Pacific Science Center

This day was the most anticipated for the girls!  Yeah science!!!  We started off by getting on the Bremerton to Seattle ferry.  Once we were on the ferry, I pulled out the Insect & Butterfly Exhibit Worksheets and explained them to the girls. 

 http://www.pacsci.org/schools/field_trips/pdf/insect_pre_visit.pdf
http://www.pacsci.org/schools/field_trips/pdf/butterfly_032306.pdf 

Because I home school, I made this an educational field trip as well.  Plus, Brynn could return her completed worksheet and get credit for it to replace the science stuff that was going on at camp.  If you go to the Science Center, I suggest using these worksheets.  Their website has many more helps for other exhibits as well.  We're definitely going again!  However, next time we are NOT taking the ferries.  $59 for ferry costs alone!   Ridiculous.  And once you are off the ferry in Seattle, it's a 2 mile walk to the Science Center.  It's great on the way there, but after spending hours in the Center, the last thing you want to even think about is a 2 mile walk ahead of you to get back to the ferry!   We got plenty of P.E. in that day:)

I loved the Insect Village!  This is where we started on our worksheets.  Terry & I split up with the girls and went to work.  I love the worksheets!  We learned a lot about various insects.  I was so engrossed in the work that I forgot to take pictures.  Oh, well.  That just means we'll have to go back!  

The insect I liked was the Blue Death-Feigning Beetles.  They play "dead" as a defense against predators.   They are a beautiful metallic blue color.  Scientists don't know much at all about these beetles.  It makes them that much more intriguing to me.

Termites are an ugly insect.  However, I learned that the King & Queen can be about the size of your little finger.  The Queen can live up to 20 years and lays about 300 eggs a day!!!   That's just disgusting.

There was also a place where you can see "edible" insects in food.  Ick.  I'll never look at a cricket that same again.

After the Insect Village, we went into the Butterfly Exhibit.  This was my favorite part! Beautiful foliage and warm air with hundreds of colorful butterflies everywhere.  Sometimes they were on the ground (we had to watch our step!), sometimes on people experiencing the exhibit.   If they landed on you or the ground, we were instructed to just let them be.   We weren't allowed to pick them up or touch them.  

The slide show I put together is mostly of the Butterfly Exhibit.   Next time we go, I'll have the other camera that holds a lot more pictures than the one I took.  I could SO take more than 64 pictures!  And I'll remember to include the Insect Village.

Butterflies live only one week.  During that time, they mate & lay eggs.  Eggs then hatch into caterpillars.  The caterpillars eat the plant they hatched from.  A few weeks later, they begin making their chrysalis.  In the chrysalis, the caterpillar changes into a butterfly.   The Butterfly Exhibit doesn't have a single caterpillar in it.  They have all the chrysalis's imported and place them in the chrysalis window box.  This is because you have to have a special permit to contain caterpillars.   How do they control the butterflies from laying eggs?  I asked an employee.  She said every species of butterflies has their own kind of plant that they prefer to lay eggs on.  If that plant isn't available, they won't lay any eggs.  So the Butterfly Exhibit doesn't hold ANY plants that any of the butterflies have a preference to!   I found that quite fascinating.  

The Butterfly Exhibit has a chrysalis window box.  You can watch the chrysalis's wiggle sometimes.  If you're lucky, you might get to see a butterfly emerge!  We saw some wiggle, but no emerging butterflies.   The butterflies that had emerged that day were flying around in the box.  I saw one poop!  Did you know that butterflies' poop is pink?  Yep.  The white towels they lay on the floor of the box were covered with what looked like pink or reddish water color paint.

There's your science lesson for the day:)   It was an exhausting, yet fun day!    

Here's the website that gives you information about every exhibit.  There are lots of Student/Teacher worksheets.   There's plenty of  information that is great if you need to research for science reports, too!

http://www.pacsci.org/exhibits/

Glass Museum

Last week, Brynn's school sent the 6th graders to Camp.  This is a tradition around here, I guess.  To state it short & simply, girls & boys and adult strangers spending 5 days & 4 nights together are not our definition of a trustworthy & safe environment.  So for months, we've been looking forward to having Brynn home for this week & spending time together on our own adventures here in the NW.

One day we spent in Tacoma.  We went to the Glass Museum.  The girls love art and were interested in seeing how the glass art was made.  The exhibits were interesting.  Mostly boring to the girls, but there were a few interesting pieces that caught their attention.  There are no cameras allowed in the exhibits, so I don't have any pictures.  A favorite piece is a Dragon Fly.  It's 3D and made of noodle looking glass.  It gave it a very "light" appearance and was amazing to look at.  It was probably 4x4 feet.  It was beautiful.

One piece I took the time to explain to all of the girls was an exhibit with various containers made of glass throughout the last 100 years.   There was a whiskey bottle, a kind of canteen, and a good old fashioned Coca-Cola glass bottle.  I pointed out how thick the bottom of the Coke bottle was and compared it to Terry's glasses.  Terry didn't know that was where I was going with it.  It was funny!  Now the girls know what we're talking about when we say dad wears Coke bottle glasses.  History is very important.  Nowadays, everything is made of plastic. 

When we were finished wondering around, we went to the Craft Room.   This is a place where families can participate in the craft of the day at no extra charge.  It was Clay Day.  We had fun putting our master pieces together and baked.   I could take pictures in this area:

Then we went into the Live Demo Studio to watch a team of artists work on a piece.  We don't know what they were trying to make.  They didn't say while we were in there.  But it was the most interesting part of the museum.  There are huge furnaces  that they slide the glass ball in and out of many times throughout the process.  It's very hot, but it was amazing to see how they worked the huge ball, shaping it, powdering it to add color, and continue to lift it in & out of the furnace.   We ran out of time to see what the final Art Piece was supposed to be.  Maybe it is a vase?  What do you think?

Spring Skirts

Last month we celebrated the first day of spring.  As part of our celebration, I made each of the girls a spring skirt.  They picked out their own material and pattern.  Of course, I supplied the choices of patterns:)  We were all ready to wear our fun skirts on the first Sunday of spring, but then we all got that yucky virus!   We spent the next 4 weeks home bound and felt totally "inactive".  But we are all well again & were able to go to church today!

Emma wanted a shorter skirt.  She chose material with lots of white daisies on a light blue background.  This pattern is just 8 strips of material sewn together with a slight flare.  It is an elastic waist because I don't do zippers.  We added cotton lace along the bottom to finish it off.  

Livvy chose material with multi-colored spring flowers on a navy blue background.  There are tons of yellow, light pink, dark pink, light purple, and dark purple flowers.  She wanted a simple two piece pattern with lots of "twirl".    She likes her skirts long with just an elastic waist (not that she had a choice anyway).  We added cotton lace along the bottom, too.

Kara and Emma wanted the same daisy material.  However, their skirt styles are different. Kara chose a two piece pattern that had the material angled diagonally.  Why?  I don't know.  But it was fun to do!  She likes her skirts longer, just between Emma's & Livvy's length.  She chose the same heart patterned cotton lace as her sisters to put around the bottom.

Brynn's picture didn't turn out very well.  We'll have to try again the next time she wears this outfit.  She actually got to wear her skirt on the Spring Weekend.   She and her dad were the only ones not sick & able to go to church.  Her skirt is full of yellow and orange-ish daffodils. She's all for long skirts as well.  Her pattern is just a two piece, elastic waist, with plenty of length and lots of loose & "roomy" material.  Very refreshing!   Her cotton lace is a bit wider than her sisters and has flowers instead of hearts in it.    

We can't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of the twins together!  But I love it because you can see their style differences.  Their personalities are similar, but they each have their own style! 

I had fun making our skirts!  Yes, I made one for myself as well.  Mine is multi-colored tulips on a pastel green background.  I took a selfish (prideful) moment at church today to admire the display of fun skirts all down the row of our bench.   I love my girls!  What would I ever do if we had a boy?  I know.  I'd get him a DVD like his dad instead of a skirt!  Terry & I are so blessed!!  

I love spring!!