channing tatum and science

When I was in the second grade, my class went on a field trip to the Pacific Science Center. It was probably my first visit and since then I have always enjoyed the place. My third/fourth grade teacher had a daughter (he had a lot of daughters.) who worked at the Science Center (she met her husband there. Of course I suddenly remember that when she was in high school she dated my brother and sister's godfather. Small towns involve all kinds of multi-layered relationships.) and so she brought a number of programs to the school, which were always exciting events. My third/fourth grade teacher was really enthusiastic about math and science, so he managed to work out a field trip there every year for our class. I even got to spend the night at the science center one time. It wasn't the most restful night but it was pretty cool. We got to play with everything, watch an IMAX movie, have a dance party (I recall everyone losing their ever-loving minds when NKOTB came on.) and have pizza for dinner.
What is great is how the center has evolved over the years and there is always something to see.
I promised the kids a trip there since they both like museums where you can touch and play with things. (they adored their trip to the Science Museum in London so this seemed like a natural choice.)
Off we went and they had a blast. From the dinosaur exhibit (which amused Miss Biscuit because you got to see what dinosaur poop looked like. Always with the poop.) to the butterfly house, to the grossology exhibit.
Sometimes Senor Onion can be contrary when taken out of his comfort zone. Some of it is related to his own introverted behavior and it can require some patience to help draw him out so that he can get into something and enjoy it. He really took to this place and loved everything that was presented to him. They enjoyed watching the butterflies getting drunk on all the fruit and flying around them. It was a game of hide and seek to see where they would pop up next. It didn't hurt that the butterfly house is warm and toasty either. They loved looking at the bugs, insects, and reptiles. They experimented with things related to memory, checked out tidal pools, learned about gravity on different planets, and learned all about the mechanics of the human body. THEN? We checked out the grossology exhibit. THAT was really well designed and they knew how to draw in their audience. It was all about the less refined aspects of the human body. Burps, farts, poop, gross skin stuff, and boogers. I have never seen so many excited children. You could make a man sip a drink and watch as the air would go into his stomach until it would produce a loud burp. The animatronic man would then say amusing phrases related to his burp. You could make various fart noises, you could compare different smells and try and identify what kind of bacteria it was related to and where you would find it on the human body. Yes you could compare the smell of ass with the smell of feet, mouths, and armpits. There was a climbing wall that was to represent skin and it had scabs, pimples, and scars. The BIG WIN for Miss Biscuit (who has a couple of books on the human body and is absolutely fascinated by the digestive system) was an exhibit where she could climb through a mouth, go down the esophagus slide into the stomach and then crawl through the intestines to come out the rectum onto a poop brown mat. It was like Magic School Bus come true. She kept shouting, "I HAVE BEEN POOPED OUT!"
Dreams do come true. You could do a basket-ball game involving boogers, pinball machines related to the human body and so on.
It was informative, hilarious, and disgusting.
After that we took the kids to Skillet at the Center House. In recent years there has been an effort to do it up and focus on more local restaurants having space there. Skillet wasn't bad and their milkshakes were all right. It was very much the holiday break in that we saw a million other families entertaining their kids at Seattle Center. I even saw some ballet dancers from the Nutcracker who were on break. They had their hair up and protected with a shower cap while they got something to eat.
Then it was off to take a trip on the monorail as we had the class bear with us and we were taking it on a trip for photo opportunities. We had a quick glance at a few shops but it was a mad-house and everyone was tired.
After dinner with my sister, I went over to her place and we had sister bonding time by watching Magic Mike XXL. This was important for us to watch as we had seen the original film in the theater together just before I moved to England.
It was an amazing film. Truly. It was a road trip film and it had some strong themes about the rejection of toxic masculinity, and the importance of being sex positive AND being okay with being vulnerable and intimate with other people. Plus sexy sexy dancing. But seriously that was a brilliant film that was heavy on the female gaze.
The following day we went to my home town.