The Discovery Museum

March 25, 2012

Most of our adventures happen during the week and in the evenings. Today we have a Saturday adventure during the day. The best thing about this is that we go somewhere that closes early on weekdays and we haven't been able to see yet...The Discovery Museum. My plan of a couple of hours at the museum then heading to lunch turned into an all-day adventure at the museum with a stop at the vending machines for lunch. There was so much to do and we were having so much fun we didn't want to leave.

We're here!!!

The Cloud Climber. A series of steps shaped like clouds (and enclosed with a heavy duty mesh) that the kids can climb in from the floor to the ceiling. Lacee did okay for a while but the height got to her. When she came down the first time she said she felt dizzy so she had to sit for a while before we moved on.

This video game was in the mining section. Level 1 is panning for gold and pick mining the old-fashioned way. Level 2 uses satellites to find the right location and huge drills to do the work.

Part of a tire from a real mining truck.

                                          

                                                        All things Nevada. Clever.

In the Science Lab. This was Lacee's favorite thing. We were here for a loooong time and ended up coming back later for a second time. This table had all the pieces needed to put circuits together to make things spin, fly, and light up. Just follow the pattern, collect the parts you need, put it all together, and voila! stuff that works.

Working with gears.

Learning about power...solar power, wind power, geothermal power and Kid Power!

Working with tools in a portion of a half-built house to try and fix the sink. 

Five hours of "Discovery" and we were hungry and exhausted. What a great day!

Until our next adventure . . .

Science Expo

March 14, 2012
For today's adventure I took off from work a little early so we could attend the Science Expo at the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) in Incline Village. The theme was biodiversity (right up my alley) and it was a fun learning experience for both of us. The large room was set up with 24 stations. Each kid was given a map of the stations and instructed to listen to the lecture at each station and answer the corresponding question on their map. When they had at least 10 right answers on their map, they were eligible for free ice cream (what an incentive, huh?).  The room was very crowded and noisy, but the displays were amazing so you barely noticed.

This station was all about animal diversity. We matched pelts to photos of the animals and also examined skulls to understand how teeth differ in herbivorous, omnivorous, and carnivorous species.

At this station Lacee planted a tomato plant at the instruction of one of the kid teachers. It was so wonderful to see one kid teaching another.

This was the DNA station. We got a very short lesson about what DNA is and then Lacee made a DNA model using Red Vines, marshmallows, and toothpicks. When her model was complete, the instructor picked it up, gave it a gentle twist and she learned the term "double helix." 

This is a somewhat blurry photos of "pin the PIT tag on the LCT." Or spelled out, "pin the Passive Integrated Transponder tag on the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout." The LCT is a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, but is also a sport fish. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages them and studies them by using PIT tags. If a fish is caught by a fisherman, the tag number is reported back, so the USFWS can gather information on individual fish. The tag is placed right behind the dorsal fin, so Lacee was pretty close in her blind placement.

After "pin the PIT tag on the LCT" Lacee made a bracelet where all the different color beads represented part of the LCT life cycle or habitat. Blue for the water, tan for the gravel spawning habitat, green for food, orange for eggs, and one yellow bead to represent the sun.

Our last station of the day was all about owls. This is also about the time Lacee decided it was time to eat her DNA.

 After the science expo, we drove down the mountain back to civilization. We were starving so had a sandwich at Subway and called it an evening.

Today I also gave Lacee a quilt that a friend of mine made for her. My friend is super creative and talented (as you can see) and she offered to make this lap quilt for her (and in her favorite colors no less). She loved it!!

Until our next adventure . . .

No Backup Plan

March 5, 2012

I picked up L today with the idea that we'd go to the movies to see The Lorax. When I suggested it, she said she didn't want to go to the movies (What kid turns down the movies? A kid with a lot of energy, that's what kid). She said she'd get bored and didn't want to just be sitting around. Okay...fair enough. I had no backup ideas, so we drove around for a while and talked while we tried to figure out what to do. We ended up at Port of Subs (she never says no to that), had our usual, and noticed that we just happened to be close to Toys R Us. We spent an hour or more in Toys R Us, up and down EVERY aisle, playing with every accessible toy, and having fun the whole time.

Until our next adventure . . .