High Maintenance Mom

The theme for this year's Earth Science Week is "No Child Left Inside." If you've read Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, or read about it, then you might be looking for more ways to incorporate unstructured time outside. The USGS, one of the Earth Science Week (ESW) sponsors, has a web site with links to outdoor parks and activities around the country. Even if there isn't an activity listed for your area, it doesn't take too much effort to help your child connect with nature. Start with a walk at your child's pace. You may only get to the end of the block but your child will appreciate the time you spend looking at the things that interest them. I find ants much more interesting through my kids' eyes. They, my kids - not the ants, love to watch water run down a drain, look for the biggest acorn, or investigate any type of bug.

Kilauea, the volcano on the main island of Hawaii that has been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, has been showing new activity in the past year. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), located next to the caldera, monitors the volcanic activity and posts beautiful pictures online. The glow from the current plume is easiest to see at night. Because of the time difference, you can often view the glow for yourself on the Halema`uma`u web cam in the early morning. The Kilauea image here shows the pre-moonrise stars and the intense Halema`uma`u glow on April 27th. If you view the April 2008 Image Archive, you will see an image of the observatory with the plume in the backgound. Watching the eruption is a great way to introduce science to kids...

Apparently today was GIS Day, which is part of Geography Awareness Week. Each year a different region is highlighted. This year the theme is "Asia: Continent of Contrasts". Here are a few links for learning more about GIS.

• National Geographic's My Wonderful World - Get a passport to explore Asia online, also check out the links on the more to explore page.
• Google's educator page - Tour Asia using Google Earth, see videos, and take interactive quizzes.
• gis.com's GIS Day activities.

During pregnancy, moms are accustomed to a variety of screening tests for conditions such as Down syndrome and diabetes. The rationale for these tests is not to make moms anxious about their pregnancy but to identify potential pregnancy problems to allow for timely intervention.

What is kick counting?
Kick counting, a daily systematic record of moms’ perception of their baby’s movement during the third trimester, is a reliable, harmless, simple and effective screening for the baby’s well-being. Kick counting can document changes in the fetal movement pattern and can help moms-to-be alert their healthcare provider of potential problems. A timely evaluation can allow intervention and prevention of potential problems, including stillbirth.

Check out zoo images including the zebra and horse crossbreed. My kids love pictures of animals so we are always looking for fun images.

Recent research has identified women, called tetrachromats, who can see four distinct ranges of color and therefore can distinguish much more subtle color differences than the average person with only three distinct ranges of color. It's estimated the eye can pick up about 100 different gradations of color using the standard red, green, and blue cones. The brain then combines those variations so the average person can distinguish about 1 million different hues.

This isn't really science but it is neat and fits with upcoming Fourth of July festivities.

"How to Make a Soda Bottle Volcano.

Words cannot begin to describe the awesome eruption that is created from mixing Mentos candy and soda. Eruptions of up to 18 feet are possible if this technique is done correctly. Steve Spangler shares this experiment from his television show... and a link to one of the first viral videos."

(image from 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance site of train thrown down by the earthquake at Point Reyes Station where it was standing on a siding. Photo by G.K. Gilbert from the USGS Library).

At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906 there was a M 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas fault in northern California. The earth broke along 296 miles between San Juan Bautista and Cape Mendocino with some areas moving more than 18 feet. Below are links to more information about the earthquake and fire...

We've had a few big storms recently (including the one last week that was going to dump 60 inches of snow at Mammoth while I was trying to get home) and this evening on our drive from school the kids saw their first hailstorm. They were very excited but by the time we got home the hail and rain had stopped. Just a few minutes ago there was very loud thunder followed by a torrential downpour (that's how I like to describe the multitude of cold, large drops that made the short walk from my office to my car seem endless)...

Now that B is three, we've started to go to a larger number of museums and parks. Previously, we went to the zoo. Now we've added children's museums, natural history museums, and science museums. The membership pays for itself if you go to the museum/park several times a year and I find not having to wait in the ticket line to be well worth it. Because we have enjoyed our local memberships, I looked into the pricing for memberships at the San Diego Zoo and Animal Park prior to our trip. It turned out that the membership was cost effective for our visit with my inlaws and everyone was happy to avoid the lines...