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.

Time to Sled!

The kids and I were delighted for the winter weather that hit Raleigh Friday night into Saturday. I guess we got somewhere between 3" and 5" with a good bit of accumulation being sleet instead of snow. Not good for snowman building, but perfectly fine for sledding. We've been let down by so many forecasts in the past. I'm glad this one worked out.

We went out twice today...once around sunrise for 90 minutes and again around midday for another 90 minutes. We were joined by many of our friends on both outings, and it was just great to be surrounded by the excitement of kids totally delighted to be out playing in the snow.

Sledding always reminds me of happy times living up in Trenton, NJ the first 10 years of my life. I remember snow fences and people ice skating on real ponds and enough snow to walk up to the hill on Line Road for some sledding. I hope some day my kids will look back on these times with the same fond remembrance as I do of my childhood snow days. It would mean a lot to me.

We had my Flexible Flyer out today...the one I used as a child. Fast on the hill...what a thrill.
But, I'm saying thanks tonight that Joey is doing as good as he is. Best as I can tell, he went down the hill on the Flyer on his stomach and with Johnny on his back and then couldn't see to steer or forgot how to steer and they slammed into a log at the bottom of the hill. With no braking, that could have been up to 30mph. Joey's left cheek took the brunt of the hit, but it looks like his eye is OK. He's got an abrasion that's the size of his first, but no deep cuts. Poor kid. Ice, ibuprofen, and a little TLC mostly have him comfortable.

Tomorrow's another day, and the snow is still around. I suspect we'll be making more snow memories.

More Pictures from the Museum of Life and Science

I was super tired when I was trying to blog about the Build a Flappet workshop last night. Wonder why?!? :-) Here are some of the other pictures from our day at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham that I think were the best.

The kids love the 'music' room, and whenever we visit the museum, they spend lots of time in there running around. If you aren't familiar with this exhibit, the room is divided into 9 quadrants, and movement in the various quadrants produces beautiful music. It's good exercise for the kids too. I like trying to catch just the right blur shot.

We didn't spend a lot of time outside because of the cold, but we did take a quick walk to visit our favorite farmyard animals. Joey was disappointed that he didn't get to see Nimbus the bunny who was inside for the day, but we really enjoyed Max the cow and the other animals.

The kids love the playground area. The carpet was off the 'slide', and the Madi decided it would be super fun to run and slide down it. It wasn't that fast, but her antics going down the slide feet up in the air so as not to slow her down with her shoes rubbing was just too cute. I always love my on top of the culvert shots of whichever kids want to line up too.

Back inside, we enjoyed the weather exhibit. Pictured is Joey with the tornado. It was really wanting to form and reform quickly yesterday. The kids also had a blast with the 'sand spinner'. That exhibit simulates hurricane type spins and clouds. That thing spins fast, and there's another shot of the kids and the exhibit twirling fast!

Madi enjoyed the origami exhibit upstairs. Johnny played with the beads. That exhibit teaches kids about volumes and has some surprising results with regard to which container truly holds more beads...not the one you think. Joey was fascinated with the exhibit that had the rubber duck, blocks and tea cup. It's a guessing game. Can you name the object based on a silhouette of a front of side view. He put me through the paces on it a couple of times. We also did some of the patchwork block shapes. Very relaxing. Debbie and I were commenting on how we could do that for hours if only the kids would let us.

The upper right shot in the collage is some sort of lit-up artwork near the patchwork quit area. I was in super macro mode with the lense touching the plastic artwork cover.

And, yes, that's my silhouette with the light colors bouncing around me as I took the shot with the camera hidden by my shadow. That's another really popular exhibit. The kids are tickled every time to manipulate the colored lights coming down on them.

As you can see, we had a great time evern before we went to the Flappet workshop. The kids were so excited to revisit their Flappets this morning before school. Lots of flapping going on.

We Built a Flappet!

Joey, Johnny, Madi, and I headed to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today for Steve Gerberich's Build a Flappet workshop. Steve just finished a successful run of his Holiday Springs and Sprockets exhibit which delighted visitors to the museum including us. Last year after the show, he ran a Gravity Racer workshop where the kids built cars and raced them. This year the idea was to build some sort of animal and use strings to move it's wings, fins, hands, etc. Thus, a flappet.

Thankfully, Aunt Debbie showed up to help out. With hot glue guns, saws, screwdrivers, etc. the kids and I really needed the help.

First the kids built the base using precut wood pieces and the hot glue guns. We used a drill to put 3 holes in the base and put eyelets in the holes. The strings would later travel through the holes.

Second, the kids picked their animal and Aunt Debbie and I traced the figures onto a piece of cardboard folded in half. I then used a saw to cut through both layers of the cardboard at the same time to make two identical copies of the body parts.

Third, we were back over at the hot glue gun table actually assembling the flapper. It took some thought (and asking for help) to get the body facing correctly on the vertical stick so that the string would work correctly.

Fourth, the kids painted their flappets. Made did an excellent job with her orange cat with black stripes.

Fifth, I put the strings throug the eyelets and used a screwdrier to poke wholes through the cardboard where needed. The flappet has come to life.

I really think Steve's concept of building a flappet was a great idea. The kids enjoyed working with the tools and designing their own special flappets. You can see from their proud faces with their finished flappets that the workshop was a very meaningful experience for them.

More pictures from today's trip to the museum and the flappet workshop are here.

Mr. Elf

Well, I did say that it was the Year of the Elf at our house a week or so ago, and I was not kidding. The elf theme continues!

After we visited the Steve Gerberich Holiday Springs and Sprockets exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham a few weekends ago, Joey started asking to make his own elf. I told him that mom didn't have the right equipment (bandsaw) to make a wooden elf but that I thought we could make a pretty good elf out of cardboard. So, I picked up a few boxes at WM on Friday, and Saturday morning we set out to build our elf. I modeled our elf loosely after the one in this picture:



First, I traced the necessary body parts onto the cardboard. The arm/hand of the elf is Joey's arm/hand. Then I used a box cutter to cut out the pieces. It went better than I thought. I was easily able to cut the cardboard. Then Joey, with a little help from me, painted the elf. Mostly I just spread out any extra thick paint on the front and then painted the backs of the pieces and set them off to dry. Then yesterday, after drying overnight, I used a hot glue gun to put him together. That also went better than expected. The glue really holds the cardboard great. Using some craft supplies I already had around the house, we were able to design a decent face. Of course I took some pics along the way and after he was done.

Joey's pretty happy, so mom's happy.

The Year of the Elf

Ya know, kids are always going to be into something. Thomas, McQueen, Mario. The list is never ending, and before you know it one thing is out and a new thing is in.

Well this year for Christmas, elves are in at our house! It all started with Joey's first grade teacher, Mrs. Cherry, introducing the kids to The Elf on the Shelf.

If you aren't familiar with this tradition, an elf and a book come in this neat box. You get them out each Christmas. The child/children get to name the elf and are absolutely not allowed to touch the elf. The parent or other adult moves the elf around each day in secret but of course the kids think the elf is moving on his own. The story goes that the elf flies home to Santa each day to give a behavior type progress report on the child to Santa and then returns back 'home' and just lands in a different spot. Or, he wants a different vantage point to watch their behavior.

So, Joey was coming home from school every day for a week talking up a storm about Eddie Elf in class. I had no clue... He was even drawing Eddie and writing stories about him. So, we used a Borders gift card that we had lying around to order our own Elf on the Shelf which we named Elfy. (In the collage above he's center top row).

Then we were in the thrift store, Guardian Angel, and found Giant and Snowy...the two white elves in the collage above. 70's vintage or older antiques to be precise.


I found the cup elf and Swingset elf as Joey calls him in the attic with the boxes of stuff off my childhood tree. eBay showed me what the cup elf was really for.

And, lastly, I picked up a couple of doll type elves at Hallmark.

Let me make it very clear. I have to remember to move the elves or I'm in big trouble. One day the elves were running late and I had to move them while the kids were at school!

Joey's already asking if one of the elves can watch guard over him in his room all year long:-) And, in the picture of him and the tree above, he's dressed like an elf with hat, green shirt, and red/green elfy pants.

It's a wonderful tradition and not too late to start with your own kids. I can't say that it's helping with behavior very much, but it sure is fun!

Holiday Springs and Sprockets

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The boys and I took our monthly trip to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. The main reason for going this time was to see the Holiday Springs and Sprockets exhibit. Regulars to my blog may remember that the boys and I first encountered Steve Gerberich and this exhibit last year. Joey fell in love with the machines and gadgets and came home drawing what he'd seen and coming up with his own machines. So, it was a must for us to go back and see this year's exhibit.

Let me say, that I was really impressed! We rounded the corner to room with the display and saw this wonderful train taking up a good part of the room. Johnny is still so into trains. His face lit up. He was thrilled. Joey was also fascinated by the machines again. I think he made the most comments on the candy cane factory machine (I'm sorry, I didn't write down the exact name and neglected to take pictures of the exhibit signs.) I took many pictures even bringing in my tripod so that I could make use of available light instead of using a flash. I really like some of the things I was able to capture. What you can't get from the pictures is all the movement going on, the delight of the children experiencing the exhibit, and all the sounds as the various move. It's quite a clatter. So, enjoy my pics, but then go visit in person if you can. The exhibit is open until 1/3/10.

Because of the rain and low temps today, we actually spent most of our visit indoors. That's pretty unusual to us. But, I'm very pleased to say that we were perfectly entertained doing inside things today. We spent a lot of time playing on the spinning table. I don't know what else to call it, but there's a disc even with the table surface that spins and you can try your hand at manuevering wooden wheels, tops, and balls across the spinning service. We were able to get wheels to 'ride' without the rest of the car. Way cool! We also spent time at what I'm going to call the Google Earth table. Wow! It's a round table that tilts and spins left and right. I was able to zoom in on downtown Raleigh and make out some of the Capital buildings. Wow! This new attraction was a hit with both the kids and their adults. The boys were getting frustrated with me because I wanted to play with the table too:-)

Both boys visited the Science Lab today where we learned about the various types of skin, fur, and feathers that animals use to stay warm in the winter. Unlike humans who have to put on sweaters and jackets, animals have built in warming systems. This lab invovled the use of microscopes. We even got to test out a higher powered USB connected computer one! The kids also made a coat for their 'animal' and participated in an experiment to see if their 'coat' would keep their animal warm. In other words, how fast would hot water get cold in a canister protected by their coat.

All fun stuff!

We saw the Chick-fil-A cow which is always a hit with the boys.

We even made it outside for a an hour midday and walked the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind loop. We said hi to Ranger Greg and looked at tadpoles stranded on the wetlands shore by the swell of water that followed the recent heavy rains.

Most exciting of all during our outside time, though, was running into aniaml trainer Erin by Max the steer. She let the boys help give Max his hay. Johnny was giggling so loud as Max ate from him pile that it would have really warmed your heart if you heard it. Joey was pretty excited about the experience to, and always comes away from visiting with the animals thinking that he wants to work with them when he grows up. Cute. Thanks, Erin!

Like I said, many things to do at the museum summer or winter, outside or inside, and now is a particularly good time to visit with the Holiday Springs and Sprockets exhibit in town.

The best pics that I took today are here on Picasa and here on SmugMug.

One last note. We had hoped that Madi would be able to come with us today, but sadly she's got the cold crud that's going around and wasn't up to coming. Hopefully next trip. We missed her.