Blog for adaysouting.com

I love science museums. And, I can honestly say that I have never been to a museum and left without learning something fun and new. I didn’t expect to learn this from the Science Museum of Western Virginia, but I did.

How to make your own bouncy ball!

1 tablespoon Elmer’s Glue
1/2 teaspoon borax
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons warm water
2 disposable plastic cups
2 popsicle sticks
food coloring
rubber gloves

Instructions
1. Use a popsicle stick to mix the glue with food coloring in one of the disposable plastic cups.
2. Use the other popsicle stick to mix the water with the borax in the other cup. Stir until the borax has dissolved.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon of borax water to the glue mixture. Add cornstarch. Wait 15 seconds.
4. Stir the mixture together until it stiffens. Put on the rubber gloves and mold the ball until it becomes a solid.

What’s Happening?
The white glue contains polyvinyl acetate, a strong and flexible polymer that gives the ball strength. Cornstarch contains amylopectin, a polymer whose shape is best described as “branched” - it sticks out like the branches of a tree - and gives the ball the property of elasticity. Elasticity allows the ball to return to its original shape after being compressed or stretched, such as hitting the floor. So instead of splattering everywhere, the ball bounces back up. The borax is needed to help the glue and the starch stick together. This connects the two polymers into a netlike formation, keeping the ball from crumbling or becoming slime when it is bounced.

Important-
-Store your homemade bouncy ball in a bag or other airtight container so it won’t dry out.
-Borax is considered poisonous and should not be ingested or directly inhaled. Supervise children around borax and store in a safe place.

What ride threatens to make you sick at the fair?  Is it the Tilt-a-Whirl?  Maybe it is the Flying Pirate Ship that may at any moment dump you out of your seat.  For me it is the cute green dragons.

Those dragons seem innocent enough with their pretty colors and smiling faces, but beware!  Unknown to me was the fact that they each spin individually, while simultaneously being hurled around in a circle.  Really, I can’t think of any carnival ride more torturous for an adult.  Of course, my two small children thought it was the best ride they have ever been on.  They grabbed the wheel in the middle of the dragon and spun it around and around making us go faster and faster.  To survive, I had to look out the door and try and focus on a light or building, anything to keep my dizzy head from getting the best of me.

When the ride was finally over, I stumbled outside and safely away from the grinning dragon.  The kids handed the man two more tickets and jumped back on.  My lesson…. let the kids ride the spinning dragons.  I’m happy to wait by the fence with some kettle corn.

Dogwood Festival,   Coshocton, OH

April 30th – May 8th

Vashon Island Strawberry Festival,  Vashon, WA

July 17th - July 18th

Virginia Beach Neptune Festival, Virginia Beach, VA

September 24th - 26th

Norfolk Harborfest, Norfolk, VA

July 3rd - 5th

Recently while reading a blog I love, one of my friends wrote about her family’s recent trip to the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show. While the Houston Rodeo is the world’s biggest rodeo, it reminded me of the fun my family had last year at a local rodeo near our hometown.

We had seen this rodeo advertised at a local farm on our way back and forth to D.C. Finally last summer we made plans to head out there one Saturday and not only did we have a great time, but it was a wonderful experience for my kids.

I had the opportunity to talk with a young girl beside me whose teenage boyfriend was a new bull rider. She explained that he trained by asking a local farmer if he could attempt to ride his bulls. He would literally stand on a fence and jump onto the backs of unsuspecting bulls!

There were many activities for the kids. Of course, by far the favorite event was the “mutton busting”. Which for those of you who might not know (I had never seen it before), it is kids riding sheep like bulls. My mother in law has a small farm with sheep and my daughter now wants to train, Oh Boy!

Here are some rodeos nationwide-

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Houston, TX

Angola Prison Rodeo Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, LA

*this rodeo has an amazing history!

National Championship Rodeo Old Fort, NC

South Carolina Apple Festival Rodeo Westminster, SC

Christian County Cattlemen’s Association & IPRA “Rodeo” Hopkinsville, KY

Located right off interstate 81 in Natural Bridge the Virginia Safari Park is great fun for all ages. It gives you an unbelievable opportunity to get very close to many types of animals in a more natural setting than your typical zoo. You take your own car and drive through acres of free roaming animals and you are able to feed them from your car.

Last week during Spring Break, Elizabeth and I drove down to the Safari Park with our four kids. Elizabeth packed a great lunch which we sat under their pavilion and ate while being entertained watching other people attempt to drive through first. During weekends there is a huge wagon that you can take the hour ride through on, other times you are on your own.

We laughed ourselves silly and the kids are still talking about how much fun they had. The variety of free roaming animals is incredible. There are ostriches (which I must say terrify me), Watusi cattle, Scottish Highland cattle, water buffalo, bison, zebras, rheas, elk, camels, llama, and so many more. You get buckets of feed as you start your drive. I would ask the attendant to give you a few empty buckets to divide your feed into smaller portions so you don’t loose your whole bucket at once. Notice the bucket stealing camel below.

They have now opened an additional zoo that has a giraffe feeding station, cheetahs, tigers, reptiles, lorikeet feeding, an amazing aviary, and giant tortoises to name a few. This is a definite must do if you are headed down 81.  Where else will a camel put his head through the window of your car and let you pet him?

Anyone with children or grandchildren knows that visiting the gift shop is one of the exciting parts of a trip for little kids.  I am of mixed minds when it comes to the gift shop. I know that my two children can become a bit fixated on the gift shop and make me crazy by asking if we are going to stop by the shop.  But, I do like to visit the gift shops of museums because I know they raise money from the gift shops to help support the exhibits that we go to enjoy.

On a recent drive to see my mom, we decided to take a side trip to the Toy Museum in Natural Bridge, VA along the way.  This was a last minute decision and we pulled off the road at 3:45.  The kids were excited as we walked down the stairs to the museum, but as we approached the window to buy tickets I saw that the museum closed at 4:00.  The tickets weren’t cheap, so 15 minutes of walking around to see the toys was out of the question.  So, what was I going to do?   I decided my only way out was to say, “Do you guys want to visit the gift shop?”

Two scoops of ice cream later, we were back in the car and I was thanking my lucky stars there was a gift shop to save me.

After being inspired by Cathy’s story about teaching her children to snowboard, I took my kids to Wintergreen for the last snow of the year and their first adventure in snowboarding.

One of the tips Cathy gave me was the importance of kids wearing helmets when they are snowboarding.  A doctor friend had told her that he could fix broken arms and broken legs but a head injury was a whole different matter.  Cathy let me know that the regular snowboard rental fee didn’t cover helmets, but that I could rent them from the resort. I thought I would save a bit of money and bring the children’s skateboarding helmets for them to wear, instead.   But as I was headed out the door my husband said that we should rent the helmets from the ski shop.  Boy was he right.

I now have a much better understanding of why different sports have different helmets.   The snowboarding helmet looks a bit like a motorcycle helmet. It fits snugly to the head and has a protective part that comes down around to cover the ears.  The back of the helmet is lower on the head and the front comes down to just above the eyebrows.  A skateboard helmet sits on top of the head, a bit like a bowl. A friend told me that a skateboard helmet should fit firmly enough to have a child lean over and have the helmet stay on – even when the chinstrap is not tightened.

Towards the end of our snowboarding day, my son was feeling more confident than his new skills allowed and he lost control, heading really fast down the slope.  He slammed into a wooden fence hitting his board first and then his head.  After the ski patrol had looked him over and sent him on his way, I saw the gash the fence had left in the very front of his helmet.  Had he not been wearing the snowboarding helmet, I would have met the ski patrol at the hospital.

I now fully appreciate that a snowboard helmet is for snowboarding and a skateboard helmet is for skateboarding.  The right equipment for the right sport!

My kids had been given kites for their birthdays over the years. We have quite a collection, but I admit that we have never really flown them. That is until now. All it took was one windy day, a nearby field, two kids and four kites and we had our own kite-flying day.

Now, this could also have been a tearing-streaming-down-the-face day, but luckily it wasn’t. Well it almost was when my daughter held up her beautiful box kite to take a good look down the center pole. That’s when the wind moved the kite and it poked the center pole right into her eye.  She wasn’t hurt at all and actually laughed at herself.  I was so glad, because I never saw that potential injury coming.

All in all it was a fun day. And if you are wondering why four kites. I thought if it wasn’t fun we would surely lose one or two and then…. ta da, all the kites would be gone. But instead, the kites came home with us to be enjoyed another day.  Maybe we’ll head to one of the nearby kite festivals and try our luck, again.

44th Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival

Annual Georgetown International Kite Festival

National Kite Month Kickoff

Go Fly a Kite at the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center

Southern Oregon Kite Festival

Check out these images courtesy of the 44th Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival!

I told you guys I would let you know how the snowboarding progressed.  Late last week we had yet another snow day and I took the kids up to our closest resort, Wintergreen.  Earlier we had purchased the learn-to-ski/snowboard package.  It included three days of lift tickets, rentals and lessons.  This was our second trip up and it was great.  The weather was again perfect and we were one of the only counties who had a snow day, so there were very few people there.  The kids had there own private instructor, made incredible strides and loved their cool instructor.  Most importantly, he was able to teach my youngest, who is not very tall, how to get off the lift when she has to jump off and he taught the oldest a few tricks and he now feels like he can keep up with his friends.  I think for the third lesson, I will plan to pull the kids out of school one afternoon and hope they can have private lessons again.  I was also wonderful that there were so few people there that I wasn’t concerned about the kids being skied into.

We have started to consider buying a family season pass for next year and with that, we have started to look at buying equipment.  So far we did buy the youngest a helmet that fits her very well.  I got some great advice from my Vail snowboarding friend on buying equipment for kids.  He suggested buying them a used board from a local shop and buying cool stickers to put on them.  Small boards aren’t going to have lots of riding time on them, you can get the board a good tune and you should be all set.  Kids outgrow their equipment and also don’t think it’s cool after a season or two.  Sizing is also important, they need to have a board they are comfortable with and can turn.  It’s hard to buy a board they can grow into.  On helmets, you just want something that fits well, protects their head and keeps them warm.  Try going to a local shop and ask what they have, a used helmet is fine and again that’s what stickers are for.  The fit is the most important part of the helmet.  It can’t come off during a collision, that defeats the purpose.  Many shops will also rent equipment for a season and you can usually rent much nicer equipment than you would ever want to buy.

Wish us luck, so far it’s been a ton of fun!

Now that winter has gone on and on, I am little over the heavy comfort foods.  I got this recipe from my wonderful foodie friend Emily after we had it at her house one night.  We loved it!  I have made it now myself and my kids even liked it.  They, of course, had no idea it was made with squash.  For my vegetarian friends, you guys can adapt this so many ways.  It would be great with shelled edamame, fried tofu and/or blanched veggies.

Rigatoni with Butternut Squash and Prawns

Prep Time:  20 minutes
Cook Time:  25 minutes
Serves 4-6

3 Tbs. olive oil, plus 3 tsp.
1 pound butternut squash, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (I would try to buy the pre-peeled, pre-sliced butternut squash, it’s a pain to cut it up and make sure you get all of the peel off)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 tsp salt, plus 1 tsp
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus ½ tsp
1 cup vegetable stock
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound prawns (or large shrimp), peeled and deviened (I use the frozen, raw, peeled and deveined shrimp—you can cut the tails once you thaw them before adding them to the recipe)
¾ to 1 cup whole milk ( I have used 2% and it seemed fine)
½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves (do a chiffonade to keep it from bruising, see image below)
¼ cup grated Parmesan

Warm 3 Tbs. of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the butternut squash, garlic, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper.  Saute until the squash is golden and tender, 5-7 minutes.  Add the vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, and cook until the squash is very soft, another 5-7 minutes.  Transfer the squash mixture to a blender or food processor and puree.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes.  Drain pasta.

Meanwhile, warm the remaining 3 Tbs. of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle the prawns with the remaining 1 tsp. of salt and remaining ½ tsp of black pepper.  Add the prawns to the pan and cook until just pink, about 3 minutes.

In a large pot over high heat combine the cooked pasta, pureed squash mixture, and ¾ cup milk.  Stir to combine.  Add the remaining ¼ cup milk if the sauce needs to be moistened.   Add the cooked prawns, basil, and cheese.  Stir until warm and serve.

We have had an incredible winter in Virginia this year, with unreal amounts of snow. I believe the kids are on their eighth snow day home from school. We have done all kinds of snow activities trying to keep everyone busy. We have built snow caves, made snow cones (which were a little gross), sledded and knocked down monster icicles with snowballs. The kids also made up a funny game called “Snow Mole”, were they dug tunnels all through the yard. They then played a game like hide and seek, only you crawled through the tunnels and got pounced on from above by whoever was “it”.

Sledding on a nearby driving range, both kids tried out a friend’s snowboard and really wanted to learn. I think it’s important that the kid really wants to learn, because it’s hard. Last Monday, I realized we could pay the midweek price at our nearby resort Wintergreen and get a lesson, lift ticket and rentals for one price and then you get two more days of lessons, lift tickets and rentals for a reduced amount.   At my resort, a helmet was not included in the rental and was another ten dollars. I would get the helmet, you can also buy a nice new helmet for as cheap as $30. It was a beautiful day out, I felt like I was back skiing on the West Coast. You didn’t need gloves or a jacket. The kids took the lesson and then my youngest stayed and I helped her for an hour and she was off with her friends. It was helpful for both of my kids to be with a friend who had also never done it before. My older child took off immediately with his friends, which turned out to be a bad idea. He came back very frustrated. But, after an hour with his mom, he was off. I think he was as shocked as I was that I could teach him.

The best piece of advice I can give is to try to make sure the weather is nice the first time you bring your kids out. Strong wind and freezing temperatures could make for a very bad first experience. I had watched this short video on teaching kids to snowboard, it turned out to be very helpful. It was also nice for me to be on skis and my husband to just have on boots when we first started. Explain ahead of time, yes, they will spend a lot of time falling and getting back up. No one started out as Shaun White, not even Shaun. The first thing I tried to make sure of was that they were looking ahead at where they were going, for some reason kids feel like they need to look down and watch their feet. If they do that, they just fall. I also explained that you do just have to let yourself go, as soon as you start to lose control, slow down and if you can’t do that, sit down. Ask them to try to go down the slope in wide zigzags, as perpendicular to the slope as possible. I would stay behind them the whole time, that way if they fell I could catch up to them.  There’s nothing worse than trying to climb back up hill to help someone who has fallen.  Last, but not least, before they start back off after falling, they need to look uphill and see who is coming. The only part that made me nervous the whole time, was that some huge person was going to ski into them.

I know there is a lot more to this. As we go more and more, I will let you know how we progress. It doesn’t look like the weather is letting up anytime soon.

My pictures are pretty fuzzy as they were taken with my phone.