Space Center Part I

I must say I loved the fog and the cold and the rain that attended our recent visit to Vacaville and Oakland. While it is comfortable to wear a t-shirt when I'm going to pick up my son from preschool in January, it is nice to have a change. Generally I fear the cold unless I am skiing or going to a film festival in Utah. I'm not a big fan of cold weather. But it was nice to get a little coldness during this trip. It was nice to get a little variety.

The picture above is of the Chabot Space and Science Center, socked in by fog. No matter. While the constant fog meant we could not have gone to look through the telescopes at night, it had no impact on our ability to enjoy the wonders of the space center.

As we prepare to enter the center, Kiernan is goofing around with his Aunt JoAnne. The two of them have conjured a new planet, Planet Aunt JoAnnis. In the picture to the left Kiernan and Aunt JoAnne are chanting about Planet Aunt JoAnnis. Apparently she has the "rays that are the best".

Upon finding this out, Uncle Mitch prepares to pounce.

We entered the space center and bought tickets for the planetarium show, a great and silly animated program called "The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket" that I shall cover in a subsequent post. We had some time to burn before the show started, so we all headed upstairs to something called the Solar-Go-Round. Why did we decide to do this? Well, let's just say the Solar-Go-Round exhibit had the promise of models and information about the Solar System.

We got up to the top floor of the center and found the Solar-Go-Round, which was a huge room with all of the planets of our solar system--including Pluto--suspended above the room. On person level were various hands-on displays for the kids to manipulate. A large cylinder of liquid and sand you could spin to create a tornado. A dry ice demonstration to help you get a grip on the gas giants. An air hockey display. Yeah, that last was really there, and I have no idea why. I'm sure it had a purpose but it showed us eff-all. Still, it was kind of nifty.

The two closest pictures here, the ones with the orange background, show Kiernan's discovery that the planets were in this big room. He walked in with us, really not getting what this all was about. He stands before the sun in the picture just up and to the left and realizes that Mercury is over his head. The picture that follows, the one to the right, shows his reaction to his discovery that Mercury is over his head.

I cannot overstate how much he loves learning about and talking about and playing about the planets right now. But I don't think I have to explain this. If you just look at his face in that last picture, you'll get it.