Black Friday

ONLY THE BONES REMAIN: Perhaps it's no surprise we woke up to this this morning. Hungry, hungry dinos going to town on the turkey carcass.

OH MIGHTY ISON: And so, it's official. Comet ISON lived to 'tell' about its close brush with the sun.

Check out these cool photos! See the nucleus emerging at about 11 o'clock in the first photo? And it continues on through the next couple of frames.
 
Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/GSFC

Better yet, check out this great video of the comet approaching the sun and then slinging out around it! 

Tonight as I checked in on Twitter, people ares stil arguing about ISON and what, if anything survived. Such drama! But either way, much better than reading about Black Friday!

BLACK FRIDAY: So, SO glad Black Friday will be in the rearview mirror. Good gravy, the ads, Ads, ADS. I found myself feeling semi frantic that I had to buy something - ANYTHING - to get that GREAT deal!!!

Our big black Friday purchases? A Silpat for $12. We wore our other one out with all our fun fondant projects. We also scored a nice Black & Decker toaster oven for $12. But the best deal? We spent $18 at RE Store for some used but perfect for us 4x6 beams to replace some termite destroyed ones we discovered while gutting our basement. Not Big Fun, but a great deal and very necessary.

Birds, Rockets, Comets & Dinos

FEASTING:  No real surprise this morning's Dinovember diorama involved a Thanksgiving dinner. They looked downright civilized, and served as a nice centerpiece for our turkey day meal.

POTTERED: At 1 p.m. our time, the ABC Family channel started a Harry Potter marathon. 

Annabelle has finished all the HP books, and CJ's on the 6th of 7. Of course, the number one thing we were looking for today were sets and props we saw with our own eight eyes while at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London.  

While watching "Prisoners of Azkaban," CJ and Annabelle were quick to point out the night bus, and excitedly recalled they had been inside it during the tour. 

And we saw the wacky, wonky bridge that we all walked across.

Of course, many scenes take place in the Great Hall, where the tour starts.

And it was fun to watch the shots of Hogwarts, knowing that many were filmed using this amazing model.

Taking that tour was a highlight of our UK visit. So glad that we made it out there despite being completely bedraggled from a delayed red eye flight from NYC the night before, and having zero sleep in what seemed like two days.

COLD TURKEY:  Three days ago, SpaceX was scheduled to launch an SES-8 telecommunications satellite designed to provide communications coverage of the South Asia and Asia Pacific regions. However, the launch ended in a scrub with a second or less until scheduled lift off. 

The launch attempt was rescheduled for Thanksgiving (the powers that be wouldn't let them do it any sooner, so as not to interfere with Thanksgiving travelers). 

Today started off on a cheery note, with SpaceX Tweeting: 

"Happy Spacegiving!

Tonight's launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is targeting a 5:39pm ET liftoff - the first Thanksgiving launch from Cape Canaveral since 1959."

A bit after 2:30 I tuned in for the opening of the launch window, and watched the countdown, which was aborted at the last second again. BUMMER!

The launch crew talked it over, reset the clock and the countdown started again. Yippee!!

However, it was aborted again, this time at the 20 second or so mark. DOUBLE BUMMER.

No announcement from SpaceX on what exactly caused today's delays, or when the next attempt will be undertaken.

ZOMBIE COMET:  Comet ISON watchers had been pondering the comet's fate as it was set to whiz perilously close to the sun today. Odds were that it wouldn't emerge on the other side. Just after noon today, I saw this notice from NASA in my Facebook feed. 

"Breaking up is hard to do. Our satellites can't see#comet #ISON after it made its closest approach to the sun today. Like Icarus, it may have flown too close to the sun. We will continue to learn, and we will post updates as they become available."

However, as the day wore on, other people started to weigh in. There was talk of something looking like a tail on the other side. And then talk of a nucleus (the bright object at 11 o'clock in the NASA photo below). So then came talk of a zombie comet. ... 

Comet wonks are all agog. It will be interesting to see what news tomorrow's telescope peering brings.

TURKEY ON HIGH: It probably won't surprise you to learn that the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal today. The menu included irradiated turkey and freeze-dried dressing. Mmmmm! Pass the gravy!

Thanksgiving Eve

GONE FISHIN': Last night the dinos must have been wanting to get some extra protein in their diet, because in the morning the kids discovered them trying to catch a couple of fish.

Naturally, we talked about how hooks on the *outside* of a fish tank was a pretty ineffective way to actually catch something. What's funny, is I think the fish clearly would have taken the bait if they could have. They were keenly interested.

Only four more nights of Dinovember to go!

MIDNIGHT MOVIE: Last night, at 10:30, I discovered "The Wall" had just started on AMC. I could hear the kids were still awake, so I invited them to bring their pillows and blankets and come out to the couches and watch the movie. Annabelle made it until about 12:05. CJ made it until the end, about 12:25. 

Despite that, they were both up raring to go at the usual time this morning. 

MAYFLOWER DRAMA:  This afternoon, I was poking around on Learn360.com, a Web site we have access to through the Shoreline school the kids attend on Wednesdays. I've known about the site for a long time, but never, before today, took the time to take a look.

I decided to browse its Thanksgiving-related offerings. There were many. I decided I was most interested in having the kids watch a documentary, "Desperate Crossing: Untold Story of the Mayflower," a documentary produced by the A&E Television Networks.

Using the writings of William Bradford , commentary from historians and dramatic recreations, the 4-hour program tells of the Separatists' leaving England, traveling first to Holland and then on to the New World in 1621. 

We watched the first 7 minutes with great interest and then ... green screen and horrible noises, but no video. We tried it two more times, same thing each time at the 7 minute mark. BUMMER! 

So then I turned to YouTube and found part of the program there. We watched a total of about a half hour of the program, and would have watched more had there been more to watch. 

We learned lots, including how awful conditions on the Mayflower were, the route the ship took, what the early days of the settlement were like and about the Wampanoag people, natives the newcomers encountered and interacted with. 

The History Channel Web site even has a great study guide to go along with the program:
http://www.history.com/images/media/pdf/1463_Study_Guide_Desp_Cross_nonspread.pdf

We did watch a video that worked on the Learn360 site, it was a video of the picture book "Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message." The Weston Woods video was was narrated by Chief Jake Swamp in both English and Mohawk. The title is also available on BookFlix, for people with access to that (http://bkflix.grolier.com/p/node-33982/bk0030pr) (we have access through Seattle Public Libraries).

SHAKE YOUR BODY: Today, we discovered something called "Deskercise."  (We found it on the Learn360.com site.) Hosted by Slim Goodbody (a guy in a snazzy body suit), each episode includes a short geography lesson, and then a themed exercise session. 

The video we watched today had a Thanksgiving theme. Here are the kids trotting like a turkey. :)

It was themed a little young for them, but they had a good time, and we'll be doing it again. 

MIXING MATH: We spent a LOT of time in the kitchen today, making things for tomorrow's feast.  The kids helped with stuffing, Chex mix and a pair of pumpkin pies.

Cooking is a GREAT way to practice math. Over and over, I posed questions to the kids based on the recipes' ingredients.

SPEAKING OF SATURN: An email from NASA's Cassini program let us know about a special Webinar coming up on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

The one hour program will feature  a panel of Cassini scientists answering students’ questions about Saturn and its moons in a live Ustream webcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. It will be broadcast here: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Questions for the scientists can be e-mailed (by Dec. 3) to scientistforaday@jpl.nasa.gov.

Teachers sending in questions should include their student's first name, grade, school, city, state, and country (if outside the United States), and the student's question, of course. "Cassini Ustream Questions" should go in the subject line of the e-mail.

The notice said they'll try to answer as many questions as they can during the broadcast.  Can't wait!

Funkytown

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES:  This morning, I ordered the kids off the computers and onto another computer, LOL. Specifically, to play "Just Dance 2014" to get a little excercise.

The interface was acting a little wonky from the start - having a hard time locating the kids as the players. We thought we hard it ironed out but after their first challenge, the scored seemed to indicate a problem. As evidenced by the photo above, the orange leather couch with a leopard print Snuggie beat both Annabelle and CJ's dancing scores. Bummer for them, LOL.

IT CONTINUES: Dinovember is in its last week, and last night's adventure had our dinos heading for their version of Disneyland.

YESTERDAY ONCE MORE: Once upon a time, we used to drive all the way to Columbia City once a week so the kids could enjoy a yoga class.

Then, we got spoiled when the class moved to Ballard last year. However, the Ballard class ended last spring, and the kids have been without yoga ever since.

They've asked about it, and their beloved teacher Nicole. But for whatever lame reason, it wasn't until just recently that I realized we need to resume driving down to Columbia City if we have to to go to yoga with Nicole.

The drag about that trip is that when we stopped doing that, it was darn near an hour drive each way, for a trip that should take 30 minutes (sans traffic). If we're going to resume that, we need to do something differently.

I started the reboot today, taking a wonky way that involved all round about surface streets and no highways or freeways. I couldn't believe it when we arrived just a half hour later. Success!!! And so, where there's a will, there's a way.

We were super early, so we happily killed time at Full Tilt in Columbia City. The kids played Jurassic Park pinball, plus Pac Man, Street Fighter III and more.

 It was great fun and they were so SO happy to see Nicole. I think jaunts to Columbia City will be a part of our future.

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?: Star gazers have been all agog waiting for Comet ISON.  I've been reading about it for months/years now, as have my space geek friends, but not a single one of 'em round the globe has managed to see what was supposed to be a show stopper. :/

NASA posted a cool video today of ISON approaching the sun.

Post by National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA.

Hopefully, ISON will survive its near sun encounter and maybe we'll see it on the flipside (although there have already been reports of it breaking up).

LET ME TELL YOU 'BOUT THE: CJ has been on a big 'independent learning' kick the last couple of days. I think he's watched every single BrainPOP ever made. Today, I was  listening to him power through all the ones remotely related to religion, and then next up came all the health ones. We learned about the evils of steroids, drug and alcohol abuse and then he was on to a video about human reproduction. Oh My. 

I listened in, closely, of course, and I have to give the video props for telling it like it is. So now we have that 'health' unit out of the way. Thanks, BrainPOP. 

NO REST FOR THE WEARY: What does an astronaut do when he comes back from space? Apparently play video games. Tonight on his Facebook account, Italian astroaut Luca Parmitano posted video of tests he had to complete the night he arrived in Houston after landing post-ISS for 6-ish months.

Post by Luca Parmitano.

Busy Dinos

DINO ADVENTURES: Dinovember continues here at MPA. The dinos were busy all weekend.

Friday night they covered themselves in fondant and blended in with some "My Little Pony" cookies the kids made.  Saturday night, they settled in for a classic movie, "King Kong vs. Godzilla." Not surprisingly, they were rooting for the big reptile.

Sunday night, they somehow managed to construct a zipline from the top of the pantry to the family room. The kids had fun giving them rides.

MLP MARATHON: As I noted in last Friday's post, Saturday morning brought the season premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on The Hub. The new episode aired at 7 a.m., but a marathon of the first three seasons of the show started at 3 a.m. The kids both said they wanted to get up and watch it, and so I awoke them at the appointed hour.

And then I went back to bed.

I could hear them conversing off and on for the next four hours, though. I think CJ stayed awake for for the whole darn thing, and Annabelle was awake for most of it.

Friday afternoon we spent hours and hours and hours making MLP cookies for the big day.

They turned out pretty cute (though this is a bad cell phone shot of them).

SCRUBBED: We forgot to tune in this afternoon for a SpaceX launch, the first Falcon 9 GEO transfer mission. The rocket is set to deliver the SES-8 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit 80,000 kilometers from Earth, or about 1/4 of the way to the moon, a SpaceX tweet pointed out today.

As 'luck' would have it, turns out we didn't miss a thing by not tuning in today. Too many anomalies, so the launch was a no-go. They're going to try again on Thursday, with the launch window opening at 5:38 p.m. Eastern time.

Guess today's scrub just screwed up a bunch of people's Thanksgiving plans, eh? 

SCHOOLY STUFF: We worked on math (estimating in the millions), social studies (learning about the Eastern and Western Blocs during the Cold War days, and the kids both practiced guitar for a good long while today. 

They also spent a fair amount of time reading The Oatmeal, which they love.

There was a lot of LOLing going on, including when they were reading "How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell." http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Oh, and last night Annabelle finished "The Phantom Tollbooth," which she enjoyed very much. Christian loved the book as a kid. As popular as it was/is, it's hard to believe I've never read it.

We're going to have to track down a copy of the 1970 movie of the same title. Per Wikipedia, it has a 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't think I've ever seen a movie with a perfect rating before. The movie is a blend of live action and animation,  it was produced by Chuck Jones, the guy whose name is on the beloved Bugs Bunny cartoons of my childhood.

Camelot and Canterlot

                                      
SOMBER ANNIVERSARY: The airwaves were full of recollections about President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination 50 years ago today.

I went through a phase decades ago where I read everything I could get my hands on about the assassination. I read one article this week, an interview with one of the ER doctors who treated Kennedy, that brought up an angle I hadn't heard before. It was widely known that JFK had a terrible back, to the point of being debilitating. He often wore a brace - super old school by today's standard - rigid and high waisted.

The doctor contended that had Kennedy not been wearing the brace, he may have survived the assassination attempt, slumping over after having been hit the first time. However, the brace didn't allow him to slump, and the second shot hit him in the head. 

It made as much sense as anything I've seen or read about the shooting, and explains the video I've seen over and over and over of Kennedy's odd, upright position after the first bullet. 

I hate thinking about it, and I hate writing about it even more. Watching footage of the aftermath and his memorial is overwhelming. And it all went down before I was even born. 

I named a son after JFK. Countless sons and daughters out there are, likewise, named.

Today, CJ and Annabelle watched a BrainPOP video today about JFK. 

Afterward, they each continued to explore the site, watching educational videos and playing games. 

DEXTEROUS DINOS: Last night, the Dinos got ahold of a deck of cards and started building. 

Annabelle was pretty amazed as she approached, 'fresh' from slumber.

After a bit, the kids took the dinos' work down, and I challenged them to build their own house o' cards.

While doing so, they each gained a new appreciation for what the dinos had gone through the night before.

CJ took to it a little more quickly than Annabelle.

After many failed attempts, she was happy to get four cards up in ANY configuration and called it good.

The night before, the dinos set an example of good oral hygiene.

PONY PRELUDE: Tomorrow is The Day. My Little Pony's Season Four premiere. The adventures in Canterlot continue!

The first episode is on at 7 a.m., and the kids are all on fire about that. 

CJ is also on fire about the marathon that precedes it, starting at 3 a.m. our time. So, we've busted out the sleeping bags and I'm gonna drag them out of bed at 3 a.m so they can at least pretend they watched it all. 

We'll see how it goes ... 

The Eye Has It

PONYFECTION:  Recently, I caught Annabelle studying a couple of drawings of hers side-by-side. She was marveling at how she's progressed in the art of drawing ponies. You can definitely tell the before and after in the picture above.

Speaking of ponies, the new season of "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic" premieres this Saturday (Nov. 23) at 7 a.m. our time. We'll be watching, of course.


Prior to the season premiere, there's a MLP marathon. It starts at 3 a.m. I don't think we'll be up for that. ;)

PRETTY IN PINK:  Annabelle made a cartoon a couple days ago. ...

The text is small in this format. The first panel says MOST MAJOR TOY COMPANIES on top. The characters are saying: "We need another product, STAT!" and the other thinks, "Hmmmm."
The second character then says, "I got it!" ... We take the regular, color it pink, and say it's for girls!"

"It's perfect!" the first one declares.

It was made in response to this great ad for not-your-normal girls' toys, GoldieBlox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpe3Up9T_g

SAVE THE DATE: Exciting news in the inbox today. An email from Scholastic let us know they have an event planned featuring authors Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants), two of CJ and Annabelle's favorites on one stage. 

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014 at 10 a.m. PST, the authors will share a "Story Smashup." Students are invited to write an ending for the story.

You can learn more and sign up on line here: http://www.scholastic.com/kpwebcast/?eml=TRADE/e/20131121///PilkeyKinneyWebcast//////&ym_MID=1508572&ym_rid=5795565

ABBREVIATED: This post is going to be short, because it's actually causing me significant pain to write it. Something wretched has happened to my right eye. It's the color of Mars and burns like Mercury. Painful, and looking at light/a computer screen makes it worse. It started on Tuesday. I suppose if it's not markedly better tomorrow, I'm going to have to go to the doctor. Boo.