It's a Geyser and More at Engineers Day!

Here we go!



Our trip yesterday to The Museum of Life and Science in Durham for Engineers Day couldn't have been better! We got there around 10 and left around 5 and just didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted to do.

Here are the kids standing by the rocket on our way in. I just loved the poses Madi was giving me and the monster faces Joey was trying to make.



IBM and it's team of volunteers did a great job as the event partner again this year hosting a hands-on exploration activities. Favorites of the kids were dropping an egg all wrapped up in recyclables and trying not to break it, taking apart a computer keyboard and mouse, racing the remote control rover bots, using 10 gumdrops and toothpicks to see who could build the tallest tower, and making boats and seeing whose could withstand the most pennies on top. Fun stuff!








Another one of the highlights of our day was watching Mentos geysers. Here Mentos Man has set off a geyser putting 11 Mentos into a Diet Coke.


Have you ever seen this? It's a great way to entertain the kids. Just make sure you have several bottles of diet soda and tubes of Mentos because once is just not enough. The Museum sells a kit in the gift shop, and you can get a similar one on Amazon.

Anyway, we watched 2 geysers, and the first time I was behind the kids and just got the geyser then I thought how cool to get the geyser and the kids in the same shot. Let's just say I am pleased with the expressions I got!

This video is worth watching if you enjoy music. I didn't quite understand the technology, but the cello is connected to the computer and is recognizing harmonics and creating a whole orchestra of sound on the go as the gentleman plays. So beautiful sounding I thought.

We ride the train almost every time, and it continues to be a thrill!





The kids aglow!





You can check out all of the Engineers Day pics on Picasa here.

We'll be back for Heroes, Villains and Special Effects on 9/11 AND 9/12.

Bubbles Galore at the Bubble Blitz

The boys and I headed to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today for their Bubble Blitz event. As you'd expect, there were all kinds of bubble opportunities. The boys got to decorate a card with bubble wrap stamps, make bubbling bath fizzers for the tub (we'll try it tomorrow), make all kinds of big bubbles, and even learn a short science lesson about Cartesian Divers. There were lots of delighted children throughout the museum grounds blowing touchable bubbles that were given away to members. I enjoyed finding them on grasses and flowers and trying to take pictures of that too. Really great to see the joy in the kids' eyes as they blew the bubbles and watched them take flight.


I always take butterfly, flower, and bear pictures when we're at the museum, and today was no exception. I was thrilled to take a picture of the butterfly in the upper right of the collage. It was on the flowers in the garden outside the Butterfly House. Ranger Greg was kind enough to identify it for me as a Great Spangled Fritillary. That's my first sighting ever. Cool!

It was also fun to watch one of the bears swimming...back and forth, relaxing, staying cool. We must have watched for 10 minutes. We also enjoyed watching Max the Jersey Steer get brushed by the trainers (not pictured here).

I do not remember the lily pads in the Explore the Wild swamp area blooming like I saw them in bloom today. What a delightful mix of pink and whites standing so proud in one corner of the swamp. Super sun lighting up the petals. I was mesmerized taking pictures of them for a few minutes. After a quick search, I see that they are Lotus Lilies. Both the flower and large seed pod are super interesting. Apparently distinctive to this type of lily is the fact that the lily pads rise above the water's surface instead of floating on top. The flowers are in peek bloom right now, so if you want to see them, hurry out for a visit!

We saw that Dino Days are July 17 and 18th and Engineers Day is August 14th. I suspect we'll be back for more fun then.

All of the photos from today are posted here.

Note: Post modified to update the butterfly identification from Checkerspot to Great Spangled Fritillary.

Not Just Butterflies at the Butterfly Bash

The boys and I attended the Butterfly Bash at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today and had a great time. However, I really didn't see this experience coming. I was just as sure as Joey and Johnny that I was not going to eat a bug. But, after riding the train and giving it some thought, I figured I just shouldn't pass up on an opportunity like this one...ha ha gulp! So, with a little moral support from the staff and some help from Kristen with the camera I took the plunge and ate 2 cooked meal worms with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. Now, I have to admit I didn't, um, chew but they did go down! After all, it is just protein, right?!?





Much more seriously, I got some great flower pictures in the outside butterfly garden and some cool butterfly shots both inside and out.


The boys had a great time holding Owl Butterflies, riding the train, playing in the caboose, and all the other things they always love to do at the museum.



We also had a special treat and got to see the keeper at the Black Bear exhibit give the bears 5 gallon bucket size fruit popsicles. What a treat for them and us since they had to go into the water for a swim to retrieve their pops.


I even got to see the red-tailed hawk and kingfisher in the wetlands area.



What a day!

The link to all of today's pictures on Picasa is here.

Crayon Physics

Joey and I had THE BEST time playing Crayon Physics at The Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. I highly recommend you check out the new Contraptions exhibit, where the computer hosting this game sits, the next time you go to the museum or download the demo or full game at home. I was impressed that Joey, at 7, was willing to try 20-30 times to clear a level. He was very persistent and seemed to really be learning a lot. It's plenty entertaining for adults too! The whole Contraptions exhibit was great fun today as well. More on that later!

Introducing Barley

I didn't watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last week. But what I was reminded of by the print and TV news media is that home cooked meals are important, and the person buying the groceries and preparing the food has a lot of control over what food their kids eat and how healthy their kids are. So.........

We typically do our weekly grocery shopping on Sunday, and when we were in the store today, I was looking for some new fun and healthy things to eat. A box of Quaker Barley came into view. I read the soup recipe on the box, and an idea was born. Why not make the soup for dinner.

Now the boys and I are not strangers to cooking together. As a matter of fact, I've been cooking with the boys since they could pull the stepping stool up to the counter. But, with the pressures of working full time, trying to get through homework, and all the things that seem to take away our time these days, it's been getting less and less. Frozen pizza and lasagna are weekly staples:-(

I told the boys we'd make soup for dinner, showed them the box, explained that barley would be kindof like rice in the soup, and let them help me pick out the rest of the ingredients.

Back at home, Johnny chopped the onion, Joey browned the hamburger, Joey peeled the carrots, I cut the carrots, and Joey rinsed and cut the celery. We added in some bay leafs and basil and a can of diced tomatoes. Oh, and the barley with water and beef boullon. Simmer and wa la!

Now Johnny won't eat chunks of tomato and Joey steered clear of the celery, but mostly they ate their bowl of soup. I sure enjoyed mine. It sure was nice to have a real, hearty meal. And, there's even leftovers for tomorrow!

The recipe is here. Of course I took a few liberties with it, but what I made was close.

If you haven't cooked with or for someone you love lately, maybe this will be inspiring. I make no promises to make as good a meal every night, but I would like to have a goal of adding more home cooked and healthy food choice meals back into our lives.

Joey's Night Heron

Boy was I excited when I came home from work today to discover this piece of artwork in Joey's backpack. Wow! Sure did make a mom smile after a long day.

A Great Day at the Robot Rumble

The kids and I just love special events at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. Joey, Johnny, Madi and I went to the museum for the annual Robot Rumble today, and boy did we have a great time.

In the South Gallery, near the main lobby, there were quite a few Lego Mindstorm exhibits. The 537 Hedgehogs from Hillsborough were letting the kids make buttons, pick out a bendy robot man, and play with remote controlled robots. At another table, IBM?, they were showing the kids how to write Mindstorm robot programs, upload them to the robot, and then watch them in action. In this case, the programs were basic things like go straight, turn around, and come back. The kids also watched some older kids demonstrate more sophisticated programs where the robots used light or touch sensors to pick up loops on their 'hands' and navigate obstacle courses. Great stuff!

In the Mercury room behind the front lobby, robot battles were gong on, and other types of robots were on display. The kids enjoyed watching the battles and especially the 'What is a robot?' presentation. We learned that sometimes toys look like robots but are not really robots. The kids thought robots talked, moved, needed batteries, had a computer in them, etc. We got to see what was under the 'skin' of a Furbie, a toy Wall-E, a Lego Mindstorm standing robot, and even a toy version of the robot from Lost in Space. Very informative and fun!

Outside next to the butterfly house, several more exhibits were set up. In one 'pit', two robots battled each other. In another, a high speed robot on 4 wheels that could operate on either side was a thrill as it crashed into boards and flipped through the air. All my kids got a chance to operate that one. They also had a table with robot armlike tongs to give the kids a feeling for how robot arms work. There were even Rock'em Sock'em Robots for the kids to play with. We liked this area so much we had to come back for a second trip!

Last but not least for us today was the robot submarines from iRobot in the pool where the sailboats usually are in Catch the Wind. My kids didn't wait in line to use the sub remotes, but we did enjoy watching the other kids operate them. The subs would sometimes pop out of the water and put out a splash of water. Funny!

In other exciting news, there is a new tiny male pig named Auggie in with Miss Piggy. Boy was Auggie cute! Miss Piggy was putting on quite the show today too pushing her green ball around the pen!

We got to see Yona the new bear cub the museum took in as a rescue from off the side of I40 in Tennessee. We spoke with one of the keepers that told us that Yona is a year old. She's learned to kindof leave the other 4 bears in the bear habitat alone and is getting along fine with Gus, the youngest of the adults and the only male. The keeper threw in some apple halves, and we got to see Yona chomp down on that. The other bear in view today was Ursala.

I waited all winter to see and take a picture of a hood merganser, and today was the day! They even came pretty close to the boardwalk area.

We saw Ranger Greg on the boardwalk, and he pointed out a snake sunning itself on a tree branch. We were also amazed at the number of turtles up on logs in the wetlands sunning themselves.

We made a quick trip through the dinosaur trail and fossil pit as well as the inside animal room and taking a peek at the new Contraptions exhibit. But then, in what seemed like a blink of the eye, the day was over and it was time to head home.

5/22 is the Butterfly Bash and 6/12 is the Bubble Blitz, and we look forward to visiting the museum on those days too.

The best pics from today are in this album starting here.