The Museum of Science & Industry Combats "Summer Brain Drain-" And Gives You Free Admission!

(I'm more obnoxiously excited than my children to have had the chance to write this sponsored post on behalf of the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry. Seriously. It's ridiculous over here.)

Every single Chicagoan knows the glory of our awesome Museum of Science & Industry; from the famed Science Storms to the impossibly detailed Great Train Story to the charming Main Street (with obligatory ice cream parlor and old-fashioned cinema breaks).

And the MSI has added one more thing to love- their Summer Brain Games program. Created to combat the dreaded "summer brain drain," it's a FREE series of projects and experiments emailed to you all summer long! (Did you know that student-aged kiddos can lose up to three months of learnin' in the summer? I personally don't have that kinda grey matter to spare these days.)

As Nora and Zuzu can attest, these projects are indeed "all ages" (with a teenser bit of parental help). Pretty sure those of you with biggies will be watching your kids fly through these experiments with nary a request for assistance. Here's what we've tackled so far:

Science Project #1: Weather Station/Rain Gauge!

It's been a pretty good summer to measure some rainfall, yeah? Nora and Susannah were up to the task of slicing and dicing a seltzer bottle, inverting the top, adding some gravel, securing the two bottle pieces (with sock monkey tape, natch), attaching a ruler at gravel level, caaarefully setting the rain gauge outside, and proceeding to watch the rain fill their weather station for the rest of the afternoon. Science!

Science Project #2: Super-Stable Structure!

Everyone knows that the best structures feature triangles and a big ol' x in the design. (Everyone knows that.) So we built a completely non-threatened-by-the-elements model of the Hancock Tower out of popsicle sticks. And it is perfect. I'd show you the finished model, but you'd have envy. It's that beautiful.

SO. Here are two clutch tips which I figured I'd share from my experiment experience with the two Little Littles:
-Whenever possible, do these projects outside! Clean-up is a breeze, and it makes you feel like a super parent to combine both learning and fresh air.
-And do not let Susannah hold the tape. Ever. (Ever ever.)

I bet you're wanting in on this action, right? (I know.) Check out- and sign up for- this FREE series of science projects here...and guess what else? With your enrollment into this FREE program, you automatically get one complimentary museum admission.

As someone who lives and dies for the museum's free and discounted days, that's nothing to shake a [taped and measured] stick at.

And guess what else, people? I'm holding a little giveaway, courtesy of our friends at the Museum of Science & Industry: good for four free passes to the Museum of Science & Industry. Yes. And it's open to anyone able to get to our good ol' MSI sometime this year. Stoked? I know. (More details attached to the Rafflecopter below.)

So go sign up. Get your science on. And then I'll see you at the Museum.

I'll be the one hogging the Avalanche Disk.

The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is offering a fun and free online science program called Summer Brain Games. The eight-week program lasts from June 17, 2013-August 12, 2013 and features a weekly experiment or science challenge that can easily be performed at home with kids of all ages.

Visit msichicago.org/summerbrain now to register for Summer Brain Games and download your free Summer Brain Games kit. As an added bonus, registering automatically gets you a pass to come to the Museum for free this summer.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Fourth...

...Love, 

Our Little Sparklers.

(Happy birthday, America!)

Reports From The Front. (On Their Sides.)

Thankfully, everyone's feeling much better around here.

Unfortunately, this is what the aftermath looks like:

You'd think I'd appreciate the whole "staying put" and "not climbing the bookshelves" thing.

But the truth is- when they're this worn out, I kinda find myself longing for a good ol' fashioned Chair Topplin'.

Remind me of this next week, yeah?

June Date: Wait A Sec, REALLY?!

So on Friday night, P.J. had an awesome Date Night planned for us. It was a surprise n' everything. (For the newcomers, P.J.'s Christmas present to me was a year of cool date nights, highlighting and celebrating everything we say we love about living in Chicago...but somehow never find time to do.)

The date he had chosen for June was an evening at Hollywood Beach. (It's a really, really nice beach traditionally frequented by a largely gay population- meaning that it's clean and super pretty. Plus, on Pride Weekend? Can't go wrong. For real.) We were gonna picnic under the stars and watch a screening of Funny Girl.

When he revealed his big date plans, I almost cried.

Half outta regret, half out of delirium.

Because unfortunately, I had woken up on Friday morning at 4am the sickest I've ever been in the history of ever. (This includes food poisoning, various flus, c-section recoveries, and lost weekends in college.) For about 25 hours I believed I had horrific food poisoning/early onset death. I was almost admitted to the E.R. for baby-related checkups and rehydration- but thankfully the E.R. gods deemed two emergency room trips in under a week rather cruel and unusual.

So why 25 hours? Oh, because at 5am the next morning, the rest of the family fell victim to the plague as well. Imagine Florence Nightingale tending to her patients while dragging her lame leg behind her, vomiting profusely, and weeping like a Dickensian child. That's what Saturday looked like.

(PSA: The norovirus is real, terrifying, and enough to make you consider placing bleach directly into your ocular cavities.)

Long story semi-short, we cancelled our sitter, our date, and our 6th wedding anniversary.

However, by Sunday night we were feeling loads better. (Fatigued and drained, sure, but keeping our bodily fluids exactly where they oughta be, thankyouverymuch.) So Peej- my awesome, non-grossed out guy- prepared our picnic and movie screening.

On a blanket on the playroom floor.

Picnicking on the floor is not only romantic, its also safer.
'Cause if we pass out, we're already on the floor.

We watched the first half of Romance & Cigarettes- before deeming it rather Not Good- and then turned on an episode of The Twilight Zone. (Much better.)

And yeah, sure, we fell asleep ten minutes in...but at least we were holding hands.

And when I crawled up to bed, I found that my date had laundered and re-made the bed, prepping me for my first good night's sleep since Thursday.

Romance is most decidedly not dead.

Even though the norovirus sure tried.