I slept in this morning - to well after 6AM! We had a late breakfast planned, so I gave the kids Pop Tarts to tide them over. Those things are disgusting, but it's a camping tradition. I went with coffee, myself.
I broke out the chalk again, and the kids decorated Randy's driveway.
 |
| Abe Lincoln, and the start of a castle. |
Randy has a new cat. He may not think so, but the cat does. Friendly thing, either got out when he wasn't supposed to, or was dumped. I kept trying to show him where the cat flap was, to get into the kitchen. I'm helpful like that.
We stopped for gas on the way to breakfast, so we wouldn't have to navigate later with the camper attached. When we got to the restaurant - same one as yesterday - we piled out, locked the car, and were turning to go in, when we heard this little knocking at the window...suppose we should let Sheridan out, too? Fortunately, she thought it was funny!
As soon as we walked in, Daddy saw another person he knew. And, the waitress spotted us..."Oh, dear. They're back again." Seriously, her exact words! Well, we do make an impression.
Our friend Helen, as well as Randy, joined us for breakfast. Helen's husband Steve couldn't make it, but he was one of the team that hired Daddy way back in the early eighties...you know, when I was in junior high.
Never enough time to catch up with people! Back to Randy's to hitch up the camper and say goodbye. The kids somehow managed to squeeze in one more cartoon.
I passed out the chalkboards from the bag I packed last week, as we entered the highway. We pointed this out and talked about the video we saw yesterday, but didn't have time to stop on this trip:
Fortunately, Albuquerque was a short drive, and we just pulled into the first RV park we saw. Several of my friends have told me how much they enjoy Explora , a hands-on science museum, and I wanted to check it out.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I didn't get pictures of half the exhibits there. I don't know that we even SAW half the exhibits. As soon as you walk in, before you even get to the counter to pay, there are literally half a dozen things to play with.
The kids have never seen fun house mirrors, and these had them shrieking and running back and forth.
They grow up so fast!
And, then they shrink again (I wish!)
Hey, look, I finally have long legs!
This is even scarier - dozens of Logans!
White Sands simulation (a fan you can use to make dunes form)
Real-time topographic map.
Shane just wanted to play in the sand!
This...I need one across from my desk. I could just sit and watch the balls go through all the ups and downs and pretend I am pondering some program idea or something.
I only got a couple close-ups, because Shane was trying to eat ball bearings from another thing I never got a picture of.
I need one of these in the library, too! You can move all the parts around however you want:
The kids loved the fountain. It has water shooting from several places above and below, sometimes in streams, sometimes in balls of water, and you can control parts of it.
Just beyond that, you can take your picture through a drop of water.
One of Shane's favorite attractions: the stairs.
There were a bunch, and he climbed them all as fast as he could. Aren't we all glad he is learning to do things so quickly?
The kids would have happily spent all day in this workshop.
Anything you could think of to make 'stuff', and nobody telling you what you should do with it. No adults anywhere, in fact!
I love that they had no problem jumping in and working with the other kids in there, too.
Of course, with 80,000 working parts around, Shane found...Tinker Toys.
The kid can get a straw into a juice box. I can't do that. I'm hoping it means he's going to be a surgeon!
I was able to tear them away after a good half hour, and we found some noise-making apparatuses,
and then...
giant bubble table!
Everybody was so good about sharing!
I'm thinking this counts as a bath.
Need to dry off, now? Head outside to the sun porch...
Again, lots of great sharing and kids working together, with no adult interference!
 |
| My strong man! |
 |
| She had something very definite in mind. |
 |
| Even Daddy couldn't resist! |
Making sound change by altering vibrations and amount of water.
Passing back by the workshop, that answered one question - who gets to clean it all up!
More cool experiments with magnetism, sound waves, and...and...
That's my girl:)
 |
| Right up Shane's alley! |
Remembering what Miss Jackie taught us about plane controls! They had to control wind speed, rudder, and flaps all at once.
Water tables! Waves, locks and channels.
finding out about water pressure and irrigation
At this point, it was 5PM, and we had been going hard all day. We will definitely be back again, when we can stay all day!
It was too windy to do anything outside once we got back to the camper and ate, so I got into my box of tricks again. Sticker story books and another chapter of The Magician's Nephew, then someone went looking for Shane's bottle. You know, the one he needs to have to go to sleep at night, even though he uses a sippy cup the rest of the day? The one we took with us to Explora just in case he got tired and fussy? (See it in those last few pictures?)
Oh, dear.
So, Daddy ran out to Walmart, and we all got to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. It will be hard to top this day!
Animals We Saw
Randy's new kitty
Numbers
$17.88 for 8 gallons of gas at $2.20/gal in Grants
$75 breakfast (I had to grab the waitress at the start, because people keep sneaking up and paying for our meals!)
$5 drinks
$2 ice
$25.95 site rental
$32 Explora
$36 Walmart - bottle, air time card
Car Conversations
Logan: "I don't want to die when I grow up," followed by a recipe for "When I got grown up": water, guacamole, grapes, lemons, and orange juice. For those looking for immortality, I am afraid I did not get exact amounts of each.
Logan again: "God can eat if he turns Hisself into a dog. Dogs eat poop and grass, but God can tell Hisself when He's a dog not to eat a snake." Um...okay, then.
No comments:
Post a Comment