Parenting is not rocket science, but this is one not-technical mama's experiment in raising curious, adventuresome explorers.
Funny story. The last day exploring Rome, last day of a long, full trip, we went to Aqueduct Park just outside Rome. We had a few hours to spend before our "big" adventure to the Vatican and Castel St. Angelo that afternoon, so it sounded like a low key adventure to spend the time wandering …
Adventuring. I just looked it up and the dictionary says: (verb) engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory. Sounds about right when describing our latest trip. Notice, I did not say vacation. I said trip. Vacation implies relaxation which is hard to do when you lug 2 young kids and another …
Last week the whole family got to tag along with our rocket scientist to the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts. Jonathan was presenting an update on the mechanical rover for extreme environments, like Venus, where traditional electronics can't take the heat, literally. When he first won funding from NASA for this …
We've talked about a family camping trip for literally years. Every year it seems. But then it never actually happens. To all you who camp often with your family of littles, kudos! Seriously, it's rather daunting to me. Something about having to pack up literally everything (even food and toilet necessities), sleeping on the hard …
Having grown up on the prairies of the Midwest, living in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains is a treat. Their looming presence is such a constant, anchoring beauty. They turn green with the winter rain, sometimes wear the clouds like a blanket in the early morning hours, and reflect the sunset colors in …
We happen to live very close to the location of a national treasure New Year tradition: the Pasadena Rose Parade. I know, lucky ducks! The parade began years ago, 1890 in fact, in celebration of Southern California's beautiful weather. While much of the country is often buried under a blanket of snow (and we're all …
"Metric system, international decimal system of weights and measures, based on the metre for length and the kilogram for mass, that was adopted in France in 1795 and is now used officially in almost all countries." (source) Did you catch that? "Used officially in almost all countries." We here in the U.S. are the almost. All over …
Are we crazy? My husband, driven by his thirst for adventure, when booking our airline tickets to Denmark noticed there was a short (i.e. decent-length) Paris layover, and a 6-hour one. Of course he suggested the latter so we could grab a train into the city and see what we could see with a few …
A fascination with outer space and all-things-astronomy is everywhere. The universality of the stars, across the globe and throughout history, is fun to experience as we travel here and there. We are by no means extensive travelers (wishful thinking on Jonathan's part), but since we have a connection to the space exploration industry, we enjoy …
There is a reason we all love Lego. I am not, nor ever was, particularly naturally suited to building things out of Lego. My hang up has always been translating the vision in my head to the connection of bricks in my hands. My brother on the other hand, never followed the instructions that I …
