Museum Trip

The boys and I made a trip to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences today in Raleigh. This museum is free and has lots of interesting exhibits, and we go there several times a year. The reason for our visit today was a special Astronomy Days event. The Raleigh Astronomy Club, NOAA weather people, 4-H, and NASA folks were all on hand to share their education and exerperiences with visitors.

We met up with the Vollmer Family including a special guest appearance by Grampy who was in town for Timmy's 3rd birthday party which was held Saturday. Grammy was also in town but didn't visit the museum.

First, Joey was able to ring the bell with his foot on the very first try. It echoed loudly in the courtyard.

Second, the kids were super happy to see each other. Lots of hugs.


Third, Joey and I got to take this really neat On the Moon picture for free. He didn't want to at first but was glad he did afterward.


Fourth, the kids had a blast with the FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red). The booth staff were giving the kids ice cubes to rub on their faces so they could show a cold spot in contrast to their automatically hot bodies. Neat!

I'm sure we'll be back again soon for another great trip to the museum.

If you'd enjoy browsing the rest of our museum trips, they're here.

Cold Moon

For those of you snug in front of the TV tonight... Did you know it's 30 out but feels like it's 20?!? YEP!!! Wind gusts at 20mph...gulp. I'm determined;-) I went back to the farm pond Debbie and I shot pictures at a few Saturday mornings ago while yard saling. Unfortunately, the moon was not over the water where I was hoping it would be. Still, I got this nice shot. It's nothing short of amazing that I held still enough in the strong wind, shivering to get this. Enjoy...please!

Another Sunset/Sunrise Compare

The above picture is from the sunrise today 01/22/08.

The above picture is from the sunset on 01/04/08.

Either time of day, I love this spot just down the road from the house...

Searching for a Perfect Picture

The above picture is from the sunrise today 01/22/08.

The above picture is from the sunset on 01/04/08.

If I have to go 10 times, I'm going to get THE best picture of this barn/house ever!

Bird Watching

I'm starting to get back into bird watching again. The chance for snow, hungry birds due to the cold, and leaves off the trees giving me a wider range of view from my office window are all drawing me to it again. There's also the quest for the perfect bird picture. I stopped feeding the birds about a year ago due to too many pesky squirrels. They were eating seed faster than I could buy it and refill the feeders not to mention that the seed is expensive. They also started attacking my camelia blossoms and other plants and even chewing on our gutters.

I used to participate in Project Feederwatch. It was a lot of fun to see what types of birds came to my feeders and in what numbers. When the boys came along, it was one of the things I no longer had time for. Now that they are older, maybe we can do it together next year.

But, for this year, I think we'll do the Great Backyard Bird Count. This one is also through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Joey and Johnny have both shown an interest in watching for birds with me, and we can practice their counting and identification skills. Joey will be thrilled if I give him my color laminated sheet of southeastern bird pics to go by. He loves the one he uses to identify butterflys at the butterfly house.

Now, if I can just get them to be quiet so as not to scare the birds away.

More information on the Tufted Titmouse pictured above can be found here.

Kids Taking Pictures

The kids see me taking pictures, so they want to take pictures too. I bought this decent 4MP Kodak digital camera for Joey a while back, and the boys are finally starting to make good use of it. Joey took this very nice shot of Johnny this morning while he was taking bird pictures with me out my office window. Later in the day, Johnny was taking neat gazing globe pictures. It's very interesting to see what a child's mind wants to take pictures of. If you'd like a glimpse, there are more of their pics from today at this link.

Gazing...Globes

The boys and I were outside for a few minutes during the warmest part of the day today. Earlier in the day, I'd washed my copper gazing globe. It was time to see if we could take some interesting pictures with it. Not sure if we did, but we did have a bunch of fun looking at our reflections:-)

Johnny is turning into quite the photographer! Can you say, "Cutie Pie?"