Oklahoma Science Museum

Well, it was quite a wonderful day for the kids, and even pleasant for Carina and I.
We were determined to visit the zoo for a little while, at least, because we had free tickets from donating blood and you just can't let something like that pass, can you? So we met my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for a pleasant little stroll in the aquarium and around by the meerkats and young lions. We were able to tolerate the heat, with the help of the zoo sprinklers, until an early lunch. Then we parted ways and headed with the grandchildren over to the science museum, where they could have stayed until midnight.

The Science Museum is a child's dream world, with so much for young explorers to do. They almost immediately get into the spirit of adventure: building chutes; cutting paper cups and seeing which ones fly to the top; yelling into echo tubes and close to a sound-sensitive light-up tree; exploring giant teeth, tide pools, mirror mazes and earthquake platforms; building with blocks; and playing with magnetic sand. A large toy train exhibit runs continually, and nearby sits a real, beautifully restored Pullman train car. Of course there are all kinds of scientific experiments--some easy to explain to a five year old, others not so easy. The grandkids ran from one area to another--stopping shadows, setting off hot air balloon replicas, sending toys up rope pulley buckets in a giant tree house. We could hardly keep up with them. Finally, at three, we headed for home.
The were asleep before we had traveled the five minutes to McDonalds.
As we neared home the temperature rose higher and higher...reaching 112 degrees by the time we arrived...not really a day for playing out of doors. Look at these faces though. See.
It was worth the trip.

Blessings

Urushiol

I've been researching. It's a poison. It may last five years on the handle of a rake or in a pile of firewood. When you touch it, it makes blisters and an itchy, red, rash. It's driving me crazy. Never fear though, Turtle, the mighty defender, has rounded up the poison ivy and--hopefully--ended it's reign of terror on the front gate. I stayed inside, not trusting the air which carries such lethal stuff as urushiol(sounds a little like a fallen archangel). And yet... I'm much too self absorbed right now because the stuff has flared up on my neck and hands. Did I get re-infected, breathe in some of the toxic stuff? I've tried benadryl, which makes me groggy and grouchier, but doesn't stop the itch. Ach! Nothing helps more than a few minutes...except sea salt, which I rub into the red patches. For a few minutes they burn brilliantly, then...peace...no itching, no burning. It lasts a couple of hours anyway and brings more relief than the prescription cream. Anybody out there have any more ideas.