Annabelle, building a carbon dioxide molecule at the Pacific Science Center

COME ON DOWN!: This afternoon we had to make a trip to the Pacific Science Center to return one of Annabelle's birthday gifts - a flying, remote controlled clown fish (everyone needs one of those, don't they)? Problem with ours was it was defective. Christian took it to the store to get $4 worth of helium put in it and the thing immediately started leaking. Not cool - and super disappointing for the birthday girl.

So today we set out to right a wrong. The people working the PSC store were very nice about the return, which I appreciate.

Of course, since we were at the Science Center, we had to do more than just browse the gift shop. We ended up spending two full hours there checking out exhibits. There were some new attractions since our last time through, less than a month ago, and the kids love revisiting old favorites.

We also were on site for the 3 p.m. live science show, which is always wildly entertaining. Today's theme was bipedalism (a game show favorite, no doubt). The "lecture" was presented like a game show that was a hybrid of "Wheel of Fortune," "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", "Deal or No Deal." and even some "Survivor" built in.

The game show host-slash-scientist split the crowd in half, a red team and a yellow team. Bee and I were Team Yellow, CJ was Red. For each of the first two rounds, the host gave a short, fact-filled talk about bipedalism and Lucy. He then chose one person from each side of the room to represent the team, and asked them questions. The audience could help their representative by shouting out the answer.

Annabelle was selected as our representative for Round 2 and she did us proud. She answered each of her questions correctly, including smartly ignoring most of the Yellow team's audience screaming at her that Lucy was found in Kenya. She knew it was Ethiopia. :) After Annabelle's turn we had come from behind and were leading the contest.

Then it was time for the Sudden Death round. A curly haired boy was now representing our team and we got to go first since we were in the lead. The host asked, "What's does Lucy's name mean in the language of the Dikika (the area where Lucy was found)?"

From our side of the room- CRICKETS. I had forgotten and no one else had anything to contribute, either - until Annabelle piped up with "You are wonderful."

I thought it ironic when a woman behind me leaned forward and asked Annabelle, "Are you SURE?" I mean, like ANYONE else had any friggin CLUE what the right answer was. Undaunted, Annabelle answered, "Yes. I'm sure. 'You are wonderful.' " And so curly headed boy submitted 'our' answer and Team Yellow rode Annabelle's back (well, brain) to a sweet, sweet victory.

After the game show, the kids were nowhere near ready to leave the science center. CJ, especially, wanted to hang around. So, at his urging, we went and checked out the bug exhibit and the butterfly sanctuary.

We also spent some time at the salt water tidepool, where CJ asked the attendant why the hermit crabs were kept in their own fenced in area instead of out and about with all the other creatures. The man told CJ it was because the urchins liked the taste of crab meat. :)

This morning, while the kids struggled on a long, hard, comprehensive math review assignment (5 pages covering everything from fractions to measurements to multiplication, money and division), I painted cookies. I had more fun than them.

THE DOCTOR IS IN: For her birthday, Annabelle received a doctor's kit (thanks G&G!). CJ was brave enough to let Annabelle give him a brief physical this morning. He passed with flying colors.

MEANWHILE, OVER IN EUROPE: We started our day today by watching a rocket launch. This time it wasn't a NASA or Russian launch, but a European Space Agency event. The launch was historic because it marked the first time a Soyuz rocket has been launched in French Guiana Space Centre. You can watch a replay if you check out this story on BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15372540

photo: German Aerospace Center

It was fun to hear a countdown to liftoff in French for our first time!

Road Warriors

IN THE HOOD: It's definitely getting colder now, and today the kids both had hooded sweatshirts on while they were doing their math and language arts work here at home. What I didn't understand was why they both had their hoods ON while doing their work. Not like it was raining or even frigid in the house.

Maybe the hoods represented their thinking caps. ;)

MOTORING: We spent more time in the car today than I would have liked. Today then have two classes in Shoreline (about a half hour to the north), and rather than stay up there and kill time between them (10:30 to 2 p.m.), we came home.

We did manage to get some books read during the commute, which was good. The kids both read "The Seven Sneezes," a silly story and a classic Golden Book recently reprinted. They also read  "My Mommy Hung the Moon," which CJ felt was a bit over the top. "Does the kid think his mom is a goddess? That's ridiculous!" he declared. The best book of the bunch was, without a doubt, "A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass."

As you might expect, the book is a biography of the man who became an orator, writer, publisher, and leader in the abolitionist movement in the 19th century after escaping the bonds of slavery. We had a read-along CD and the well researched and written book took about 20 minutes to listen to - definitely not your average children's picture book.

I've learned author David A. Adler has written a number of "Picture Book Biographies." I hope we're able to find more of them at the library.  

While at school today, the kids each took Accelerated Reader comprehension tests on the three books they read in the car. They aced them all.

MS. BOSSY COW: In LEGO class today, the kids each busily worked on their kits. When I came into the room at the end of class, CJ had just put finishing touches on a helicopter. I pointed out to him that it was yellow, just like the one he rode on several months ago. 

Annabelle had just finished up a dog and some kind of boxy looking shrub. During the quarter, each student has a photo of each of their finished builds taken. I am mortified to report that while I was standing there, Annabelle belted out (repeatedly), "I need a picture of this! I need a picture of this! I need a picture of this!" Loudly and, frankly, rudely. It was a demand, not a request. And then when the instructor came over with the camera Annabelle said, "Oh wait, I think I already had a picture taken."

Annabelle's bossiness had me steaming and it cost her some computer time this afternoon and evening. Believe you me, we went over classroom etiquette and I reminded them both that teachers do help students, but they're certainly not their servants and they should never be ordered around. Egad, I cringe just thinking about Annabelle's behavior today. 

POWERED UP: We're still studying up on the Mars Curiosity rover. Today, we watched a video that explained how the rover will be powered during its travels around the Red Planet.

Before watching the video, I asked CJ and Annabelle if they though that the rocket was carrying a bunch of gasoline for the rover to use on Mars. They both laughed and said "no." Then I asked them how they thought the rover would get its power. They were both quick to guess solar panels. It was a good guess, as that's how NASA's last two Martian rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were powered. However, as the video's narrator Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory, explained, solar panels weren't quite up to snuff for Curiosity. The panels used on the last two missions provided just barely enough power for those relatively small rovers. Curiosity is several times larger and significantly heavier, requiring more power. Also, scientists have learned that the solar panels have a tendency to become covered in Martian dust, which decreases their efficiency, and that the Martian winter is long and not sunny enough to provide a good charge. That being the case, Curiosity will be using MMRT - a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric generator.  It's not new technology - MMRT has been used before by NASA for space traveling probes, as well as on the moon during the Apollo missions.

The MMRT contains a specially produced form of plutonium dioxide. The decay of the radio isotope gives off heat which is turned into energy by the generator's thermocouples. If you want to learn more from someone who does a MUCH better job describing it, check this video out: 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1028

Pop! Goes the Cake

AND IT CONTINUES: I do believe this was day 3 of celebrating Annabelle's 7th birthday. Today's celebration took the form of lil round balls of cake on a stick, also known as cake pops.

Interesting creations, cake pops are made by baking a cake, letting it cool, crumbling it up, mixing frosting into the cake crumbs until it's like Play-Doh, then rolling that doughy mixture into whatever shape, freezing 'em, embedding sticks in them (using melted candy coating to help them stay), letting them dry/freezing them again and then dipping the whole dealio into melted candy coating. It's a lot of steps and a lot can go wrong.

We managed to produce a few dozen happy faces, eye balls and Kirbys of Nintendo fame.

The timing worked out nicely for taking the cake pops in, as today was "pizza Wednesday" at the kids' school. Once a month, some super nice volunteers bring in some Costco pizza to those who have pre-ordered it. And so, Annabelle enjoyed her pizza in a boat in the middle of the library today. Good times. :)

SPOTTY BLOGGER: I noticed this evening that there's something wrong with Blogger. There are lots of missing photos from past posts. That's rather disconcerting. Who knows where/why they went and when/if they'll be back. : /

BOB & WEAVE: This morning we did some science class homework. The kids continue their unit on fabrics and we've been studying about how fabrics compare to one another, including hwo tightly they're woven.

By trying to deconstruct some swatches they'd been given, they found that gauze was super easy to pull apart, while felt was nearly indestructible.

This afternoon in class, the kids got to use lengths of yard to make their own weaves.

PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER: I saw something on the playground today that startled me. Something I haven't seen in, I do believe, 30 plus years. A real live grasshopper.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (a/k/a my childhood), I used to see dozens of grasshoppers daily. And though I lived in the country on acreage in my 20s and 30s, I saw nary a grasshopper. Dunno why. But today one came hopping across my path on the blacktop and I called the kids over like I'd found an eight leaf clover. Seriously, they've seen more bald friggin' eagles than they've seen grasshoppers in their lives. (In fact, I do believe this was their first grasshopper, while they've seen dozens of bald eagles.)

They happily hopped around behind the critter for a couple of minutes until it shook us.

She's Seven

FREEBEE: Happy birthday to Annabelle! We took advantage of Burger King's free meal for a birthday kid program today. I think we (well, they) eat at Burger King twice a year - once on CJ's birthday and once on Annabelle's birthday.

THE FALLING LEAVES: It's that time of the year - leaves are starting to pile up on our stairs and in our yard. At my request, CJ took a broom to our front steps today. His technique was sorely lacking, but I appreciate his willingness to pitch in to help and the fact that he stuck with it until the job was done.

WHEELIES: We stopped by Value Village this afternoon to round up some Halloween costume-related items. While there, I spied an old GT skateboard just like the one the kids' Aunt Renee (and tens of thousands of others) had circa 1975. Of course we had to buy it. Annabelle was eager to try it and we discussed different ways to stand, how to steer and so on. She found it a lot harder to navigate than her beloved scooter.

CJ didn't give it a go at all. Too sketchy for him, apparently.

U-DISTRICT:  CJ had his third session of acting class today. He reports it "awesome," once again. He was a little scant with the details about what they actually did in class, but he enjoyed it, so I'm happy. :) While he was doing his thing, Annabelle and I checked out a park a few blocks to the north.

Cowen Park is 8.4 acres in size and there's plenty to like, including grassy expanses, trails through a ravine, and a really nice playground. 

The first thing we checked out was an enormous sundial next to the playground. It's very cool (if not the most accurate timepiece).   

There was also a zipline that lived up to its name, and the best part of the park trip was the fact that Annabelle's BFF from yoga met us there today. We hadn't seen her in weeks.

WORK IT: Our school work today included math. We're working on a chapter with analog time telling, which sounds simple at first but it's not just reading a clock, it's doing math like, "7:45 is how much later than 5:15?" The kids each did some free reading and we completed a pumpkin-themed EdHelper.com packet I'd put together for them. For that assignment, the last question was, 'If you were to create a new variety of pumpkin, what would you call it? Explain what your new variety of pumpkin looks like, including size, shape, color, as well as texture of the shell."

CJ wrote, "My pumpkin is called Wumbo the Jumbo. You can tell from its name that it is big. This pumpkin can come in absolutely any random shape. It's most likeliey that you will find it with a white color. Somehow it feels itchy."

Annabelle wrote, "I would call it Small Squash. It would be smaller then a Casper pumpkin, and would be yellow, as well as hard."

TONIGHT: The birthday girl opened several really nice presents from family and friends. She was very happy.  

I Just Wanna Fly

AIRBORNE: A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to check out iFLy - an indoor wind tunnel - as part of a work assignment I had. When we did our recon mission, Christian was the only one flying and the kids were super disappointed that they didn't get into the fun. We promised them that we'd be back and today was the day!

When we arrived we were rather mortified to learn they had our reservation screwed up. When we checked in the clerk at the desk said she had us down for a reservation for YESTERDAY at 12:00. Pretty amazing (actually IMPOSSIBLE) since Christian wasn't home until 2 p..m. yesterday and he's the one who made the reservation using their online software which really shouldn't make reservations for a time frame that has already passed. Fortunately, the place isn't exactly hopping on a Monday morning, so they were able to fit us in.

The kids went through the mandatory training class and then they suited up.
Here's Annabelle's second flight in the wind tunnel. She caught some good air on her second go -round. During her first flight she was kicking a lot more, as if she were trying to swim in the air, which is probably a pretty natural reaction.


CJ gave it a go, too. He was a natural - he did a great job of keeping his head up.

Here he is catching some big air!

The kids had a blast and, of course, want to go back.

On our way home we stopped downtown at the Smith Tower, one of the world's first skyscrapers. We'd never been there before and planned to use some Observation Deck tickets we bought as a Groupon or some such deal awhile back. Imagine our surprise when, after paying for 90 minutes of parking, we arrived to find an a-frame sign out front, telling us the observation deck was closed for a private event. Hmph.

That plan dashed, we drove to the waterfront where the kids enjoyed a little arcade action as well as a whirl on the merry-go-round.

PENCIL MEET PAPER: We did do some math and reading today, too. And the kids each wrote up a review of their iFLY experience.

CJ wrote: CJ's trip to Ifly by CJ - It was Annabelle's 7th birthday. My mom wanted to go to ifly with Annabelle, dad and I. The ride to iFly took about 10-15 minutes. When we got to ifly, we where (sic) so excited! When it was over I said that it was awsome (sic)! It was fun while it lasted."

Annabelle, of course, had to partially illustrate her review.

The Color Purple

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

PLAY DAY: This morning, CJ and Annabelle had the pleasure of attending "Harold and the Purple Crayon" at the Seattle Children's Theatre. Before they went, however, I had them watch the Weston Woods animated version of the book. CJ recalled that he watched it as a kindergartener at John Hay.

Their big bro Kennedy took the kids to the show. I dropped them at the curb right when doors opened and they managed to get front-and-center seats.

The play is based on the 1955 book of the same name. According to SCT's Web site, "Anything is possible with a crayon and a big imagination. With a burst of inspiration, Harold launches a magical exploration and simply draws where he wants to go."

CeeJ and Bee both liked the play. CJ said, "It was a pretty good play, but I like to tell you the weirdest part of the movie was when the porcupine and the moose were on the stage. They were talking French until Harold gave them the pie. They ate it and they loved it. In fact, so much that the porcupine kept asking him how does he make it. But Harold never answered. But he kept asking and asking and asking."

Annabelle reports, "The person who played Harold in the play was actually the person that played the mouse in "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

Honestly, of the three, I think Kennedy was most jazzed about the production. It's the first time he's seen a SCT play, and he was really impressed by the great props and the quality of the acting. I'm glad he was able to take the kids. :)

SCARY STORIES: We popped into the Ballard branch of Seattle Public Libraries today. The kids took a few minutes to check out their nicely done "Spooky Stories" display. CJ, especially, dug all the creepy covers on the books and kept going back to it.

CUT UPS: This afternoon we set out for the fabric store in search of supplies for Annabelle's Halloween costume. She has decided to be Nyan Cat (also known as Pop Tart Cat). In case you haven't heard of Nyan Cat, it's an Internet meme created by prguitarman. The (gray) cat is an animated GIF with a cherry Pop Tart body. Nyan Cat flies through space with a rainbow trailing him/her/it. So, to pull it off we had to find a pattern for a costume of a cat, some gray fuzzy fabric, and fabric Pop Tart makings.

We perused the pattern books first. I encouraged CJ to try to find some inspiration as we looked, since he still hasn't hit upon a costume, and the clock is ticking (as he might be want to point out). Finding a cat pattern wasn't too terribly hard and it was on sale for 99 cents, which was nice.

CJ was not inspired by anything he saw, which doesn't surprise me. At one point I stopped on a page, pointed to a costume of a guy in sandals and a robe and (sarcastically) said, "How about this?"

CJ looked at me like I was insane and announced loudly, "NO WAY I am going to be JESUS for Halloween." Here's the look on his face just seconds after his proclamation.

Well OK then!

He was still laughing/ranting about it after dinner tonight.

TWO'S A CROWD: At most times on any given day, we have at least three computers on at all times, and often four. But I can't tell you how many times a day the kids are crowded in front of the same screen, watching something together. I think it's nice, actually. There's often a lot of lot of give and take and cooperative learning going on in those situations.

RED ROVER: You can be sure we will be learning about the Mars Curiosity Rover every day between now and when I leave for the NASA Tweetup to watch it launch.

Today, we watched a couple of videos about Curiosity (named by a sixth grade student, in case you were curious), including a cool one in sort of a movie trailer tone. It's just so amazing to think of a rocket leaving earth, approaching Mars, a capsule breaking off from the rocket, and then ... wait, I don't want to ruin the movie for you.

Mars Minded

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
THE MORNING AFTER: I'm dragging today. Stayed up way too late last night and woke up too early and couldn't go back to sleep. I had to come downstairs and read my email from NASA again, to make sure the news about getting accepted for the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover) Tweetup (that's a mouthful!) was true. Turns out I didn't dream it. Nice. :)

In case you were wondering, per NASA's Web site, in the photo above (taken on June 3 during testing inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.): "The turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm holds five devices. On the left (downhill) edge of the turret in this view is the percussive drill for collecting powdered samples from rock interiors. On the edge toward the camera is a brush device named Dust Removal Tool. Farther to the right is the Mars Hand Lens Imager. Not visible in this view are the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and a multi-purpose device named Collection and Handling for In-situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA), which includes a soil scoop and a set of chambers and labyrinths for sieving, sorting and portioning samples of rock powder or soil for delivery to analytical instruments."

Super cool!

UP NORTH: Thursday is our long out-and-about day, starting with music class in the morning. As we pulled up to the school, the kids asked if we were early. I told them class didn't start for about 5 more minutes. They both said, "Good!" and told me they wanted to go to class early so they could play with the musical instruments there. I liked hearing that - and I also love that the kids are allowed a chance to have some free time to explore and play with the instruments. That wasn't usually the case in the former music class.

MALL RATS: After music, we had just over three hours to kill. The kids did some math online at the library. (They love CoolMath-Games.com, and so do I.) They also got some vitamin D outside on the playground. But the highlight of their day was a trip to (gasp/gag) THE MALL. Specifically, Alderwood Mall, in Lynnwood. We went there because they both practically begged to go. I was going to say, "I don't know why," but I do know why. It's because we never go to malls because, well, I can't stand them. (There's a reason I do almost all my shopping online). Our first stop was the food court, where they each got an incredibly greasy and overpriced piece of pizza from Sbarro. They loved it.

And then we did some obligatory mall strolling, stopping only in two stores - Spencer's and Game Stop. We bought nothing. The kids also checked out a Pokemon themed kiosk.

It had a couple of touch-screen games, which they enjoyed. All the while I'm just ITCHING to get out of the place. And so, our entire mall experience lasted about 30 minutes. That got us back to the library in plenty of time for me to watch and listen to the NASA Tweetup that took place today in Washington D.C. with two of the STS-135 crew members. I have to admit, it's kind of funny watching people in the audience typing on laptops and texting on phones while the astronauts are talking. In most instances, I think that would be considered poor form, but at a Tweetup, well, it comes with the territory.

LEFTOVERS: Forgot to include this earlier in the week ... I'm thinking perhaps CJ has been hanging out too much with me in the kitchen and/or watching too many Food Network challenges. On Sunday night, teams were crafting alien themed cakes and CJ was alarmed at their lack of progress. "The clock is ticking guys, ding ding!" He yelled at the TV.