mathmom's blog

Monday: We went to the Museum of Life and Science---see the other post.  One note that I didn't mention in the other post is that they have a new exhibit called "Into the mist," or as Amanda calls it, the "Mysteriological garden".  It's a rather large play area with sand, rocks, tunnels, hills, and...mist coming up from the ground.  We were there on a rather hot day, and the mist was very thick and cooling.  You could not see through it---the kids played hide and seek.  I think we met the designer, because when I mentioned to  the museum staff member that the exhibit was awesome, he said that it was good to see kids enjoying themselves on something he designed!  He may have convinced Amanda to give the money from her allowance that she donates to the museum, although I think he may have given her the idea that she will be able to name the playground... Tuesday: Ella's friend came over and they had a long playdate.  My main job was to run interfe...

...not all the animal exhibits are in cages. In other news, they've really improved the train ride by adding lots and lots of art.  I enjoyed myself  more than I have in years! My favorite was the eagles nest, and the mirrors were a close second. Our engineer was pretty awesome too.

The Johnson family model rocket club was launched today. A great deal of fun was had by all, possibly excepting Michael when he climbed the pine tree to retrieve Sky Dragon I , Ella's  special rocket.  We have a few more engines, so there are more rockets coming!

We have a two story entryway and a railing from the 2nd floor which overlooks it.  This is a great temptation for children to drop things over, but we have firm rules about what can be dropped: things which are soft and things which are light. Yesterday as I was making dinner, Luke started trying dropping things over.  He dropped his bean bag.  He dropped our hula hoop. Then he started looking for bigger things. He came up to me and showed me the old keyboard we have for playing with.  "No, you may not drop that over the edge."  Then he came and asked if he could drop over my 5 pound dumbbell.  The image of the dumbbell hitting the ground was not pretty, and to Luke's disappointment I said no again.  Then he started to get more desperate. "Can I drop off my woodworking?" he asked.  His preschool had collections of boards, hammers and glue that the kids could make into things and bring home, so woodworking refers to a couple of 2 foot long sect...

Monday: We went out to Sylva in western North Carolina to visit a dear friend.  We drove out on Sunday afternoon, had a pretty uneventful trip, and got there in time for dinner.  We watched the Andy Griffith show---some of the episodes are more fun for kids, but they are all appropriate. So on Monday we decided to go to Deep Creek to go tubing.  Because the weather was iffy, we weren't sure when to go but we ended up picking the best time---after lunch.  Tubing deserves a post of its own, but lets just say that it is nothing like tubing on the Apple River.  Instead of a long, slow trip down the river, there are many short quick trips down a section of river, in between which you have to carry your tube back up to the top.  It was a blast! Tuesday: There was a program about birds of prey at the library.  Ella only checked one book out.  In the afternoon we went to the pottery painting place, while it poured down rain.  We would have gone j...

The 3rd and 4th weeks were camps---that was pretty much what the kids did all day, except Luke spent the afternoons with me. Monday: Went to the car place in the morning.  Had a playdate in the afternoon with one of Amanda's friends from school. Tuesday: We went to the pool at 5 pm for an hour---fun, and just the right amount of time.  I do not remember what we did in the morning!  (edit: Amanda had a Dr. appointment and we had violin and viola lessons.) Wednesday: Fourth of July.  Joel Lane house in the morning, errands after a late lunch, and our own fireworks and the neighborhood fireworks in the evening. Thursday: Marbles in the morning, lunch, school and cleaning in the afternoon. Friday: Swimming in the morning---it's hard to believe that it can get too hot to swim in the afternoon!  Library in the afternoon.

There are some mighty creative people in the world: scientists, artists, inventors, and so on.  But for my money, no one can beat a 5 year old boy for sheer volume of ideas.  Most of which are bad... One example: in the 30 minutes that I was trying to make pancakes for dinner the other day, Luke had the idea and executed a recipe for "Carolina Wren Cake."  It started with some yeast, sugar and water from an earlier "experiment".  He added oats, sunflower seeds, 3 tablespoons corn syrup, some flour and cinnamon. (Luke was looking for the cinnamon and picked out the chili powder, cumin and coriander.  I managed to convince him that those were not the spices he was looking for.)  I added a few more tablespoons of flour and some salt, he kneaded it, we let it rise and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.  He was a bit disappointed that there wasn't enough for rolls, but   it was actually quite tasty.  The biggest problem is that none of the ki...

Somehow, we managed to sign the kids up for camps in 3 different locations:  a middle school, Amanda's school and the gym.  There were good reasons for the 3 locations which I won't bore you with, but it was not convenient.  Ella went to rocketry camp and pottery camp.  In the morning, she decorated and set off various rockets of various sizes.  She learned about parachutes and fuel and lots of other things.  In the afternoon, she made things out of clay.  She did not get the two confused.  I think she enjoyed both camps, but whenever she said, "I had so much fun in camp today!" she meant the pottery camp. Amanda went to superhero camp and junior detective camp.  She dressed up as her chosen superhero, "The Sneaker," all week.  She got to do finger prints and get together with the 3rd-5th grade camp, "Spy camp." Luke went to rock climbing camp.  After the first day, he had topped on one of the auto belays.  After 2 days h...

Our GE microwave is only 7 years old, but it appears to be on its last legs.  The light burnt out (entirely my fault).  The glass turntable has been broken, and replaced.  The turntable does not turn (don't know whose fault that is...)  Unfortunately, it is installed as part of our cabinetry, and appears to be darn hard to replace. We might need to, though, after today's escapade. Ella wanted to make popcorn, so I told her she could try to use the paper bag method a friend taught us.  I'd done it before, no problem, so I only needed to look up the recipe to tell us how long to cook it.  Same as other microwave popcorn, easy. The recipe also mentioned you could use a staple to hold the bag shut.  My friends didn't use a staple, so I was in favor of leaving it out, but Ella found a staple on the way to the microwave and put it in. I told Ella to stand by the microwave and watch it (or more precisely, listen to it) so she would know when to stop....