As I sat eating my breakfast, I asked the boys what they wanted to do today, fully expecting them to say "a pool day" but Smallest surprised me and said "Science Centre". I shouldn't have been that surprised, as it was on their list. It was very hot and humid out and I thought well why not.
All ready by around 10ish, we filled the car up with petrol and went on our way, narrowly avoiding an accident! We were there by 11am with the car park not rammed but quite a few queuing up to get in. Disaster - I lost my purse (handbag is also called purse here, I didn't lose my handbag just my purse, my coin purse, my wallet). I left the boys happily looking at fish and went back to the car, where I found nothing. I was just starting to panic when I looked under my car and there it was. Who knows how it got under there but thankfully I found it; money, credit and debit cards, health cards, permanent residency cards. Phew, not only would we not have got in to the science Centre but replacing all that was in there would have been a Nightmare!
Anyway, we got in. Our first place to visit was Ripleys Believe it or Not. This exhibit was a collection of things that Robert Ripley bought in over 200 countries during 35+ years before he died. A lot of the things came from England that I saw. The boys sat in an enormous chair (not Daniel Lamberts) and we saw works of art including Einstein made out of pieces of toast, a huge snake made of washers, Bumblebee transformer made from car parts, another portrait made from computer keys, one from stamps and another from pennies.
Smallest proved he wasn't a giant after all by standing next to a very tall exhibit who was 6ft in Grade 3 (age 9). We made a light show, looked through microscopes, posed as astronauts, divers and with a turtle.
We discovered why there was an audio delay on old phones, how to get rid of noise through holey tunnels, looked through weird mirrors and learnt about magnets and noise.
One of my favourite displays was the air holding up a beach ball (not too sciencey geeky but fun). Smallest dared to climb high up and be suspended looking through a periscope and learning what life is like for a soaring bird. We saw skeletons, globes, and went through a rain forest where we found a turtle.
The boys made a film go quick, slower and back to front and stood over what looked like a huge drop under a glass floor (illusion). We sat in a diving chamber and listened to a lady talk about breathing and how far down you could dive. It was supposed to be an 'experience' and we should have 'felt' it but there was too much chatter inside there to fully appreciate it though Smallest nearly fell asleep.
To wake him up he tested his agility on a running machine and we had a trip through a virtual forest with lots of interesting facts about trees (not too geeky to love a good tree). We found a centre that was full of interactive stuff (not that the rest of it wasn't) and there was a huge machine that you put pieces of paper in (supposedly to see what shapes floated best) and they were all pumped out of the top. There was plenty to see in do and watch and play.
Smallest made a face with a tongue and the boys made a mini film using stop start motion. We all made paper aeroplanes and tried to hit the target (mine was the worst).
There was a place outside which we visited with trees (yay), strange structures, a tree slide and a musical tree with Michael Buble singing.
Inside we went to the planetarium four times to attempt to watch a presentation on the night sky. The planetarium only seats fifty people and the first three times we went we were number 53, 54, 51 and only on the forth visit (the shows were hourly) did Small stand in the queue while Smallest and I looked at the moon buggy and Smallest attempted to drive it and then we joined Small. Unfortunately it wasn't that great as there were lots of silly kids in there making silly noises instead of listening. It was nice sitting in the dark looking at the stars though and I closed my eyes a couple of times. If I had been more comfortable I would have fallen asleep. Smallest too!
After five hours we were done! Tired, achey legs and full of science facts we drove home. The traffic was bad but we made use of the 'two people or more lane' and looked smug as we drove past hundreds of cars. We popped to the supermarket on the way and picked up a few things.
Huffle had made dinner and it was nearly ready for us. Nice not to have to rush in and rush to get dinner made. After dinner we showed Huffle our photos and told him about our day. Huffle had worked out that our old patch we repaired in the pool was loose and we needed another one. That was a tough job getting that done last time. Both him and Small spent ages diving down as you have to put glue on it but cover it until you get to the bottom and then hold it on until it is stuck. They had to take it in turns diving down.
Small and Huffle went to football and Smallest and I stayed at home and rested. Smallest had a headache and was really tired.
 |
| This is Small and Huffles official football photo. What is Huffle doing? |
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment