STEP 10 Science Fair

Wow what a great day we had yesterday! I woke up with a miserable headache (as I did this morning as well, ouch) and I had to cancel our bird walk that we had planned on going to. Nikki and I were going to go, not the boys. It involves being quiet and getting up early and that combo was not going to happen. I was going through my email and saw my reminder for the STEP science fair thing. I totally forgot about it! It wasn't until one so I hoped my headache would go away before that and it did.

We jumped in the truck around 10:30am because I wanted to stop at Michael's on the way down. I broke my candy thermometer! And we got El Pollo Loco for lunch (since we don't have one here in town). It was such a gorgeous sight driving over the little pass to the 10 freeway. The sky was a gorgeous blue and it was really windy. Big puffy clouds attempting to make their way over the mountains and into our desert. I had to take pictures!

When we got there, they had us all sit in an auditorium to wait for a show. We were early, but as the room filled it got louder and louder. And then the MC came in to entertain until show time. It got really loud then. Nothing like a room full of 10 year old kids screaming. Jake looked like he was going to cry. Nikki was not amused. And Tom was laying on the floor with his ears covered. He said he did that so that the people around him might think he was hurting and stop the screaming, but it didn't work. They didn't notice. He was disgusted. He said if he were shot in the head and laying there bleeding, they would still be screaming for a frisbee to be thrown at them! Then he was mad because the guy didn't call on him to talk on the microphone (and he had a great answer) or ask him a question at the end. Funny, he said it reminded him of Kindergarten, "They never called on me either, maybe because I was holding his hand up quietly and actually had an answer and wasn't standing up trying to knock everyone down to get the teachers attention". The show was interesting and the kids all found it very cool. Then we went to the exhibits!

On the way in we saw our friend James! Crazy! He was with his school. Jake was mad because they wouldn't let him come and talk to him. They were in line to get in and schools have to keep all their kids together. I tried to explain. Nikki was not as enthusiastic about the event. She got bored after a bit. But there was one guy there that had an electric guitar, a Gibson, oooo. She played with it a bit and then he showed her how they make the knobs that change the pitch and volume. It was pretty neat, to me anyway.

The boys had fun checking out the exhibits. They collected only the swag that they found interesting. They played with magnets, and flight simulators, goo, and paper airplanes. We spent some time talking to a man who showed the boys a small airplane that can actually fly. He was a Vietnam Vet so we had a very interesting conversation there. We also found an astronomy group that meets out here in Landers. We're going to go check it out this weekend. We all got to look at the sun through a telescope. Cool.

Afterwards, we went to find a pay phone, since my phone was at home as usual. It is always either dead or at home. I need to buy a car charger! We finally did and called Grandpa and Grandma and surprised them by coming to visit. We had pizza and talked for awhile and the kids attempted to drive them crazy. And then we headed home.

It was a wonderful day. One of the kind that reminds me why we don't do school in so many ways. I love my kids! I love having them around all the time and exploring and finding all the cool stuff there is in this world. I love being there and learning right along side of them. They make me brave enough to ask the questions I never would have if I were alone.