{ Santa Ana Today }

We went to the Discovery Science Center today. We really only went to get our membership cards and then we had plans to go to another museum we've never been to. Well, one thing led to another and we ended up spending a few hours at the Science Center. Hockey, baseball, volleyball, dinosaurs, grossology, it was an interesting day. When it was time to leave, we were craving a treat, so on to Watson's Drug Store in old town Orange for the best mikshakes and fries. Yummy.

{ In a re-Decorating Frame of Mind }

I am really wanting some new sofas/sectional, something! I have been coveting this Pottery Barn sofa for a while now. I'll never get it. Too expensive. Then I thought about getting a Bassett sofa. Still not going there. I don't like the colors available. Now I'm thinking about slipcovers. There are articles about how to do this here and here. I must go to JoAnn's and see if they have anything I might like in the way of sofa fabric. I've also heard you can go to Home Depot and buy a few of the $10 painter's canvases and use as slipcovers. Not sure if I want white, though.

{ Nature Walk }

I can't wait for you to see what else we were up to today. It's a surprise! Here are some pictures from our nature walk after we finished with the surprise. We actually found a snake skin shed. Very cool.

{ Picking Blueberries }

Howdy from the farm! we went blueberry picking today! Yes, a bit pricey at $5 per pint, but they are organic. And we got to pick the ones we wanted. Now to decide what to do with our two pints?

{ I love this song today }

{ Square Number Four }

Blessing number four is our birthdates.

Hers:

Mine:

We've slowed down with our sewing a bit, but we're finally getting back on track. My daughter chose our birthdates as our next blessings. I think she meant the blessing to be the gift of life and this is how a nine year old girl expresses that. She didn't mention partys or presents, just being born.

It took me a little by surprise, I've had serious moments of contemplation on the subject. My pregnancies were very painful and the doctors didn't know what to do with me. I now know that it was my diseased kidneys that gave me such problems, but during the pregnancies, no one knew for sure. My daughter is my first born, and about a third of the way through the pregnancy, one of the many OB's we saw suggested terminating the pregnancy. There was nothing at all wrong with the baby, she thought that would be easier for me. I can't imagine my life without my darling daughter, and I surely never even considered terminating the pregnancy.

I also remember one day at a family gathering where the topic of conversation turned along the lines of - too bad your step-dad isn't your biological dad. I guess they were thinking it would be better if I had not been born with kidney disease. The only problem with that reasoning is that if my mother had only had children with my step-dad, I would never have been born. It took a special miracle to create my life, me as the individual that I am, and I am so happy and grateful to have my life. Even with the flaws. No one is perfect, everyone has suffering and differences in their own way. I am so blessed to have been born and now I can show my children that life is precious and worth keeping no matter what the circumstance, disease, birth defect, abnormality. I truly believe this. I would not deny the life of my child just because they might inherit my kidney disease. What would the world be like if all difficult/defective/abnormal pregnancies were terminated? I thank God that my mother chose to give birth to me and I thank God for my precious children each and every day. Thank you God for the gift of life.

{ We Have Six }

We have six chrysalises! The smallest caterpillar did not make it and I had to throw it away today. So, we should have butterflies by the end of the week! It's so much fun to see the second generation through to the end.

{ JPL Open House }

Here are some more shots of our tour around JPL yesterday. We started off in the Journey Through the Solar System exhibit. We learned about many of the missions to Saturn, Jupiter, the moon, and even comets. There were lots of cool graphics everywhere. This is the Dawn spacecraft which will go to the Vesta and Ceres asteroids in the astroid belt to study and search for signs of water.

JPL is a juge campus with around thirty different buildings and twenty-two exhibits open during the open house. It felt a lot like exploring a university campus.

Check out this cool planet atop a patio cover at the front of the campus.

Inside that building was the Mars Science Laboratory where a full sized model of the latest Mars rover, Curiosity, was on display. The actual rover is still under construction and should launch in the fall of 2011.

The Our Changing Earth exhibit demonstrated all of the various applications that JPL's technologies provide to monitor the earth. Things like hurricanes, soil temperatures, ocean salinity and more.

I loved the look and feel of the buildings and this really cool big sign on the front of this building.

Here's a replica of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have both been on Mars for several years. They call this one Bubba.

The kids enjoyed the Mars Exploration for kids where a smaller version of a rover was demonstrated. Here the kids lined up to be the "rocks" for the rover to go over. This was the kids favorite part of the open house. They said it tickled and hurt.

Here's a model of the latest Mars rover, Curiosity, which will launch to Mars next year. It's interesting to see it maneuver over big rocks with it's aluminum wheels. The real one will have titanium wheels.

The line for the Spacecraft Assembly area was really long. Luckily we were able to rest here in the shade of the building while waiting and fanning ourselves with maps.

It was really fun to see the actual Curiosity rover in parts on the floor of the assembly area.

Here the kids are learning about infrared. The monitor shows differences in temperature by color. The kids dipped their hands into freezing ice-water and they showed up dark purple on the screen. The warmer parts were orange. The kids had fun "painting" themselves with the cold icewater and observing the effects in infrared.

This was one of the outdoor testing areas for the rovers. There were dirt and boulders for the rovers to maneuver through. This part was just empty and fenced off for the day.

We had so much fun, we're already planning our trip back next year!