Rain!

Did I mention lately that we've gotten a bit of rain? I don't know how much for sure at my house since I don't keep accurate records, but a lot for August. Oh, I've got a rain gauge, but I'm not scientific about it. Yesterday, though, it said we got a whopping 4.5 inches. And, best as I can remember, that's the 3rd big rain(measured in inches) in as many weeks.

We get into really big trouble here in Raleigh when we have heavy rains in August and then hurricane force winds decide to follow. Praying for a lack of tropical development this season!

I can't help but remember Hurricane Fran on September 5, 1996 and what she did to our prized oak trees. They don't call Raleigh the City of Oaks for no reason. We have a lot of trees! Hurricane Fran left behind about 10 inches of rain, many downed trees, us without power for a week, and huge mess to clean up. It's an experience I can do without repeating. Even 14 years later, you can see the tree damage if you walk in the woods.

Coming home from school this morning, the debris on the road at Barber Bridge caught my eye. Wow, the water had been up over the bridge and onto the road over night. I turned around to go back and take a few pics.

Now, I think kids jumping in puddles with adult supervision is great fun, but I think going near rushing water on foot or in a car is extremely dangerous. Just a friendly remember to STAY CLEAR. I was on dry asphalt behind the cement bridge wall when I took these.

The view to the west.


The view to the west 1 year ago. You can see how much lower the water is. The bank is visible, and the branches hanging down aren't in the water.

The view looking east.


The view 1 year ago looking east. Besides the water being lower, you will see that it is very smooth and has very little movement. Also, the water is more green. Above it is filled with sediment and more brown.


An artsy shot of the water looking east.


The bridge looking toward Rock Service Station Road.


The view looking toward Hwy. 42. Notice all the debris in the road.


I also took a couple of videos this AM so you can hear and see how fast the water was moving.






The sun is out today, and hopefully we will dry out just a tad. And, wow, can it be that it is only 70 right now?!? I'll take it!

Puddle Splashing

It all started with the red galoshes...

When I was a little girl growing up in Trenton, NJ, I remember enjoying the rain with my Dad, and I remember my red galoshes. Trenton gets about 45 inches of rain each year and certainly has it's fair share of gray and wet days to go along with the gray clay soil.

I always remember my Dad loving rainy days. There was something special to him about the sound of the rain on the roof, the indoor activities we'd do on those days, and those priceless walks in the rain with our umbrellas and my red galoshes.

(We won't discuss the ping pong balls in the basement going into the sump pump or having to get out the push broom to push the water in the cellar over to the sump pump to begin with.)

I remember my Mom protesting with full anxiety about me getting my clothes wet, and my Dad calmly telling her not to worry; he'd clean me up. Off we'd go out the door, umbrellas in one hand and hand in hand in the other. Me at 3' and Dad at 6'3". Just walking and splashing and talking as if we had the world to ourselves.

Although my photography these days has me doing a lot of wishing for sunny days and blue skies, I still have a great fondness for those precious rainy days where the world seems secure with just me and my Dad walking in the rain.

Since Dad took all the pics at our house, there are no pics of me and him in the rain. Oh how I wish there were. There is a picture of me and the red galoshes, though.


Jump to the present...

It really poured while we were grocery shopping today, and as we drove home from Fuquay, Johnny started asking to go puddle splashing when we got home.

A few years ago, on a Blaze doggie walk after a big rain storm, Johnny happened to be with me, and he just happened to automatically do what all little kids do with puddles...jump in them whether Mom wants them to or not. It was like a blast back to the past as I ignored how wet he was getting and enjoyed how delighted he was with himself for getting wet in the puddles. A new tradition was born that day this time between a Mom and her son. Many rains and puddles since, the tradition lives on...

So, Johnny and I did end up out in the rain. I had the umbrella to protect my camera and my curls (ha!), and Johnny ran without a worry into every puddle he could find and enjoy. After 2.5", there certainly was no shortage of standing water. He started singing, and I continued with him several times, "Hi Ho Hi Ho It's off puddle jumping we go..."


Johnny even had a surprise today and discovered earth worms. This kid has no fear of insects and other critters outside.

I hope some day when I'm a Grandma I get an e-mail from Johnny with a picture he took of his little girl or boy out splashing in the rain puddles... And, the tradition will live on.

A super cute video of today's adventure is on YouTube.



All the pics from today are here. There are plenty more puddle splashing and jumping pics and a few more videos too.

My July 2009 blog post about Johnny in the puddles is here.

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.