A Weekend For Science

England has been totally English since we came back from Canada: grey and cloudy and rainy. Matthew took advantage of this on Friday evening when there were intermittent rain showers. I mean rain showers; the kind where you are soaked through after about 30 seconds. He & Elizabeth did science experiments.
First, when the rain began, they put out all of Elizabeth's bowls - he had intended for only one, but then when forced to choose which colour, she said, "Puh-pull. No, owange. No, geen. No, alla dem!!" so all of the bowls went outside to catch the rain.

Then, after the shower was over, we went out to see how much water had collected.

She was stunned. Sorry for the horrendous photo quality...

Science. Is. Amazing.

Today we went to the Big Weekend event in Parker's Piece. It's this big festival, with stalls, and a market, and various stages with bands. In fact, all of these things were there (according to the website):
•    Main stage live music & dance entertainment
•    Young People’s Performers Tent
•    Big Dance Marquee
•    Sports Zone
•    The Big Screen Cinema
•    Pop-up Art Gallery
•    The Village Green environmental area
•    Community market & stalls
•    Bar & refreshments
•    Plus between 8pm - 10pm a Major Spectacular Community Showcase Performance

But what were Elizabeth & her best friend Cal keen on? The University of Cambridge Science Tent, of course. We made fossils:

If you squint, it kind of looks like the dinosaur is standing next to the Eiffel Tower.

We did an experiment where they jumped on a trampoline for 30 seconds, and then had their heart rate measured - Elizabeth went up to 175!! Atta girl!

Then there was a balance-thing, where you are supposed to wibble and wobble around to get the ball to go through the maze and into the centre. Cal was braver than Elizabeth and let his Mum help him do it, and then Dr. Faff had a shot at it too.

Then the kids showed him how to get the ball to the centre the fastest - they are so much smarter than us.

After all that learning and science-ing, we did some great fair-stuff, like decorate balloons to look like fish, run around, and eat ice cream. Cal also had to take off his sweater - all morning it was stuffy and hot, but he kept it on, and then the moment it started to get windy & rainy, he wanted to take it off. Did I mention he turned 2 last month?

And this is my face when I realized that the soft-serve ice cream they use for a '99' cone (aka soft serve with a mini Cadbury Flake bar - mmmm) tastes exactly like Cool Whip. And then I had a moment of sadness that England does not sell the tastiest petroleum-based dessert topping. Seriously. How am I supposed to make any desserts??

True quote: "Matthew!! This tastes exactly like Cool Whip!!!! It is amazing!!"