Free Appreciation - Museum Day Live!

 

Art is both personal and communal.  The act of creating belongs to the artist(s) as much as the interpretation of the art belongs to both the individual and society at large.   Which is why Museum Day Live! Is such an amazing opportunity for all people:  solitary or in groups, single or couples, quiet self-introspection or moderately noisy gatherings of art appreciation.   On Saturday, September 29th you can get a free ticket for both yourself and a guest.  And with the Seattle Art Museum offering free admission for kids 12 and under, it’s the perfect chance for a family outing. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/

Float A Boat - Seafair Milk Carton Derby

 

If you have ever looked at a milk carton and pondered what could be created from it, ponder no more.  Denny's Seafair Milk Carton Derby has been held at Greenlake annually for the last 42 years with this year’s race taking place on Saturday, July 14^th. The races are broken into several categories including military, youth, open, racing and commercial.  With a Showboat award being given out for the most creative boat, being the fastest isn’t necessarily on every boat builder’s mind.  For those not interested in getting wet, there are plenty of land-based activities to keep you occupied as well.  So come to Greenlake and maybe you can catch a glimpse of something as amazing as a giant “rubber” ducky sailing into the noonday sun. Milk Carton Derby Info

Drink Up - National Free Slurpee Day!

There are few things that refresh on a hot day like a Slurpee.   And tomorrow 7-11 and Mother Nature are conspiring together to give us both for free.  Every year on July 11th 7-11 celebrates it's birthday by giving away free Slurpees.  So from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. head to your nearest 7-11 and enjoy a cold refreshing Slurpee on the house!

Science Gone Awry - Glow in the Dark Bubbles

Sometimes what we set out to do and what gets accomplished are two distinctly different things.  Case in point is the glow-in-the-dark bubbles we attempted.  Having seen various incarnations of this project online, we decided to give it a try.  We started by putting some premade bubble liquid in a cup.  Next we cracked the glow stick and gave them a good shake to really get them going. After, we carefully clipped the end of the glow sticks and poured the contents into the bubble liquid. 

 (The glowing liquid appeared to be a bit thicker than water creating comparisons to molten lava.)  At first the liquids seemed to blend evenly giving us hope that our experiment would work, but after a few tries we realized that there was a definitely lack of luminosity in our bubbles.  We attempted another batch and this time gave it a vigorous mixing, but that only resulted in a more lackluster glowing. 

 In the end we admitted defeat and decided that the glowing liquid looked kind of cool in the glass.  Perhaps next time we will make liquid “fireflies” in a jar. 

MMMM Brains – Red, White and Dead Zombie Walk

You wouldn’t think that hordes of shambling undead would be a good family outing, but then you’ve probably never been to the Red, White and Dead Zombie Walk.  Every year for the last 6 years thousands of zombies have gathered for World Record breaking walks through the Fremont neighborhood. While the first few years were more of an impromptu gathering, this year’s walk has something for the whole family with a zombie fashion show, mobile food court, massive Thriller dance, Apocalypse Survival Car Show, beer garden and more.  And although some costumes may be a bit much for younger kids, the attendees are generally a good group of people just having fun.  (Our boys have been going for the last several years with no issues but our experience won’t necessarily be yours!)  Tickets are required to be counted for the Guinness Record attempt … get yours here - Zombie Walk Tickets and more info here - Zombie Walk Info     See you in the HORDE!!!!

 

Watch the Sky Explode – Family Fourth on Lake Union

Every year the skies above hundreds of cities in the country light up in celebration of our country.  We happen to be in one of the top 10 cities in the countries to watch the sky explode. The Family 4^th at Lake Union isn’t just about the fireworks though.  This year the entire perimeter of Lake Union has activities for the whole family.   Lake Union Park is the home of The Center for Wooden Boats which is celebrating its 36^th annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival.  The Festival allows you to tour several historic boats and build your own toy boat among other activities. Lake Union Park will also host one of two stages providing live music throughout the day.  The other stage is located as what is arguably the center of the party – Gasworks Park.  Gasworks not only has one of the live music stages, but it is also host to a large amount family friendly activities.  Inflatable play center for the kids, dual slides, Microsoft Kinect Zone, and a giant zipline….Gasworks will have something for everyone.   So bring your sunscreen and umbrella, this is Seattle, and celebrate the Fourth! Family 4th at Lake Union

Modern Treasure Hunting – Geocaching

Signal the Frog - Official Geocaching Mascot

The world around you is full of hidden treasure. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game in which you us a GPS or GPS-enabled device to locate hidden containers called caches.  The containers come in every shape and size, from a huge treasure chest to micro containers as small as my thumbnail. The larger containers usually have an assortment of toys and tchotchkes that you can trade with and all of them have a log to sign to show that you have found it.   The best part about Geocaching is that you probably already have the tools you need to do it.  If you have a Smartphone there are several great apps that you can use to get started: NeonGeo , GeoBucket , and the Groundspeak Geocaching App available for iPhone, Android and Windows 7 phones. You’ll also want to create an account at Geocaching.com. There are both free and paid accounts, with the paid account giving you access to more caches. Beyond the traditional cache, there are multi-caches, puzzle caches, travel bugs and more… but I’ll post more on those later.  Happy Hunting!