Right now I have one sleeping, two if you count daddy, one reading a Magic Treehouse book and one doing Mighty Mind puzzles. Random. Yesterday definitely had that eclectic random feeling we specialize in sometimes, but added busy.

We headed over to the Arizona Science Center. While we’d planned just to walk around, we saw that the exhibit Real Pirates was going to close Sunday. On the way to the exhibit, D wondered how much electricity the science center uses and asked an employee, who called over another employee, who ended up calling a manager. Never got an exact answer, but ‘a whole lot’ was the general consensus. But they talked about the solar panels they have to generate some electricity. One of the employees we talked to was knitting with strips of plastic grocery bags. She’s making sleeping mats for the homeless. She’d like help with the project if anyone local is interested – leave a message in the comments. The kids chatted with her until the doors opened for the pirates exhibit.

I wasn’t sure what exactly the pirates exhibit was going to be. It was the real story of Whydah, which began as a slave ship, became a pirate ship and sunk of the coast of New England. The exhibit discussed slavery, the economic impact on both Africa and Europe, the conditions of the slaves as they were taken from Africa to the Caribbean. The kids were horrified by examples of small leg shackles and drawings of the over crowded sleep conditions on board. We read sign after sign and looked at the all the artifacts while most people raced by us. Then the exhibit moves into the pirate Sam Bellamy and how the Whydah became a pirate ship. There were a lot of things we didn’t know about pirates in general and a lot of myths debunked. We read signs, looked at muskets and cannons, read stories about pirates in general and the Whydah in specific. Then the exhibit moves on to the discovery of the ship and the ongoing process of exploration. The entire thing was very interesting and we learned a lot of new things. A couple of which we learned from other people wondering the exhibit that talked to the kids. And if we want to explore more, National Geographic, that created the exhibit, has several lesson ideas online.

Biggest ideas that stuck with us or surprised us:
D – Real treasure doesn’t look at all the in the movies. They had actual treasure found from the ship – various countries silver and – a few – gold coins. It looked more like a piggy bank exploded that the image of hunks of rubies and emeralds and necklaces dripping from overloaded chests.
C – They let us touch some of the real coins from the ship. Very cool because they were over 300 years old and were pirate treasure.
B – That Blackbeard was real. His name is so funny, he sounds like a mythic pirate.
Me – Probably how egalitarian pirates were amongst themselves – splitting treasure equally, voting for officers, taking men of any color or nationality and even a few women.

When we left the exhibit we wandered through the body area. Nothing like a hands on museum to encourage wandering. We ran into a friend that was heading into the planetarium and decided to join them. Ice Worlds was about the importance of ice in the galaxy, examples of it in our solar system and on our planet. Then we got to see the stars in that night’s sky. The kids asked for different features – specific stars, constellations, blackholes, etc – and we get an explanation while they were displayed.

D Punk

B Valley Girl

C Punk

Headed home and read a bit. But just a bit (the first book in the 1001 Books Every Child Must Read Before Growing Up list – The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. There was an 80s theme dance party we were invited to and the kids spent the rest of the afternoon looking up ideas – two decided to go punk and one as a valley girl. Getting ready was accompanied by an insane mix of Cyndi Lauper and the Sex Pistols for mood music. I couldn’t believe how excited they got about getting dressed up.