On our winter vacation, we drove from New York to Boston, and we stopped to quell some car seat antsy-ness Mystic, Connecticut. My son had this conversation with a beluga whale at the Mystic Aquarium. The beluga whales were definitely a highlight of the aquarium.

On Veterans Day, the husband was was working, but my son and I were off–no work for me, no daycare for him.  So I took him on his first trip to the LA Zoo.

We saw these guys.  Meercats.  They were really posing, so a big zoo hit.

It’s the crazy irony of modern Astronomy: While we’re seeing more and more amazing pictures from space telescopes, we have less and less connection with the night sky in our daily lives. Since we’re surrounded by constant outdoor lighting, the constellations are no longer familiar patterns, but have become something we learn about in books or on the Internet.

Astronomers have been making an effort to rebuild the connection — especially for kids — that these gorgeous astronomy pictures you see on the Internet are just more detailed images of things that you can see yourself with your own eyes. During the “100 Hours of Astronomy” (which I wrote about here), my kids and I got to see Saturn through a telescope for the first time! And, let me tell you, it’s an exciting experience to look at a dot of light in the sky, learn that it’s actually Saturn, and then see with your own eyes (through a telescope) that it really has rings, just like the pictures! Ditto for seeing the details of the moon (which we also saw that day), and seeing the moons and surface stripes of Jupiter (which we saw at a recent public observing at Princeton University)!!

But what about kids and parents who aren’t aware of such opportunities? Who might be inspired by seeing the planets through a telescope, but just haven’t thought of it? Well, that’s where Halloween comes in!! » Continue reading “Best Halloween Idea Ever!”

During our little weekend visit to Boston, my kids were thrilled to discover that — starting at the science museum — there’s a scale model of the solar system! In the photo above, Leo is posing with “Venus” of a model that is billed as “the largest scale model of the solar system east of Peoria, Illinois.” Of course we’ve already visited the one in Peoria. Not to mention the one in Zürich. Maybe we’ll eventually visit them all!

My kids attended their first real concert this past weekend!! The band was, in fact, one of my personal favorites — the only group I’ve seen perform live more than once.

Coincidence?

No, it’s They Might Be Giants!!!

Leo watching TMBG live — There’s John Linnell at the keyboard. » Continue reading “Science Live!”

My kids just can’t get enough of the solar system! From watching some of his favorite astronomy videos on the Internet (in particular this one), Nico decided he really wanted to explore the scale model of the solar system in Peoria, Illinois. Sure we’d already visited the one in Zürich, but the one in Peoria claims to be the world’s largest complete scale model of the solar system! This one is too big to explore on foot, so you get an idea of how truly awesome the solar system is.

The sun is so big that the wall of the building can’t even contain it! » Continue reading “Solar System Road Trip!”

Rational parents, this is an event not to be missed, especially if your kids love astronomy, like mine do! Astronomers around the world have been organizing 100 hours of astronomy activities for the public! And if you’ve missed the beginning, it’s not quite done yet — you can still join in the fun tonight (look here for activities in your area).

Friday night I got to see the rings of Saturn with my own eyes for the first time. OK, so the light was bent a little by some mirrors and lenses, but it’s still cool that your can see a speck of light in the sky, and if someone points a big enough telescope at it, you can see that it really does have rings, just like in all the pictures! And that’s not all.

» Continue reading “100 Hours of Astronomy!”

I guess this could count as our first Rational Dad guest post. We went to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific with the boy a few weeks back. Just getting around to posting this now, however, due to some annoying issues with posting pictures. Since the temporary solution seems to be simply copying and pasting HTML from our family blog, I am actually just taking the easy route and copying and pasting my husband’s entire post. We are very into the idea of taking the lad on many science related outings, and this was a great place to start. There were many babies there the day we went. Babies dig fish!

Here is Jeff’s post. Enjoy.

A few weeks ago we took Zack to the The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. We’ve taken him to the tropical fish store in town a couple of times, and he digs watching those little dudes swim around.
» Continue reading “The Long Beach Aquarium”

Or, in the words of my five-year-old Léo, “The zoo is my best walk.”

When I was younger, I was conflicted about zoos. It’s interesting for me to get to see exotic animals in real life, but does that justify putting the majestic lion in a concrete jail cell, not to mention the number of animals that were probably killed in the hunt for these poor specimens?

Fortunately, those kind of zoos are becoming a thing of the past. As the Zurich Zoo website explains: “Modern zoos consider themselves to be nature conservation centres and have formulated a common worldwide conservation strategy, which is backed up by the world conservation union IUCN.” And their centerpiece — the Masoala Rainforest at the zoo — is phenomenal!

» Continue reading “We love the Zürich Zoo!!!”

Here’s an interesting incident described by one of the bloggers from my ex-Mormon blogroll (Outer Blogness):

While we were in that room with Lucy, looking at the diorama of evolution, some woman walks up and asks Lizz, “Did I hear you correctly when you said that ’some people believe in evolution’?”

This led to the following:

The entire exchange lasted only a few moments, but I distinctly remember that I led Jillie away from the Crazy as quickly as possible. I wanted to smack that lady across the mouth.

The funny thing is that I do, to a certain degree, believe in evolution. I also believe in God. and I also believe that YOU DO NOT WALK UP TO A COMPLETE STRANGER AND CRITICIZE THEIR PARENTING.

» Continue reading ““You do not walk up to a complete stranger and criticize their parenting””