madeline's scitech excursion

last week madeline's class went on an excursion to scitech in west perth. scitech is a science and technology education (and fun!) centre for children - and adults too i guess. it has been open since 1988, and as usual it was way too much for their minds to handle when i told them i have been there on a school excursion more than once when i was in primary school. mind blown for them haha. she tolf me she had the best time and the photos prove it... here she is with her friend ella hanging out. this is  the lift your own weight chair, which has been there as long as i can remember.

another shot - with her friend briella. she was a bit taken aback when the information about the excursion went out, as i said immediately i didn't want to go. i have been on every excursion she's had since pre-primary, but i honestly couldn't be bothered this time. she was surprised, but not upset thankfully.

i was very jealous of their trip to the planetarium (previously the omni theatre) afterwards. i loved that place! and last time we went to scitech as a family i couldn't go in as alex was asleep (and not old enough to go in as the chairs are super steep!) and i wanted niques to get to hang out with them a but more while she was here. it is so cool in there, the seats are very steeply tiered and the movie is projected onto the dome. they used to play movies like speed (about the evolution of movement from bicycles through to modern day rollercoasters) and antarctica (exploration of the very southern points of the earth) but now it's used as a planetarium, which made me even more jealous. i'll have to go and check it out one day.

i am so glad that my kids get to have experiences like these - living in perth certainly has its advantages!

scitech!

dougs sister is off back to america tomorrow and today was our last day with her. so i did something that's completely against everything i stand for and took my kids out of school for the day so we could all go to scitech together. i haven't been to scitech since i was in school myself and barely remember anything about the place - but i do know from everything i have read online that the school holidays are absolutely not the time to go. apparently it's bedlam and you can barely move in there, so considering how many times the kids have asked me if we can go, i decided today was the day.

they have so many cool things to look at and do. so much to learn and so many activities to try. you could easily spend a whole day wandering around looking at everything. this one in particular was a air cannon, which created a push effect on the pieces of metal that make up the target, looking as though something was really banging into it!

this wall was part of the emergency services area and the kids loved having a go at getting up it.

and as i found on my way to the bathroom, they have a double mirrored hallway, creating an eternity effect... (kind of wondering if they ripped this off from our temples? haha!)

there was even a lookout area in the "cafeteria" to the far end of the building... which allowed some amazing views into perth city. you could look right up and into some buildings. they also have a live bee hive inside the building (all boxed in with clear acrylic caging so you can see everything), with an entry from one side, so you can watch how bees create their hive and honey. i loved looking at that!

i was a bit bummed that i couldn't go into the planetarium (formerly the omni theatre when i was young) to see the stars and planets show, but there is an age restriction. so baby alex and i checked out the gift shop then sat outside and had some snacks while the others checked it out. maddie made it even worse when she wouldn't stop telling me how amazing it was, but there is always next time. i love the stars, i'll definitely have to check it out sometime kid free.

we had a great day and are going to miss aunty so much!