A Funday Sunday

I get Westways magazine from the Auto Club and they have a calendar with upcoming events. Under the Halloween happenings section I saw an exhibit for "BUG INVASION" at the Discovery Science Center aka "The Cube" in Santa Ana.

So I called the kids, Lacey, Brandon, Dean, Amanda, Keith, Ryder, Kristen and they were all up for a day of adventure. We met at 11:30 (some of us were late, hahaha).

Off of the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana there is this huge cube. I always wondered about it. Here's a little information about the Cube. There are three perfect 3D geometric shapes in nature: the sphere, the pyramid and the cube. Architecturally, the sphere has been built at Disneyworld and the pyramid has been built at the Louvre, the Luxor in Las Vegas and the California State University, Long Beach basketball arena.
The Cube has not been built before. Thus, Discovery Science Center architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica thought that The Cube would be the perfect icon for Orange County’s science center. The Board of Directors concurred and it was incorporated into the center’s plans.
Go to the web for more information. www.discoverycube.org I highly recommend taking your kids there. Or you can just borrow someone else's kids if you don't have any.

A replica of the Spaceship Endeavour sits in the parking lot.

Dean, Bubba and Lacey.

We waited for a while for Keith, Amanda and Ryder to show up. That's OK, the weather was great. I gave Dean the gifts from Mel, Craig and Ruby and he held onto them waiting to give Ryder his gifts. A Kiwi bird and a Rugby ball.

Finally Batman (Ryder) arrived and got his goodies from Dean.

On the schedule of events on the web, they listed a "Halloween Spider Mash Dance and a Costume Parade" at 2:00. The Ryder wore his Batman costume and looked very strong. Unfortunately he was the only kid in the place with a costume on, but that didn't matter because he WAS Batman. As we were leaving at 1:30 kids showed up in costume, but by then we were starved and wanted to go.

The girls, waiting to get started.

The mandatory "gift store" on the right and a dinosaur hanging from the ceiling.

The first activity was the "bed of nails" Bubba went first.

Then Kristen.

Very brave of her.

There was a screen and you danced in front of it.

Bug Invasion - a HUGE Praying Mantis. I think Ryder was shocked.

He wasn't sure about going in there.

That thing was about 25 feet or more. Here's Kristen.

There were all kinds of bugs on display. This is an educational place, hence the "Science" in the name.

Giant carpenter ants. Bubba happens to be an exterminator, so it was pretty funny.

You put on 3-D glasses and walked through a fog curtain to a maze of flourescent 3-D flowers and bugs on walls.

Amanda in the 3-D room.

Rats to pet. NO THANKS! The kids liked them.

This is a smoke ring maker. You push down on a large rubber ring.

And a huge ring of smoke (dry ice) flies up to the ceiling.

Dean and Bubba made the smoke rings too.

Water ran over sand to show erosion.

We went inside the Cube and there was a rocketship capsule

This is a wind tunnel. The wind shot down at 78 mph. Lacey said it was really a strange feeling, dried out her eyes.

Keith and Ryder went in.

Then Dean and Ryder. They loved it. They weren't crying, that is an excited face.

Dean borrowed the batman mask for a while.

Simulated Hockey game, Keith was the goalie. He would watch a screen in front of him and a hockey player would shoot a puck at him and the puck would shoot out of the wall. Keith caught a couple of them and blocked some. I think maybe one slipped by on the ground.

Amanda the Zamboni driver. The Zamboni is the machine that resurfaces the ice rinks. Sort of moves like a forklift.

Here she is on the Zamboni, wearing the Batman mask. Big fun!

Ryder was a hockey player.

Not sure about this face. I think it may be nap time.

So we left the science center and drove down the street to the Block at Orange and had lunch at Dave and Buster's. It's basically a funzone with all kinds of electronic games, but with bars and dining tables all through it. The food was great. The boys attached their Kiwis to their straws.

After eating, they played some games. Here they are on a motorcyle simulator.

Then they went on a Jet Fighter simulator.

I had a wonderful time with the kids, old ones and little ones. We should get together again soon, maybe a bonefire at the beach before the weather cools down. Thank you guys for hanging out with this old broad. Love you all.

Kathy