Science Center

My kids were on Spring Break this past week. We didn't do too many exciting things, but Wednesday Robert didn't have any work (it was canceled due to some rain we were supposed to have--it turned out to be invisible, dry rain), so Wednesday morning he planned a little family excursion. He didn't tell us where we were going, but 1 1/2 hours later this is where we ended up.

The Science Center in LA.

(side note: I hate LA. I don't go there very often, but when I do, my reaction is the same. The air smells, I feel like the world is closing in on me, and there are far too many cars. I am so grateful to live in Beaumont. I love the country feel that it has. I love the openness and the clean air. Even my kids noticed a difference in LA. Every time we went outside, Mason said that he felt like he was going to gag. Even my hometown of Brea is too crowded for my liking. The more I live in Beaumont, the more I realize that I am probably a country girl at heart.)

There were all sorts of things there for the kids to enjoy and the admission price was perfect--free, we only paid for parking.

One of the things we did was we went in the earthquake simulator. Let me just say, that coming from Southern California and experiencing several quakes including the Whittier quake in 1987 and the Northridge quake in 1994, their simulated quake felt nothing like a real earthquake. But the kids enjoyed it.

There was an infrared camera set up and behind it was a wall that was sensitive to heat. If we looked at the infrared monitor and drew on the wall with our finger, we were able to see what we had drawn and how hot or cold it was.

Here we are standing in front of the heat sensitive wall. Infrared is blocked by glasses, that's why you can't see my eyes.

There was even a little play area for little kids.

So, while Robert took Rainer there to play, I was with the other two. Mason and Amanda went and played virtual games of volleyball and other webcam type games.

After a tailgate lunch (PB sandwich, apple cake, and an apple), we went on top of the parking structure to a huge lever.

I don't think the video does it justice. On one end was a 5,400 lb. truck and on the other were three different points where you could lift the truck by pulling on ropes. The kids had fun trying out the different points and seeing how easy or hard it was to lift the truck.

At the Air and Space building there were all kinds of things for the kids to do. Mason designed and launched computer probes into space, and

Rainer really enjoyed "flying" in the helicopter with his Dad.

We also tried our hand at being airplanes.

We put on foam wings and then as the wind was blowing, we tried to keep our wings level. As you can see, it wasn't always easy.

One of the highlights of the trip was the bike ride over an inch wide cable.

They were both a little nervous to do this, but we told them that it wouldn't be any scarier than some of the roller coasters they went on last summer. In the end they were both glad that they had done it. I'm a little bummed because I wasn't able to go on it. One of the requirements was that you had to wear shoes that either tied or strapped on. I wore my flip-flops that day so I couldn't do it. Maybe next time =).

Toward the end of the day we went to the World of Life section. The kids were fascinated to see how big or small different animals' brains were. Robert wanted to know if we wanted to watch open heart surgery, and not knowing what to expect, we all said yes. When we got to that exhibit and I saw exactly what it was, I immediately walked out. It was a dummy laid out on a table and inside his open chest cavity was a monitor showing an actual open heart surgery. I don't know if the kids stayed to watch it or not. There was also a simulator so that kids could see what it was like to drive drunk. First, they drove the course while sober (which was kind of hard to begin with--Mason kept driving off the road). Then they dove the course while drunk. Mason said that it was much harder. The last exhibit we saw was an animatronic 50ft woman that explained how the body works to maintain homeostasis. As we were leaving the show there was a control box that was not locked. Rainer found it and started pushing buttons. Of course I stopped him immediately, but I thought it was funny. He had been allowed to push buttons and touch all kinds of things all day long, he just figured that the control box was there for him to play with.

When Robert had looked this up on the Internet, and thought their web page said that they would be open until 9pm. When we got there, we found out that it would close at 5pm--just in time for LA rush hour traffic. Well, there was no way that we were going to try and go back home through LA traffic, so we decided to catch a bite to eat and let the traffic die down. As we ate our ice cream cone, the kids got a little silly.

Rainer actually wasn't trying to be silly, he was just having a hard time eating his ice cream cone.

But Amanda, on the other hand, couldn't resist giving herself a goatee.

Mason thought he would join in, but only went for the mustache.

(unfortunately, we only had our phone cameras on us, and Robert's lens was dirty so the last three pictures are not the best quality.)

When it was time to go, Robert made the mistake of walking into the gift store, so naturally the kids all wanted something. Amanda chose a stuffed animal bird that tweets like a real bird. Mason chose a ball that is made up of different part that kind of pivot when thrown in the air. Because of the different parts, the ball changed colors from blue to yellow and back again. And Rainer chose a claw that picks up things. On the way to the car he was so excited about his new toy that he was finding trash to pick up and throw away. When he would put what he had picked up in the trash he would say, "Oh yeah!" The people walking by us couldn't help but smile and laugh at him. He was so happy to have his claw that as soon as he got home, he put it to work. Everything that was on the floor got picked up.

OK. Well, maybe the car didn't get picked up with the claw. He may have picked that up himself, but everything else got picked up and put in a pile on the couch. Now we just need to get him to put the stuff away when he picks it up with the claw. Clean-up for Rainer just became even more fun.

We put in a full day of fun and it was well worth it.
We are so happy we got to spend the day together.