Science Fun

Back at Christmas time, we got a family membership to the Discovery Cube science museum, and it's April and we still hadn't taken advantage of it.

We also haven't seen a lot of Chris and David in recent months, at least not as much as we did when Toni next door had them every day after school.

So, on Thursday, we took a group field trip to the museum, just 20 minutes away near Sylmar.

Toni hopped in our car, and we picked up Sendy and the boys, and away we went. It's nice having a car big enough to fit a small crowd on a day like this!

The kids were all very excited for our field trip together, and the rock wall grabbed their interest right away. Then, they stepped into a wind tunnel tube, to simulate the Santa Ana winds the Los Angeles area gets each winter. A graphic explained why and how the winds form.

The four children enjoyed all the displays, and we filled the better part of five hours exploring the exhibits.

Midday, we ate our picnic lunch outside on the large playground.

After lunch, we checked out the grocery store area, where the children use computerized "carts" with scanners, to answer questions by scanning the correct item.

When we finished, we could take a photo as a successful shopper in the checkout area.

Here, Violet is using the pulley system to haul herself up. Three different chairs use different numbers of belts, to show how much easier it is to pull something with multiple pulleys.

Lastly, we went into a mock house, with front yard, back yard and garage, with tablets to answer questions about energy usage. After doing his own, David helped Violet with the questions. Here, she's looking to see if the fridge has an "energy star" label.

It was a very nice day, and fun to spend it with Chris and David, Sendy and Toni.

That evening, after soccer practice, we then rejoined our friends, to watch David's baseball game. Since he's in an older division, his midweek games start at 7, too late for us! Since it is Spring Break, we could be out later.