Wordless Wednesday - School @ home (again)

Back to the Franklin Institute

Naturally when Bill came to Philadelphia we took him to our favorite museum - The Franklin Institute - this time in the machine display -

How many wheels can they get to turn at once?

 Gears, gears, and more gears

 Working the crane

 My three sweet girls :)

Dinosaurs at the Academy of Natural Science

A few more pictures from The Academy of Natural Science.  It was another museum in the downtown area.  We loved being near so many cool places and took Caitlyn back with us one afternoon!

Kelsey looking for fossils

Comparing a human's movement with a dinosaur's

Ready to dig - they're so cute :)

The Franklin Institute

We spent quite a bit of time at the Franklin Institute.  First of all, it was cool.  And large.  And we have a membership to another museum that allowed us to enter for free.  Then add in the fact that it stayed open until 5:00 (most places closed at 4:00) and was relatively close to our apartment, so we could go for an hour after Caitlyn finished dancing and it became one of our favorite places in town!

Once again, Philadelphia loves Ben Franklin.  And this was, after all, the Franklin Institute.

Keegan is causing her chair to rotate by tipping the spinning wheel in different directions.

Kelsey, seeing what a difference a level can make when it comes to lifting.  Here she is trying to lift 75 pounds.

Here Kelsey sees if she is brave enough to keep her face to the hole as the bowling ball comes toward her.

 She was :).

Experimenting with centrifugal force

 Caitlyn and Keegan working hard on a domino track.

The finished product -->

I love these perpetual motion machines.  Very cool.

Everybody loved trying the moving surf board.

And yes, it was easier to balance with your feet spread widely apart :).

Keegan and Kelsey test their reflexes by seeing how quickly they can hit the gas pedal after the light turns green.  They got pretty fast!  I'm not sure that bodes well for when they turn sixteen.....

A very brave Keegan tries the sky bike.  I was awfully proud of her for giving it a shot!

This thing is much more difficult than it appears -

you try to release the ball so it rolls down the hill without hitting any of the paddles,

which raise and lower in a pattern. 

Kelsey releases the ball!

Kelsey and Keegan got pretty good at it.  They never reached their goal of doing it succesfully every time, but they each had a much higher rate of success than either Caitlyn or I did!

This is the end of today's tour of the Franklin Institute.  Please return soon to see more interesting exhibits :).

The Academy of Natural Sciences

Keegan, Kelsey, and I spent a day at the Academy of Natural Sciences.  It was a lot of fun with fossils, science putt putt, live animals, many animal models, microscopes, and butterflies.  Kelsey especially loves butterflies :).

This was labeled a "Legless Lizard."  Does anyone know how that is different from a plain old snake?

Miss Keegan checking out the microscope.  We looked at feathers, ants, and a tarantula's fang.

Of course, the favorite activity was touching the live animals :).

 That day, I think they petted a rabbit, a guinea pig, a turtle, and a millipede.

The best way to learn, in my humble opinion - the fun way!

After leaving our friends....

we traveled on to Philadelphia where, surprisingly enough, I didn't take many pictures at first.  We have been blessed with a wonderful apartment for this trip.  Unfortunately, the management company messed up and when we arrived on Saturday, our reservations were in perfect order, but there were no keys, access card to the building, parking pass, etc. available for us.  Their main offices were closed over the weekend, but they assured me they could let us in on Monday.  Ummmmm, I just arrived in Philadelphia with 3 children - where am I supposed to go until Monday???  Add that to the fact that my gps exploded (who knew that some couldn't be left in the car?), the new gps kept insisting that we were in Chicago, plus the fact that "brotherly love" is NOT shown in the way people drive around here, and I started to get a bit stressed.

But it all worked out in the end.  Doesn't it always?  Now if I could just remember that in the middle next time :)

While Caitlyn spends her days dancing, Keegan, Kelsey, and I roam around having fun. This cool building is the

,especially for kids.  Kelsey and Keegan were a bit old for some of it, but it's a super neat place and was still a lot of fun.

Kelsey making music with some colorful frogs :)

A lesson in perspective in the Alice in Wonderland area

Let freedom ring ;)

Keegan blowing some feathers

Kelsey blowing her face, haha

Abd first/last but not least... that first picture which for some reason refuses to come to the bottom, is Kelsey in a human hamster exercise wheel.  Who could ask for more than that?

See you next time.

Carnegie Science Center

The gang's all here -

Kelsey checking out the aquarium with a magnifying glass.  She was watching this cool little fish who would pop up out of a hole in the ground, pick up a rock or something in it's mouth, and slide back down into the whole.

This was a favorite display - making and shooting off rockets.

Keegan and Caitlyn watching a rocket fly.

It did not take them long to figure out that ones with fins flew a lot higher!

They even had one or two land on the higher floors :).

 Kelseyas a human yo-yo, haha.  This had a pulley at the top that really did mimic the action of a yo-yo.

 Keegan making a film by arranging figures, then taking pictures of them.  She was very meticulous with this project and made a neat little film!

We toured this submarine.  I loved the tidiness and how they squeezed in everything, but can NOT imagine living on one of these things for months at a time

Makes me appreciate our servicemen even more.

I absolutely LOVE the whole reciprocal museum membership admission deal.
We have gotten into so many places (including this one) free that way!

If you have a museum near you you can join, I highly recommend it.

Bye for now,

Cindy

Guess where we went?

This first picture should be a big clue :).  Keegan's hair didn't rise a lot, but still enough to be fun :).

 We had a chance to meet up with Wendy, an old friend of mine from elementary school, and her daughter Morgan.  Here Morgan and Keegan check out some of the brain teasers.

 After a hint about how to do it, Caitlyn balances the nails!

 Morgan and Keegan working robot arms.

 Keegan watching Caitlyn use astronaut gloves

Kelsey and Caitlyn, sitting on a missile

 Kelsey is into silly poses at the moment

 Checking out the flattop house from WWII

 Checking out all of the toy cell phones that Keegan took in her purse, haha.

 Caitlyn, Keegan, Morgan, Silly Kelsey :)