Saturday Morning at OMSI

A rainy Saturday morning is not the ideal time to go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). Why? Everyone is there. However, we managed to elbow our way around and have a pretty stinking good time. We went with Ezra's girlfriend, Maya, who is pictured above. She and Ezra (and Big Bird, of course) eagerly chatted about oranges and swimming pools as we drove. It was decided that you should not swim in your clothes and tiny tangerines are amazing. Ezra has been known to eat 6 tiny tangerines in one sitting. Back to OMSI...

This wacky machine basically blows air and/or sucks air through the openings you see. Put the balls in, watch them float up magically. Here's a short video to give you a better idea:

And on to the next activity!

This one turned out a little too flashy, but this is a shallow water basin with a wind machine at the far end. We made some sailboats to examine the power of wind, and got our sleeves very wet as well.

This is a miniature crane but to Ezra it is a car racing track.

There is a Physics lab that is the coolest. These wrenches attached to a big bouncy ball make music when his with a golf ball on a stick mallet! Yes, we are all thinking how we could make one too. The best part of the physics lab is the big, silver make-your-hair-stand-on-end-when-you-touch-it static ball. I was touching the ball and holding Ezra's hand and both of our hair was sticking straight up! I know, why no picture!? That could have been our belated Christmas card shot. Another cool experiment that we did with the static ball was Ezra held some foil pie plates on his hand and when we touched the ball the plates flew from his hand one by one. We were both thoroughly impressed/aghast/mesmerized. How can we make one of those?

This is Samsun the T-Rex. He is new to the museum. Ezra likes him a lot. We've been reading a Curious George book where George climbs on top of a dinosaur when they go to the museum. Ezra would have liked to, but the bones are so slippery, I could barely do it. No picture of my rodeo dinosaur adventure either unfortunately.

Samsun is pretty freaking big. He made me a little nervous. Ezra=cool as a cucumber.

His head would definitely fit in those jaws. Come to think of it his whole body would.

On to the alive, non extinct animals. Here is a Bearded Dragon. He didn't move much. Actually, he didn't even blink! Ezra's favorite in the live animal lab was the rat. It was running on the wheel. Do we need a pet rat?

On to the insanely crowded and chaotic Science Playground portion of OMSI. Similar to the other air blowing/sucking ball machine, this one sucks the ball in and up. Grandpa could probably make us one of these...

Swimmin' in balls. Life has never been better.

This part is fun, water water everywhere. I surely appreciate the smocks provided. Ezra is really into octopi lately, and in the above video he finds not one but two! Allowing us an opportunity to practice the irregular plural. See what I mean about it being a little hectic in there???



And finally, the ever popular Earth Quake house. The plan was for all of us to dance for the video, but Big Bird and I were the only ones who ended up feeling the groove.

Both Ezra and Maya fell asleep on the ride home from all that fun and excitement! We certainly couldn't do it every weekend, but it sure is fun every once in awhile. Thanks Aunt and Uncle for the year membership! It is such a treat.