on the Internet, and that I'd recommend she steer clear of Facebook games. We shall see how this experiment in social networking goes. ...

Crystal Castle

CRYSTAL VISION: Yesterday the postal 'service' delivered (threw on the ground underneath our mailbox, in the rain) a present for CJ's birthday. It's a cool crystal growing kit from Auntie Renee and Uncle Jim! Neat-o! The photos on the box were intriguing and both kids wanted to get into it right away. I made them wait a tortuous day.

The directions were, well, thorough. It took two pages to tell us that we needed a rock, a clear bowl, and 2 cups of boiling water. Check. ;)

CeeJ poured the crystals in the bowl, I handled the boiling water and they both stirred it up. It looked (and even smelled) a bit like cherry Kool-Aid.And now, the wait is on. Stay tuned. ...PENCIL, PAPER: The kids also did some paperwork this morning. They had science homework to do. Part of that involved drawing a picture of a rock gleaned from our yard and then writing a couple of sentences about how that rock got to be its current size and shape.

After that, they worked on a language arts - correcting grammar, capitalization and punctuation in a really poorly written sentences in a handy little book I got at their Shoreline school. Speaking of which ...

TO THE TEST: We went to school a bit early this afternoon, so the kids could take some Accelerated Reader quizzes on book they've read. Until recently, we used to be able to do this at home, and boy, was that a nicer set up. Now, often it's been days since they read the book(s) and the details aren't as fresh and they aren't scoring the 100 percents as was consistently the case before. However, CJ did take a quiz on the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book he finished last night and got 100 percent on that.

I hate to think I need to schedule their free reading toward Wednesdays, so they can score better on the tests. (Of course, this begs the question, "Do we really even need these tests?" The answer is, of course, "No." But I do like the idea. I do like to know that they're retaining at least some of what they're reading, and I do like our school days to have at least some of the hallmarks of a standard education, and Lord knows a standardized test is the epitome of a standard education. ...)

LIKE A ROLLING STONE: In science class, we're still studying rocks. Today one of the main themes was how rocks are used. To help wrap the kids' head around this, the class took a very short field trip (half a block) and found rocks used in sidewalks, asphalt, a sign, siding and so on.

The wind was whipping and the skies were threatening. Annabelle and I didn't even have coats with us, so it was a frigid field trip. We soldiered on, though. When we got back to the classroom, the kids recorded some data and then we shifted our focus to sandpaper - which has tiny rocks embedded in it.
CJ was exceptional in science class today. He paid attention 100 percent of the time, raised his hand to offer answers and ask questions. He was utterly engaged and lived up to his potential. Perhaps that's because he knew there was a reward if he stayed on task. ...

ANOTHER CASTLE: I'd promised the kids if they were great at science we could check out a new to us video game store in Edmonds, just a couple/few miles north of their school. I think we've found their new favorite place. ;)

It's called Another Castle, named, no doubt, for the scene in Super Mario Bros. where Mario makes it to the end of the level and the castle, where the newbie game player assumes the kidnapped Princess will be, only to be told, "Thank you Mario! But our Princess is in another castle."

They have a large, well organized inventory of games (everything from Atari to XBox PS3 and beyond). CJ found a Mega Man GameBoy and a sorta hard-ish to come by Nintendo DS Game & Watch Collection. The guy running the store got a kick out of CJ and his knowledge and love of the old school games.

The store also has a pretty rad arcade set up, so we burned through $7 worth of quarters. The kids played everything from Donkey Kong Jr. to Street Fighter to Dungeons & Dragons to Ms. Pacman and more. Good times!

CJ could hardly wait to get home to try out his new GameBoy game in a device - the Super GameBoy - he'd gotten as a birthday present. The device lets you plug regular GameBoy games into a converter which, in turn, gets plugged into a Super Nintendo console. We wired it up and plugged the things in and then fired it up and MAGIC! It worked beautifully the very first time. CJ was SO pleased. :) BTW, don't you just love CJ's shirt? In case you can't read it, it says "You have died of dysentery" and it's from the great old Oregon Trail game.

Dear John

John Muir at 34, an 1872 portrait

We started the morning off with a story - "John Muir and Stickeen." I'd pulled it off a Seattle Public Library shelf a week or so ago because I recognized Muir's name, as there is a school named after him in the Rainier Valley area of Seattle.

The book was about an adventurous man and his dog (Stickeen) crossing a glacier in Alaska. The illustrations (especially of the dog) were a bit odd (in our humble opinions), but it was an OK read. It wasn't until the last page of the book - an afterword - that we learned Muir is/was a Really Big Deal.

Truth be told, I figured Muir must be a local hero of sorts from yesteryear, and was looking forward to learning a bit about him. Now, I feel really stupid that I didn't know him by name before. Born in Scotland, as a lad Muir and his parents moved to Wisconsin. He was a gifted industrial machine designer, but his passion was elsewhere. After an accident nearly robbed him of sight in one eye, he decided to set out to see things he'd always wanted to see - including the Yosemite area. The rest, as they say, is history.

Muir has been called "the first environmentalist," is a founder of the Sierra Club and is considered the father of the United States' National Park system.

After reading and talking about the book, I wanted the kids to see what the real John Muir looked like, so we hopped online. We found some photos on Wikipedia (including the one above), but the real treasure trove was the University of the Pacific's digital collection of Muir images. There, we even found a photo of him with a dog named Stickeen 2. (The Sierra Club also has many Muir images.)

We watched a preview for an American Masters episode "John Muir in the New World," which debuted just last week on PBS. (Fortunately, if you missed that, you can see the whole episode on PBS' Web site. Gotta love the Internet.) We didn't watch the whole program yet, but we did view a 20-minute movie produced by the National Parks Service. It was informative, well done and kept the kids' attention. Afterward, they each wrote a paragraph about what they'd learned about Muir today.

Annabelle wrote, "Jhon Muir saved some national parks and made the Sierra Club. Jhon also took part in the fight for the waterfall. Jhon got lonely after that. He was also born in 1838 April 21 (but he's older than CeeJ). Now everyone is trying to help the enviroment!"

CJ wrote, "John Muir is very adventrreis. John Muir made a park but some peopole cut the trees down. Jonh Muir was born in 1838. Jonh Muir did not use any eletronics on his jorny."

(And, yes, we WILL be working on spelling a little more in the days/weeks to come!)

REVISITING RIO: Though I wouldn't plunk down the $30 to take the kids to see the movie "Rio," I did spring for $2 to rent the Wii game based on the movie. I was pleasantly surprised.

It's really a collection of mini games, and there are a couple of fun music related ones that I really appreciated. In one, a gorilla was playing some bongo drums and the kids had to replicate the beat pattern. Another game was a bit like musical chairs. Music would play and the kids would dance, but as soon as the music stopped, they had to freeze.

NAMESAKE: Naturally, we had to visit the namesake school this afternoon when we were in Rainier Valley for yoga. This photo is of the backside of the school. These drums had a really nice sound to them.
The kids both liked this bench.
BOOKISH: Before yoga, we stopped in the used bookstore next door. Last week CJ had requested a copy of the original "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." (He's read two other books in the series.) Happily, the book was in. The downside was that then he didn't want to do anything else (like play chess or go to yoga). He was too engrossed in the new book.He started reading it in earnest about 5:30. He finished it (about 200 pages with medium sized font) just before 8 p.m. Yowza!

Have I mentioned we're SO happy to see him take to a novel like that? He reads a lot, but most of it is nonfiction, and mostly that's technical stuff that's video game related. Or MAD Magazine, har har. Not that there's anything wrong with those things, but it's great to see his interests broaden.

LOL: Late this morning for reasons that still remain sketchy, CJ spit a mouthful of water all over the wall behind the bathroom sink. I was nonplussed, as was Annnabelle, who began barking orders at him about how and how quickly to clean it up.

After she finished spewing her directives, Annabelle turned to me and, without missing a beat, said, "And I bet this is about the time you tell me I am not the boss."

Martian Monday

SLOW START: Our school day got off to a late start. I had a 2-hour dentist appointment this morning and when I got home, let's just say I didn't feel like jumping right on it. :(

When I got home, CJ was putting the finishing touches on one of his birthday presents - a neat-o LEGO space shuttle that Christian brought back from Kennedy Space Center.

Eventually I rallied/quit bleeding and slobbering (I know, TMI) and we started in on some math. I am happy that the kids remember how to do math - it has been waaaay too long since we cracked their books. They worked on some mental subtraction skills mostly in the double digits. LIFE ON MARS?: Around lunch time we sat down together and read a book together, "Mars Needs Moms." I recognized the title from a recent Disney movie.

I assumed the book was going to be based on the movie. I wrong. It was the other way around. Turns out the book was written by the Super Famous Berkeley Breathed (of Opus/Bloom County Fame), and the movie was based on the book.

I adore the Bloom County comics, and have enjoyed all the Breathed-penned kids books to date. This one, well ... not so much. It's hard to explain why, but if I had to pinpoint it (which I do) I would fault the character development or lack thereof. The book seemed to lack a hook to draw one in to the central character (a young boy, who wasn't likable at all) or his mother (whose character was never really developed). Interestingly (and perhaps not surprisingly), the movie didn't have any traction, either. It was a box office "megaton bomb" according to the NY Post. Hollywood Reporter calls it "one of the biggest write offs in modern Hollywood history." Ouch.

After the story, I thought we would hop on NASA's site to keep the Mars theme going. I found a game, "Adventure to Mars," where the kids had help load the cargo for a trip to Mars. They were supposed to pick 10 items from a list, and the pros and cons of each item (everything from candy bars to treadmills) were listed. After about four tries they were each able to complete their mission with a positive percentage of over 80.

WEEKEND REWIND: This was not your ordinary weekend. On Saturday, we went to GameWorks with Rick and Ken to celebrate CJ's 8th birthday. Everyone had a great time. Though CJ loves his old school games, it certainly doesn't hurt to check out the latest and greatest in arcade action, either.

After GameWorks, it was back home for cake. And, like every other 8 year old in America, CJ wanted a cake that looked like a Famicom game console, released in Japan only in 1983. It didn't represent my best work (I think I got some bad marshmallows and so the fondant was hard to work with), but CJ was happy.

HOPPY EASTER: The bunny stopped by sometime late Saturday or early Sunday, leaving some presents and candies for the kids. Said bunny also left some plastic eggs with cash yolks laying around the yard, which the kids wasted little time hunting down.

HAPPY ENDING: On Saturday, we learned via a bulldog edition of the Seattle Times' Sunday paper that "Sesame Peeps" won the grand prize AND Peeple's choice in their annual Peeps diorama competition. Hooray! As a result, Annabelle will be getting a $250 gift card to Bartell's (a local drug store). Who knew there could be such a rich payoff for playing with your food?

SIGN UP!: If you have a Twitter account, on Tuesday, April 26, there is a rare opportunity to have a front row view of the space program. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will host a Tweetup for approximately 120 Twitter followers on Monday, June 6 for the full day (roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT). According to the press release, "Tweetup participants will interact with JPL scientists and engineers about these upcoming missions: Aquarius, to study ocean salinity; Grail, to study the moon's gravity field; Juno to Jupiter; and the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity rover. Participants also will learn about the Dawn mission and its upcoming encounter with the asteroid Vesta. The Tweetup will include a tour of JPL, robotics demonstrations and a last chance to see the Curiosity rover before it ships to Florida to prepare for a November launch. Tour stops will include the Spacecraft Assembly Facility where Curiosity is under construction, the mission control center of NASA's Deep Space Network, and JPL's new Earth Science Visitor Center."

None of this would suck. ;)

In order to have a chance to be one of the lucky few, register here on the 26th!