Norse Lore

SQUIRTING TURTLES: This morning was errand filled. First, we had to dash down to southeast Kent to pick our roofing materials up from a trucking company. We came home, unloaded those, changed cars and then charged out north of the U-district to University Village, a California-style shopping mall (the store entrances are all outside rather than inside, per the Northwest norm).

Since we avoid any style mall at all costs, we had no idea where to find the store we were looking for (The Confectionery, a candy store where I needed to buy some chocolate pebbles for a cake project coming up). And parking at University Village is nightmarish, so I took the first spot I could find by a mall directory. Once we consulted the map, we found we couldn't really have parked any farther away from where we needed to be. That meant we got to traverse the whole damn place. Sigh.

And so, as I limped along, the kids and I checked out window dressings and saw lots of eye candy. Finally, we reached our destination, where they had a super cute baseball themed display. Almost made it worth the trip. Happily, I got my edible rocks and the kids, of course, got a small treat. In the photo above, you can see Annabelle sucking her "cherry cola" candy stick which tasted neither cherry nor cola like, but she liked it nonetheless.

On our way back to the car we took a different route and discovered a cute little fountain featuring spewing frogs and turtles. 

CJ managed to stop one frog from spitting for awhile. 

As we were leaving the fountain, I heard someone behind us shouting, "Excuse me!" We turned around and I spied a woman pointing at Annabelle's pink sparkly shoes.

I looked at Bee and asked, "Did you forget anything?" and she thought about it, looked around, shrugged and said, "No."

"Are you SURE?" I asked.

"Yeah. Nothing," she assured.

And then I looked down at her feet. She followed my gaze and then finally scampered back for her shoes. 

VIKING TALES: A BBC Schools newsletter pointed us in a fun direction today. One of the educational gems the email let me know about was a series of animated videos about Viking mythology. First, we watched one about how humans, our Earth (Midgard) and heaven (Asgard) were created by Odin. 

Before the video started, we talked about how many cultures have a creation myth to explain the mysteries of the universe before there was the science to offer plausible explanations.

The kids really enjoyed the video. In fact, they liked it so much, we watched all of the videos in the series, including one about vain Freya and the goblins, and a video about Thor battling a giant. It was great stuff!

Afterward, I asked the kids to write their own creation myth. I told them there was only one rule: "Whatever you do, do NOT include science." How often are they going to hear that from me? LOL. 

Here's what Bee came up with ...

Once upon a time, even before time was created, there was a god named Torantino. He had a former god helper, named Sangun. Torantino was the first thing in the universe. Torantino made Sangun to accompany him as his former overlord god. Torantino told Sangun to watch as he made a green, lush, area for the humans to live. Torantino  told Sangun he had made this land for humans. "What are humans?" asked Sangun. Torantino said "You will see," and made humans by taking water, leaves, and earth to mix them to make the first humans. Then Torantino decided to have a little fun and made icy caps for the tips of the earth. He felt like he and Sangun shouldn't be the only gods, and made lots of other gods like them. They decided they all should have a home, so they made Urbinia and connected it to the land they made for the humans, that they called Zungid, by making a magical bridge made of platinum. Once they had made the world, they could finally relax, in the place they just made. 

And CJ's take ... 

The creation of Earth starts like this: Before we were here, the supreme god Noronan came. Noronan used his abilities to start the creation of land for the Humans, Istalal. When Noronan created the land for Humans, he took 21 gemstones, whispered "You will now become Humans" to the gemstones, and they became the first man and the first woman. Those two people had sex and Noronan created their children. When Noronan realized that he can't just do it by himself, he created more gods, one of them being Sawar Gones. Noronan created many other more creatures then just the humans, Also, he created goats, horses, ducks, squirrels, zebras, and many more. After Noronan worked on Istalal for a while, he said that he said it is going to be the way it is for a long time, and it was.

BABY BIRD: This evening we checked in on the baby osprey in a nest over a baseball field in Sand Point, Idaho. It has grown a lot since we last saw it. We also noticed that the unhatched egg that was in the nest is now gone. Guess the mom finally gave it the boot. 

GROWING STRONG: Our garden is enjoying the start of summer. We're starting to see some blossoms. Here, for example, is a tomato blossom. Hopefully there will be a lot more where these came from.

Also, our potatoes are blossoming. Can't wait to see what this leads to. Christian started the plants by just taking nasty ol' eye-sprouting potatoes from our pantry, cutting them up and then sticking them in the ground. 

I love their UW Husky-colored purple and gold blossoms. :)

Slide 'n' Splash

SLIDE STAND OFF: I had to go to Group Health today for a physical therapy appointment. (It's hoped that the PT will somehow spontaneously and/or miraculously heal my degenerated, arthritic, bone-spur sporting and generally hosed left hip. But I digress.) The highlight of any Group Health Capitol Hill visit is the humongo slide out front. 


There was a group of three siblings there at the same time as CeeJ and Bee and at one point all 5 of them were on top of the slide. The oldest girl in the other group told CJ and Annabelle that they could go ahead of  her and her siblings. Annabelle said something like, 'That wouldn't be fair, you were here first," and the girl explained her mom was going to take a picture and wasn't quite ready. Annabelle replied that it was OK, she and CJ were happy to wait, but the girl insisted they go ahead.


At that, the kids' mother turned to me and said, "Wow, listen to them, being so polite. We should be really proud of ourselves. We've done a good job teaching them manners." LOL.


Another highlight of a trip to Capitol Hill is that we get to view the Space Needle from the east - a lovely vantage point, as it's back-dropped by the Olympic mountains and Puget Sound. 

LA FUSEE: This afternoon (2:36, to be exact), we watched an Arianne 5 rocket launch from the Guina Space Center, Kourou French Guiana, a space port bordering the Amazon rain forest and not too far from the equator. On board it had an EchoStar 17 broadband Internet satellite and Europe's MSG -3 weather observatory. 

PHOTO: ESA 

I believe this is the third launch we've watched from there, and it's always interesting to hear the countdown and mission control chatting in French. The launch went off without a hitch and the satellites are both in orbit.


ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!!? We had some library books due today, so this afternoon we had to do some book wrangling. One title (some Garfield cartoon book) eluded us, so I wound up having to dig into the depths of the kids' bookshelf. 


As I'm shuffling books looking for Garfield, my hands wrap around this . ... 


WTH?!?!?

Talk about "holding" your page. Egad. 

Needles to say, we had a Serious Talk about what's a proper bookmark - and what ISN'T.

Oh, and I did find the Garfield book.

INTO THE SWIM: This evening, since the day's temp finally topped 73 degrees F, Christian took the kids to the neighborhood swimming pool for the first time this season. 

HIT PARADE: Lisa Loeb's "Silly Sing-Alongs" is still in heavy rotation on our car's sound system. Here, CJ and Annabelle perform one of their faves, from the CD, "Fried Ham." 

Independence Day

TNT TRADITION: In what has become a July 4 tradition for us, last night we went and stashed a car on the east bank of Queen Anne hill overlooking Lake Union, ground zero for the Fourth fireworks show. We do that, because as the day turns to twilight, parking on QA becomes problematic. And so, before the show, we drive to QA and park blocks away from the east bank, but having a getaway rig there for post-show makes the egress much more pleasant.


This morning, around 6 a.m. Christian completed Part 2 of the pre-show plan - he went and staked our viewing spot claim with lawn chairs, decorated with the stars and stripes.


We headed over to the hill about 8:30 p.m. and parked about five blocks away from our viewing spot. Fortunately, our chairs were still there. :)


And so, we sat, killing time. The kids read, played the Nintendo DS, messed around with the Kindle, snacked and chatted. About 10:10, the pyrotechnics began.

 

 

 

SWEET REPRISE: Come Tuesday, CJ was rather horrified to realize that we had gotten rid of every last firework/rocket/etc. cookie we made last weekend, so I promised him we could make some more for his own consumption. This morning, I made good on that promise. However, instead of the work and mess that comes with using piped on royal icing, we just went with white marshmallow fondant. Plus, I figured the kids would have fun coloring them and giving them faces.

HISTORY LESSON: We spent some time this afternoon learning (or re-learning) what the Fourth of July is all about. We watched three videos on the History Channel's Web site. One was a history of the Fourth of July, another was about the Declaration of Independence, and the third one was about Jefferson authoring the Declaration of Independence. 

Then, we hopped to BrainPOP, and found "The Declaration of Independence" was their featured video, so we watched that and the kids took a quiz afterward.


Then, I had the kids each write a brief synopsis about what they'd seen and heard. 


Annabelle wrote:

In June, 1776, the Declaration of Independence started being written by Jefferson, and after it was finished it was edited by John Adams and Ben Franklin. The Declaration of Independence was inspired by a phamplet (sic) called Common Sense, which is much like the Declaration. Since the Declaration was made, we now have a free country. We are all free. 

CJ wrote:

Independence day is a holiday. The origin of Independence Day goes like this: In 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson and Robert R. Livingston worked on The Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the first draft. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin made some edits to the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress. And that is how we got the country we live in today, America.

MORE FIREWORKS TO COME: "Fireworks Over Mars: The Spirit of 76 Pyrotechnics," an article from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reminds us that "one month and a day after celebrating its independence with fireworks exhibitions throughout the country, America will carry its penchant for awe-inspiring aerial pyrotechnic displays to the skies of another world."  


Mars Science Laboratory ("Curiosity") is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet around 10:30 Pac Coast time on Aug. 5. Not that we're excited about it or anything! ;)


Speaking of Mars, I keep forgetting to post a pic of the super sized "thank you" I got from the school where I presented an MSL 'lecture' on Feb. 14. It was about a 4-by3-foot poster the kids painted and signed. Very cute.

OH AND: Neglected to mention we went to a Mariners' game last night. They damn near got no-hit. In fact, the Orioles' pitcher Chen was PERFECT (no hits, no walks) through 6 and 1/3 innings. Fortunately Casper Wells ruined that with a home run. The Ms managed to battle back and tie the game 4-4 in the 8th, but they lost it on an Os homer in the 9th.


We went to the game primarily because we got free tickets from the United Way of King County (former Mariner Dan Wilson is their campaign co-chair now). And we parked far enough away to get a free spot, so it was a relatively cheap outing. 

We sat in the top row of the stadium, so we could enjoy the sun sparking off Elliot Bay when there was no action on the field.  

Yesterday Once More

DOWN MEMORY LANE: Yesterday, I had so much to say and show regarding Saturday's Super Guppy visit, I barely mentioned what we did on Monday. Time to right that wrong.


By 7 a.m. we were in the Honda, headed southbound, on a cookie drop-off run to Vancouver.

 

Oh, and in addition to the cookies, we also experimented with some "fireworks" for the mouth (thanks to an inspiration for The Decorated Cookie). We coated marshmallows with light corn syrup, and then sprinkled Pop Rocks on.

Tentatively, Annabelle tries it ... 

 

And she likes it!!

 CJ tried it too. He was a little less enthused.

When we hit I-5, yesterday I put an audio book the kids had checked out a week or so ago. We've never listened to an audio chapter book before, so it was a bit of an experiment. (Previously, we've just listened to shorter picture books read aloud.)

The book was "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key" by Jack Gantos. I had no idea what it was about, but it didn't take long to figure out it was the story of a boy with ADHD who lived with his grandma since his dad ran off and his mom ran off after his dad. We learned his grandma was addled with ADHD in her own way, and the two of them were kind of a mess. A chapter or two in, his mom returned, and that brought more chaos. It was pretty mature subject matter, in some regards. I think, perhaps based on the title, CJ and Annabelle were expecting comedy. :) We got to Chapter 4 before the kids wanted to take a "break." I have a feeling their break might be permanent. I, on the other hand, would have liked to keep on listening. Instead, we switched to Elvis, and then Fitz and the Tantrums. Eclectic, we are.


When we got to Vancouver we stopped at Winco. Ooh, how I wish there was a Winco within a half hour of my house. The groceries there seem like they cost half of what we're used to paying up here. CJ spied an oversized Mountain Dew. I went ahead and let them get it to share. After all, what's a long road trip without a caffeinated beverage, right? Look, he's practically glowing green with delight!

Once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's. I spent about three hours looking through 70-plus years worth of photos, gleaning some for projects related to their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary party. CJ and Annabelle flittled about the house. A lot of the time was spent ogling a porcelain doll Grandma had recently purchased. Once CJ heard it had real human hair and eyelashes, he was sufficiently horrified to spend the rest of our visit (and beyond) obsessing about it. In his mind, it morphed into an evil creature with zombie and homicidal tendencies. He's still talking about it today.

After our visit with G&G, we took a bit of a detour before hitting Interstate 5 back northbound. First, we popped in on Ridgefield, USA, the birthplace of U-Haul (now there's some trivia you can use!). We wanted to take a look at the venue where G&G's party will be, but it was all shuttered up at the time. Bummer. So, since it was just a couple blocks away, I asked the kids if they wanted to see the park where their brothers Rick and Ken spent many, many hours playing Little League baseball. 

We rolled into Abrams Park, and it was like stepping back into history for me. I could practically see the kids in their uniforms on the fields and in the dugouts. And myself working the concession stand!

CJ and Annabelle played around on the really nice, large play structure in the park (a marked improvement from R&K's days!). 

As we were leaving Abrams Park, I told CJ and Annabelle I spent some really great times there, and some really bad times there. CJ immediately wanted to know about the bad times, and so I shared the story of the Park Nazi (a label I gave him and one that stuck and became widely known and used, because of his behavior). The man was supposed to be the park caretaker. I get that. But the major problem I (and many other people) had with him, was that he treated the park like it was his personal yard. And he was cut from the mean old "Get off my lawn!" man cloth. Lordy, how he vexed us all too many times. He quite simply did NOT seem to want kids playing baseball in "his" park. Like EVER. I can't even tell you how many times we'd show up at the park, kids in unis, only to have the Park Nazi tell us the fields were closed due to "weather" - with the "weather" barometer being some completely arbitrary and made up condition by the Park Nazi. Rain two days ago? Field's too wet to play on. Might rain in a few hours? Field will be too wet to play on. And so it went for weeks and seasons and years. Until ...

It was one of the final games in a season where the Park Nazi had mostly managed to wash out about half the schedule. It was a mostly sunny afternoon and I was down there early with Rick and Ken's coach, to get foul lines drawn, etc. in preparation for the game. Well, turns out the Park Nazi thought otherwise, and showed up to tell us that there would be no baseball played that day. Finally, both the coach and I had had enough.

We calmly told the "caretaker" that this was OUR park, too, and that he'd taken enough baseball away from the kids and if he wanted us out of OUR PUBLIC PARK, well, he was going to have to call the police and have us HAULED off, in front of the players. And, we proceeded to throw our shovels and wheelbarrow over the fence, hope the fence, and get the field ready.

Eventually, the man unlocked the gate to the field so the players could actually enter it, too. 

Looking back, it's clear we should have called his bluff a LOT sooner. 

But I digress.

On the way home, we listened to Schoolhouse Rock Rocks! (a bunch of 90s alternative bands doing covers of the educational cartoon classics), as well as Grammar Rocks!

SCHOOLY STUFF - SORTA: Yes, we're still doing (Singapore Math), and readin' and writin' activities on summer "break." Today, I asked the kids to write a story about the Super Guppy from an airplane's perspective. Annabelle offered up this:

Hey there, I'm Annabelle the airplane! I have a very interesting life up in the air, going from place to place and back! Let me tell you a story about one of my crazy flights. One day, I was just flying somewhere above Seatac, and it  was very busy. I saw other planes moving into a line, so I did too. Then came this plane that looked like a HUGE flying beluga whale. The other planes said it was the Super guppy. I swear, it did look like a whale with it's massive nose. It was also a little bit louder than the rest of us. The Super guppy passed by us preety slowly, and I decided to follow the super guppy to wherever it was going, to be its escort plane. It was a long flight, we passed lots of cars, and I bet the people in the cars were thinking what I did when the Guppy passed; "Is that a giant flying beluga whale?" while we flew, we exchanged flying tips with each other. Once we flew for awhile, we were above a place called "The Museum of Flight" and I thought "this must be dedicated to EVERYTHING that flies!" Then we flew by it, turned around VERY slowly, then, Guppy landed. I said goodbye, then flew back to Seatac. That ended my amazing flight with the Super guppy.

CJ's missive took me by surprise. I knew I was in trouble when the subject line (he submitted it to me via email) said: m3h sup4p gp3. Here's what the body of it looked like:

m3h sup4p gp3 r p4n3 |)3v3p3nt. i st4rt bult in nint3n siy t00. nint3n siy t00 w4z ip0r4nt y3r f0r m3h. w3n m3h w4z bult m3h w4z h4p3h. n4ys4y s0wc4s3hd m3h 4t t3h nus3un 0 fiht. m3h fihd in nuseun 0 fiht in t3h s4tl3 s4ns3 f3svsil t00 t0ws3nd f0r. 4l0t ppll w4ct3d m3h fihd 0n t3h nus3un 0 fiht. m3h f0w p4s m3n3h p4c3z, incuding sum riv3hz. m3h c3m f0m ct4c 4wyrp0rt. t3r w3r m4ne3h 0dd3r p4n3z t3n jus m3h. t3r w4z sum s4ll w0nz, t3r w4z sum hug w0nz. but m3h 4int c4r b3hcuz m3h wuz t3h s4r 0 s0w. 0v4r4ll 4 f3w d4ez w4z t3h hug m0m3n 0 m3h lif3. Quite naturally, I asked CJ how the HELL I was supposed to read it and why he wrote it that way. He said he wrote it that way "because it's a freaking plane and where are they supposed to hold their pencil?" LOL. CJ did offer up this translation: Me the Super Guppy are plane development. I start built in 1962. Nineteen sixty two was imporant year for me. When me was built, me was happy. Naysay (NASA) showcased me at the Museum of Flight. Me flied in Museum of Flight the Seattle Science Festival 2004. (The plane doesn't know the date, either.) A lot of  people watched me fly on the Museum of Flight. Me flow psat many places including some rivahs. Me come from Seatac airport (which is not true, BTW). There was many other planes just than me. There was small ones, some big ones, but me didn't care because me was the star of the show. Over all, a few days was the hugest moment of my life. I have to admit, as CJ translated, I started to be able to understand the Super Guppy's 'language.'

Super Guppy Cometh

AMAZING AIRCRAFT:  Number one on our hit parade this weekend was being on hand at The Museum of Flight when the super goofy looking Super Guppy arrived on the scene. 


The event was highly publicized in the days leading up to its arrival, and we knew parking would be limited, so we headed down to the museum right when it opened, at 9:30 a.m.


We happily killed a little time looking around at the lovely aircraft on display in the Great Gallery. Also in the gallery we found the newly installed "Spirit of Flight" juried photography exhibit, including Miss Annabelle in my entry, "Sky High."

At about 10 a.m. we headed to the patio outside the museum's cafe, looking forward to what was supposed to be a 10:30 fly over of the Guppy. There, we learned it was an hour behind schedule. Bummer. And so we killed time on the patio, reading magazines and watching other aircraft take off and land, and checking flight schedule updates via Twitter and Facebook.


One of the planes that taxied up to the Museum of Flight was this NASA escort/chaser plane. Pretty sharp looking, eh? (And yes, I know I'm a sucker for the NASA name and logo.)

Finally, around 11:30, we left the patio and went down into the parking lot to get a better view of the runway. Eventually, from the north and above the control tower, we saw something rumbling our way. The black smoke trailing it was an indication it wasn't the typical plane landing at Boeing Field, and as it grew closer, you could see that its "forehead" was super duper wide compared to other airplanes. 


Incredibly, the front part of the entire plane hinges open, like a door, at 90 degree angle to allow the massive cargo on board be extracted.


The first thing we noticed - even from miles away - was the Super Guppy's bulbous nose busting through the clouds. The plane literally left a big ol' hole its shape in the clouds behind it.

The first time it approached the field was just for a fly by. The pretty-close up glimpse of Super Guppy and its escort plane made the large crowd very, very happy. :)

Above, it's heading south right over the crowd gathered at Boeing Field. Below, it has made a turn and is heading north, over Lake Washington, to give people all over Seattle a thrill. 

 Tell me that plane doesn't look like a whale cruising through the air!


Finally, after about a half hour, Super Guppy came back, this time to land!

    

Super Guppy made what looked to be a perfect landing and it taxied down the runway right past us. Wheeeeeeee!

And soon, it rolled to a stop. 

Almost immediately, we saw the crew pop out ... 

Below the plane's pilot, NASA astronaut Greg C. “Ray-J” Johnson leans out a cockpit window.

And here's a view of the whale/plane head on ... 

                                

 Two of the three people in this photo below were on the plane. Guess which one wasn't. ;)

Oh, and it's worth mentioning that inside the Super Guppy was NASA’s Full Fuselage (Shuttle) Trainer. It's the first piece of the super cool "puzzle" that will be assembled in TMoF's Space Gallery. Can't wait!

As we left town this morning for a quick road trip to fro Vancouver, we passed by Boeing Field and got one more quick glimpse of the Guppy. It will be back in a few weeks with more shuttle trainer parts. We're looking forward to its return.