Bubble Fun

POPPIN': This afternoon, we popped over to Pacific Science Center to check out a special event, Bubblefest.

As soon as we entered the courtyard (complete with reflection ponds and concrete dinosaurs), we saw bubbles in evidence. There were stations all over, with bubble solution and wands of all shapes and sizes.

While the bubbles were the main draw today, we also took time out to enjoy some PSC classics, like the bike ride way up over the water.

And CJ and Annabelle did the human hamster wheel type attraction.

In the Ackerly Family Exhibit Gallery, there were a number of bubble-related stations. 

A number of them featured differently-shaped bubble 'wands.' As cool as this cube is/was, from it we learned that you're still not getting square bubbles Bubbles like to be spheroid.

We stopped by the cafe for a special Bubblefest rootbeer float. Love how serious the kids look while concocting it. Important stuff here.

Before 4 p.m., we made sure to make our way to the upper courtyard for a show by Seattle's famous Bubbleman.

 He has some pretty impressive bubble-making equipment!

I love the looks on the faces in the crowd.

 This netting made for good bubble making. 

Of course, there were a lot of other interesting things going on at Seattle Center this afternoon. 

We heard a little bit of a live concert on the mural stage.

 Meanwhile, at Key Arena and on the grounds around it, the DOTA-2 world championships were underway.

DOTA is Defense of the Ancients, a cooperative, team-based video game. People come from all  over the world to watch and play. The prize pool is in excess of $20 million. Yes, you read that right. The first place team will receive over $9 million. 

The kids enjoyed some splashing in the fountain time, and we made our way over to the shallow pool just north of Key Arena, as well.

All in all, a great August afternoon.

Showtime

"New ideas come into this world somewhat like falling ‪‎meteors‬, with a flash and an explosion."- Henry David Thoreau

HIT THE SHOWERS: The most spectacular meteor shower of the year is expected to occur tonight and, lucky us, the Seattle skies are going to cooperate for once. 

The Perseid Meteor shower peaks around this time each year, as the Earth moves through the dust and debris that NASA describes as "about the size of Grape-Nuts cereal" left over from the Swift-Tuttle Comet, which comes around these parts every 133 years.

Funny that little clusters that size can put on such a show, but they do. As the leftover dust and rocks from the long ago comet burn up in our atmosphere, they make for the streaks of light in the sky. Those are shooting stars, and they're captivating. 

NASA predicts this year's shooting star gallery is expected to be the best in several years since Jupiter's gravity will help tug the debris field closer to our orbit.

That being the case, we'll be stationed on the roofdeck tonight. I'm going to embrace my insomnia and see as many shooting stars as I can!

"Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12," said Bill Cooke with NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA says a typical show has about 80 or so meteors per hour, but this year, "under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour." 

Sign us up. The kids and I hauled cots and inflatable mattresses to the roofdeck earlier today. We'll be sleeping outside, hoping for a big show. 

If you can't do likewise, NASA will be having an online Livestream here both Thursday night and Friday night starting at 7 p.m. PDT.

NASA's Cooke notes that the meteors we'll see this year are from comet flybys that occurred hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years ago. And these particles have "traveled billions of miles before their kamikaze run into Earth's atmosphere," says Cooke. 

STORY TIME: I thought it time for the kids to flex some creative writing muscles today, so we went to the way back machine and revisited a website we used to use all the time - Scholastic's "Story Starters" machine. 

Annabelle chose a fantasy story starter and after spinning she was tasked with writing an eerie story about a mystical spell caster who flies on a magic carpet.

Here's what she came up with ...

Once upon a time, a sorcerer was sitting in his tower. He had gone over every single spell in his books, trying to find something to do. Suddenly he heard a rumbling underneath him. He wondered what was happening, since no one was inside except him. As he slowly descended the stairs, he was greeted with a puff of smoke and fire as he realized his pet dragon had escaped from its cage. As it pursued him back up to the top of the tower, he scrambled to find anything to escape with. He recalled he had learned an animation spell and quickly used it on the nearest objects, trying to find anything that could help him. He hit many books, which promptly flew away by flapping their pages like wings. Than he had an idea. He used a levitation spell and an animation spell on his carpet. He jumped on and told his carpet to fly somewhere very, very far away from the rampaging dragon. The carpet bolted out the window just as he heard the dragon’s flame roasting the first bookshelf.

As he sighed in relief, his carpet landed in front of a castle with towering spires and a dragon-proof roof. He could see the dragon flying his way, and started banging on the door. “Please! Open up!” he screamed, “There is a dragon chasing me!” The door swung open as he was ushered inside by two knights. He told them about the dragon as they marched upstairs to look for it. Now he was alone in this dark castle. The only light was the various small torches that had swiftly gone out as the wind was let in by the trapdoors the knights exited through. He knew it was too dangerous to go up there, so he sat down and relaxed while he could.

Just as he had calmed down, he saw the shadow of something swiftly cross the wall. It seemed like it was much too fast and too small to be a person. He looked around until he saw it- a young dragon had made its way inside. This dragon was much smaller than the other, but they seemed to look alike.

He pondered what the baby dragon was doing there until he saw the chains- it, too, had escaped from somewhere. Suddenly, it struck him. The dragon that he had as a pet must have been looking for its child, which was now standing right in front of him. He knew what he had to do. As he gently removed the chains, he brought the young dragon up to the roof. The knights, attempting to deflect the elder dragon’s flames, yelled at him to stay down. But the sorcerer let the baby dragon go, and as soon as he did so it flew up to the large dragon, which had seized its attack.

The elder dragon took the baby upon its back and made grunting noises which sounded something like “I’m sorry” as it flew away. The sorcerer knew he had done the right thing and left the castle, now knowing you should never, ever try to separate an animal and its baby.

CJ's assignment was a little less, shall we say, taxing. He chose a 'scrambler' or mixed up story starter, and was subsequently instructed to 'write a birthday party invitation for a plaid lawyer who solves crimes. 

So that's what he did ... 

You're invited to Jackson's 30th birthday party! Join us for a picnic and barbeque on Wednesday, April 20, from 3 P.M. to 6 P.M., at 4525 Ellabaily South. The theme of the party is detective stories and crime-fighting, so we thought you would make a great guest. If possible, wear plaid clothes to the party, as Jackson has always loved plaid clothes.

Not long, but he checked all the boxes ...  

Learning Everywhere

TABLETOP FUN: Everywhere we go, we have a big art supplies bag along for the ride. It comes in handy, as Annabelle is always ready to get crafty. In just a few minutes, she churned out a half dozen adorable bookmarks yesterday afternoon. 

We also often have games or science-y magazines in the car. Yesterday, while enjoying ice cream, beverages and the Olympics at a local business, we checked out a recent garage sale find: "The Crazy Scientist 20 Amazing Science Tricks."  It's a set of cards with instructions for science experiments. The metal box the deck comes in says the 'tricks' are for ages 6 to 99 by the box's label. (Sorry, centenarians, you're out of luck, I guess. )

The kids tried out a "Blooming flowers' activity. It's pretty simply, you draw a flower on paper, cut the flower out, fold the petals, and place the paper in water. The petals slowly open up to reveal whatever it was you wrote or drew on your flower. 

 Our blooming flower touts a scientific message!  

The card explained that the reason the flower 'blooms' is because paper is made of wood, and "one of the tree's abilities is to absorb water from the ground and push it up to the top of the tree," and that paper inherits this wicking ability. 

GIMME A BRAKE: This weekend, we made time for some automotive repair and maintenance. That included new shoes (brake shoes, that is), for the Fit.

 I made sure the kids watched at least part of the process. I think it's important to know how something you use every day works. The process prompted a number of good conversations about physics. Teachable moments abound!

Show Time

LIVING LEGEND: Most of our daylight hours on Saturday were dedicated to celebrating the career of Ken Griffey Junior. The top vote-getter ever for Major League Baseball's storied Hall of Fame, Junior is certainly the player of his generation, and arguably the best ever. 

Saturday evening the Mariners were retiring Griffey's jersey. Gametime was 6:10, the ceremony was at 5:30 p.m. 

Hoping to get the super special gameday giveaway (for the first 20,000 fans), a replica of Griffey's Hall of Fame plaque. We were going to head to the stadium at around 1:30 p.m.  By 11 a.m. I was getting antsy and rallied the troops to head there earlier. We were on a bus a few minutes after noon.

And then the wait began on the concrete sidewalk outside the Center Field entrance. ... 

The gates opened at 3:40 p.m. We happily got our plaques and then relaxed until ceremony time. While waiting, we watched the field be prepared.

 Come 5:30, the first out onto the infield were the front office folks.

After Griffey's family was seated, "The Kid" made his way to his seat. He had to come from centerfield, of course. Junior owns centerfield in Seattle. :)

 He was greeted by the evening's emcee, Mariners' announcer Rick Rizzs. 

After Junior took his seat, a number of special guests were announced. None were more special to him than his best friend, former Mariners teammate Jay Buhner. 

 Below, the BFFs hug it out. 

Who would fill the other seats? The Mariners organization had some surprises in store. For instance, how about Seattle sports legends like National Football League Hall of Famers Steve Largent and Cortez Kennedy?

Not to be forgotten were Seattle Super Sonics (RIP) superstars Spencer Haywood and Gary Payton. 

And other Hall of Famers who wore #24 were there for the festivities, including Ken Griffey Sr.'s former teammate Tony Perez, and good ol' Rickey Henderson. He was so much fun to watch playing the game!

 Junior and Rickey share a moment, below.

Everyone took a look at the big screen to see special messages from a few VIPs. One was from the amazing Willie Mays, another #24 for the ages. Mays said he'd tried to call Junior on the day of Griffey's HoF induction and encouraged Jr. to "pick up the phone, cal me.

 Junior didn't waste any time and did just that!

Eventually, it was time for Griffey's speech. 

 It was touching and heartfelt, and the crowd hung on to his every word.

Afterward, the current Mariners players joined Griffey on the field. 

 Their caps were backward, an homage to Junior's famous look.

Once the game finally started, the Angels' Mike Trout took his place in centerfield. Perhaps someday he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

Before the game, we made sure to take the time to stop by the Dave Niehaus statue in right center. Dave loved Junior so much, and would have been so proud of him and his Hall of Fame induction and jersey retirement. 

 We also had time to hang out at our favorite 'secret' table tucked away in an odd spot in the outfield.

Here are the front and back of the coveted boxes we got on Saturday. 

 Look at that beautiful plastic! :) 

Here are CJ's thoughts on the day ... 

For more than 20 years, Ken Griffey Junior has been an iconic player for the Seattle Mariners. This year, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. According to Wikipedia, on January 6, 2016, Ken Griffey Junior was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 99.32 percent of the vote, breaking the record previously held by Tom Seaver's 98.84 percent in 1992. A flag bearing Griffey's number 24 was flown from the Space Needle following the announcement. On July 24, Ken was officially inducted into the Hall of fame, and we watched in in our house.

The Mariners game of August 6, which we visited, was preceded by the formal ceremony for the retirement of Ken's jersey number, 24. In one particular section of the stadium, there was a large sign labeled "ROBINSON 42", because the Mariners retired Jackie Robinson's number, 42, along with every other team in MLB. Next to that sign, there was a large veil, which, while I noticed, I didn't think much of right then. During the ceremony, Other people in the world of sports with the number 24 appeared on the giant MarinersVision screen, congratulating Griffey on his success. Near the end of the ceremony, the large veil was pulled back, revealing the new sign, "GRIFFEY 24", next to the "ROBINSON 42" sign. The GRIFFEY 24 sign is here to stay, and it looks nice next to the ROBINSON 42 sign.

Ken Griffey Jr.’s number retirement ceremony at Safeco Field was a huge moment in Mariners' history. From this day forth, no Mariner other than Ken Griffey Jr. will wear the number 42. The ceremony started with his family coming onto the field and taking seats. Then they introduced other Mariners Hall of Famers and other sports legends who wore the number 24. Other friends of Griffey who couldn’t make it to the stadium greeted him via the big screen. It was very sweet and they even revealed a sign with Griffey’s number over the ‘Pen, to sit beside Jackie Robinson’s number plate. They also gave him a Bronze Glove because he was as great of a defensive player as he was an offensive player. I thought it was wonderful and worth waiting in line. And to top it off, the Mariners won!

     Gary Payton, a.k.a. "The Glove" presents Griffey with a bronze glove. 

FESTIVAL FUN:  Sunday afternoon, we headed to 'town,' also known as "the Village." It's Magnolia proper, the (rather tiny, few blocks/almost all single story business district.

This weekend, the area was part of Seattle's city-wide party, Seafair. Magnolia's version had lots of artisan booths, a number of food trucks, some carnival-type attractions and lots of live music. A couple weeks back, I signed CJ and Annabelle up for the youth talent show. Fortunately, they were OK with that. 

Following, CJ tells us a bit more about Summerfest. ...

For over 60 years, the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce has presented the Magnolia Summerfest. The Magnolia Summerfest is an annual event in the neighborhood of Magnolia where you can go and eat, drink, listen to any band that might be playing there, buy affordable merchandise from the stands, and everything except for that last part.

We arrived at about 1:30 P.M, (Sunday) and we listened to the band that was playing there. At one point, my family decided to look around the numerous stands present at the the event. Some of them were nice, like a station with stenciled vinyl records themed around pop culture, and another with a delicious caramel sauce. 

One special (for us) event at the Summerfest was the youth talent show, where kids would showcase their talent on stage, such as playing the keyboard, guitar, carefully swinging poi-balls around, and even a three-man unicycle act!

My sister and I participated in the talent show, and for our performance, using our acoustic guitars, we played "If I Had $1,000,000" by the Barenaked Ladies. Although the audience seemed to like the song after our performance, I was disappointed with the guitar microphones.

CJ's disappointment was soothed greatly by the fact he and Annabelle won $40 for their performance, placing as the top music act at the show. Nice!

Annabelle had this to say. 

The Magnolia Summer Fest youth talent show was a part of the Magnolia Summer Fest in the Magnolia village. It was comprised of 17 acts and we were the second to last to perform. The talent show included many musical acts and a lot of dancing. By far, my favorite act was the unicycle troupe that was the last act, out on the street. Some of the acts were really great and I thoroughly enjoyed watching and participating in the talent show!  

Here's video of their performance. You'll see what CJ meant by the technical difficulties with the guitar mics. Oh well, they powered through!