Science Expo, pt 1

Another trip we got to take with Danny's sister-in-law and family was to Texas A&M University's Science Exposition where the physics and chemistry departments put on projects and displays for people to come and learn more about science and see cool stuff.  Some were kinda boring (esp. for a five and a two year old), but there were lots of really neat experiments too.

Brent rides the square-wheeled tricycle

Danny learns about centrifigal force while sitting on a stool that can spin and holding a spinning bike wheel.

... depending on the direction he tipped the wheel, it changed the direction he spun on the chair.

 

The physics building on campus is one of the newest buildings on campus, only a year or two old, designed by Michael Graves.  It was really cool to get to see inside and all the features it had, like this several story pendulum in the middle of the foyer.

Barbie teaches about electricity!

hmm. I think with my hair in a half-ponytail and it being really humid that day, electricity worked better on the Barbie.

They had a machine that created big huge fog donuts.

Elena caught one right on her face.

They had one whole room devoted to experiments with lasers.  This particular one showed that the laser in question went through translucent items but would pop opaque ones.  There was a black opaque balloon blown up inside a clear one.

... after the laser turned on, the clear balloon stayed whole while the black balloon inside popped! cool, huh? (... wish I could remember the more technicall parts of the demonstration though...

Danny with his nephew Dash (2.5 years old)

Cameron Park Zoo

One of the perks of living in the same town as your sister-in-law and not going to school or having a job yet is that you get to spend a lot of quality time with extended family.  Danny and I did a lot of stuff last fall with their family, and I was able to really get to know them better.  I even got to go with her and her kids on outings like school field trips (soooo many five year olds!) and play groups.  One tuesday when Danny was in class all day, I got to join his sister and her youngest son on a play group trip to Waco's Cameron Park Zoo.  I've been to this particular zoo before not too long ago with my dad and remembered it being a nice zoo, so I tagged along to get out of the house and help be an extra adult chaperone.  It's definitely an eye opener being around moms and little kids, and sometimes it gets a little tedious like when they want to watch the turtles for half an hour but get bored with the lions after ten seconds, but it's fun to watch how excited they all were at something as simple as a trip to the zoo.

One other great thing about living close to family?  Danny's sister is a total shutterbug, and let's me have copies of all the great pics she takes ... granted, these pictures here represent about 3% of the pictures she actually took of this event, haha.  Isn't digital photography great?

Danny's nephew

some of the other kids from the playgroup

"Look!! A turtle! a turtle!" ... and this was just in the pond near the entrance...

... more turtles!

(aren't her curls so precious? *squeal!* :)

"... who cares about lions, I wanna see the turtles!" (didn't actually say that, but his expression seemed that way)

Halloween and Institute Dance

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays growing up.  Dressing up in fun costumes, going to fun parties, carving pumpkins, and getting tons of candy - what more could a kid want?  While I'll admit that Halloween has lost a lot of the appeal now that I'm older, we still try and keep some of the fun of the holiday.  We didn't get a chance to carve a pumpkin (next year, for sure) but we did get lots of candy (curse the temptation of chocolate in the grocery aisles, lol) and we did get to go to the institute halloween dance which gave us an excuse to dress up, though we kinda decided to go last minute so we had to come up with a costume quickly, and since it was our first one as a couple, I thought it'd be fun to do a couple themed outfit.  I think it turned out nicely considering, and being able to use some stuff we had around, together it only cost us around $2.  yay!

... we also made and decorated cookies for halloween.  I thought the sugar cookie ghosts and pumpkins turned out great (and it was a ton of fun making new face designs for all the pumpkins), but the gingerbread bats and cats, only so-so.  I wanted them to be darker, you know, like black cats, but I guess gingerbread isn't dark enough (Danny said "that's brown - not black!"), and it's near impossible to make black frosting (though I have seen black food coloring at the store... maybe for next year).  Perhaps gingerbread should just be left for Christmas.  oh well, live and learn.

The Institute Halloween Dance!  ... if you can't tell who we are ( or who I am, people got Danny pretty quickly ... I didn't have a lot to work with, clothes-wise, at the time), we went as Clark Kent / Superman and Lois Lane.  I even made us reporter badges with our pictures on it.  Danny actually wore those glasses his entire mission, with his hair parted too, so I just used an old mission photo of him for the ID badge.  And he loved the shirt.  So easy to make, and best of all, he didn't have to wear tights, haha.

Some other friends and their creative costumes.  (l-r) Lisa, Nai, and Allison came as crayons, and they even gave themselves names on the sides like Lightning Yellow and Tickle Me Pink.

One of Danny's former roommates, Danny B. and his girlfriend (now fiance) Megan came as an Orkin pest control guy and a ladybug - too cute!

Danny talking to Jon, who always has fun homemade costumes (last year he was the game operation), dressed this year as a sock monkey

Rachel as a spider (she went back and forth as to whether she was Charlotte or not)

Mauvreen as a geisha

Russell as Phantom of the Opera, and Elaine as a black magician (?)... I think

Jenna as Minnie Mouse, and Gina as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

At one point in the evening, they started playing limbo - it was quite impressive to see how far some people went, though I think some people's costume gave them a huge advantage or disadvantage.

Take Mark's, for instance (he came with a friend as the Duos Amigos ... there were only two of them, haha).  He was doing really good until he tripped over his poncho.

Then you have the winner, Jake (who is supposed to be the incredible hulk, but is just way too skinny to pull it off, so everyone just called him the green man, lol), in a skin tight body suit - no clothing to get in the way at all.  huge advantage. ... though, he did deserve it, he really just could limbo like crazy... I didn't even know a body could bend that much, haha.

Awards time!  It's always fun to see what people came as and who wins, though it's totally a popularity contest since the winner is decided by loudest applause.  Oh well.  The winner for the cutest costume went to this girl dressed up as Gone with the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara.

... waiting for results for scariest costume.  Though the sock monkey was creepy and seeing the guy dressed as Kim Jong-il be put in the category was funny and the zombie cowboy was scary, the winner was Cruella De Vil.

the best couples award - there were tons of people in this category.  I thought it was great the two couple going head to head were Peter Pan / Tinkerbell and the two pirates, until the audience (back to the popularity contest aspect) added in a third couple ...

Scott and his girlfriend Kylee came as Tiger Woods and his ex-wife (he had a lipstick kiss on his cheek and she had a bent golf club) ... it was funny, but not nearly as well-done of costumes as the others (and it's not like I expected us to win, but the pirates and peter pan/tinker bell had such cool and elaborate costumes).  Oh well.

Most original costume went to Kate, who came dressed in a fruit filled straw hat, flipflops, and a beach dress covered in prescription pill bottles for prozac and zoloft (fake ones, mind you) - she was a tropical depression! haha.

and of course, hands down for best group costumes?  The Village People! :)  Isn't halloween so much fun?