Week 5, Day 3: Field Trip!

There were two instructions for campers today: remember your socks, and forget your lunch. I didn't tell them the plan, but it all revolved around one of our campers finally turning eight! 

We started with a warm-up I stole from Week 1, Day 1! They did an awesome 10x10 activity and so I had my kids write an 8x8 (we snuck in a ninth). The kids all happen to take Karate but in different dojos, and the local martial artists loved sharing the burpee and mountain climber techniques they'd learned.

We took a quick break for some raspberries from our patch -- we were away last summer and it grew like crazy. We decided not to trim it back and we've had a bumper crop this year. Once they're gone, though, we're going to have to evict half the stems at least, it's just gotten ridiculous. One camper figured out a longstanding mystery for us and told us this variety of raspberries is called the wineberry, or Rubus Phoenicolasius. Finally! One neighbor told us they were tayberries -- we knew that was wrong because they weren't long enough. Another said they were dewberries, but they never turned black. Glad to solve the mystery of this (invasive but delicious) plant in our garden. Over the years we've gotten a few handfuls, nothing like this year. We've already made pie and snacked extensively.

Then everyone came inside for a bit so I could reveal our plans for the day. Bowling! But of course, we were in the House of Science, so we could not JUST BOWL. We started by watching a couple of videos about how pinsetter machines work:

• This episode of "Machines," from The Science Channel, showing a Brunswick A2 Pinsetter
• Part of this episode of Dirty Jobs, where Mike Rowe learns to be a pinsetter mechanic
• and this video of old manual pinsetters in action. 

Finally, we were off to the alley! We're down a couple of campers this week, and though we're bummed they had to go on vacation and miss the last couple days of camp, it enables the rest of us to fit in cars and hit the town. We're trying to see the good side here.

We tried to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the pinsetters at our local lanes, but the mechanics were swamped and couldn't get us in today. They offered to do it another time, though, so maybe we'll all return for a group bowl. Um, I'm an awesome bowler (was there a smoother way to mention this?) (OK, truth is, the bumpers helped, and today was an unusually good bowling day for me).

After bowling, we headed to our local pasta shop whose website plays an audio track to grab some lunch. (It was the birthday boy's choice -- and a great choice at that.) Luckily, they have their own letterbox, so this trip was completely justified. It also made for a great way to kill the ten minutes we needed to wait for a table on the deck.

We also talked a little bit about what goes into homemade pasta. There was a big bowl of flour on a scale by the counter, so we knew there was flour. Flour and... flour and... This was a surprisingly tough one. Flour and eggs (and/or water)! Wish we had a little more time to talk about this. If you want to learn some more about pasta, here's a link to the history of pasta. 

Last day based at our house, and I took a moment to reflect. Couldn't be more amazed by this incredible group! I feel very lucky to have spent my summer with them. 

One last look in the window. Bye, Paul and Mike! 

When we got back to the house, we had about an hour left. The kids said they wanted to just have some free time, but eventually, they found there way back to the porch, where I'd laid out the supplies for some solar printing using cyanotype paper.

The recipe called for a few drops of lemon juice so some also took advantage of the opportunity to also make some delicious and refreshing citrus water.

Cyanotype is a printing process, the same process used to make blueprints. We weren't making blueprints, though. We made Anna Atkins-style botanical images, using plants we found around the yard. We put samples on the prepared paper, and the UV light from the sun caused a chemical reaction on the chemical (which had been pre-applied to the paper) that resulted in exposed areas turning a very light blue. Once this happened, we immersed the sheets in a pan of water. The water rinsed away the unreacted dye on the paper (the parts that were in the shadows underneath our samples). The non-water-soluble Prussian blue remained, and the exposed areas turned that beautiful signature blue color. We loved watching this part.

Finally, the day closed with some Warriors. They are so deep into this game, it's incredible. Behold the backyard catmobile. I can't even begin to explain the complicated things that are happening in this days-long narrative. There are babies, they must not grow up too fast, the apprentice is missing, etc.

I'm sure a more formal wrap-up post is forthcoming, but on behalf of my family, this summer has been such a pleasure. Amazing kids, great opportunities, good timing, great cooperative work by families to make each kid have a fantastic set of memories. I want to thank all the kids for making my days with them such a pleasure, and all the adults (my friends) for including us. I've already got an activity list a mile long for next summer, can't wait!