White Friday

LET IT SNOW: As we headed for our beds last night, we had visions of waking up under a white blanket ... of snow!

And lo and behold, the forecasters got this one right. Above is my view out of the upstairs window this morning. Not too many people down on the golf course today (that big white patch in the distance)!

It was just a small window of white - the snow started around 5 a.m. and was expected to be gone by noon - so the kids didn't waste any time getting out into it.

There were snowball fights ...

and a snowman was built.

I watched some of the action from inside. ...

But I kept going back outside to take more photos.

Tonight, the snow's just a happy memory.

SCIJINKS: We spent a lot of today prepping for the week-ish we'll be spending on the road, but we managed to shoehorn some school-y stuff in. For starters, I had the kids check out SciJinks - Weather Adventures. It's a NASA site geared at students, and all about weather here on Earth, as well as in space.

The kids checked out its front page, and then I suggested they check out the "Fun and Games" tab. Once there, Annabelle immediately chose "The Bad (Weather) Joke Machine."

She yukked it up and read all the jokes to us, including one about the Emerald City. ...

Q: How do you predict rain in Seattle? 

A: If you can't see the Space Needle, it's raining. If you can see the Space Needle, it's about to rain.

They both checked out Weather folklore, and Annabelle played Spectrix, a game where you combine colors to reveal information about weather and the environment. They also checked out Weather Tricktionary.

All in all, it's a great site, and one that we give six thumbs up.

FESTIVE FUNK: The kids got their groove on today with a fun Merry music machine. It lets you combine numerous musical elements into a high tech holiday symphony. Check it out: http://us.moo.com/merrymusic/

KEEP ON TRUCKIN': While so many on Earth gear up for holiday festivities, Curiosity keeps toiling away on the surface of Mars, and the livin's not easy.

In fact, the rover's wheels are showing more signs of wear and tear than was expected, according to a Mission Status Report from JPL.

PHOTO: NASA/JPL

Curiosity has been tackling some tough terrain in recent weeks. The team is going to take some photos of the treads, and plans to plot routes to future destinations that a little bit smoother.

CAN YOU DIG IT?: With great fanfare, the world's largest rotary drill started tunneling along the Seattle waterfront . Its job is to dig out a subterranean roadway with will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Things got off to a bumpy start, with a workers' strike that idled it before it could even start. (Wait, if it hadn't started, it couldn't really be idled, could it?) Any way, Bertha eventually got going on July 30, but then ran into some sort of plastic-y strands that made its progress screech to a darn near halt. It finally got past that, and now it's been idle again for days and days, as it has run into something the huge cutting face can't handle. Not good. Not good at all. They thought they had a workaround, involving pilot holes, sending 'divers' down, and more, but Bertha is being inundated with ground water, so the delay is at least another two weeks.

To date, Bertha (which is 5 stories tall, might I note) has gone just over 1,000 feet on its 1.7 mile path from Sodo to South Lake Union.

If you want to watch the nothing happening, here's a live cam: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct/Traffic/ConstructionCam

But before I bag on Bertha any more, check out this cool photo. See - there is a wee bit of tunnel there!

Photo: Washington State Department of Transportation -http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/Viaduct/

Trying to make lemonade out of lemons, the Seattle clam chowder powerhouse Ivar's has a contest. "Tell us what you think is blocking Bertha for your chance to win Ivar's Chowder for one year (one cup per week). The most creative answer will win. And, just by entering, you'll get to dream of the grand prize with a coupon for a free cup of chowder."

What's not to like?! Woot!
Enter here by Dec. 23: http://www.ivars.com/promos/item/317-clamosaurus

POM PROJECT: I almost forgot, here (finally) is a photo showing what all those pom poms we made awhile back were for - several pairs of 'spirit' gloves. Not necessarily the most practical apparel, but fun. ;) Go Hawks!

To Market, to Market

I LIKE PIKE: After a couple hours of schooly stuff, we set out to do some holiday shopping. Destination: Seattle's world famous Pike Place Market.

We totally scored on a parking spot and headed for the excitement with no trouble. It was a glorious scene - still waters on the bay, ferries, the Ferris wheel - I'd love to share the beauty, but my camera lens malfunctioned for most of the morning. :/

We saw market pigs, of course. ...

And even a market bigfoot!

We made the rounds, and on our way back to the car, we made our way by Piroshky Piroshky Bakery, a market legend.

The kids pressed their red noses against the glass and looked at me beseechingly.

"Look at how long the line is," I noted.

"Sometimes you have to be patient," CJ pointed out.

Kids win.

And so, we waited in line, perusing their photo menu whilst we waited.

The kids had each picked out something, but when we actually laid eyes on the creations, I pointed out how friggin' HUGE they were and suggested they split something. Specifically, I suggested they split an "Oskar's Star," described as "a delicious buttery dough topped with chocolate, sweet cream cheese and sprinkled with hazelnuts" on their Web site (where it's spelled Oscar's Star, BTW).

They sat out at Victor Steinbrueck Park, enjoying a phenomenal view.

 But I don't think they noticed the view. ;) They were too busy digging in.

They *did* notice the birds, however. Many, many birds. Pigeons and seagulls who wanted to share their bakery treats. 

And these birds were brazen, as they're used to tourists (and so locals, no doubt) sharing morsels with them. The kids managed to keep them at bay by flapping and kicking.

We did enjoy watching this seagull perched on the fence overlooking the sound.

I am thrilled to announce We are Officially Done Christmas Shopping! Woo-hoo!

But we're not done baking. ... Tonight we cranked out a couple dozen more Seahawks Santas for Rick's co-workers, and put the finishing touches on a few more pairs of pom pom gloves. Tomorrow, there's packing, wrapping, baking and more in store. 'Tis the season.

Very Merry

SCENES OF THE SEASON: Thought I'd start by parking a trio of very merry photos here. The first and the second ones were were taken at the winter carnival at the kids' once-a-week Shoreline school. 

The third one was also taken on Monday, when Mr. and Mrs. Claus visited Chuck's on 85th, one of our favorite hang outs.  Nothing like a classy holiday photo in front of the beer cooler, right?!

MOLECULES IN MOTION: Today in science class, the kids had fun doing a few experiments with water. One was as simple as racing water drops down wax paper on a slope. 

The other demonstrated how water molecules expand and contract, depending on how warm or cold they are.

Yesterday, we spent a little time in the kitchen whipping up some presents for the kids two Shoreline teachers. ...

They liked them, which pleased us greatly. :)

PHONE HOME: NASA's number one network is turning 50 this month, and what a half century run it has had.

Beam Wave Guide antennas at Goldstone, known as the "Beam Waveguide Cluster." Each antenna is 111.5-feet (34-m) in diameter. They're located in an area at Goldstone called "Apollo Valley." This photograph was taken on Jan. 11, 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Deep Space Network (DSN)  is NASA's worldwide radio telescope array. It has been communicating with spacecraft throughout our solar system for decades now. DSN is made up of three facilities: The one in Goldstone, CA (pictured above), one near Madrid, Spain, and the third in Canberra, Australia. Together, they offer 24/7 coverage of the solar system, communicating with 33 spacecraft currently. 

NASA has a Web site all about DSN's anniversary, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn50/, and part if it lists some of the network's claims to fame. For instance, DSN showed us the first moonwalk, and the first-ever image of Mars, the first imagesd of Mercury's surface (1974). DSN relayed "The Pale Blue Dot" shot from Voyager 1, and transmitted data letting us know the craft had made its way into interstellar space.

INTERNATIONAL: This evening, we headed to the International District for some holiday shopping. Our destination was Uwajimaya.  On our way in, we had to stop and admire the Christmas-y colored lights atop the Seahawks' stadium.

Inside, it was wonderfully colorful, with thousands upon thousands of new-to-us things to check out.

The kids loved the big dragon hovering over the aisles.

We lingered at the live seafood counter, where CJ and Annabelle saw their first geoducks, I do believe.

We found the items we were after, so it was a great trip.

Wet Pennies

DRIP DROP: How many drops of water do you think will fit on the head of a penny? How about the flipside? Do you think you could get more or less if you add soap to the water? How about oil on the penny? Or powdered sugar? These are some of the questions we pondered and experiments we conducted on the kitchen counter this morning. 

FLYING COLORS: Today marked the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight. We observed the occasion by watching a Reading Rainbow episode with an aviation theme. The featured book was "Nothing to Do!," a story about bored brothers who decide to build and fly an airplane.

The episode also featured a catch tune about aviation pioneers, and host LeVar Burton visits an airport, where he goes through a pre-flight check, and then pilots a small plane for the first time. It was fun to watch. He sure was excited! 

We also watched a short video from Biography.com

Speaking of flying, the folks at NASA have a nifty flying machine called Morpheus. Check out this bad boy!

Morpheus, a prototype lander, recently underwent a free flight test at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The flight lasted 81 seconds, and started with Morpheus launching from the ground over a flame trench! It climbed to a height of 164 feet, paused for a moment at 82 feet and then flew forward just over 150 feet. It descended and landed on a pad, within 3.5 inches of its target. Neat-o!

Morepheus' engine runs on liquid oxygen and methane, and is part of NASA's effort to use 'green' propellants.

CHANGE OF PLANS: A couple days back I mentioned NASA has an ammonia leak on the ISS due to a bad valve. They have not been able to come up with a workaround, so they are going to have to have a series of spacewalks to replace a refrigerator-size ammonia pump module. 

NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will be the space walkers. They're expected to perform the repairs on Dec. 21, 23 and Christmas day.

Because of the emergency repairs, NASA managers are postponing the upcoming Orbital Sciences commercial cargo resupply mission, which was to launch this Thursday. 

Ho Ho Ho

PARTY ON: Today was all about fun. We headed north to the kids' Shoreline school about 1:30 for the holiday carnival there. But I lead with the photo of Annabelle drinking a Coke while sucking a candy cane. Talk about excess.

The kids played all 5 (or 6) games available at the carnival up north. Below, CJ takes on a catapult game ...

They also played a 'Plinko' type game, and a spin the wheel game. 

The other half of the festivities involved crafts. Oddly, these photos mostly disappeared off my camera. But here are the kids making a tree art project. 

They also made reindeer ornaments out of candy canes, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes.

They also made paper, by mixing TP, glitter, yarn, water and then putting it in a press.

The afternoon also provided a formal photo opp. I love how they're oblivious to the  horrifying the wig on a dummy watching over them while they post for a cheezy photo.