Friday, Friday

TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS: While Annabelle was at ballet this afternoon, CJ and I took a stroll through the drizzle.

In the park next to the community center, we admired some lovely tulips. I like the multi-colored ones best.

First stop, the Magnolia post office (my favorite place - not!) to drop off the replacement replacement phone from *&%^$# Virgin Mobile. I am now awaiting a replacement for my replacement's replacement. And I'll stop there, because I can't talk about it any more without swearing profusely and my blood pressure spiking.

From there, it was on to Bartell Drugs. As we approached the store, I told CJ that just a couple of days ago, a woman drove her car through the storefront. CJ took a few seconds to mull that over and then he asked me, "Did she do it on purpose?"

I kind of chuckled and said, "I really doubt it. I think it was an accident. She just put her car in drive instead of reverse and stepped on the gas."

CJ replied, "Well if she did it on purpose, she could have been a terrorist."

"Um, well, yes, I suppose that's true," I responded.

Then CJ, apparently a conspiracy theorist, said, "Maybe before Osama bin Laden died, he told her that if he was killed, she should do that."

"I suppose that is possible," I said, "but it's really just not very likely. All signs point to it being an accident."

By that time we were in the store and the first Bartell employee he sees is a 60-plus woman stocking cosmetics. He starts grilling her about the incident - how exactly it happened, was anyone hurt, was any merchandise destroyed, and so on. I could tell he was still somewhat harboring his terrorist attack theory. :/ Just another example of life in the post 9/11 world.

FLYING MACHINES: Also on our walk, we heard engines roaring overhead. There was heavy cloud cover, so the plane was flying lower than usual. It was easy to read its tailfin, which was labeled with a 747-8! "Cool!" I told CJ, reminding him Seattle is "Jet City," and we get to see lots of jets before the rest of the world. In fact, no 747-8s have been delivered yet, they're just being test flown, and just today stories were all over the media that production of them has been temporarily halted while Boeing plays catch up.

According to its maker, "The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental and 747-8 Freighter are the new, high-capacity 747s that offer airlines the lowest operating costs and best economics of any large passenger or freighter airplane-while providing enhanced environmental performance."
Sorry this picture is so crappy. I was too slow wrestling my camera out of its bag. Below is a MUCH better pic, culled from the Internet. ... :)TEXAS SIZED: After working on a couple pages in their correct-the-writing-mistakes workbooks, I was a little depressed at the kids' lack of remembering their capitalization rules. (Oh how I wish there was a snappy Schoolhouse Rock ditty about them.)

I turned to YouTube looking for some backup and we did find an "Electric Company" song
about capitalization, or making letters "Texas sized." Interesting spin on it, and, unfortunately, it's not a song I think will burn the rules into their brains.

LITTLE BIRDY: Today we learned about a live Web cam monitoring the nest of Phoebe, a Channel Island Allen (S.s. sedentarius) hummingbird in Orange County, California. We enjoyed watching the mama bird fly to and fro the nest (in a rose bush) and feed its baby (we thought we just saw a single young'un).

We learned all sorts of interesting things about hummingbirds on the World of Hummingbirds Web site. According to them, hummingbirds can hear better than humans, see farther than humans (and see ultraviolet light!). Supposedly the birds have no sense of smell, however. Interesting.

Hummingbirds don't suck nectar up via their beaks, they lap it up with their tongues. Female hummingbirds reportedly lay two eggs (called a clutch) at a time.

The hummingbird cam Web Master reports Phoebe has laid 4 to 5 clutches each year for several years. He's been broadcasting her nest since 2007.

SPACE FLEET: We had a bag to drop off at Goodwill today, and you know what that means - we have to bring a bag HOME from Goodwill. ;)

Our deal of the day - a bag of NASA vehicles for 99 cents. Score!

Homeward Bound

MERCURY RISING: Fifty years ago today - only 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the then-Soviet Union became the first person in space - NASA astronaut Alan Shepard launched at 9:34 a.m. EDT aboard his Freedom 7 capsule powered by a Redstone booster to become the first American in space. His historic flight lasted 15 minutes, 28 seconds.

We checked out NASA's awesome Freedom 7 page commemorating the anniversary. The interactive site lets you listen to an audio interview with Shepherd about his flight, get a good view of the Mercury capsule, see the trajectory of the flight, and there's a great video with interviews with Shepherd, his friends and family and fellow astronauts. There's a lot of footage from the historic launch day and we learned a great deal - including the fact that he peed his spacesuit while waiting on the launch pad during a 4-hour delay. :0 (The kids thought that was hysterical, of course.)

WIDE OPEN: Today we didn't have any classes or other obligations on the schedule. That was rare and nice for a change. We did some math and reading, but mostly the kids had time to do what they pleased. I think that's important - not every second of our days has to be scheduled, and when the kids have the freedom, they often end up in protracted, imaginative play sessions, as was the case today.Annabelle spent HOURS crafting things out of cardboard, strings, tape and glue.
Of course, they each also spent some time online and playing games. Annabelle was interested in the Kids CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Web site, mostly playing art-focused games.

Meanwhile, CJ test drove an old Sega Genesis game we found at Goodwill a few days back. Called "Dynamite Headdy," we'd never heard of it before, but at $2, we were willing to risk it. Today through research, we came to learn it's one of the highest rated games made for the Sega Genesis system. For its day and age, the graphics and game action are pretty darn good. It's an odd game - the title character works his way through levels by hitting enemies with his head, which is like a boomerang, shooting out and knocking into bad guys before retracting.

CJ computed that since there are three stages on each of the game's nine levels, he had 27 separate sections of the game to try to clear.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Curious, we visited the Web site of Treasure, a Japanese video game company (and makers of "Dynamite Headdy). The site is in Japanese, but our Google toolbar offered to translate it for us. How nice of them. But, er, I'm thinking it's not a perfect translation. For instance, a banner of Japanese characters at the top of the page was translated to "People affected by the earthquake was east of this time, I would like respectfully sympathy."

Speaking of Japan, I have been exchanging email with a source in Japan that might be able to hook us up with a Super Famicom system from his side of the Pacific. This development makes CJ VERY happy.

CINCO: We did not have a Cinco de Mayo lesson plan today, but we did make a trip to Fred Meyer to lay in supplies to make a nice dinner with south of the border inspiration. I served up stuffed poblano chilies and pork tacos for dinner. Rick, Ken, Christian and I enjoyed them; CeeJ and Bee had pizza.

After dinner, CJ did a magic trick for Rick and Ken. He was very pleased with himself. :)

May the Fourth be with You

STAR WARS DAY: I don't know how I managed to go 30-plus years without realizing it, but somehow this year I came to learn that May 4th is Star Wars Day. The meme has apparently been around for years, but now with Facebook and the world all a Twitter, things like that spread more readily. (Oh, and in case it doesn't immediately come to you, today is Star Wars Day because the phrase "May the Force be with you," is uttered in the movies.)

To celebrate the day, we listened to some Star Wars music this morning. At first it was just the usual - theme songs - but then I thought to play MECO's mega hit from 1977, the disco remix of Star Wars music. They got up and shook their tailfeathers to that one.

This afternoon we made good use of what was supposed to be an Easter egg kit. The Star Wars theme was perfect for today! We also had fun with the Star Wars cookie cutters we have, and the lightsaber chopsticks.
The egg kit even came with 3D glasses.
And, naturally, Bee had to sport her Leia buns again today.

FLOWER CHILDREN: The kids whipped out a couple of cards this morning. Annabelle did most of the cutting while CJ wielded the glue stick.

Afterward, we headed to Magnolia Village to get them in the mail. I was glad I decided to skip a stop at Bartell Drugs, as about that time a woman drove her car through the storefront. :0

CASTLES IN THE SAND: This afternoon at science the kids got to play around with sand and clay, making sculptures. Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed it. CJ (Mr. Tactile Sensitive) would have liked it more if he were able to do it without touching the stuff. ;)
As we left school today, Annabelle was proud to spy a color copy of her prize winning Peeps diorama on the bulletin board in the main hall.

GONE TO PIECES: Today Annabelle worked a neat puzzle we got at Goodwill yesterday (I think it is by the same company that made our super cool space shuttle puzzle - Frank Schaffer Publications). It's a castle, and the puzzle is two sided. One side is the castle exterior, the other is the interior, and there are some floating pieces of people.

ROOKIE WATCH: Tonight we're going to the Mariners game. They (hallelujah) have been on a bit of a tear this last week and are only a couple games out of first place (and NO, it's NOT too early to be thinking about that. These games count as much as the ones in September and October). We are going to see rookie sensation (and MLB Rookie of the Month of April) Michael Pineda pitch for the Ms. Pineda is just the third player in club history (that's over 30 years) to win that honor, Ichiro and pitcher Rafael Soriano being the other two.

Jazz Hands

IN REVIEW: This morning, I asked the kids to write a review of the Star Wars exhibit we saw at the Pacific Science Center yesterday. We talked about what a review is (heaven knows they've watched enough movie and game reviews on YouTube), and what info it should contain. We agreed that it should name the show they were reviewing and give info about what they liked and didn't like about it.

They pretty much phoned in their first review attempts. Annabelle wrote, "Star Wars @ PSC (Pacific Science Center). I like: Everything! I dislike: I couldn't make a droid."

CJ wrote, "One time we went to the Pacific Science Center to see the Star Was Exhibit. I liked ridin' the land speeder! Like(s) seeing nackid C-3PO! Dislike(s) Jawa Camp."

I told them both I was disappointed in them for not using complete sentences and that it's really not enough to just say what you liked or didn't like, but you should explain why you feel that way.

They weren't very happy when I told them they had to do their reviews over, but their second go-round was improved.

CJ wrote, "There is a limited time exhibit in the Pacific Science Center and that exhibit is the Star Wars Exhibit. There were lots and lots of models, but most of them were from the first three episodes. I like the nakid C-3PO because you can see all of those circits and how much work it took to make him!"

Much better.

Annabelle wrote, " *Star Wars Music Plays* I went to the 'Star Wars' exhibit yesterday and here is what I like and dislike. I liked building LEGO(TM) landspeeders and I also liked the Millennium Falcon! But I also dislike some things and they are, 'I couldn't make a droid because I didn't have some of the parts I needed.' "

As a side art project, Annabelle did make a droid. I was impressed with the thought she put into it. You'll have to click on the photos so that they enlarge and you can see her descriptions of its parts. SHAKE YOUR BOOTY: Today a Facebook friend posted a horrifying and hysterical dance video called "Double Dream Feet," proclaiming it to be his new workout regime. I really can't describe it to you, just do yourself a, er, favor (?) and watch the first 30 seconds of it. The kids thought it was very funny and had a fun time trying to replicate his moves. After we were done, they saw that there was a predecessor, "Double Dream Hands." Of course we had to watch that and try that one, too.

After that, we had to watch something that professed to be a parody of Double Dream Hands. Unfortunately, it was just a guy in a lame costume alongside the original dancer, mostly doing the exact same moves.

"How is this a parody?" CJ scoffed. "At least he should be accidentally hitting the other guy. Or maybe when they lift their hands up, he should give the finger."

(Jaw hits floor.) CJ sees this and qualifies, "I didn't say I would do that."

Oh, of course not.

WHODINI?: Out of the blue today, CJ said, "So, can we talk about Houdini?"

Well, of course!

I hopped on Biography.com and found a 5-minute video about the master magician. We learned that he was born Erich Weisz in Hungary in 1874. He knew what he wanted to do by his early teens and made it happen. We'll be back to Biography.com for more Houdini learnin' - they have a ton of info about him.

DANGEROUS DANCE: When I arrived to fetch the kids from Musikgarten today, they were doing some floaty dance, fluttering sheer fabric. Annabelle was enjoying it more than CJ. ;)
For the parent participation part, we were partnered up to do some kind of circle group dance where we had to do sideways gallops and such. I was with Bee and CeeJ was with a younger, smaller classmate. They were a bit of an odd couple and were having trouble navigating. In fact, CJ managed to navigate his head right into a post in the classroom. :(

Tears came to his eyes and he said, "I'm sorry, Miss Nancy, but I'm going to have to sit this one out," and he took himself to a corner to try to recuperate. Poor guy. :(

BEAT HIM TO IT: We picked up another "Diary of Wimpy" book for CJ - this time at the library (which seems like a good idea, since he only takes about two hours to read them). CJ started it and is a few chapters into it, but he set it down long enough for Annabelle to snatch up. A bit after dinner she announced that she'd finished it!

RUBY TUESDAY: We revisited our crystal growing project today. We're calling it done and a success. They are crystals and they are ruby.
I think tomorrow we'll try breaking them up a bit!

CHOOSING WORDS CAREFULLY: After yoga today, CJ's teacher told me that he won a game called "musical mats." CJ explained that it was much like musical chairs, and said that at the end it was down to just him "and the big black girl."

:o

I immediately said, "You need to learn all of your yoga friends' names," and he went to the teacher and asked what the student's name was, and practiced saying it a couple of times.

When we got to the car, I told him that when describing a person and you don't know their name, you want to choose your words carefully. "For instance," I began, "I would predict that there are not a whole lot of women or girls who like to be called 'big.' " We talked about how he could have, alternatively, said the girl was older, or taller, but big isn't probably the best word choice.

And then we talked about how it's probably best not to use a person's skin color as their Number One identifier. Certainly it's a noticeable characteristic, but there's more to a person than the color of their skin.

The best bet, I told the kids, is to take the time and effort to learn people's names, so you don't have to use other labels to describe them.

5/1/11

It was just another Sunday night. We were watching "America's Funniest Videos" and the kids had just had ice cream when the program was interrupted by a "BREAKING NEWS" banner and music. My first thought was, "Oh no, who died?" and my mind started rattling off a list of U.S. politicians.

Imagine my surprise when the reporter said they were awaiting President Obama's statement from the White House, and that terrorist Osama bin Laden was dead - killed during a daring military operation.

Naturally, the kids were wondering why their show was cut off and what this hubbub was all about. At that, Christian and I knew we had to give them a crash course in 9/11. We told them about the terrorists and the four planes. I found a video on YouTube to Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" that had footage from the day of the terrorist attack. It was devastating, and the kids were both sobbing and darn near inconsolable by its midpoint. :(

But we continued talking and re-focused the conversation on the news of the day, talking about how successful the troops had been in their mission and how the bad guy wasn't going to hurt any more people. This morning we watched a BrainPOP video about 9/11. I was impressed that they'd already updated it to reflect bin Laden's death.

The kids had a few more questions today, and CJ talked about how different things would be if he had a time machine. (He'd go back and stop the hijackers and force them to tell him where bin Laden was hiding.) I told him I liked the way he thinks. ;)

SUNNY SUNDAY: We actually had darn near two full days of sunshine this weekend. Sunday morning we took advantage of the weather and went to Discovery Park. We kinda sorta played tennis for about a half hour and then the kids hit the playground.
On the floor of this heavily forested park, we noticed that most all the sword ferns had fiddleheads sprouting.
It was really cool looking, and we took the time to examine them up close.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: This weekend CJ took receipt of a package he's been eagerly awaiting. It was a game he ordered from Japan via eBay.
He asked that I record a video of him opening it. :)

He was super excited to play the game, of course, and plugged it into his Super Famicom converter and plugged that into his Super NES. And ... it didn't work. :/

The game looks to be in pristine condition, and we know the converter and Super NES work, so we did a little research. We're pretty certain now that the problem is the converter simply won't work for that game - that it can only be played on a Super Famicom system made in/from Japan. So, you know what this means. Now we have to track down a Super Famicom system. The saga continues.

IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY: We FINALLY made it to the Star Wars Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center today. Good thing - it closes at the end of the week.

To get ready, we twisted Bee's ponytails into some Princess Leia buns.

Before the exhibit we checked out the "Millenium Falcon Experience." To be honest, I didn't find the "experience" all that enthralling. The Falcon mock up was cool, but you didn't really get to check it out because they shuttle you into it and out of it so fast, and the whole time you're in there, it's damn near pitch black.

I tried to post more photos here, but Blogger keeps crashing my Internet Explorer.

I uploaded a couple dozen photos from the exhibit to Facebook. If you have a Facebook account, you should be able to see them here.