Dave 'N It Up

Friday, March 11, 2011

McWane Science Center

Between end of the season hockey playoff games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, we squeezed in an overnight trip to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham with Adam's scout pack

Adam ignored all the high tech stuff in the museum and went straight to this simple fishing game. You gotta respect a man who needs little to be happy.

Derek, who loves all things science, found plenty of things to keep him occupied

Adam tries to get a virtual butterfly to land on him

Fun with the blue screen

Uncovering fossils

Bed of nails

Wind tunnel

Pulleys

This game of the mind was a big favorite. A sensor is attached to two participants and the person who can register the calmest brain activity wins.

Helen gets in on the action

The first time Adam sat and fastened his seatbelt. He quickly ditched the seatbelt and started standing up.

Dry ice tricks

Building an arch

This dance floor light tag was another big favorite. The object was to keep the random search light from tagging you. Sometimes there were almost 20 kids playing at the same time and having a ball.

Shark and ray touch pool

It was neat to have the run of the museum after closing, but like all these scout trips - there were too many people. There were troops from all over and it was pretty crowded. And because it was so crowded they didn't want you to put out your bedding until midnight (Central Time - 1 am our time). The parents were dying. We staked out a place that was somewhat out of the way so we went to our bed around 11 and tried to hold on.

The kids were still going strong

Derek winds down with his iPod Touch

Adam did not want to get up the next morning

We had breakfast and headed home

Snacks and a movie

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Late February 2011

Me putting some medicine in George's ear while Derek holds on

Our next door neighbors got a trampoline for Christmas and it's been a big hit, although currently we're taking a "break" after some recent bickering and injuries

Derek had a school art project to learn about scale. The students had to transfer a small drawing to a poster board using a grid. Derek has really done a great job of managing his schoolwork without requiring us to get involved. Of course, he has been listening to me say, "take care of your own business so nobody else has to" for most of his life.

The "Valentine Fairy" has been leaving these streamers on the boy's bedroom doors every year

End of the season party for Adam's hockey team

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Early February 2011

Somehow a container of Jiffy Pop popcorn ended up in our house and the kids have been bugging us to pop it. We finally got around to it and the kids thought it was much cooler than our usual pop in the bag microwave popcorn.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet (really just another opportunity to fundraise). Adam says he wants to quit scouts after this year. He says, "Scouts isn't really that fun - you don't get to do all the cool stuff they say you're going to do". Some kids really like scouts and are into earning badges and achievements. Adam couldn't care less. Of course, he gets that from us. It looks like our scouting days are drawing to a close and I can't say I'm sad.

Group/culty/churchy/right of passage face painting and creed recitation makes my libertarian individualist skin crawl. I am so thankful to live in a time and place where the "group" mentality is somewhat subdued.

Nanna and Poppy came over to watch the boy's hockey games one Saturday. We were all surprised that Poppy had sprouted a beard since the last time we saw him.