Men of Science

Sometimes we don't know which of our skills will be called upon on any given day. Today, it was my turn to "build a volcano, Grandpa."

When the request came from Josiah, I was ready to dismiss it. But one of the rules grampa-ing is that you can't disappoint your grandkids.

Josiah, had concocted a brew of carbonated water and salt, which he planned to have come out of the volcano, once Grandpa had built it. But I was not convinced that would be very satisfying, as volcanic eruptions go. Nevertheless, Josiah's idea stirred up an old memory of Chemistry 101.

Now that I had a plan for the eruption mechanics, all I needed was a volcano. A little printer paper and some aluminum foil rolled into a cone made a good mountain. Now for the magma chamber. Finding a discarded drinking water bottle, I thought, "Aha!" But then I decided the bottle was too tall. I cut it into a top and a bottom and discarded the middle. Then I taped the top and bottom together and mounted the little bottle in the mouth of the volcano. Now for the trial run.

I scoured the house looking for lava, to no avail. So, I made a quick run across the street to Quick and Easy and came back with $1.88 worth of "chemicals." I took Josiah and the volcano outside. I had secretly put some baking soda in the heart of the volcano. Then I poured a little vinegar down the vent hole, and to Josiah's ultimate satisfaction, the volcano "erupted."

I told Josiah that, of course, God makes the best volcanoes. Nevertheless, he was pretty happy with Mt. Grandpa!

Summer fun

Yesterday, Tim and Laura took off on another husband/wife outing...sans kids! That meant we got to hang with the boys.

Judah promptly went down for a long nap, so grandma and Josiah built a fort out of chairs and sheets. They had a lot of fun playing in there, until it just got too hot for grandma. Josiah continued to play in the fort, using grandma's computer for entertainment, as he watched an episode of Spiderman.

Finally, Judah got up from his long nap. He was hungry, so we fed him what anyone would feed a two year old: salmon salad on crackers with sharp cheddar cheese! (Well, isn't that what you would have fed him??)

Next the boys wanted to go out into the yard. It was a hot day (for San Diego; official NOAA temperature 80 degrees) so they wanted to play with water. Grandma turned on two hoses a trickle and gave each boy a big plastic bowl. They had more fun filling the bowls and pouring them over themselves and each other.

Laura and Tim arrived home about five and brought wonderful things from Costco. Tim went to work in the kitchen and on the patio, and soon we were dining on grilled veggie-kabobs and basil-stuffed Rainbow Trout! Yum!! Laura whipped up some seasoned cous-cous, which was a perfect accompaniment for this splendid repast.

During and after dinner we watched "Tangled," which is an animated version of Rapunzel and was quite entertaining. All and all, I would say it was a perfect day!

Too much fun...

Click the Photo for Slide Show

We have the privilege of visiting our San Diego kids and grandkids this week. We arrived Wednesday and wasted no time having fun. Tim picked us up at the airport and dropped us at home, before he went back to work. Josiah had a play date, so we left Laura home to nap and took Judah on a shopping trip. We stopped to have frozen yogurt on the way home. Then we went to Josiah's Capoeira (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) class. After the class we met Tim at Sammy's Woodfire Pizza for dinner. We sat outside and had a fine time with good pizza. When we came home, we watched a little Padres baseball. Everyone was tired, so we went to bed early.

Yesterday, Tim had to work in the morning, and Laura had an appointment. Laura dropped Tim at his office and went to her appointment. Then she picked him up for a date, so Jill and I got to take care of the boys for the whole day. Laura and Tim went to lunch and a movie and then to the waterfront for happy hour.

Meantime, we played games with the boys, and then we took them to the park that is near the house. They had a lot of fun playing on the playground equipment. Afterwards, we walked to the "Cup of Yo" frozen yogurt store and had a treat.

Back home, again, we fed the boys dinner and gave them baths. We would have had them in bed by the time Laura and Tim came home, but we were a little too slow with the bed time reading. Instead, we had family fun for a while. Then Judah went down, and grandma and grandpa watched a Phineas and Ferb movie with Josiah.

Bedtime felt very good.

This morning we sent Tim off to work. The rest of us went to In and Out Burger for an early lunch, and then we went to visit the U.S.S. Midway (aircraft carrier) museum. Josiah had a great time sitting in aircraft cockpits, and he and his mom went for a ride in a flight simulator. I'm glad I declined that one. I think I would have lost my lunch! They really did some spinning and up and down action! Laura looked a little green when she came out.

Currently we are sitting at home. Laura is fixing dinner. Grandma is playing Beyblades with the boys, and grandpa sat down to write a blog entry.

Stay tuned for more adventures of the ol' Pilgarlic.