Second to last weekend of the summer (by some measurements, although the summer doesn’t actually end until September 22nd, and some children have already started school), so what is everyone up to? We’re taking the oldest scientist-in-training and some friends to celebrate his birthday at a local water park, but I want to take a moment to review the location we visited last weekend. Last weekend, we were heading to New Jersey to visit some family, and decided to stop on the w

For years, I dreamed of having a garden. Vegetables, mostly, because I couldn’t quite see the appeal of working so hard unless you were going to get something delicious to eat as a result of all of your efforts. My father had a small vegetable garden for several years while I was growing up, my grandfather had a much larger vegetable garden that I still remember fondly, and my uncle now has a vegetable garden and several fruit trees. So I thought about it for the past six yea

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes: yellow, orange, green, and red; farm-fresh cherry tomatoes (sweet enough to keep eating right off the vine!); large cooking tomatoes that come from the farm and you can make into sauces; etc, etc, etc. In case it wasn’t obvious, let me be perfectly clear: I love tomatoes in all their forms. Luckily for us, August is tomato season! This year for the first time my family has planted a garden, from which we got a handful of bluebe

Check out the first six parts of this series, or below to make some delicious rock candy! Yum! I love rock candy! You know who else loves rock candy? All kids everywhere, or at least all kids that I have met. Here is my own favorite recipe for rock candy: 1. Combine 2 cups of sugar, ½ cup of corn syrup, and ½ cup of water into a pot. 2. Place the pot on a burner on a low flame, and heat it until the sugar is fully dissolved. 3. Remove the pot from the heat and add the flavori

Soon it’s going to be the end of the summer (note to self: stop saying those words out loud!), and we should take advantage of every opportunity to do summer related things while we still can. One of my favorite summer activities is barbecuing, first of all, because the food tastes delicious, and second of all, because usually my spouse is the one in charge of doing the barbecuing so I don’t have to! How does grilling actually work though, and what makes it so much more delic

Locals, what is everyone up to this weekend? This scientist-parent-party planner is going to be trying my hand (and feet, and all body parts) at the Sharon Triathlon (https://maxperformanceonline.com/sharontriathlonrace/). Same day signups are probably still available, if you have the last-minute inclination to come join me (and two of my family members) at what is sure to be an exciting and somewhat painful race. If not, here are two of my favorite August activities: (1) ALL

Still summer (although less and less of that now), still looking for things to do with your children? Check out the first five parts of our series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), or one of our personal favorites, below: Elephant Toothpaste! What is elephant toothpaste, you might ask? Simple! It’s toothpaste for elephants. But for real, it’s a mixture of dish soap, yeast, and hydrogen peroxide that reacts to form a foamy substance that resembles toothpaste for somebody (or something) with ve

How about a puppy, Mommy? Please oh please oh please oh please…Or a kitten? A horse? Goat? No, no, no, and no. There will be no more pets in this house. We have a python, a beta fish, and two aquatic frogs (blog post coming soon on the science of caring for these animals – stay tuned!). But, if you are really insistent on getting a pet in the house, I am willing to be flexible: we can make yeast pets. Yeast pets? What is that? Well, to be honest, it is just yeast, but in this