Dry Ice FUN!

We just returned from a couple of days of family camp with our church. Today we spent the time cleaning and unpacking. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a delivery of our favorite ice cream, Working Cow this afternoon. We all look forward to the arrival of ice cream for many reasons. First, it's ICE CREAM!! Second, it comes packed in a nice cooler that hubby loves to use for his fishing trips. Third (and most exciting), is that it is kept cold in the cooler with dry ice.

The last time we received a shipment, we just talked about dry ice and it's make up with basic experiments of its reaction in water. This time we were prepared to step it up a notch by doing a little research on the Internet.

We took our usual precautions: I got my gloves and tongs and G is not allowed to touch the ice.

Our first experiment was bubbles.
We took warm water and placed a drop of dish detergent and food coloring in a container. Then added the dry ice. The results were impressive. Instead of the gassy cloud like with the water. Bubbles flowed over the side and when they were touched, they broke open allowing the carbon dioxide to escape.

Our next experiment was to blow a balloon up using dry ice. We took a water bottle and put dry ice pellets in it. Then we attached a balloon on the neck of the bottle and shook it until it inflated. Once it was inflated. We blew up another balloon with our mouth. Then we compared the weight of the balloons and the dry ice balloon was heavier. We also dropped them at the same time and the dry ice balloon fell faster.

The next experiment was to put an inch of water in a bowl and drop a piece of dry ice in the bowl. The smoking started. We then blew bubbles from our bubble wand onto the mixture. What you see are bubbles that appear to float on the cloud.

At the start of our experiments, we put a piece of regular ice in a bowl and a piece of dry ice in a bowl. We watched from time to time and after an hour, we saw that the ice cube had melted to water and the dry ice just disappeared or dissipated (the word we learned today).

Now we have had our science lesson complete with experiments, vocabulary and explanations of carbon dioxide vs oxygen and water. 

It's now time for ice cream!!! 

Tummy woes, Cuddles and more....

The last week of our life, my poor baby boy was hit with the nasty stomach flu (aka - rota-virus). It was not pretty and he even missed out on his First Lego League State Championship Tournament that he has worked so hard for the past 6 months! Yep, it was that bad!!

We are recouping and shuffling to get things done. Things like the laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning and more cleaning to rid our home of any traces of the remaining demon plague. In addition, we're trying to get some school work done.

A couple of good things come out of his being sick. I know, I know... how can I find pleasure in my little one's obvious discomfort??? But, while he was sick, he really wanted to cuddle and just be with me!! No fussing, no fighting, no back-talking, no nothing -- just those sweet blue eyes looking at me and pleading for me to make it all go away. In the midst of the cuddles, he would sleep and rest which is an obvious sign of his illness because this kiddo doesn't stop for anything other than TV and video games.

After the awful weekend, he felt he was well enough to make it to his robotics class on Monday. But, those two hours wiped him out and he was back down for a long winter's nap. For the next couple of days, he lounged on the couch sipping his Gatorade and nibbling crackers while I read to him. We read fiction and non-fiction books that corresponded to the our current study of India in My Father's World. We also did some math drills vs trying to do our lessons on the computer. It was a really sweet time of just bonding and spending time together.

Now my kiddo is on the mend and even went to Awana last night. This morning he shocked me with eating dry Mini-wheats and asking for a side of apple sauce. The appetite is returning. He has gone back to getting his regularly scheduled lessons done on his own but I have kept some reading to do with him later today because I know he will soon run out of energy and need a few cuddles to recharge his batteries.

At this point in his sweet life, (even before he got sick), he ran to see me each morning for "cuddles." I was explaining to him this morning that one day he would no longer want to cuddle with mom and yes "Mommy-kisses" would be gross. He laughed it off and hugged me and said "never!!" Oh my wonderful boy - oh that time will come and YES, it will much too soon for your momma. That being said, I will relish the time that he still thinks Mom is the greatest and delegates the first hugs and kisses of the day to me, even if it takes a stomach bug to make it happen!

Silly stuff