Maker's Faire

Bohdin had fine arts camp this week which consisted of an hour of dance, an hour of music, and an hour of art for five days.  On Friday the family was invited to a showcase of all they learned.  There were two short dances, a musical performance with boom whackers, and an exhibit of paper mache masks.  Bohdin chose to make a bunny mask for Nyla.  She loved it. 

Nyla spent Monday and Tuesday at kite making camp.  She came home on Tuesday with a large kite she make and a smaller premade kite.  She and Buddy flew the smaller kite on Saturday with some success.  They also both finished swim lessons.  Nyla passed her level and has aged out of any more levels until she is six.  Bohdin didn't pass his level which was expected.  Most kids need to repeat a level more than once but he also didn't have a good class this time since his teacher was focused on the kid that couldn't swim well enough to be in that level.  The parents refused to put him in the correct level.  We'll probably skip the next session of swim. 

Nyla has been keeping busy this week playing with our new five year old neighbor, Ch-.  Three's a crowd and there has been some fighting between Nyla and C- over Ch-.  The new girl seems really nice.  So far this week she's been at our house for over 12 hours.  It looks like it will be a good friendship.  Nyla had some issues with C- and M- because she wanted to play less mature things than they did.  Ch- just turned five and enjoys playing the same pretend games that Nyla does. 

Bohdin and Buddy played golf on Saturday while the girls and I went to the garden.  Buddy played the previous weekend also and is beginning to enjoy golf.  Bohdin went along more for the experience than actual playing.  I think he hit a few balls but he didn't play the course. 

Today I took Bohdin and Nyla to Maker's Faire in Kansas City.  We arrived later than I wanted because I had to turn around and take a whiny Cora back home.  I'm glad I took the hour to do that because it paid off while we were there.  It's not the best space for a toddler.  This was the first time I attended a Maker's Faire and I was impressed.  There was so much to do.  Kansas City has one of the larger events in the country which is why I really wanted to attend.  Next year we'll be near a smaller one.


Here the kids are tapping vegetables to make music.  They are hooked up to a computer somehow and each vegetable is assigned a different sound.  It was pretty neat.  We also saw a metal stick sort of instrument hooked up to an amp.  It made different noises when it was hit.  Both kids had an opportunity to try that one


There were a lot of 3D printers at the Faire and I enjoyed seeing one in person.  I had a hard time envisioning how it would work.  It's actually a lot like like a regular printer.  Every run it added one layer to the top of the object. 



The kids pounded designs into a leather bracelet.  They both chose eagles for some reason.  Nyla's also has a horse. 







There was a magician there and Bohdin was involved in one of the tricks.  He wandered off to see the bubble machine before the magician was finished with all of his tricks.  That surprised me because Bohdin really enjoys magic.  He's been watching a lot of shows on tv recently about the science behind magic. 



There were several homemade video games there.  In this game one had to shoot the light to send it back to the other person's side.  If you miss the light goes off your edge and you lose the point.  As the lights volley back and forth they speed up making it harder to shoot it just right.  There was also an adaptation of PacMan which the creators called a cross between PacMan and chess.  It was a three player game with every person deciding their move simultaneously.  Bohdin was a ghost and was eaten almost immediately.   When he came back in the game after five turns he ate PacMan. 


One of my favorite areas was the soldering area.  I bought each child a kit for $1 and they made a robot with flashing LED lights.  Bohdin did all of his soldering himself but I helped Nyla.  I held the soldering iron while she held the piece of metal.  She did the other assembly herself. 



There was more to see than we had time for.  While Nyla sat and did sand art Bohdin drove a robot twice.  There were a lot of robots there that did lots and lots of different things. 


We caught the tail end of a science presentation involving air.  At this point the guy was blowing the cups off the heads using an air cannon.  Bohdin went up to him after the show and told him the Hindenburg used hydrogen and not hot air as he had said during the presentation.  I don't like when science volunteers give imprecise information to kids.  He had told the kids that the Hindenburg used hot air to float.  He also made some other errors but the Hindenburg one was the only one that Bohdin caught. 

The last thing we did was wait an incredibly long time for balloon animals.  We spent more time in that line than at any other thing we did that day.  Nyla really wanted a pink balloon bunny so we did it for her.  Second place for long wait times was watching some kids make a plastic model of their fingers.  They only let a few people do that so we could only watch.  It was a really cool process and the kids want me to buy the chemicals so we can do it at home.  They also wanted me to buy a rubber band shotgun that they tried out but I passed. 

Summer

When we arrived back home it felt like a ghost town.  So many people had already moved.  Others were on vacation including M- and C-.  Bohdin and Nyla settled down into a nice routine of playing with each other.  They were sick that first week back with a fever, headache, and sore throat.  It took over a week to cycle through all of the kids.  In between we attended the Scottish festival. 



We also went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead which is pretty fun.  The goats liked Nyla's dress.  This wasn't the only goat that tried eating it.  Nyla wanted to go see the rabbits because ever since seeing all of the rabbits in Colorado she has became even more enamored with them. 



Last week M- and C- came home so the kids have spent hours each day playing with them.  Summer camps have also started.  Bohdin had golf last week and Nyla had science.  Cora wanted me to take her to Mickey camp or Dora camp.  When I told her there was no such camp she decided we would make it at home.  I didn't follow up on that suggestion but it was a great one.  Swim also started last week.  There is a kid in Bohdin's class that shouldn't be in that level so he is holding the whole class back.  Nothing can be done though.  There is only one other student in Nyla's class and he was out one day so she had a private lesson.  Her teacher had Nyla pretending to be a mermaid and Nyla fell in love.  Now she loves swim lessons and her teacher.  They'll finish up swim lessons this week.  They probably won't do it in July because it interferes with other things but I'll have to take a look at it again. 


I never posted a picture of the bird Bohdin made me for Mother's Day.  On the right is the basket that Nyla made at school. 

Our garden is growing and demands attention.  I took the kids once last week to help weed.  Cora ran "out of power"  before we even started.  Nyla complained about something and Bohdin puttered around a little bit.  We went back this weekend and I didn't even try to make the girls help.  They stayed in the car playing and doing art.  So far we've eaten swiss chard, beets, and lettuce from the garden.  We should have our first squash this week. 



I took the kids to Kansas City this weekend to see the Boxcar Children.  I didn't check the weekend show times assuming it would be the same as weekday.  It wasn't.  The only show was at 2pm instead of 10am so we had hours to kill.  We walked over to the Crown Center and stopped at Kaleidoscope which is run by Hallmark.  It's a free large art area.  I wasn't sure Bohdin would have fun since he doesn't always enjoy doing art but even he had fun.  We ate lunch and then went to the science museum for a while.  Cora did pretty well for the play.  She was good for at least an hour.  Bohdin and Nyla enjoyed it despite major changes from the book.  It was a fun day. 

I'm teaching Nyla to sew using a book I bought.  She had some trouble and there were some tears but she is a determined girl and she kept trying.  Her first day she learned to thread a needle, tie a knot, a running stitch, and a whip stitch.  Then she made the yellow bag below.  I helped her with the straps because she really really wanted to do that on the sewing machine.  She pressed the foot while I helped guide it.  C- came over later and Nyla tried to teach her to sew.  She practiced her whip stitch again this morning. 






This is the art Nyla made while Buddy and I were weeding the garden.  It says "I am in jail." 

Colorado

Sunday we went hiking in Roxborough State Park which neither of us had visited before.  It was a beautiful place and I enjoyed learning more about the rock formations.  These same rock formations occur in Garden of the Gods and the Flatirons of Boulder.  Cora alternated between running and asking to be carried because she was so tired. Eventually she fell and skinned her knee so she got a ride the rest of the way.  Nyla was whiny in the beginning but was good by the end of the 2.7 mile hike.  Bohdin enjoyed looking around with the binoculars he had bought at the thrift store the previous day. 










After the hike we went to Paul and Jenn's house.  We spent the next few days catching up with friends.  Monday was spent with some of the moms in the old playgroup, Tuesday was spent with Ray and Jenn's family, and Wednesday was spent with Bohdin's pen pal, P- at the science museum.  Nyla had as much fun with P- as Bohdin did.  By the end they wished they were sisters.  I think Nyla has a new penpal now.  Buddy also took them to the rec center to swim twice.  Bohdin loved the water slide and did it dozens of times in a row. 


















Prior to leaving grandma's house on Saturday, Nyla and Cora threw a birthday celebration for the new stuffed kittens grandma bought.  We even sang happy birthday to them.  Nyla's toys have very frequent birthdays but this one was the best by far. 











We started driving back Thursday night to get a few hours on the road.  It's theoretically possible that Cora would survive the whole day in the car but there are no guarantees.  I'm glad we made this choice because all of us were done in the car by the time we came home.  Overall Cora did okay.  She had heavy use of the Kindle to watch videos which the other kids didn't.  They hardly complained about the injustice.  Nyla kept herself busy with drawing and crafts while Bohdin listened to audio books or read.  It was a good trip but it's nice to be home. 

New Mexico

We headed to Taos fairly early in the morning because there was a lot on our list to see.  We stopped briefly in the mountains to stretch our legs and enjoy the view.  Our original plan was to stop at the Taos Pueblo first but grandma didn't really want to go again as she had seen it several times so we were going to drop her off at the Millicent Rogers Museum.  I said so many bad things about the Taos Pueblo on the way that Buddy didn't want to go anymore.  I found it boring as a kid because you just walk around the outside of homes.  There isn't much to it. 

We all went in the Millicent Rogers Museum which houses Native American textiles and jewelry.  It was okay.  I like the temporary exhibit of photography by elementary aged students best.  It made me want to get Bohdin a camera.  Those kids had done an incredible job. 



After the museum we stopped to eat at a restaurant that served New Mexican food.  I hadn't tasted such spicy salsa at a restaurant in a long time.  Most of the places out east have salsa that tastes like tomatoes.  The food was good and spicy.  After lunch grandma took the kids to the local toy store while Buddy and I strolled around town.  The toy store has an incredible outdoor play space and lots of demo toys.  It was hard to pull them away.






From the toy store we went to the Earthship Biotecture outside of Taos.  It is a large community of sustainable housing built with recycled materials.  The houses don't use any public utilities like electricity, sewer, or water.  They generate their own.  Most of the houses did have a propane tank though.  We weren't able to tour any of the houses.  The only place open to us was the visitor center which showed some of the techniques and design features of those types of homes.


















From there we drove to our hotel outside of Santa Fe.  On the trip we had been listening to Bomb:  The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.  We continued the audio book as we headed to Santa Fe.  At one point we had to drive down through the canyon on a gravel road.  Just as we headed in the audio book described the canyons outside of Los Alamos.  It was a very fun coincidence. 

The next morning we headed into Santa Fe.  Because it was still early and many places were still closed we stopped at the Legislature Building first which houses an impressive art display. Afterward we walked around downtown seeing two chapels and a lot of art.  Bohdin often commented about the amount of art and jewelry for sale.  Lunch was New Mexico chile.

After lunch we dropped the girls and grandma at the hotel while Buddy, Bohdin, and I went to the Ray Bradbury museum in Los Alamos.  The best part of the museum was the puzzle room which had eight brain teasers.  It was a really popular area so we weren't able to try them all before the museum closed.  Bohdin said it was great and wanted to come back. 

Bohdin couldn't decide between the Ray Bradbury museum about the history of the atom bomb or the the Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque.  We indulged him and went to both.  In hindsight one would have been enough.  There was a lot of overlap between the two and they were about equally good.  Nyla and Cora weren't very interested in nuclear history so the next stop was meant to cater to them.  The Explora Science and Children's Museum in Albuquerque is fantastic.  There were more hands on activities than any museum I can think of off the top of my head.  It was designed as a series of small cubicles with a different theme in each.  Except for the fact it was hard to keep track of kids and weave through the maze it was really excellent. 

On our last day we went back to downtown Santa Fe and strolled around a bit more.  After lunch we went to the Museum of International Folk Art.  The museum is a unique collection of folk art set up in scenes.  A lot of countries were represented along with scenes of circuses, heaven, meals, and all sorts of other things.  I wouldn't coming back here again once the girls are older.  They had limited interest and patience. 






Overall we had a great trip to New Mexico.  Between the Blue Star program and reciprocal benefits for science museums we didn't have to pay any entrance fees.  There were a few things on our list that we didn't get to mostly because of Cora.  Traveling with a toddler requires flexibility and patience.  Maybe we'll go back again someday once Cora is a lot older.  

Kansas

Buddy had his two week break from school so it was vacation time.  We took two days to cross Kansas into Colorado allowing us time to stop at places along the way.  The first stop was the Tallgrass National Prairie.  Across the street from the visitor center was a large field with grass blowing in waves.  I've seen that effect elsewhere but never in such large scale before.  We went on a hike and found several animals and flowers.  Buddy spotted the horned toad and he and I both caught a glimpse of a very large bluish lizard.  This prairie was in the Flint Hills so it wasn't flat at all.  On our walk we didn't hear cars or airplanes or people.  It was just us and nature.  There was a feeling of vastness and isolation that is rare these days. 









There was a mansion on the property with an extensive stone wall.  I can't imagine how long it would take to build so much wall. 


From the prairie we continued onto Hutchinson which is a not very big town in the middle of Kansas.  The only underground salt mine in the Americas is here and a Cosmophere museum.  A tour of the salt mines sounded better than the museum so we headed there.  Unfortunately Cora is too young so either somebody stayed with her while the other three did a two hour tour or we try the museum.  We were disappointed that we couldn't do the salt mine especially since we thought a museum in a small Kansas town couldn't possibly be that great.  We went anyway and were pleasantly surprised.  It's one of the top museums I've ever been too.  The layout and presentation were definitely the best.  Cora was getting tired and Nyla was bored so we couldn't take as much time as we liked.  The museum discussed the space race between the US and Russia starting with the German V1 and V2 missiles in World War 2.  The museum had a lot of really great pieces.  It had a better collection than the Air and Space Museum.  We'll have to go back someday. There is so much we missed.

This is an ejection seat from a B-52 bomber.


This is the flame bucket of Launch Complex 19


Nyla and Cora made their own fun. 





The next day there was no stopping as there is nothing of interest in western Kansas or eastern Colorado.  We arrived at grandma's house before noon thanks to the time change.  The kids had time to play a little bit and explore before we headed to New Mexico the next day.