Pinball Museum

 

 

 

Gina had a great idea for an outing on Sunday: visiting the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda. With one admission, you're able to play a large number of pinball machines in four or five different rooms. Many of the pinballs were from the 1950's and 1960's with the original artwork (but probably not all original parts.)

Julie's First Film

Nate's first stop-motion film

Fun with Oobleck

Nate taught us how to make Oobleck and our counter hadn't been the same.

Pool friend

I have visitors when working on my laptop by the pool...

Lafayette Science Fair

 

 

 

It's that time again - the Lafayette Partners in Education Science Fair at Burton Valley. Nate's experiment was more of an display of the three types of optical illusions. Julie did the time-tested carnations in colored water, which worked like a charm. They extracted DNA from strawberries again, played wiith goop, floated balls, touched eggs, toured fire engines, saw bees….and most importantly got their coupon to our local frozen yogurt joint in town.

Baseball season is here

Nate's first day of baseball! He's a Diamondback, and did a great job in front of a big crowd. He the team's first base-hit and did a great play tagging out a runner on 3rd base. I think having a picture of a snake on his cap helps.

Brewing in SF

My friend Alex in SF bought a full set-up of all-grain brewing equipment. So on Saturday, as the kids went to a nearby museum, we boiled, stirred, and sampled our way through a full day, and ended up with 4+ gallons of an American IPA using Simcoe and Centennial hops. Alex was a master at maintaining perfect seeping temperature, and in 5-7 weeks, we'll know how much better it is compared to the regular wort-syrup kits.

Muir Woods

 

 

Gina and I had our Friday day-date by visiting the ever-popular Muir Woods in Marin (my first time) and then lunch at nearby Mill Valley. Unfortunately the sunny deck of Mountain Home Inn was closed for a private event, but we made do at at Mill Valley Beerworks, the best mini-brewery in the Bay Area.