Day 2.

For the 2nd day of Spring Break we went to the Arizona Science Center.

We've got a membership so we've gone a couple times now. 

Today we checked out their new exhibit:  Face Your Fears.

The first room, Fear of Animals, had this table with tarantulas and scorpions and stuff on it and then it said, "Have any animals crawled into the black box? Reach inside and find out."

The husband wasn't afraid. 

 (They had fake spiders and snakes inside the boxes where you reached in)

Here's Maylyn reaction when we told her to stick her hand in. She's saying, no way!

*Notice that Kaeleigh won't even walk into the room.  She is VERY fearful of anything new or unknown.*

The second room, Fear of Loud Noises, had a seat and you watched yourself being taped on a tv screen while some scary music was played.  Think cheesy haunted house music.  Then all of a sudden a loud gunshot rings out.  Naturally you jump at the noise and the screen plays back your reaction in slow motion.

Holy crap, it was hilarious!  I wish I had gotten my reaction on tape, it was priceless.

Speaking of priceless, this is Kaeleigh before I told her to come sit with me to be taped.  She had already watched Bill and Maylyn do it.

Annnnd, here she is after.

I'm sorry, I know I'm horrible but I could not stop laughing.  Mean mama!

The next room was Fear of Electric Shock.  Do you think Kaeleigh wanted any part of that? Not a chance!

Maylyn did it, no surprise, that girl is fearless.

The last room was Fear of Falling.

The husband got all strapped in and then it lifted him up and dropped him backwards.  Taping him and his reaction the whole time.

It wasn't as funny as some of the other people's reactions because he doesn't scare easy.

Maylyn thought this guy was hilarious.  His name was Mr. Goosebumps and he showed your body's reaction to fear.  Heart pumping, goosebumps and breaking out in a sweat, knocking knees and peeing. 

Naturally that last part is what Maylyn found funny.

I can't remember the point of this little room (fear of animal attacks or something) but if you moved too much then a cougar "attacked" you.

That's me and Maylyn. (Notice the cougar "attacking me.") Guess where Kaeleigh was...she ran through there and didn't even look back!

We left the scary stuff and took a little plane ride.

Then we learned about how the rivers and oceans erode the land.

We got wind blown and rained on during the Forces of Nature Immersion Theatre.

Maylyn was using this generator to create enough electricity to run the radio.

Before we left we decided to check out the IMAX theatre.

We saw Under the Sea in 3D.  Hence the glasses.

Kaeleigh kept these glasses on less than 5 minutes because she got scared and refused to put them back on.  Maylyn actually kept hers on almost the whole time.  They were a little big on her though and she had trouble keeping them on her face.  If you have a chance to check out Under the Sea in 3D you really should, it was so AWESOME!  Bill and I both loved it.  Maylyn liked that there were some seals at the end that were right in her face and gave her a "kiss."

I think all the fun (and maybe some of the fear) tuckered them out because this is what I saw in the back seat about 10 minutes after we left.

Check back tomorrow for Day 3 of our Spring Break!

Science Center

We went to the AZ Science Center today.  Because it was free!

The kids were so excited that they just had to run ahead.

We made them stop and take a picture by this gorgeous building in Heritage Square.

They even sat "patiently" while I took pictures of them sitting on a bench.

(Kaeleigh, Macee, Maylyn, Easton)

Pretty much their favorite thing in the whole place.  Watching a penny go in a circle.

We also worked on some blueprints.

Checked out some brain splices.

Had some computer time.

This was awesome.  They made a design with their shapes, and then described what they had to a little girl on the other side of the partition.  Nearly identical!

They also took turns touching a very squishy brain.

And put some body parts where they belong.

Checking out what our bodies look like without skin.

How tall is Maylyn?

Kaeleigh's definitely taller.

Pullling as hard as they can on one end of a pulley.  Their friend Macee was on the other side.

Maylyn pulling her body weight.

Kaeleigh's turn.

We saw some Robots.

And some robots they're too young to appreciate.

They also took a quick plane ride.

A little hard to see, but if you look really close there are faces peeking out of the windows.

If you've never been to the AZ Science Center, I highly recommend it!  We had a blast!

Science Fun.

Yesterday we took the kids to the Arizona Science Center. They have 4 floors of fun and learning. We started on the first floor learning about the human body. Maylyn is "touching" a splice from an actual human brain. Kaeleigh wouldn't touch it. :)Kaeleigh's going to be a Neuroscientist!Here you could throw foam balls into this giant nose and then it would sneeze. Awesome! Again, Kaeleigh wouldn't do it. LOLAnd we took turns learning about how our lungs work. Look, Kaeleigh did it!!On the second level we learned about magnetic waves, pulleys, frequencies and all kinds of cool stuff. More geared toward us bigger kids I think. :) Bill had a good time.The 3rd level had the My Digital World exhibit. We got to play around and warp our image.Checkin' ourselves out on a big screen. Can you guess which kid is which? Kaeleigh's hair pretty much gives her away. Then it was on to what they had been waiting for...the Lego Castle Adventure Exhibit!I don't even want to know how long it took to put that together!

They had a really cool set up. There was a big castle you could walk through. Plus, they had dress up clothes the kids could wear. And these fake jousting horses!Aww...look at the baby dragon.This was inside one of the little dressing rooms. Mirrors are fun. :)There were tables of legos set up so the kids could build. Maylyn was building a house. Kaeleigh, a dungeon. LOL

I think my favorite part was the Forces of Nature Immersion Theater. It was this 5 minute show that took you through what it would feel like to experience a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, earthquake, volcanic eruptions, etc. I took this pic from their website. We stood on a platform and got rained on, it shook, got really windy, they turned heat lamps on to simulate the heat of a wildfire. It was really cool! We ended up buying a membership so we can go back! The Lego exhibit is only there til Sept. 7th!