Labor Day & A Museum

On Labor Day, Noah had been in school for two weeks.  My mom had moved in on August 28th (less than a week before), so we decided to try to do something fun, to see the area, to sightsee!  However, it was raining.  So, Steve suggested that we visit a museum that's about 15 or 20 minutes away in Oak Ridge.


Outside of the building, they had these cool "Whisper Dishes" that were pretty far apart. Noah stood by the one in the picture, and I stood by the other. We whispered to each other and could hear what the other said perfectly! Man, I love science. (Good thing I married a scientist? Haha.)


Oak Ridge was a secret town during World War 2. At the factories, they enriched uranium to help build the atomic bomb. In the 1940s, every worker had a badge. The whole town was guarded, so you had to have a badge. When Noah saw this cut-out, he decided to take a very serious, no-smiling picture. Ha. This kid.


Apparently, people who worked on the Manhattan Project (maybe a specific part of it) would get one of the medals or coins like the one with the A on it.


I thought this was fascinating. They had a lot of women who worked there, but they didn't know what they were actually doing other than flipping switches and pushing buttons to make the meters read correctly! Yet, they were able to operate the calutrons better than most men who would try to do a better job.


Noah wanted to give it a try, too.


These signs were for real. Crazy.


These two pictures make me laugh. Noah was really enjoying the museum with me while Steve, Drew, and my mom looked around a little behind us. When I explained what the cloud was in this picture, he asked to get a picture with it.


Then he said, "Mom, please take another picture. This face will make more sense." Not sure of what he was doing, I looked through my viewfinder to see this.


I think this is a cool license plate.


Noah was answering questions based on our walking tour on this machine when the power went out from thunderstorms. He liked the quiz so much that he waited for the power to come back on (two or three minutes) and then for the machine to boot up again.


They had some interesting signs as well as great memorabilia with facts about them.



We went back out to the lobby, which is a big two-story room that is the central hub for the wings where the exhibits are. In it, there was a Russian bomb. It was so big that I took a panorama picture with my phone. It was pretty impressive in size and for the fact that it could take down a plane that was 60,000 feet in the air.




Here's the panorama.

And the flat version of it:

Steve took Noah over to a puzzle station. Behind them were pictures taken with a microscope.

An ant.


Sand.
 

Then we went to a different room where they had plasma globes and tubes.


Noah wanted nothing to do with it ("I don't want to get electrocuted!"), so we all showed him that it was safe.

And then he thought it was VERY cool.



This was an interesting optical illusion. The mirror was curved so it reflected the colored tiles as rows instead of its actual pattern.

Steve and Drew had a good time at a station where you placed the ball on top of a tube, pressed a button, and the ball would float.  Drew would giggle every single time Steve pushed the button.

Meanwhile, my mom and Noah found this machine.

They raced to see who could pick up something first.

My mom won but was completely surprised.

A little UV light room.


We went to a room with 40s and 50s style furniture. This TV was playing a speech from JFK. My mom said she had some similar furniture and decor as they had on display.



Then we went to a part of the museum that had displays about people who work at Y-12.

Noah got to try wearing gloves in an enclosed chamber called a glove box.



Then we saw this ... an ironically named bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 (according to the sign).  However, I doubt this was actually was since it's intact. 


And Drew thought this was so amazing that he started eating his feet. I love my children.

This big sphere imitated atoms and neutrons and stuff.  At this point, I was a little worn out.  :)



There was a map that showed where radiation occurs naturally around the United States.

It kind of freaked me out, but Steve told me it was fine.




They have new temporary exhibits that come and go as well as a bunch of permanent exhibits. They also have movies related to Oak Ridge and demonstrations. All in all, it was an impressive little museum.

Ninjago & Some Other Photos

Do you know about Ninjago?  If so, I'm guessing you know a 5-10 year old boy who is deeply invested into its world.  Or you know a sibling of that boy ... or a parent or grandparent.  LEGO made this show to go with its toys (oh, marketing).  We Noah learned about it a little later than most.  It might be because we didn't have cable television, but I'm not sure.

It doesn't matter because he LOVES anything to do with Ninjago.  He still is interested in other things, too, but I feel like this is his Darkwing Duck, Tiny Toons, or Animaniacs (ahem, shows I watched as a kid).  It's the show that we'll all remember even when he's a grown up. 

So, when a new season began, we let Noah stay up past his bedtime to watch the season premiere.  We also decorated with banners, and Noah excitedly decorated our mantel with his toys.
The bad guys.

The good guys and their vehicles.





Another banner.

Noah has made the top bunk his own by buying a poster with his own money.  He also has a soccer one up there since this photo was taken.  It's kind of cute to see him make his space his own.

The Rest of August - Part 2

I have a few pictures that aren't all related, but they all happened in August (at least, I think!).

Noah will read to Drew, and Drew -- out of love and appreciation -- will give his big brother a snuggle.


Drew has been VERY interested in my stuff.  In this picture, you can see the sandal that he dragged over before he got my wallet out of my bag and started tossing my credit cards around like they were confetti.
 

We became members of our new church here!!!  There was a family night where we wore a new member shirt so people could see we were new.  It was a great evening of meeting new people, and I love how kids are involved in everything.  Drew and Noah came with us.  This is what it looked like as we walked inside:


At one of Noah's soccer games, Drew sat on Steve's shoulders.  He was very smiley and then he suddenly gave Steve a snuggle.  Though Steve is Drew's clear favorite in our family of four, he rarely will give his daddy a snuggle.  So, this was a sweet moment ... despite their kind of crazy eyes. :)


Steve played bass for a Sunday morning.  This picture was taken from our friend Dave who posted it on Facebook.  Hence, the low quality!


We got to visit Steve's work!  We tried going there once, but his key card wouldn't open the hallway to his office.  Here are those pictures of the beautiful campus.






Then, once his card DID work, here's what we saw.  The hallway with super cool science posters.


The door to the office suite.


Steve's office door is the one on the left of this picture of the conference table and cubicles.


Here's their nice kitchen set-up.

This is his desk area. There's a nice big window and more cabinets for storage behind the open door. It's really a nice space.

Noah wanted to preside over an imaginary board meeting. He's so cute!

In other news, Noah is learning in earnest how to tie shoes. He was practicing on his dad's shoes. They looked like clown shoes on his feet.