Playing Before the Experiments

For the first experiment we made slime.  We used water, Elmer’s glue, borax, food coloring, and glitter (optional).  This was a fun hands on expirment with a lot of gross but fun factor.  I’d definately recommend this one again.

First Experiment - SLIME!

The second experiment was called Elephant’s Toothpaste (that’s what the science teachers call it) but I prefer calling it foamy bottles, as the kids were extremely tempted to eat it or try to brush their teeth with it!  It’s made using hydrogen peroxide, yeast, water, dish soap, and food coloring (optional).  This was a hit and miss.  For some kids – it worked like a charm – lots of warm (it’s an exothermic reaction) blue foam came pouring out of the bottles.  For others – total duds.  We figured out it has to do with the yeast – some packets were more active then others.  So if I was to do this one again – I’d make sure to have lots of extra packets on hand just in case.

Second Experiment - Foamy Bottles!

Our third and last experiment was the infamous Diet Coke and Mentos Geysers!  I’m sure many of you have seen the videos on YouTube, or on tv.  Gabe saw this on “Myth Buster” and knew right then this had to be part of his party.  When you drop Mentos into Diet Coke, it causes all the carbonation to instantly leave the bottle, very quickly.  We rigged up a way for the kids to do easily by drilling a hole in the cap of the bottle, threading 4 mentos onto a pipe cleaner, threading that through the hole, then attaching a stick on top.  When they pull the stick, the mentos fall into the bottle and the geyser erupts – 20 to 30 feet into the sky!

Third Experiment - Mentos and Diet Coke Geysers!

This was a huge hit with the kids – they loved this one best!  I was surprised at how many of the kids wanted to drink the Diet Coke – some even tried to drink it while the pop was shooting up (and it was flat, minty coke too – yeeeck).  You can’t really get the full effect of this experiment from photos – so we made a little movie of it:

Movie of the Mentos Geysers - Click to watch

All in all – I think it was a terrific party and I think Gabe has made some wonderful memories.  This will be one birthday we’re going to talk about for years to come!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

To view even more images of the party (two dozen!) please view the album:

Scientist Birthday Party

Gabe's 8th Birthday Party

24 Photos

 

Every chance we get to go outside, we take.  We drag out a blanket, lots of toys, and plop Lily down in the middle of the blanket.  She’s mobile now though, so every once and while you have to pull her back onto her blanket as she’s wiggled out into the grass.  She loves to scoot around – arching her back and kicking out with her feet, or rolling over onto her side and wiggling like a worm.  Silly girl!

Gabe has been enjoying the nice weather too.  He will play with Lily (he likes to blow bubbles or tell her a story – either one will thrill her to no end) and play exploring games in the backyard.

Spring is for blankets!

Gabe and Lily play on a blanket.

7 Photos

 

Who is in your fort, Gabe?

View the Fort Adventure photo gallery below to see who joined Gabe in his playtime fun!

Fort Adventure

Gabe finds a friend for his fort adventure!

6 Photos

 

That’s the moon at the Target Center where we saw a Timberwolves game.  SO MUCH FUN!  Gabe and Mike had gone earlier as a father/son evening when our neighbors gave us tickets (they had a recital to go to instead, so they gave them to us – how cool are our neighbors?).  They had so much fun, we decided to go again, and when Gabe got a free ticket through school, and reduced tickets for adults, we just had to go!

We had a blast – we had excellent seats (they upgraded us to really good seats for free, even though we already had reduced tickets – such a nice ticket agent).  Gabe loves all the atmosphere and drama.  When the game starts, all the lights go off, and the moon lights up, then everyone starts howling (very neat) and then the announcer introduces the players.  Once the game starts, there is also a howl-o-meter, which comes up whenever the opposing team shoots a free-throw.  So we all howl like mad, I guess to throw them off their shot, but even if we don’t, it’s pretty hilarious.  Gabe gets so into it – I’m surprised his voice isn’t hoarse by the end of the night.

The Timberwolves won too, and they won the last time Gabe went – but have lost pretty much every other game this year.  So if they want to win more – maybe they should give Gabe tickets to the games – he seems to be pretty lucky!  Gabe knows most of the starting players, but at this age, his favorite “person” is Crunch – the mascot.  He got to sit on “Christmas” Crunch’s lap and Mike snapped a picture, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out:

Too bad it’s blurry – it’s a funny photo.  The Timberwolves Dancers would hop out of the photos when little kids posed with Crunch, and hop back in for the adults and teens.  I guess they thought Gabe was big enough because they stayed in his photo – hah!

Such a great night – and thank you to Jacquie and Carol who were nice enough to watch Lily!