10 Questions About…

Looking for something fun and potentially education to do outside without getting sweaty? Think mini golf at the Minnesota Science Museum. It just opened last weekend; so we took a foursome out to the course to check it out. The location is beautiful – the golf course is between the Science Museum and the River. It’s a 9-hole course. I don’t think it took us an hour to play.

Our group included a first grade a couple of adults and a few in between and we all enjoyed the game. We did institute the six-stroke rule. Once you get to six strokes on any given hole, you’re out. So that keeps the game rolling along – but we didn’t use it every hole. There’s a mix of luck and skill involved in the game. (Although I can tell you that the most skilled player did win the game!) A few holes involve water traps, which I’m sure will be even more welcome in the hotter months. There are a few sandboxes too for younger players who may need to regroup between shots.

Each shot contains a key lesson. For example, in the second hole, you have to hit your ball through running water to get to the hole – but since flowing water acts in predictable ways on materials (such as golf balls) the hole isn’t as tough as it looks. If David Hume can use the pool table to tech probability, the Science Museum can use miniature golf to teach about ecology. Also there are various notes about the surrounding area. Apparently the bushes surrounding the course will bear fruit later in the season and players are welcome to eat what they can reach to pick.

One note – you have to pay to get into the Museum and then pay for the mini golf so if you’re not a member, it can get expensive. But after 5 pm, you can get in for just $5 per person and forget about the museum fee.

Taking after her mom, Lily plays right field. Not taking after her mom – Lily caught at least on fly ball…

We did PeepsDioramas this year – I was just never able to submit our finished product to the Pioneer Press web site. Sorry! Several people asked me about it. (Thanks!) I did try a couple of time to submit our entries but no luck. You can enjoy them here:

We have two Justin Bieber Dioramas

And Aine and I did a Peep version of Sunday in the Park with George.

Well I think Spring has finally spring. It was warm most of the weekend – in fact it was a total bonus since it was supposed to rain all weekend – really it only rained Sunday afternoon. We took advantage of the good weather on Saturday by checking out he St Paul Farmer’s Market. There aren’t a lot of vegetables or fruit – but there’s chocolate popcorn, flower and eggs. Actually there are sauces and things too and it’s always nice to be outside and see the fresh ingredients. And there were free hayrides. So we got a hayride around lower town.

Then we headed to the Cinco de Mayo Festival in East St Paul. By the time we got there it was genuinely hot, which was kind of fun. Our big thrill was when Aine was selected to be a contestant for the Radio Disney game.
 

Aine and her Daisy troop had a bridging ceremony – they all crossed over to become Brownies. We are going to try to not lose her Brownie vest for the next bridging ceremony, which is probably two years away. We unfortunately did lose our Daisy vest. Or maybe we never really had one and what we really lost was Lily’s Daisy vest from five years ago. Luckily Aine does not mind details like a lost vent – just so long as we get to go to the party!

It was nice to spend Easter at home – where the Easter Bunny has access to the usual candy. And we got to go to the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! The block over has been hosting an Easter Egg hunt for 11 years. It’s a very big deal. All of the kids are invited – it involves literally hundreds of eggs filled with treat and usually involves a visit from EB himself. It was a chilly day – but a chilly day in a cold spring can feel pretty darned good.

On Monday I got a call from school. Aine had run into the corner of a wall and maybe she shouldn’t walk home from school today. Well, I hope the corner is missing a chunk – as her forehead definitely is!

We went straight to Children’s Hospital. I cannot say enough nice things about the staff there. I was a little worried when there was no one at the welcome desk – but the reason seemed to be that we could go directly to a triage nurse who was quick to wave us in. I kind of knew the drill since we’ve gone for stitches on our forehead at Children’s before. They got us all checked in – and by checked in, I don’t mean with insurance et al. I mean with description of what happened and some numbing ointment for the cut.

We sat in the waiting room for less than 10 minutes before they called us back for our own room. I knew it took 45 minutes for the numbing gel to work – so we waited. Sadly Aine got sicker. She mentioned to the doctor that her throat hurt. A few minutes later she started throwing up. I was worried about a concussion – but it turned out to be strep.

A nurse came in and described the procedure to Aine. She showed her all of the sterile equipment they would use. Then the stitcher came in to do her magic. Apparently there’s someone on staff who simply sews up kids all day long. Aine got 8 stitches; 6 external and 2 internal. Apparently they could see bone through the cut. Aine was clearly very uncomfortable through the process, but she didn’t cry.

Once the procedure was done she was back to talking a mile a minute and didn’t stop until she finally fell asleep at home around 8 pm.

Spring sprang late last week. It was so nice and we celebrated with a trip to the Como Zoo. We had not been to the zoo in at least a year. Somehow we managed to miss the opening of the Polar Bear Odyssey last year (darned summers in Ireland). I love the Polar Bears. I could watch them in their old space for hours. One bear pacing in the corner; the other swimming tiny laps in the pool. Really he just glided into a back flip turn and back again. So I was very excited to see what the new space was like.

The space is nice. Apparently they built the space for more than four bears, although there are currently only two. There are two outdoor space for the bears. One includes the nice underwater view that we’ve always had at Como Zoo. There’s also an indoor space where they are started to do training with the bears.

But despite all of the new space – the bears are the same. One paces back and forth; the other swims his laps. It made me a little sad, until I spoke to one of the zookeepers. It turns out that the pacing (in and out of water) is not a sign of boredom or tension or insanity. It’s just a natural habit for the bears. It’s a habit that bears maintain in zoos everywhere. The Polar Bears in Como Zoo are actually twins. One (the pacer) is more dominant. And it turns out they don’t pace/swim the whole time. While we were there we saw some of the Polar Bear training. The trainers open the doors to the various segments of the exhibit and the bears roam to the training area and both outdoor spaces. The zookeeper told us that at night, the bears are able to get even more space.

So we left bigger Polar Bear fans than we arrived.

But we didn’t just see the Polar Bears. We saw Sparky the seal practicing his summer act. That was kind of a thrill. Most of the close seats are blocked off. Nothing is announced so it feel like s sneaky peek, which of course makes it much more fun. We don’t want to give away the show, but we sill say that Sparky looks prepared.

We made out way through the tropical area. We actually saw the sloth move. I’ve been there loads of times but never seen the sloth actually move – more than an inch or two. He seemed to stretch. We also saw the ugliest toad I have ever seen – the Surinam toad. It looks like a deflated whoopee cushion with tiny arms and legs.

We rounded out our trip with seeing the big cats, the giraffes and zebras (hoofed animals) and seeing some of the flowers in the Conservatory. If you want a quick blast of a springy future – breathe in deeply at the Conservatory. It smells amazing!