teacher's weekend at pac sci center

last weekend k and i took the heavilands to the pacific science center for some free fun. we had hoped to score some free tickets to the lucy exhibit and learn more about being descended from apes and amoebas, but we arrived a bit too late. we did however get four tickets to 'under the sea 3d'. it was our first experience watching imax 3d, well any 3d, and it was a lot of fun. i was literally reaching out my hands to touch the fish as they swam right at me. the tech was very good - we wore some glasses, but they weren't the normal red/blue. these were very high tech and i think allowed only certain wavelengths of light through each lens. at any rate, the 3d was very convincing and the pictures were gorgeous of the great barrier reef and surrounding oceanfloor. the best part was 16 month old james sitting on his dads lap with a baby pair of the glasses on, completely engrossed with the movie. he lasted nearly 2/3 through before starting to get a little bored.

we wandered through the butterfly hall after that and then went over to the kids area. while james and the girls played with the percussion instruments, mark and i went over and rode on one of those 'motion simulators'. 90s graphics, a mini-van type chamber poised over a bunch of hydraulics, some screaming kids in the front seat: it was a pretty good ride. they let us on for free after i showed them my teacher id and gave them an email address.

here is a video of james playing in the water.

pretty cruel how the guy standing next to me giggled when james did that. we left for home soon after, james was wet and needed a nap. a fun, free outing on a saturday morning.