NYE

NYE @ THE NEEDLE: At midnight, pyrotechnics will rocket from atop the Space Needle. Around 6 this evening, it was quiet and calm around Seattle's iconic landmark.

I was there to see the King Tut exhibit (finally). It leaves Seattle in 6 days. Amazing, amazing stuff there.

We're hoping the kids can stay up until midnight tonight, so they can see the fireworks shot from atop the Needle. Speaking of fireworks, this afternoon, we watched a BrainPOP video about how fireworks are made and used. Afterward, the kids took a comprehension quiz, which they struggled a bit with. Enough vacation here, time to get back into the schoolin' mode!

IT'S ALIVE!: Big news to report here. We finally got the Famicom game system CJ got for Christmas LAST year working.

For those of you to whom Famicom is an unfamiliar term, what it is is the Japanese equivalent of the ubiquitous Nintendo Entertainment System console which was so popular with US gamers in the late 1980s and beyond.

The Famicom debuted in 1983. We bought this unit from a seller in Japan. We made a couple of lame attempts last year to get it going, but ended up shelving it for a long, long time.

When we decided to try again, I remembered reading long ago that the TV had to be on some high numbered channel, and that old TVs work better than new ones. So, Christian and CJ hooked the machine up to an old tube TV we have, and I found an article online that said channel 95 was the magic number. After a couple of attempts, Christian got the TV to recognize the unit and CJ was off to the races, so to speak.

The first game he played was Yie Ar (pronounced "ee ar") Kung Fu, a Famicom classic.

Needless to say, he and Annabelle were pretty thrilled to get to experience game action on an imported, antique console. Good times.

THIS YEAR AT NASA: We turned on NASA TV this afternoon. Given that it's New Year's Eve, no surprise that one of the shows on was a retrospective, "This Year at NASA."

Afterward, I checked their Web site and found a really neat-o interactive NASA Year in Review 2012. You can find it here: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/YIR12/

Unpacking

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Today we're still unpacking from our five day holiday excursion, and the kids are getting around to checking out some of their fabulous new gear. 

For instance, Annabelle opened up her new case of oil pastels. "So many colors!" she marveled upon first glance inside the box. 

She immediately set about making several pictures, getting used to the new-to-her media. 

After she'd produced four drawings, she crafted a sign that read "Signed Prints 1¢." Pretty cute - and affordable!

CJ, Christian and I each purchased one. She must have anticipated this, as the back of her sign read ...

The kids got a little exercise by playing a new Xbox game, "Dance Central 2." It has a number of songs they really love on it, so they enjoyed shaking their groove things.

They also test drove a new-to-them XBox peripheral, uDraw. 

Annabelle said it's a bit hard to use straight out of the box "but once you figure it out it's OK." 

Both she and CJ scoffed that this picture appeared in the "Science Fiction" category. 

"Doesn't that look just like the Eagle on the Moon?" CJ questioned. 

Image credit: NASA

Why yes it does, CJ. ... Above is a photo of it during its descent toward the Moon during the Apollo 11 landing. (The long probes sticking down from its 'feet' were sensors that told pilot Buzz Aldrin and module commander Neil Armstrong when they were in contact with the Moon's surface, at which point they were to kill the descent engines. 

MEANWHILE, ON MARS: Curiosity continues to perform flawlessly on the Martian surface. Recently, NASA shared the latest, greatest self-portrait from MSL. It was taken on the 84th and 85th days (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 of this year). The rover used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture dozens of high-res photos which were combined to produce this portrait. 

In the photo, the rover is paused at "Rocknest," which is the spot in Gale Crater where MSL took its first sampling scoop. If you look closely, you can see four scoop marks in front of the rover. Neat-o!

In the background, you can see Mt. Sharp, the rover's ultimate destination. Its peak is about the same elevation as Mt. Rainier here in Washington state.  

Home Again, Home Again

ROADIES: Christmas 2012 is now in the rearview mirror, as today was the long (6+ hour) drive home.

Before we headed out, we hit the lovely, lovely pool in Siletz (thanks Nonnie & Bops!). There, CJ exercised his new-found swimmer boy confidence. It was great to see, and we'll definitely have to be hitting up the municipal pool so he can keep his water progress going.

We left Siletz a little before 10 a.m. and made a mid-point stop in Vancouver, Wa. around 1 p.m. There, I whipped up a batch of Chex Mix for someone very special (hi, Undine!), and we stretched our legs and then hit the road again.

We stopped in Tacoma to let the dogs visit some grass and for a little sustenance for the humans. Rather than just hit a random spot off the highway, thanks to the magic of the Internet and a smart phone, I found a point of interest with a little history - Engine House No. 9.

The former fire station was built in 1907. It had 100 percent horse drawn fire-fighting carriages, until it converted to the newfangled steam pumper machines in 1919. Today, a nod to the firefighting ponies past is visible on the entrance to the bar, which is the former horse stable. The names of Nip, Dick, Joe, King, Rowdy and Barney are displayed over their former stables.

In 1965, the station was abandoned. It sat vacant for several years until 1971, when a local newspaper reporter bought it. He and a partner restored it, converting the ground floor into a tavern and turning the second story into an apartment. In 2011, the present day owners purchased it.

Today, Engine House No. 9 is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it boasts many claims to fame. It's purportedly Tacoma's first craft brewery, it's home of the area's first beer club, and features the longest brass firepole still in existence.

This artifact was hanging over our table. It was fun listening to the kids' guesses regarding what this object was.

After the first couple of errant guesses, and we pointed out the target on it, reminded them where we were and then they figured out it was a device for catching jumpers from a burning building. 

The surrounds inspired Annabelle to create some artwork. Here's a graphic representing the Unicorn Fire District. :) 

We got home around 6:30, in time to see the Holiday Bowl and watch UCLA get overwhelmed by Baylor early and often. Ouch. Was rooting for the Bruins, in the interest of Pac-12 solidarity and all. 

More Merry

OVER THE RIVER AND TO THE WOODS: Christmas morning we left one set of grandparents' house for another, driving from Vancouver, USA, to Siletz, Ore. It would mark our third grandparents' house visit in two days, having visited Lake Oswego family on Christmas Eve. Here's CJ during our Lake Oswego stop, reading up a bit about that city's history.

Annabelle love the icicles on the tree.

There, it was time for more food and fun with family.

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE: On our way to Siletz, we stopped at a Safeway in Corvallis that was open on Christmas day. Imagine CJ an Annabelle's delight when we spied some Twinkies knock offs on the shelf. CJ, especially, was devastated by Twinkies' demise, so this was a most welcome development.

Though the box doesn't bear the Twinkies name, the golden, creme filled cakes were a suitable substitute.

 

IN THE SWIM: One of the highlights of visiting family in Siletz is a swim in their lovely pool. CJ made some great swimming strides with the help of Aunt Erika. 

 

Christmas Eve

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN: Merry Christmas Eve. We've taken our show on the road. Right now all of MPA's student body and faculty are visiting family for the holidays, first stop, Vancouver, USA.

In the meantime, I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from our Space Needle Santa visit last Friday afternoon.

Space Needle Santa is super cool. He has a red rocket and a snazzy Santa space suit!

After the Santa visit, the kids moved to the cookie decorating station. There, they covered some rocket shaped sugar cookies with icing and a half ton of sprinkles. 

The rockets were consumed immediately. 

Naturally, the kids had to check out the observation deck. We were so lucky, not only was it sunny, but it wasn't windy. Weather wise, this visit in December turned out  to me nicer than many of our summertime visits!

CJ spent quite a bit of time using a telescope to check out the surrounds.

Annabelle was more interested in examining CJ, apparently. 

Now, we're checking Santa's progress 'round the globe via NORAD and looking forward to ripping into some presents in a bit. 

Merry merry to you and yours!

Solstice

MR. GOLDEN SUN: Sunrise to sunset-wise, today is the shortest day of the year. That means starting tomorrow, we'll start to get a little more daylight each day. Hooray! I'm so happy we've turned the corner. Naturally, we had to have some cookies to mark the occasion.

The 3D ones above made me want to make more 3D cookies in the future. Stay tuned. ;)

And imagine our delight that today we also got some (are you sitting down?) SUNSHINE here in Seattle. It was well-timed as we made our annual visit to see Santa at the Space Needle this afternoon. Happily, Rick and Ken's schedules permitted them to join us. Here's a joyous photo capturing the visit. ...

I love it. :)

Speaking of clear skies, tonight we were actually able to spot the ISS flyover!!!  It seems like it's been months since the skies were clear enough for us to spot it.

CHUTES: Since my earliest space program memories are of Apollo missions, I'm a sucker for a capsule drifting down to earth under the canopy of a big, colorful parachute. So photos like these ...

of Orion descending in said manner, make me very happy. (Photo credit; NASA)

This photo is from a test at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground on Dec. 20. The three red and white chutes are 300-pound main parachutes. The test was designed to make sure the parachutes would work in the event that one of the capsule's two drogue parachutes malfunction.

DESTEMBER: A Facebook post by Washington STEM today let me know about a calendar featuring 31 days of STEM fun. It's on the Web page of girlstart, an organization empowering girls in science, technology, engineering and math. With topics like water bending and edible slime, it looks like tons o' fun. We'll be checking it out in the days to come!

Emerald City

COOKIE MONSTER: Guess what we did today. Made more cookies. I think that has to make at least 300 cookies so far this month. I stopped counting several dozens ago.

I'm churning out sunshine cookies in celebration for tomorrow's Winter Solstice.

Annabelle was just itching to get involved, and I always encourage that, so I had her put the nonpareils on some of my lemon yellow suns.

This evening, she and CJ each put their own flair on gingerbread cookies I'd been painting suns on. Annabelle did her own version of an ol' Sol.

CJ, on the other hand, went off the deep end, drawing a troll face and something about toenails (ick!) on his cookie.

THEY'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD: For months, we've been sitting on tickets to a show this afternoon - "The Wizard of Oz" at Seattle Children's Theater.

I thought it would be interesting for them to contrast the SCT performance with the high school production of "The Wizard of Oz" we saw a few weeks ago, as well as with the classic movie version, of course.

Kennedy was supposed to take the kids, but he got called in to substitute teach. So we went to Plan B - Rick, who is off from his teaching position for the winter break.

I dropped the three of them at the curb a little after noon and collected them about 2.5 hours later. All of them report the SCT production was pretty true to the movie storyline, and said the production values were very high, per usual.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS: Today, for the second time in my life, I threw my hat into the ring for a  #NASASocial (formerly Tweetup). I was so, So, SO lucky to get selected for the Mars Science Laboratory launch in 2011. It was an AMAZING weekend, unlike anything I've ever experience before or since.

This Tweetup is a two day event Feb. 10-11 at Vandenberg AFB in Lompac, CA. It's for the launch of an Atlas 5 (the same rocket that sent MSL to the Red Planet). However, this mission is part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, part of an ongoing (40-year!) program of monitoring Earth, with data being used to help manage resources of food, water and forests. The project is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The first Landsat was sent into orbit in 1972, from Vandenberg.

At the NASA Social, lucky people will get to hear from the Landsat Mission science and engineering teams, get an exclusive tour of Vandenberg AFB's Western Range, and on the day of the launch, NASA Social peeps and their friends and families are invited so a special public viewing area to watch the launch.

The fact that it's on the West Coast and his the friends/family tie in are a couple of things that make this NASA Social super duper attractive to me.

Fingers crossed, maybe lightning will strike twice and I'll get in on this one. ...

OVER HER SHOULDER: This morning when I was working in the kitchen, I looked up and saw some crazy thing on Annabelle's laptop screen about some theory of motion.

I asked her what she was watching, and she said it was from a series of videos called "Minute Physics."

Anyway, not sure how she discovered the videos, but WOW, what a wonderful resource. We'll be watching lots more of their videos.

Flights So Fancy

O AEROTREE: Our first stop this morning was The Museum of Flight. I had to pick up my photo from their "Spirit of Flight" photography exhibition. While we waited for our print to appear from the business office, we checked out their towering tree, decorated beautifully in an aeronautic/aerospace theme.

We loved the space shuttle ornaments, of course. And we noticed there were a number of nods to aviatrix. 

On the backside of the tree we found a display with a photo of the queen of aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. The Museum of Flight is currently waging a fund raising campaign to help bring a restored Lockheed Electra Model 10-E to the museum. The campaign is called Project Amelia, 

Built by Lockheed, the Electra Model 10-E began passenger service in 1935. It was also used in WWII, and the model the museum is trying to land was restored in 1996 to replicate Earhart's Electra. The following year, the plane flew around the world, re-enacting Amelia's pioneering flight. There's only one other Electra Model 10-E in existence.

We dropped a couple of dollars in the donation box and certainly hope to see the plane at the museum some day!

Also while standing in the lobby, CJ looked to the entrance to the museum's theater and asked, "Why is it called the William M. Allen Theater?" I pointed him to a nice, large display holding all the answers. 

There, he learned Allen was the president of Boeing from 1945 to 1968.  Allen steered Boeing through a tough time post WWII, when production plummeted, onward and upward for many successful years to follow. He oversaw the beginning of the 747 program and helped secure Boeing's place in the U.S. space program. In a 2003 article in Fortune, Allen was named one of 10 best CEOs of all time.

SOUNDTRACK OF THE SEASON: Around Christmastime last year, I realized the only seasonal song my kids knew by heart from start to finish was "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." They could song a chorus or two of "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jingle Bells," but that was it. So, one of my goals this holiday season was to make sure the kids learned all of the standard seasonal songs. They're part of the fabric of our culture, and so I thought the kids should know 'em.

To that end, since the week of Thanksgiving, the "Warm 106.9" has been in heavy rotation on my car stereo. It plays nothing but Christmas/Holiday standards through the end of the year. 

Though I am super Duper SICK of Christmas songs at this point, I must say my approach worked. From "Blue Christmas" to "White Christmas" and every colored Christmas and tune in between, CeeJ and Bee gleefully sing along with nearly all of songs now. 

They've also been working on their old standbys, "Rudolph" and "Jingle Bells" on guitar. If they get their acts together enough, I'll post video.

TIME FOR KIDS: We picked up the latest issues of "Time for Kids" this week. One issue was "Coolest Inventions of 2012" as the cover story, the other was "2012 The Year in Pictures." 

 In case you're wondering, the coolest inventions they featured ranged from a 3-D printer, to TechPet (an app that turns your iPhone into a puppy). A new deep sea submarine, a wingsuit for racing and indoor clouds were three more cool new inventions. 

Apparently Laika and Kirby couldn't care less, though. ... 

After they read the magazines from cover to cover, the kids completed a couple of comprehension worksheets that came along with them. Cool learning tools,to be sure!

MESSAGE FROM THE BIG GUY: Less than a week from Christmas, and the kids were excited to receive special video message from none other than Santa Claus!

A wonderful service by Portable North Pole makes it all possible. Here are links to their videos.

Annabelle's message from Santa
CJ's message from Santa

The kids were both *very* charmed by the videos.

Fun & Games

WINTER CARNIVAL: This morning, we headed up to Shoreline, where the kids take math and science classes. But no classes for us today. Instead, it was a bake sale and carnival.

We took along a dozen pair or so of mittens.

Once we were there, the kids made some snowflakes (by cutting up folded paper),

They constructed some 'gingerbread' houses (graham cracker construct, but it was still fun!).

They also played some carnival games. They each spun a wheel of fortune (Annabelle hit the jackpot, which meant she got to pick a prize from each of several buckets!).

They both went bowling and fishing for prizes, too.

Good times!

While at the school, we also picked up their next batch of math problems for the Math Quest they're participating in, so their quest continues.

PUZZLED: This afternoon after we finally got home (a tire change at Target later, BTW), I had the kids each do a 100-piece puzzle.

Bee whipped hers out pretty quickly. CJ took longer (and got frustrated as a result), just because he was busy trying to read, watch TV, ask 1,001 questions and so on while working on his.

In the end, he came through, though. Way to stick with it, CJ.

Moonday

Image credit - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  Our moon has two new craters tonight. After completing a mission of 15 months and a handful of days, twin satellites Ebb and Flow smashed into the moon's surface. Together, they have mapped the moon's surface to provide us with a better understanding of how Earth (and other rocky planets in our solar system) formed and evolved.

Image credit- NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPCP

On Sept. 10, 2011 a Delta II rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying a pair of satellites heading for orbit around Earth's one and only moon. They reached orbit on New Year's Day 2012.

Photo: NASA, et al, of course

Their final resting spot was a mountain near the moon's north pole. Tonight, it was announced that the impact spot of the satellites was named for pioneering NASA astronaut Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space and a member of the probe's mission team.

I'd like to think GRAIL was paving the way for us to return to the moon some day. With real live humans. Like we did 40 plus years ago. A girl can dream, right?

TINSEL TOWN: Since there's only like a WEEK (eep!) until Christmas, it's pretty much time we get our tree decorated, right.

This year we hauled our ol' standby out of storage - "The Sparkler Pom-Pom," our epic, retro-rific aluminum tree by Starband Co., Inc. of Portsmouth, VA. It's got to be at least 60 years old but still glistens like brand new..

After the kids got the boughs all in place, it was time to decorate. Only lightweight ornaments go on this tree.

PANTO AT THE PALLADIUM: Saturday afternoon we were darn near first in line to get in the doors to Hale's Palladium in Ballard for one of our favorite holiday traditions, a British Panto by The Fremont Players.  This year's bill was a mash up of Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and the Pea. Good fun!

What a wonderful, wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. We were transported to a farcical kingdom full of cross dressing, song and dance and British humor. What's not to like? BTW, I've got to the show's costumers a hat tip. The get ups were top rate, and the live orchestra accompanying the show was A+ as well. Bravo!