Boston Science Museum

I took Justin, Bayley, and Annalise to the Boston Science Museum last weekend to see the Harry Potter Exhibit. When we got there, we couldn't get a ticket into Harry Potter for another 2 hours so we wandered around the Science Museum. First we saw some exhibits about light and shadows, and then we moved on to the rocket ship. Justin and Bayley got to play on the space capsule and there was a video screen that was showing them what it would be like if they were to go into space.

After they were done at the space capsule, we happened upon a "Build your own Boat!" exhibit. The kids could decide if they wanted to build a boat for speed or for capacity. Annalise decided to build her boat so that it could carry as much treasure as possible. She got her hull and went to the sail tables and attached a sail to the two hulls. She loaded the thing down with treasure and went to the test bin to see if it would float. Nope. It sank. She went back to the sail table and added some sails and she allowed me to take out just a couple pieces of treasure. She tried again, and it floated in the test bin. She took it to the test course and tried it out. It made the trip without sinking!!!! We took the boat out of the race course and counted the treasure. Her boat made it across while carrying 21 gems. The old record was 16 so they put her name up on the record board!!! She named her boat "The Jasmine".

This did not make the boys happy at all. They went back to the drawing board and added some sails to the boat they were working on. They thought they had it figured out, but they must have made it a little heavy in the front because when they put it in the test bin, it tipped over it's own nose. Back to the drawing board!!! Justin says they constructed the boat by using 2 short masts, with two square sails (one on the front and one on the back) so that it could catch more air. They decided not to carry any treasure because they did not want extra weight to slow it down. To the test bin they went - it floated. Then they went to the racetrack - Success!!! Their boat made it all the way across with a time of 6.2 seconds. The old record was 6.3 seconds! They got to put their name on the record board with Annalise! They named their boat "The Criminal".

After that we went down to see Harry Potter and wouldn't you know it...Justin got picked to try the Sorting Hat! When they asked for a volunteer, his hand flew up so fast that they couldn't help but pick him. He was all smiles as he hopped up onto the stool. The man asked what Justin's favorite house was and he answered Gryffindor. Luckily, the Sorting Hat chose correctly and Justin was placed in the Gryffindor House!!! The exhibit was absolutely amazing. It was filled with costumes and set pieces from all of the movies. Justin got to play quidditch with Bayley, he got to try on the "real" Sorting Hat, see Hagrid's Hut, see the dragon egg, and sign the journal that says he was there.

On our way home, they got to eat Fudge Flies and play with Justin's Snitch. (Which broke on the first throw in the parking lot). My other favorite story of the day was when I could hear Justin telling Bayley stories in the backseat from when he went on the Duck Tour. He could remember the details and got almost everything right. He even remembered what inoculation was and he told Bayley about when the Mayor tried to convince Boston that the Charles River was clean enough to swim in by jumping in with his tuxedo on. The funniest part was that Justin even remembered the driver's jokes and delivered them with the exact same deadpan voice. Amazing.

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P.S. I'm not sure why I don't have pictures of Annalise's sailboat but I think it's because I was busy playing with her instead of taking pictures.