Toddling Along

IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN: As I contemplated this blog post, I was going to say how today was all about fun and how we didn't do much "schooling," but as I took a moment to reflect, we actually did a fair amount of learnin' today.

Our top priority was enjoying a visit from a friend of mine and her adorable soon to be one-year-old. (In fact, his birthday is the same day as CJ's - just a couple of weeks away.)

They arrived around 10 a.m. and CJ and Annabelle proceeded to play host and hostess. They hovered over the youngster rather smotheringly, making sure he didn't get in any kind of trouble. It was pretty funny to watch as the toddler explored with his eyes, hands and yes, of course, mouth. CJ was AGHAST at the baby putting so many things in his mouth. Of course, the baby's mother and I explained that for babies, that's an important part of learning. CJ wasn't buying it. And that made me recall that even as a baby, CJ really did not mouth things much. He's always been (and still is) very particular about what he puts in his mouth.

After playing here for awhile, we decided to strike out for Seattle Center. We were sooooooooo happy to have blue skies overhead. Our first stop was the International Fountain, which was just turned back on this week after a long winter's nap. CJ and Annabelle were clearly thrilled it was back and they were absolutely mesmerized watching the water dance to good ol' Northwest grunge music - Soundgarden and Nirvana.

CJ was bemoaning the fact that he didn't have his bathing suit so that he could splash around in the fountain. I reminded him that although it was sunny, today was nowhere near warm. The bathing suit will have to wait until another day.

Next up, we made our way to The Children's Museum. We haven't been there in months and months. Despite the fact we've done it dozens of times before, CJ and Annabelle insisted I take their photo with the painted plywood outside its entrance.

I'm glad I heeded their request. :)

Once inside the museum, our first stop was the orca. The kids just had to clamber through it. Here are CeeJ and Bee, spouting off. :)

After the orca, they wandered over to a serene room, with books for reading and places for nesting. Little did they know, within about five minutes a storytime was starting. Though they both read chapter books, CJ and Annabelle still love a good picture book, and so they enjoyed the four titles the Children's Museum staffer read with an "It's a Jungle in There" theme.

Thanks to the books, CJ and Annabelle learned dozens of facts about various critters found in the jungle.

After story time concluded, we headed for the kids' favorite spot, Cog City. It's where there are hundreds of pingpong like balls that can be shot through tubes and batted about in various ways - basically it's big time fun with physics. We were in there quite awhile. We also checked out the community section (where there were more reading and climbing/playing attractions), followed by a grocery store mock up. In all, we were in the place nearly two hours.

Late afternoon, it was back home, where they each did more reading and some independent research. And tonight, we're enjoying the first stateside Mariners regular season game. One week from tonight, we'll be sitting at Safeco Field, enjoying the home opener. Let's go Mariners!!!!

Night of NASA

Image: NASA, Landsat Data Continuity Mission Satellite flying over Eastern U.S.

LOCAL EVENT, GLOBAL PROBLEM: This evening we buzzed down to The Museum of Flight for a special event: NASA Climate Day.

On the schedule was a presentation by NASA Solar System Ambassador Merle Hanley in the Murdock Theater and a video chat with Meteorologist/Oceanographer Dr. Michelle Gierach of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Gierach is an expert on the climate’s relationship between the oceans and the atmosphere, and we really enjoyed her hour long presentation and Q&A session.

CJ and Annabelle each had a question to ask her, of course. CJ asked what we can do to help stop global warming (awareness and carbon footprint items are part of the solution), and Annabelle asked her how she became interested in climate science (Gierach's home was destroyed by hurricane Andrew when she was a kid, and that made her want to study weather).

We also enjoyed checking out a number of info tables in the museum's Great Gallery. We talked with folks from the UW, Pacific Science Center, the Seattle Aquarium, Aviation High, Point Defiance Zoo, NOAA, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Puget Sound Energy, to name a few. I'm so grateful each and every time we have a chance to interact with scientists and science enthusiasts.

At various stations we learned about how satellites have helped scientists study climate change, and what that data means to Earth and us. One of our favorite visits was with a UW group that builds rockets - and I'm not talking about the standard Estes kits you buy at Toys R Us. These are rockets that shoot a mile high, and are fueled by the same thing the shuttles used to use.

Here, CJ & Annabelle stand next to the rocket the team will be taking to a competition in Huntsville, Alabama, in two weeks. Cool!

STILL WRIGGLING: The kids checked in on their critters today. As science class homework, they have to keep an observation diary about their meal and wax worms.

The meal worms all looked healthy. Annabelle's seem to have grown rather noticeably since she received them a week ago.

The waxworms have survived the first 24 hours under our 'care,' which is a bit of a relief since the kids' teacher told us she is afraid they're not a particularly healthy bunch. (They've been dropping like flies, er, worms, apparently.)

DIVER DOWN: Today we finally got around to experimenting with the Cartesian diver kit the kids picked up at the Paws on Science event last Saturday at the Pacific Science Center.

The diver was given to us by the scientist manning the booth about tsunamis. What's the connection between Cartesian divers and tsunamis, you ask? Good question - and one that was on the instructional materials that came with the kit.

The way the UW scientist explained it to us was that scientists try to detect tsunamis before they make landfall by attaching sensitive pressure detectors to the sea floor. When a tsunami moves across the ocean, the sensors record a change in pressure and beam a signal to a warning center. Using a Cartesian diver, people can experiment with water pressure.

CJ and Annabelle had fun making the thing bob up and down - AFTER we got it calibrated just right (not too big and not too small an air bubble in the diver).

WOOLLY BULLY: This afternoon we watched a video about the discovery of a perfectly preserved juvenile woolly mammoth (posthumously named Yuka). Found in Siberia, the remarkable discovery is the first instance where one of these prehistoric creatures was found to have something other than dark brown fur (Yuka is kind of a strawberry dark blond).

STAGE IS SET: We're getting ready for our addition, and to that end we now have some heavy equipment on site. Tomorrow, they're going to start cutting into our hillside. Ought to be interesting, to say the least.

When all is said and done, there will be a 2-car garage where the excavator is sitting now, with a living room and bedroom atop the garage and a flat roof deck atop the living areas. The window you see here will be gone, as that space will serve as the walk through connecting the old house with the new square footage. Wish us luck - things are going to get a lot worse (muddier, messier, louder, harder, etc.) before they get better.

When we came home this afternoon and found the excavator digging right next to our house, CJ declared, "I find this rather unsettling. ... It seems like something bad could happen."

As the Worms Turn

FUN AND GAMES: Today we headed north for art and science classes. In between the two, the kids enjoyed the Mac computers in the library, particularly the Photobooth software. Above and below are a couple of self portraits.

EGGSTRAVAGANZA: Between classes, the kids had an opportunity to make an artistic Ukrainian-style Easter egg in the pysanka tradition. It's an intricate art form that involves tremendous fine motor skills and lots of patience.

"I don't want to do it!" CJ declared upon being presented the opportunity.

Unfortunately for him, I wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. And so, we sat down at the egg decoration station and reviewed how you have to scoop wax into the tiny bowl on your kistka, hold your kistka in a candle flame so the wax melts, and then draw the design on your egg. It's pretty simple - unless you don't want to be doing it so you don't listen to the directions. In that case, you might wind up scooping wax, heating it up, and then dumping it on your hand. That would be CJ's experience. And then his reaction? Well that would be yelling at me that it was my fault that he burned himself. I suppose on some level it was, because I "made" him do it, but I didn't take that very well frankly. I told him I was very sorry he dumped hot wax on himself but that he should think twice before blaming someone else for his actions.

So CJ got to sit and watch and pout while Annabelle finished her egg. Mercifully, Bee completed hers without injury.

SQUIRMY WORMS: This afternoon's science class was loads of fun. The kids got their own personal pet meal worms last week, and this week, our pet population grew. Now they have waxworms as well! SO exciting!

First, we learned a bit about where waxworms live (yes, in wax, as in honey beehives), and their stages of life. Next, the kids got to examine both waxworms and meal worms under a microscope.

  It was really interesting seeing their tiny spikes (hair), stripes and such.

And now, we here at MPA have a burgeoning worm population. And this afternoon, when we were out rooting up dandelions, we unearthed so many big meaty earthworms. The kids wanted to capture them and keep them as pets, but I told them I thought it best the worms continue to live with us in the great outdoors, in our yard.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER: When a question is asked in science class, Annabelle's hand goes up quickly. Always. However, one thing I noticed today for the first time (maybe because her right had was dyed red from the pysanky experience) was that every time she raised her hand, it went up in the shape of a Vulcan salute.  That's my girl! When I asked her about it later, she hadn't even realized she was doing it. :-)

Schooly

NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Our day was (gasp) rather unremarkable. We did math, and lots of it. We're trying to finish up the kids' current math book this week.

We also worked on some geography lessons out of a very normal, schoolish type textbook. We read about the Pacific states (Alaska, Oregon, Washington, California and Hawaii). We located landmarks on maps, found their capitals, talked about different regions within the states, transportation and jobs, the state birds and more. It helped the kids cement their knowledge of north, south, east and west, as well as reinforcing their place in the world and the order of things. For instance, we live in the neighborhood Magnolia, in the city of Seattle, in the state of Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, in the United States in North America, in the Western hemisphere and above the Equator in a solar system that's part of a galaxy which is part of an infinite universe. Whew, long list!

The kids also did some reading (about Greek mythologies and animals), and both researched the history of Keyboard Cat. (Yes, that IS educational.)

This afternoon it was off to acting. Annabelle and I slogged our way through a game of chess and Scrabble poker while CJ did his thing.

This evening, the kids checked their mealworms and updated their observation charts.

Paws on Science

WOOF! On Saturday, we spent a few fun filled hours at the Pacific Science Center for their third annual "Paws-on Science" event. It's an opportunity to talk with dozens of UW scientists about their work.

There were about three dozen stations set up all around the science center. We made it to most of them (33 in all!) and the kids had a chance to interact with 60+ scientists from all sorts of fields of study.

They learned about seismology, saw an invention to help water run up hill, learned about genetics, molecular and cellular biology, autism, measuring the salinity and temperature of oceans, rainfall measurement, tsunamis and thermal cameras. In a booth about how microbes help plants, they got to create their own endophyte and plant and learn about symbionts. CJ named his endophyte Purple 2. Annabelle named her endophyte Star Flower.

The kids had a chance to build a solar powered car ...

and they each had a chance to sit in a race car built by mechanical engineering students.

We picked up an intriguing flyer that says "Medical school not for you? Be a scientist instead!" produced by the Biomendical Research Programs at the U of W. The flyer includes links to 15 different areas of study, from bioengineering to epidemiology to genome sciences and pathology. Cool stuff!

They also learned how helpful viruses are being used in medicine, including in the fight against muscular dystrophy. They even had a chance to build their own beneficial virus.

They also attended a mini nursing school where they learned about germs and got to experiment with stethoscopes.

At another station they participated in a fun experiment with "elephant's toothpaste."

They had a fun time watching the hydrogen peroxide coming apart in a chemical reaction.

We were super happy to learn about a groovy, searchable database of science and math songs: SingAboutScience.org! Just to to their site, click on 'find/add songs' and off you go. You'll be singing ditties about molecules, dark matter, and quantum physics in no time!


As we made our rounds from station to station, the kids collected passport stamps. When we finally had to leave, we returned to the passport table to show their work and receive a token for their efforts. The young woman at the table was blown away by the kids' passports. She said they had, by far, visited more booths than any other kids. I would have liked to hit a few more, but we were already WELL over our 2 hour parking zone limit and risking a hefty ticket as it was.

Of course, today, I asked the kids to each write about three of the stations they enjoyed the most on Saturday. CJ wrote:

Paws On Science: By: CJ

Paws on Science was a event that took place on March 30-April 1, 2012. It's Raining It's Pouring tells you where the most rain is. It can also tell you where the most water comes. Sing About Science and Math can show you that music can go with science. It can also tell you that science can be fun. Germ hunters can make you learn about the germs in our everyday world. It can also tell you how to fight them.

Annabelle wrote:

Paws On Science - My 3 Top Favorite Booths by Annabelle

   My first favorite booth was the cirus booth because I love studying the human body. It was also fun because you could make a 3-D pentagon with toothpicks and clay balls.

   My second favorite booth was the tsunami alert booth. It was very fun because there was a little tub with a fish bowl 'island' where you could make a tsunami with a scoop. We also got a Cartesian diver!

   My third favorite booth was the endophyte booth because you can make up your own endophyte and plant to show where your endophyte lives.

My favorite booth was where a pair of scientists were measuring brain waves. When we arrived at the station, a young Indian man in a white lab coat was using a wand like instrument on the temple of a 13-ish girl. He was having a hard time getting a reading from her, and he kept tilting her head to and fro, and his fellow scientist adjusted a couple of settings on the machine.

Eventually, it was our turn. CJ hopped into the chair immediately, and I thought to myself, "Well this is going to be interesting ..."

As soon as the scientist touched the want to CJ's temple, the meter literally shot off the charts. The two scientists got wide eyed and exchanged OMG type comments. "Scale it down! Scale it down!" the man with the wand directed the woman manning the machine. She changed some settings so that CJ's activity could fit on the screen.

There were a number of "You have very big brain" and "you must be really smart" comments from the scientists. I told them likely the activity was a reflection of every YouTube video CJ has ever watched. They chuckled at that. When they were done, the kids each got a print out of some of their results.

Annabelle was up next, and they didn't have any trouble finding her brain waves, either. : )

All in all, it was an amazing, inspiring, enriching event and we're so lucky to be able to enjoy it. (Oh, and did I mention the Husky marching band and cheerleaders performed on site, too? Bonus!)

By the time we got home, Annabelle was holding her head lamenting, "I don't know what kind of scientist to be - I like them all!"

EARTH HOUR: Saturday evening, from 8 to 9, we observed Earth Hour. According to the Earth Hour Web site, more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide participated in the world's largest environmental awareness event. The event's goal is to create a global community committed to creating a more sustainable planet.

To help our hour with no computers, no TV and no lights pass by pleasantly, we played a Mad Libs card game. It was lots of fun, and the kids both said they really enjoyed Earth Hour. Maybe we should do it more than once a year. ;)

FIELD TRIP: Sunday morning brought us blue skies - something we hadn't seen in sooooooo loooong. We decided we simply had to get out of the house. We pointed the Honda north and our first stop was Richmond Beach Park, along the sound and west of Shoreline.

It's 39+ acres of gorgeous, with a long sand-and-round rocks beach, lots of driftwood and, on a breezy day, an army of kite surfers.

Wow oh wow does kite surfing look like fun. Man those guys rip along SO fast, doing flips and jumps and tricks all the while.  

We walked the beach and the kids enjoyed the playground on site, and we checked out a big human sundial by the picnic shelter.

 

We continued northward, trying to hug the shoreline as much as possible, and wound up finding a pocket park called Kayu Kayu Ac Park. Per the city of Shoreline's Web site, its name is pronounced Ki-U Ki-U Atch (ki like kite, U like the letter U and Ac is atch like in watch), and the name is a common Native American term that was used to describe the Richmond Beach area as well as the native plant kinnikinnik.

The park is nestled right next to railroad tracks and has some interpretive signs onsite about the railroad history in the area. The park has a nice view of the sound and a small playground.

We continued north, through Edmonds, and came to yet another park along the sound - Haines Wharf Park. The park itself is a gem - cut into a hillside with a super long, super fun slide down the cliff.

Across from the park was rather spectacularly destroyed building atop a pier (Haines Wharf). A local told us for years it was where people could rent little motor boats to go fish the sound. 

According to an article I found online on The Herald's Web site, strong winds blew the dilapidated structure down in January of 2011. Reportedly Capt. H.F. Haines built the wharf in 1939 and the (now collapsed) boathouse atop it was brought over from Irondale, near Port Townsend, by barge.

Our last stop was the Diamond Knot restaurant in Mulkiteo. The kids love that place, because they bring them a platter with pizza dough and toppings and they get to make their own meal. In addition to being novel, it actually tastes great, too!