Tacoma Trip

HOLD THAT TIGER: Monday we spent four busy hours at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, WA. 

It's a huge place with so much to see and do. While you're there you can't help but be thinking about your next trip, so you can see some more.

We spent over a half hour watching a Sumatran tiger and her three year-old cubs.

We listened to a tiger trainer talk about the animals, both general info about the species and specifics about the four tigers we were witnessing. 

We were lucky to get to see them enjoy an afternoon treat of some blood Popsicles. 

 Check out the golden eyes on this gorgeous creature.

 So striking!

We also got to spend some time with a pair of male polar bears, Boris and Blizzard.

Boris, pictured above, was actually rescued from a traveling Mexican circus several years ago. The zoo keeper said he was mistreated and ill. Now, he's nearly 30 years old and relatively healthy.

Blizzard, below, weighs over 1,000 pounds.

 He looks like he's about to sneeze here ...

Not all of the animals were super exotic, but they were all interesting.

For instance, we got to see a beaver up close. 

 And the kids fed some goats.

They also fed some Budgies, better known to most Americans as parakeets.

The attraction also has an amazing aquarium.

It's home to a variety of fascinating jellyfish, including this egg yolk variety ...

 and this showy, glowy one.

There were sharks of all shapes and sizes, and hundreds of different fish. 

This fishy seemed to insist I take its photo.

The kids got to pet stingrays ...

and gently poke sea cucumbers.

 We got a close look at some plankton.

And we saw some coral that looked like mac-n-cheese (next to a wild looking starfish!).

We saw animals roaming grassy hillsides ...

and an enormous walrus wallowing in the water.

We were charmed by some otters.

We felt sorry for this "forever alone" white-cheeked gibbon ... 

and were thoroughly entertained by this clouded leopard cub and its three siblings.

CJ even got to take a spin on a pig.

The day's biggest laugh came when CJ mistook this critter for a dead squirrel. 

Here's what the kids had to say about it, Annabelle's up first.

On September 21, I went to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Portland. The first exhibit I went to at the zoo was the aquarium, where they had a new jellyfish exhibit. My favorite jellyfish from that exhibit was the blubber jellyfish, because of the way their tentacles looked. At the aquarium we also saw sharks, halibut, flounder, stingrays, an octopus, and other marine life. Next, we went to the Asian forest sanctuary, where we saw a demonstration with a Sumatran tiger and cubs, where they set out “popsicles” (blood diluted in water, and then frozen) for them to eat. We also saw an elephant and a siamang among other things. We briefly went down to the main stage to see an animal show that included a clouded leopard, a parrot, and of all things, a dog. Next, we went to the rocky shores on our way to the polar bear habitat, where we saw walruses, sea otters, and seals. When we got to the arctic tundra, we saw arctic foxes and a presentation about the local polar bears- Glacier, Blizzard, and Boris. They were currently storing up fat for the winter as a natural part of their yearly cycle, and thus were a little chubby. The woman giving the presentation said that polar bears are losing more and more ice because of global warming, and encouraged us to not idle our car if we must wait more than 30 seconds, because idling releases unnecessary carbon, (a greenhouse gas) into the air. The last place we visited was the kid’s play area, where they had animals like meerkats and wallabies along with a playground. We also got to touch a giant African millipede, which felt surprisingly rubbery. And the very end of the kid’s area, they had goats you could feed as well. Overall, the trip was fun and I look forward to going to Point Defiance Zoo again.

 And here's CJ's take:

On September 21st, 2015, we went to Tacoma to visit Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, a fun area with all sorts of animals on display. At PDZ, one of the first areas we went to was the aquarium. PDZ's aquarium featured a large tank featuring multiple fish and shark species, which you could look at from above and from the side. The tank also had two split pieces of a fake shipwreck in there, which would be a common feature in Puget Sound. Eventually, we saw aquarium employees feeding the sharks in the tank. Later, in the aquarium (in a different, much smaller tank), we were given the opportunity to see and touch on the sides of certain rays.

Later, we went to a section of the zoo known as the Asian Forest Sanctuary, where you could see various different Asian animals, including siamangs and two different subspecies of Panthera tigris. In the Asian Forest Sanctuary, we saw one lone Malayan tiger, looking at the passerby from its cliff. It probably thinks "Lunch" any time it sees a human through its glass. Later, in the Asian Forest Sanctuary, we saw a presentation about a Sumatran tiger mother, and her three cubs (Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, even more threatened than Malayan tigers). They fed the mother and her cubs "blood popsicles," which are frozen treats made from diluted blood.

Lastly, there was this small, but fun part of the zoo called "Budgie Buddies." In Budgie Buddies, you could purchase a stick with seeds on it, and bring the stick into a special room with several budgies, which are brightly colored Australian birds. Although it takes a little bit, a budgie eventually came to my stick and started eating the seeds. At Budgie Buddies, I learned that budgies are very aggressive, as the bird that was currently eating the seeds on my stick would often get pushed off by another budgie.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit at Point Defiance Zoo, and hope to go there again.

Fun and Games

SO GROSS:  On Saturday, we headed to Pacific Science Center for the chance to see the special exhibit "Grossology," as well as meet Sylvia Branzei, the creator of the popular body-function-centric Grossolgy books and more of the same name. 

Above, CJ and Annabelle work together to make this big guy belch.  Wonder if that's a can of Mountain Dew CJ's standing by!

We entered the exhibit through this wide open mouth.

 Here, CJ takes skin crawling quite literally. 

Naturally, the display showing the mechanical process behind barfing was a big hit.

 CJ took advantage of the opportunity to craw through an ear tube.

 There was a neat-o pinball machine that was all about how gas is formed in our bodies.

 Talk about a toothy grin on the pig atop the pinball machine!

After we toured the exhibit, we were lucky enough to get to meet "Her Grossness" who was there for a special lecture for which I scored tickets.

We got there early and sat in the front row. CJ was lucky enough to be called up to assist with the first experiment, making edible barf. (All together now ... Ewwwwwwwwww!)

 Here he is, taking a bow after his successful assistant gig.

And here's what the end result looked like. ...

After the lecture, we bought one of Branzie's Grossology books, and had the author sign it!

In other PSC news, I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit more about the Grossology experience. 

On September  19, I went to a presentation at the Pacific Science Ccenter about “Grossology”, a best-selling book by Sylvia Branzei. Before the presentation, we went through the exhibit briefly. It included a lot of facts about “gross” things. It also included a lot of interactive things such as a mechanism you could use to simulate vomiting (which used colored water, a pump, and a tube representing and esophagus). During the presentation, We learned how to make fake edible barf (using Jell-O, candied fruit pieces, and other things), fake wounds (using petroleum jelly, food coloring, parchment paper, and cocoa powder), and more facts about gross things like that. Did you know that cows eat grass, then throw it up later to fully chew it? This is so they can make a quick getaway if a predator interrupts them while they’re feeding. The presentation was interesting and I’d like to learn more. I would suggest both the exhibit and presentation to anyone who doesn’t mind talking about the “gross” parts of life.

In other Pacific Science Center news, when we arrived on Saturday, we were happily surprised to see the high ride bike was still open.  I guess it *is* still technically summer!

Annabelle is happy she's tall enough to ride it this year. 

 At this point, CJ is a grizzled old veteran of the ride. 

We were happy to see this informational sign alongside the attraction, explaining the laws of physics behind it.

GAME ON: Sunday, we spent part of our day at the Living Computer Museum, which was host to the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo. 

Here's a short recap of the event from CJ. 

On September 20th, 2015, we went to the annual Seattle Retro Gaming Expo in the Living Computer Museum, a frequent location we visit. The primary theme of the expo was retro video games, which usually means games made prior to the sixth generation of consoles, which included the GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2, and Dreamcast.

At SRGE, there were thousands of different games, including these things known as "reproduction carts". Reproduction carts are cartridges with a customized ROM on them, usually a rom hack of a game made available on the internet. One particularly interesting game was Steel Battalion for the Xbox, which had several large controllers and took up a lot of space.

There was also a station where you could rent a game from the person running the stand, and bring it into one of the two rooms with multiple consoles in them to play it. Lastly, there was a marketplace, where you could buy retro games and bring them home.

Overall, I had a good time at SRGE 2015.

Notes from a Friday

FLASHBACK:  Two years ago today, we were in London, checking out Buckingham Palace, riding the Eye, and gazing upon Big Ben. That was such a wonderful trip!

A couple of days ago I saw a photo of Big Ben used in an Internet meme in association with that ridiculous case of the 14-year-old in Texas being arrested for building a clock and taking it to school.  Inexplicably, Ahmed Mohamed's knowledge and creativity resulted in him being hauled away from the school in handcuffs (wearing his NASA t-shirt, by the way). What a fantastic way to encourage a young man to build and invent ... not!

BOOK IT!:  Imagine the kids' delight a couple of days ago when an envelope showed up in our mailbox containing coupons for free Personal Pan Pizzas (R) from Pizza Hut for them! There's a catch, though: They have to read books. Talk about a painless 'catch'!

The coupons are compliments of the BOOK IT! program. The program started in 1984, and I first heard about it when Rick and Ken (now nearly 30 and 28) got the coupons from their kindergarten teachers way back when. 

On the BOOK IT! web site (www.bookitprogram.com), you can set reading goals, track reading, monitor progress, and more. Currently, there are 14 million students in 630,000 classrooms in 6,300 locations enrolled in the program. 

The materials we received from BOOK IT! even included a link to download some free books on Kindle! (www.amazon.com/PIZZAHUTBOOKIT). Sweet!

BEATLES BABY: We started our morning by listening to a live in-studio performance by Caspar Babypants (rocker Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States of America). He's just released a second album of Beatles' covers, and though Caspar is supposedly music for kids, I suspect people of all ages would love his poppy tunes!

We absolutely love his original songs, and have seen him in concert multiple times.  Annabelle was singing this Caspar song yesterday, when we went for a walk. 

WE'VE GOT ISSUES:  The kids started back to school this week, albeit a super duper alternative school. They'll be there for two hours on two days a week (a total of four hours). Annabelle has two art classes, CJ has drama, and they both are enrolled in a social issues class (examining world problems). 

For the first trimester, the social issues class will be focused on the topic of hunger, both locally and around the globe. I was a big fan of these three goals, listed on the white board during the first day of class. ...

For homework, they had to choose a quote (from a list provided) and write a couple of sentences about it. CJ chose a quote by Mother Teresa, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."  In response, CJ wrote, "Although it is difficult for one person to change the world, they could certainly inspire others to do so. Inspiring others to do great things for the world is a very good thing to do. I hope to be able to inspire others in the future."

Annabelle chose: "The future depends on what we do in the present," a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. In response, she wrote, "The future won't write itself, so we need to do everything we can to shape it. Children like us today are the best to do this, because we will live to see what has come of our efforts.  I would like to try and make an effort to stop hunger, starting here in Seattle."

RANDOM:  Annabelle spends hours every day drawing. I post a tiny fraction of her work in the blog. Here's one from a couple days ago - Cthulhu apparently plotting to blow up the Earth. How nice. :)  

In case you're wondering, Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft and first introduced in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu" first published in a pulp magazine back in 1928.