Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Mentos and Diet Coke!

Today we decided to see if Mentos and Diet Coke really do make a Coke fountain!  And just for 'fun' I thought we'd come up with some other hypothisises (hypothi?).  So I gathered my stuff:
2 liter of Diet Coke, an empty 20 oz bottle, white vinegar, baking soda, baking powder, Mentos, a few cups, and a pen and paper for taking notes


I poured some of the diet coke into the empty bottle and then took everything outside (mostly because I didn' want to clean up the mess afterward).  We started by trying to decide what would happen.  Owen decided both bottles would make a Coke explosion.  Brenner didn't care, he just wanted to put the Mento in the bottle. 

First the small bottle:

Add the first Mento...

Huh.  Not much happened.

Let's try a second Mento!!

That didn't help much.  So we tried to figure out why.  We talked about what happened when I poured the Coke from one bottle to the next.  We know it fizzed a lot.  So maybe too much of the carbonation was lost?  Is it the carbonation that reacts to the mento?  Hmm... Let's try the other bottlee!

One Mento...

followed by a pop fountain explosion!!  Woo Hoo!!

I wonder if we can drink from the fountain?

We can try!!

Owen decided it was easier to just pick it up and drink!!

We tried adding a second Mento, and got some fizz, but it definitely wasn't the same!  So it must be the carbonation that reacts.  Cool!  So will baking soda and vinegar do the same?  How about baking powder and vinegar?  Let's see!
Baking soda and vinegar definiely react!  Awesome! (O: Hey, isn't that what we used in the volcano science experiment I got for Christmas?!)

Almost out of vinegar, but the baking powder didn't do much.  Owen did notice that it made deep holes in the pile of powder.  Maybe it will become like a fossil!

We decided that it must be a similar chemical reaction in the Diet Coke and mentos as it is in the baking soda and vinegar.  And that there must me some kind of reaction with the vinegar and baking powder, but not like the other two. 

I love when we can sneak a little thinking in with our mess making!!




Saturday, June 23, 2012

Fencing

Another free Bluffton Parks class: Fencing!

Owen got to learn some of the basics of fencing last night.  He learned some of the basic moves and even got to put on the gear and use the sword!  It was an awesome experience, even if Brenner wasn't thrilled to be a spectator.  O loved it and says he wants to take more classes. 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Flubber

It's been a busy week here.  We painted the living room the first part of the this week.  Then I worked the last few days.  So today it was time to get something else checked off the list. Since I just didn't have the energy to take them to Greekfest like I had wanted, we decided it was time to make Flubber!

I gathered the materials and took them outside since it's way too nice to be inside.
I poured 8oz of glue into a bowl and then filled the bottles with warm water.  I mixed 1 tsp of borax into 1/2 cup water.  I also brought out some yellow food color and a couple spoons. I considered adding the contents of a glue stick, but wanted to test the recipe first, so maybe next time!

I had the boys shake the water filled glue bottles and then pour them into glue.




Then we stired in the yellow coloring.

We added the borax mixture and dove in!


Once it's all mixed together you get Flubber!!



I think the boys spent a good hour playing with it before putting it away for the day.  It is definitely an activity I plan to do again.
Web hand!

Flubber marble


Flubber mommy

Flubber Sandal


And as an added bonus...
It makes Fart Noises!!

Fantastic.


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Touch A Truck

There are some great advantages to living in this small town.  One of them is we have a fantastic parks department. (Click here to be jealous). They have tons of free activities throughout the year, but especially in the summer.  The tennis and swim camp the boys are going to right now is through our parks department.  But the one thing we have gone to ever since Owen was old enough to appreciate it (15 months!) is the Touch A Truck.  There are trucks, tractors, cars, sometimes even boats for the kids to touch climb on, climb in, and get information on. 

So even though I worked 3rd shift last night and only got a 2 1/2 hour nap after work, I pried myself out of bed at 10:30, attempted to make myself fit to be seen in public, and went and picked the boys up from my parents.  Because I am just that awesome of a mom. Yeah, who's lazy now??

Driving the firetruck

Look at this cool seat!

Vroom!


Farmer Brenner

Farmer Owen

And now this completely unlazy mom is dragging her exhausted butt to bed.  Because it's 8:30pm and I am just that awesome.

Tye Dye

Thursday afternoon we had our first attempt at tye dying. It was a success! Mostly. We decided to dye shirts for the whole family and then the boys decided they needed to dye their socks too. I considered letting the boys do the dying... And then came back to my senses. I let them pick the designs and colors and I did the rest. It's a good thing too. I had more color on me by the time I finished than I would have guessed. The only downer with this project was that Owen's shirt shrunk. A lot. And I refuse to let my 8yo boy wear a tye dyed belly shirt. This of course resulted in big tears this morning. So we will be doing this again very soon!




One tired boy

Love the tulip dye kit.  Made everything so easy!


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Laziness Strikes Back

Ok, ok.  It wasn't so much the 'do nothing' laziness that got me as it was the 'I don't have the time or the energy to post about things we've done' laziness that got me. 

We have stayed busy though!  Last week we went to Germanfest on Thursday.  We had brats, German potato salad, sauerkraut, and apple kuchen.  The kids loved the brats of course.  Neither would eat the kraut (although Owen claims to like it).  Brenner like the German potato salad.  Owen decided it was too sour though.  Of course they both loved the kuchen
Brenner enjoying his brat and kuchen

Smiley Owen

We then got balloon animals for both boys.  Owen got a white cat.  Brenner got the 'amazing dog who swallowed a meatball'.  The belly laughs from the dog alone were worth the $5 donation I gave!


Unfortunately I had to work the next day, but theydid get to make the 2-liter bottle sprinkler with Daddy.  That was a hit and so, so simple!  It cost about $4 to get a hose to hose adapter from Lowe's.  They poked holes in the bottle, attached it with the adapter to the hose, and Voila!  We have used it a few times so far and the boys love it! 
The bottle takes just a bit to fill, but then the water sprayes out pretty far!

Close up of the bottle and adapter.



 Plus my husband says it works fantastic in the garden too!!



We spent most of the weekend in the pool at Nana and Papa's house!  My children turn into fish over the summer, so they are plenty ok with that.  Even Uncle David joined the party on Sunday.  We have nicknamed him 'The Launcher' (not 'The Luncher' although that would work too) because he throws the boys higher in the air than Daddy does. 



The boys started summer camp through the park this week too.  They get tennis and swim lessons every morning.  Plus free play time in the park and a snack.  They are loving it so far! Monday they also spent the day with Nana and Papa since mommy and daddy both had to work.  Yesterday we went back to the library for more books and did some shopping for a few more projects.  Now we are prepared for the rest of this week!!




Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Stroll Along The River Greenway

Yesterday and today are our relaxing days.  So we took a stroll down the River Greenway yesterday (camera in hand)  and then the boys took a bike ride with dad (while mom did some grocery shopping).  Today we had dental appointments and followed that up with breakfast at Richard's.  This afternoon we may hit up the library before heading out to a the boys tee ball game.

Owen is becoming quite the little photo journalist.  He had a great time taking pictures along the way.  We also had a good time chasing one another and hiding behind trees.  Here are a few of the things we saw!







Half mile marker!!







Of course we had to get a picture of the (horses) cows.

My two adorable little men