World Maker Faire 2011

We went, we saw and we loved it! And I can't believe we almost didn't make it to the Faire. Our plans kept changing, but as I mentioned before, all's well that ends well. So here we were, in Queens, going to see... Actually, we weren't sure what we were going to see. Except we knew there would be robots there.

Sure thing, almost right at the entrance, there they were. And the best part was we could touch them, pick them up for a closer look and even play with them!!! Pretty awesome, right?

Most of them didn't resemble people, not even a little bit. So when M saw this little guy, he was practically jumping for joy.

But the fun didn't stop there. First, we came across AnnMarie Thomas' Squishy Circuits. And she was there her own self! A while ago we made a couple of circuits and played with them. We built a couple of circuits using just some LEDs and a motor. So while at AnnMarie's display we concentrated mostly on the motor and the buzzers. This was one of the busiest displays too. One of the things that I really liked was that the Squishy Circuits seemed to attract just as many girls as boys. Also, kids were very active and unafraid to try things. After all, most of them already had plenty of experience with playdough so this probably didn't seem like a whole new thing to them.

All in all, M got to play with quite a few toys and kits aimed at teaching kids the basics of electrical circuitry. The one that really stood out, IMHO, in addition to the Squishy Circuits, was this one above. Basically, it's just black conductive paint. This particular paint is specially formulated to be non-toxic and washable. So you paint with it, wait for the paint to dry, then hook up a battery to one end and an LED light or a buzzer or whatever, to another end. Or you could paint little (or big) wooden blocks with it, attach some mini-LEDs, mini-switches, etc and turn any block set into a circuit-building set. Pretty cool!

Over here on the picture the paint was used to draw pictures of musical instruments. Then kids could play music just by touching the pictures.

I was very happy to see Thinker Linkers at the Faire. M already played them at our local Maker Faire where he spent quite a long time building some very large and complicated structure. This time he was more interested in finding more robots. Still, he stopped by Thinker Linkers area and worked with Chris on assembling "a house for a robot". I really hope Marbles, our local kids museum, will add a huge mega set of Thinker Linkers to its collection of building toys! And if not Marbles, then maybe Durham's Life and Science Museum then even though it's a drive for us.

In the spirit of the Faire, we made not one, but two things - an LED throwie and this recyclables weaving craft. Guess which one took more time, more components and was more complicated?

 And while you're guessing things, guess who in our family has the biggest head. Oh, but before you fall of your chair laughing, I am much taller than this in real life... at least 3 inches taller. Ok, maybe 2 inches. Still...

This was just about the best part of the Faire. Or at least right up there with all the other awesomeness that was going on. You see, the Faire was happening at the New York Hall of Science and the ticket to a Faire included admission to NYHS. Let me just say, if you are looking for something kid-friendly and amazing to do in NYC, put this destination at the top of your must-do list. Just make sure to leave plenty of time to explore the place.

NY - Pictures Only Edition

I am hopelessly late with this post, so it's going to be pretty much pictures only.

So this one is of M on a deck a couple of days before Hurricane Irene went through the area.

And this one - a few hours before the hurricane. Notice the difference? Yep, this gave us (mostly Grandma, really) something to do. We (mostly she) were busy clearning the yard and lemme tell you, it never looked this nice!

Then there was also plenty of baking with Grandma (she's trying all those no-gluten recipes). M actually created his own recipe for a crispy cracker-like bread and mixed dough. Then we baked it and, surprisingly it was very good!

We did spend a few days post-hurricane without electricity, which at my parents' house also means without water. And M did get sick. But all's well that ends well. So we celebrated with a little get-together.

Also, grilled with Grandma

And tried out Uncle's motorcycle

Then one day, tired of staying in and our the house, I offered M a trip to the Bronx Zoo. And he said "NO WAY!". And that's how we ended up at the Intrepid instead.

And it was a huge win for all of us (Grandpa, M and myself) since we all enjoyed it. First, we looked at all the airplanes on the flight deck

Then we climbed all the way up to the captain's bridge for a nice view of the Downtown.

We then went to the lower decks where there was a museum with a very hands-on area for children (and yes, their parents). And as it turned out, there was a life-size model of Mercury landing capsule, complete with all the buttons and switches and all that. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you can guess what M was busy with for the next hour or so.

Nothing else could match the excitement of the capsule. Not even going onto a real submarine!

And the next day we also went fishing with Grandpa. Let me tell you, last time I went fishing, I was like in elementary school and it was boring. But this time we went to this little pond full of sunfish and in 4 minutes we caught 4 fish.

They were tiny and we were too glad to release them back. M liked fishing, but not the fish themselves who seemed to scare him with all the flapping and jumping. Plus they were cold and wet and slippery and overall not very pleasant to touch, as M noted.

Another Trip to NY

Oops, it's Labor Day weekend and I haven't posted anything new in a while. Which is too bad 'cause we've been pretty busy and lots of interesting things have been happening. For example, once again we are in NY visiting my parents.

We drove up here almost 2 weeks ago. That was an eventful week for all of us. It started with an earthquake in Raleigh. Then we were busy packing and preparing the house for Hurricane Irene. Then it was time to drive to NY. Once again, we chose the backroads over I-95, partially because we wanted to make it a 2-day drive, not 1-day. It's more relaxed and more pleasant that way.

Driving through the mountains in western VA we noticed something great, the Blue Mountain Brewery. It was about time for lunch anyway and the place looked amazing - fermentation tanks with local brews, a huge veranda with fantastic views, a promise of cold fresh beer and locally-grown organic food.

Afterwards we pressed on and in another hour or so arrived at just about our favorite stop of the entire trip, the Frontier Culture Museum. Let me tell you, it's worth a trip in and of itself! I think this was our 4th visit there. So we figured we'd spend just a couple of hours there this time. I was actually a bit worried that our stop would be too short since, as it turned out, the African Village was closed in preparation for Hurricane Irene. Well, we ended up staying there for not two, not three, but almost five hours!

In fact, the visit turned into a great treasure hunt game for M. He found lots and lots of little treasures - a bit of washed wool, a feather out of a rooster's tail, wood shavings, a real iron nail that was made just for him and many many more exciting things. He petted a cat, fed chickens, tried his hand at carding, weaving, getting water out of a well, playing Jacob's ladder, etc. In short, it was awesome.

After a night in a crummy Best Western somewhere in Frederick, MD, we drove to Hershey, PA. I've been meaning to take M to Hershey for a couple of years. This time we were going for sure. Nothing could stop us, not steady rain nor threat of a downpour from the approaching Hurricane Irene.

I didn't realize how huge Hershey was! There's a ton of stuff there, in and around the factory. You can spend a whole day having fun and then, on Day 2 hit the Hershey amusement park next door. But we only had about an hour or so.

What I had in mind was to go on a little 15-minute World of Chocolate ride and create our own chocolate bars. Of course, the exit from the ride was through a gift shop and so it took us some extra time. But then we were on our way and arrived at my parents' house just 3 hours or so later.

Weeks 8 and 9 - Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

These two weeks zoomed by so fast that didn't have a chance to update my blog. Things were constantly changing. For example, in the space of 3 days our departure date (from NY) changed 4 times!

As you might know, Chris had to come home earlier than planned because he took a nasty fall (actually, a series of 7 or so nasty falls). As a result, he is on crutches for the next few weeks. What was at first thought to be a nasty sprain is in fact a full-blown fructure. So here ya go - a BIG change.

Then a bit out of a blue I had a pretty big and extremely urgent project for one of my clients. In fact, I was so busy with it that I had to put a few other biz projects on the back burner. And then I had to catch up on those...

But we still managed to have some fun and get some stuff other than work done.

During our last week or so in NY, M got into building with unit blocks. Most of the stuff he built was part of his Space Exploration program - a house for the astronauts (see above), another building where they'd train for the missions (see below), a launch complex, a hangar for the space shuttle, etc.

There was also a huge change in how he built them. He used to ask me for help balancing the blocks or even coming up with design ideas. But lately he's been building completely on his own. Which obviously makes me very happy and proud.

Now the only thing he asks from me is to take his picture next to his latest creation.

The weather cleared up some. Even though it still remained very cold, at least the snow melted. It started to feel like spring! Change in the weather meant that M and Grandpa could finally launch some real rockets. You can imagine the excitement!

No snow meant that we could finally go to a playground. Sure, there was mud all over the place, but that just upped the fun factor. Except on the first day when it was so cold that after about 20 minutes M asked me if we could go home already.

In our last week in NY we spent quite a lot of time in the backyard. M got to sit in Grandpa's new airplane! And check out the first greens in Grandma's veggie garden. We also played soccer with this huge dirty mostly deflated Chuck E. Cheese-themed ball. Even Grandpa got in on the action.

We also built this structure (above) from a playhouse someone junked and Grandpa picked up months ago. Do you know what this is? Nope, it's not a house or a castle. And it's not a rocket or a space station or a space shuttle.

Ok, I'm going to tell you - it's a ship. A regular ocean-going ship. M was the captain and I was both the crew and the passengers. My responsibilities were few and consisted mostly of saying "Ay Ay, Captain!". The captain, on the other hand, stayed very busy making snacks and coffee in the galley, appearing on the deck only to fight sharks.

Back indoors we did a couple of projects. I came up with one after seeing this idea on a couple of blogs. This is an art-science project since it combines painting with pendulum action. The set up is very simple - a funnel suspended from a broomstick and filled with paint. It got pretty messy, but M was really into it (and he still doesn't like messing with paint). In fact, he chose the colors and operated the pendulum. He then got into mixing colors with a stirring stick.

The second project was M's own invention. He actually got so into it that he was at it for almost 2 hours straight and then continued on and off for the next couple of days. The setup was much more elaborate and included a printer paper box, some leftover cardboard (from building our hexbug habitat), a large pot, an old broken tripod, lots of sticks, pinecones, and pieces of wood and a space heater (set on low for safety). So what do you think this whole thing is? Ok, I'm going to tell you right away 'cause you won't guess in a million years. Ready? It's a machine for making rainbow-colored hay from ground lunar stones (which explains the moon on the floor in the backgroud). At least it was that on Day 1. On Day 2 the setup was simplified a bit and became a bonfire so we could all warm ourselves up.

In between all this fun we also managed to make it to Brighton Beach. I promised myself not to get M more Russian books this time (I bought him a ton in the last few weeks). But you know me - I can't resist good books. And the ones I saw at the Kids' World store were fantastic. Plus Grandpa insisted on footing the bill. So M got about 6-7 more books, including an awesome Encyclopedia of Space Exploration, this time - in Russian. Then I went to the bookstore for grownups and bought a few more books, this time - for myself, mostly about Russian history and language.

And then it was time to pack and leave. We had to get a mini-van to fit all the stuff we were taking with us even though I left quite a few books and toys and most our winter clothes in the attic. But in all fairness, we had 3 adults, a child, a cat and a pair of crutches to fit into the car. Why 3 adults? My brother volunteered to help us with the move back (I told ya last year - he is (mostly) an angel). And now we're finally back home! Well, we've actually been back for almost a week already, but that's another story.

Week 6 - Too Much Space

This morning started off with M telling everyone in the house his last night's dream:

"I flew into Outer Space in a space pod. And then I launched a whole lot of satellites into orbit. And even Darth Vader. And then Darth Vader started shooting at the rocks on the Moon."

Oh, and M doesn't pronounce "th" yet, so it comes out as "Darhhh Vader". Super cute!

And that pretty much sums up the theme of this week - rockets, cosmos, astronauts.

We did get snow again on Monday. Fortunately, my brother was here to help digg us out. This is getting really old and I can't wait to get back to Raleigh and its 70-degree weather.

M was so busy helping his uncle to clear the snow, build with blocks, and then going to my uncle Victor's birthday, that he didn't do much space stuff.

Then there was Tuesday. It started off with M building a rocket. Unlike all the previous ones where I'd help him put it all together, this one was all his work. From the choice of spare parts - cardboard tubes from toilet paper and towel rolls, a wine cork, cut-up paint chips, stickers and lots of sticky tape - to the design, to gluing/taping it all together, it was all his work!

He even came up games to play with his rocket. One was "Rocket Landing on the Moon" and the other one - "Rocket Landing on a Wild Planet".

That same day we went to my aunt Sofia's to enjoy birthday dinner leftovers (delish!!!) and M got to play with his cousin (or second cousin? I can never figure these things out in English).

It was a great playdate - they played lots of different games, listened to stories, helped Grandma Sofia bake a cake, ate it, played some more, watched cartoons... Total success.

Wednesday was pretty much the re-run of Tuesday. We started by building another toilet paper rocket. Then went to play with M's cousin at Grandma Sofia's house (more yummy food).

Then there was Thursday. My parents had to go to the Russian Counsulate in Manhattan and we tagged along. Well, not like I care much about the counsulate. But it's just a mile or so from the Museum of Natural History. Hello, Hayden Planetarium!!!

I expected parents to get stuck at the counsulate for 3-4 hours (not an unreasonable expectation), but they were done in just 2. Aparently, the place is becoming more efficient if not less rude. So we had just enough time to catch a show at the planetarium, then watch the Big Bang pre-show. Then M ran around the Rose Center of Earth and Space (spending most of his time in the Space part of it).

Then I managed to get him into the North American Mammals exhibit for a few short minutes. Yes, I did have to bribe him, promised him to stop by the gift shop next. At the gift shop he said that he only wanted "things about cosmos" and ended up choosing an Apollo Program poster, a DVD called "Visual Encyclopedia of the Universe" and a set of tiny plastic astronauts that also included Skylab, Apollo 13 control module and the Moon rover.

We got home just in time to watch Discovery's last launch live on NASA TV, whole 40 minutes of it (including pre-launch coverage).

Since then it's been nothing but "space stuff" around here. From pretend-play to building an elaborate launch pad to inventing more rockets to dreaming of Darhh Vader shooting moon rocks from the orbit.

Ah, we also built a volcano this weekend (if you're wondering about the pinkish color - it's Olympus Mons). And we made a seed collection for M to take up to the ISS so he can grow veggies hydroponically and surprise NASA.

And that was Week 6. Just three more weeks to go.