Open for Business

GRAND OPENING: Today was the Big Day - time to open shop at a micro craft fair (10 tables or so, I'm thinking), in an off-the-beaten path (no general public) spot. (In other words, pretty much the crafters were just buying stuff from one another.) Probably a perfect debut for MPA's maiden voyage. 

We had quite an assortment of items. We had sunflower strawberry cupcakes and 'fossilized' cookies, with bake sale proceeds benefiting No Kid Hungry. 

We had spirit gloves (pom poms on the ten fingertips), and 'crayondoliers' - crayon carriers you can wear, like a sash or an ammunition belt (Bee's wearing one in the photo at the top - some of the others are displayed on the middle of the table in front of her).

And last, but definitely not least, were Annabelle's community of pet rocks. 

They were a last minute addition to our lineup. On Tuesday afternoon I suggested she make some personality-plus rocks for the event. They cost nearly nothing to make, and I knew she'd come up with some cute ideas just using found items in our craft scrap drawer.

People LOVED them. Specifically, the adults at the fair loved them. It was so funny watching them squeal with delight and figure out which rock spoke to them.

One of the things that helped sell them was that each came with a birth certificate.  We quickly took mug shots this morning and Annabelle and CJ pasted them onto a certificate Annabelle designed.

All in all, it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. 

AIRPLANE AFTERNOON:  We ducked out of the craft fair early because we had to head to Pacific Science Center for a sneak preview of "Living in the Age of Airplanes," a documentary about how air travel has impacted humankind. 

Narrated by Harrison Ford, it was a gorgeous, thought-provoking documentary.

 I'll let the kids tell you a little bit more about it, CJ first. ... 

On May 28th, 2015, we went to the Pacific Science Center to see Living in the Age of Airplanes, a documentary about the history of transportation, more specifically, aviation.

I expected the movie to be more about the technical aspects of aviation, but it turned out to be more about transport's history, especially that in aviation. The film pointed out that for the vast majority of human history, walking was the only form of transportation. During that time, there was no infrastructure, which meant no cars, no trains, and, most importantly, no planes.

The film featured a quote by Bill Gates stating that the airplane was like the original World Wide Web, in that it shared ideas and values all across the planet. The film also points out that when there were no means of long-distance transportation across land and sea, several civilizations around the world rose and fell without ever knowing of each other's existence. Living in the Age of Airplanes also states that the wheel was only invented around 5000 years ago, and during that time, we attached wheels to some animals so we could go at three miles an hour, which is still a relatively slow speed.

Last, but not least, the film states that although in the (19) thirties, flying was considered an amazing experience, today, we often get bored on flights and look to pass the time with in-flight entertainment.

Here's what Annabelle had to say ... 

On May 28, I went to a movie called “Living in the Age of Airplanes”.  The movie was about how airplanes have changed the way we travel. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. I’ll tell you a little bit about it.
 The movie starts out talking about how humans’ only transportation up to about 5000 years ago was walking. After that 5000 years, there was another 500 years where we used the wheel. Before planes there were some places in the world that were virtually unreachable by land or sea. After planes were invented, the top speed we could go at jumped from 10 miles an hour from 500 miles an hour!  The planes revolutionized the way we travel. Nowadays we take flying as a drag instead of an experience that humans weren’t even meant to experience. We really should look back and see how much flying has done for us, from connecting societies to almost acting as a time machine and letting us see history like never before.

A couple of things that struck me were the notion that at any given moment 250,000 humans are airborne, flying somewhere. The movie also hammered home the point that flight has made our planet a global market. Lovely roses cut in Kenya today can be in a vase on a mantle in a home in Alaska in under 72 hours. 

Remarkable. 

Here's a trailer for the movie. 

Living in the Age of Airplanes — Trailer #1 from Living in the Age of Airplanes on Vimeo.