Third time’s the charm! The first time we got tickets to UVa’s Fan Mountain Observatory public night, it snowed. We had a tour of the facilities, but no chance to look through the 40 inch telescope. The second time it was clear skies, but we were stupid. We rolled up the mountain around 9PM, just when it was getting …

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Do you live anywhere in or near Virginia? Do you have kids? Make a trip to Boxerwood Garden in Lexington. It’s worth it. Frankly I’m surprised any of us got our kids to leave it.

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Our local homeschool group has a weekly park meet-up on Tuesdays. Today we went to Pen Park. Behind the playground is a forested area with a bit of a clearing. The kids were thrilled to discover a stick hut there. They happily played until some older boys kicked them out, claiming a stronger tie to ownership: “Our …

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Sam and one of her friends attended a Roald Dahl event at the library today to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of The BFG. The girls loved the crafts and the activities but were as perplexed as I was that the first thing they received when they walked into the activity room was… candy. Really? At the …

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The cats came over to investigate Sam’s science project on dew and condensation.

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The Bodyworlds exhibit at the Science Museum of Virginia is freaky and fascinating. I think we’re so used to seeing plastic models of things that it was easy to forget that we were looking at the insides of real bodies–plastinated. It was even easier to forget or ignore that these bodies had once been living people. …

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His name is Buddy and he lives at the Virginia Wildlife Center.

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