Michigan Vacation

I am lucky enough to have parents willing to drag my entire family on vacation with them.  This summer we headed to Upper Michigan.  Except my husband who had to work. Of course.  We took off early on Saturday and made it to the condo before 5. It is incredibly beautiful up there.  We spent a lot of time on the Lake Michigan beach, but squeezed in a few of the other sights before I left yesterday morning.

Beach time:

Beach time wore B out.





We also got to check out castle rock:

We hiked the Cut River Bridge trail:

And took a trip to Macinac Island:

And we are lucky enough to have a few days without kids since I left 2 days early!  Woo Hoo!  Before I left we got a few pics in Mackinaw City:

It was an awesome experience and I can't wait until we can go back!







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!!







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. 

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.