The younger kids have been studying the Middle Ages this quarter at Co-op.  On the first day, Sarah made a shield and a flower wreath for her head.  Here she is modeling both:

And, then, on the last day, the older kids joined in to help but also to participate in the Medieval Feast that was planned.  It was a lot of fun!

Sarah got to sit at the lords' and ladies' table.

After this was even more fun as we all went to see Prince Caspian!

We took a nice hike at Grant Park recently with Sarah's friend, Ragan, in tow.  Katie was, once again, the primary photographer.

(This tree has "Ent" written all over it!)

Sarah and Ragan at the chimney ruins.

We saw lots of spiders that day.  (Eek!)  And we also saw a water snake, snails, clams, and crayfish, though not as many as normal.  Oh, and fossils.

I did manage to get the camera back.  (Funny how when the terrain gets steep all of the sudden the camera is mine again.)

And this was right before the rain started!  We had great timing that day!

While I have a few minutes, I thought I'd post some other pics from this spring and say a little bit about all of the other things we've been up to besides DisneyWorld!

First, here is a spur-of-the-moment project we did on making paper, after discussing the invention of paper in China.  Since Craig had thrown away the small screen I had in mind when I originally started the project, I--never one to be daunted by missing items or ingredients!--promptly took the screen off of one of our windows and used it.  Ta-da!  Paper!

(Well, paper mush at this time.  It did eventually dry.)

In other news, I have been having to fight Katie for my camera.  Or it will disappear for a while, only to reappear with about 100 new pics on it.   Here are some of my favorites from the many she has been taking:

Sarah has been busy with the children's choir musical, Livin' Inside Out.

(Doesn't she look thrilled?  This child and her nerves!  Ack!)

And she is playing soccer again and enjoying it very much.

Daddy is very bravely wearing the team colors in support.

And, then, I just liked this picture I took of my violets.  I love my violets!

The Contemporary Resort was really neat, with the monorail just going through the heart of it and the interesting ethnic design on the center column. 

We ate at Chef Mickey’s, which was our character dining for the week.  We “talked” to Goofy, Donald Duck, and Mickey and waved at Pluto and Minnie.  Donald signed the girls’ autograph books and wrote “Donald Duck #1” and crossed off the picture of Mickey Mouse that is at the bottom of every page of Sarah’s book. (I mean, he crossed off the one that was on the page he signed, not all of them in the book.)  It was cute.  (And the breakfast buffet was good.  I had the girls try grits; they liked them.)

I just thought it was really cool how the monorail came into the building right by our heads (literally less than 20 feet away, right above and next to the restaurant), and it was so quiet.

Just felt rather futuristic, though I know it’s been there for many years.  (The park was established in 1971, btw, the same year I was born.)  Oh, and we had a few enterprising sparrows join us for brunch in the restaurant.  Smart birds!  Come in through the monorail opening and enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet of stuff kids have dropped on the floor!  They were set for life.

 

The wait for the Indy Speedway was also too long and even the wait for Mission: Space was too long, so we headed off for Norway, which I had wanted to see and missed the other day.  Norway was really cool.  I’ve always felt a kinship with Norway, though I don’t know for sure of any direct roots.  I do have red hair, though, and that means I have Viking blood in me somewhere!  I liked the Lord of the Rings music I heard playing in the one exhibit with famous Vikings.  (I guess because Tolkien was a huge fan of Norse mythology and used much of it to form the basis of LotR?)

 

We also all liked the flower garden growing on the roof of the one building and the gnomes hidden all around.

You know, it was really cool.  It was only slightly awkward for a little bit, but that was the least awkward a first time meeting has ever been for me.  We’ve known each other for 6 years, and I mean, known the deepest parts of each other in so many ways.  Online friendships are hard for people to understand if they’ve never experienced it, but you end up knowing the soul of a person without knowing their outward demeanor, the one they show the world.  So there is a lag time when you meet face-to-face where your mind has to merge this online soul you know very well and this flesh-and-blood person you don’t know very well.  Sometimes that takes a while.  It didn’t last night.

And we had a really nice time.    We got dinner, talked, laughed about the evils of Disney (flesh-eating zombies!!!), walked around, avoided the weird stilt guys with the neon lights, got a postcard for Jude, and then found a “quiet” table by the water and talked some more.  It was so cool!  Poor Craig was zoning out and probably starting to fall asleep as it got later, so we reluctantly made our way back to the parking lot, stopping to pose for cheesy pictures along the way. 

I am so glad I had an opportunity to meet him.  I actually did poke him once or twice just to make sure he was real!

That was a late night, with us getting back around 12:30am and in bed around 1am.   What I am continually amazed by is how many little kids are still out that late.  I sat next to a very cute 2-year old boy on the bus coming home from Downtown Disney, and it was 12:30am.  (He talked my ear off!)  But there were many other kids.  And the other thing is, Downtown Disney is kind of odd.  One half is more family-friendly, I guess, with shops and fun stores and things like that, plus some good places to eat.  The other half, though, is a nightclub scene, with lots of drinking, bright lights, loud music everywhere, videos going on screens all over the place, and tons of people.  And there were families with their kids on that side almost as much as on the other side.  Teens were roaming around, mixed in with young adults obviously there to go clubbing.  I don’t know.  It was strange.

 

Sunday

 

Right now, I am sitting in peace and quiet.  The others have gone to the water park, and I just didn’t want to go.  Water parks are not my thing.  We are supposed to go to Hollywood Studios this afternoon and plan on going to Magic Kingdom one last time this evening.  Marvin offered to take me to a really cool park in Orlando, but I am going to have to pass.  I have a serious headache and think I’d better rest if I’m going to be able to make it to these other “magical” places this afternoon and evening.    I’m bummed, though.  It would have been really cool to see the real Orlando.

 

(Oh, and I have a seriously icky-looking rash on my ankles from my tennis shoes.    It doesn’t hurt too bad, if I’m wearing my sandals, but it looks terrible.  Last night, I opted for what I thought would be less conspicuous than giant bandaids—gauze pads and tape.   Yeah, right.  I looked like such a dork!  I think the neon blue bandaids would have been better after all.)

 

Okay (writing this later), the water park didn’t work out for them.  There was some kind of mistake, and we didn’t have passes to the water parks.   Bummer!  They came back and swam in the hotel pool for a while; it was almost hot enough for me to consider swimming, too.

Then we went to the Magic Kingdom again and took the train back to Frontierland.

Once there, we only had to wait in line for a little while to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad.  It was fun!  (That’s my kind of roller coaster—little hills, sharp turns, but no big drops.)  We got fast passes for Splash Mountain, and then we wandered over to Fantasyland.



 

(This egret was watching us with great interest, hoping for food!)

There, we rode the carousel, got pictures with the Fairy Godmother, and did some shopping.

We wandered over to Mickey’s Toon Town Fair and waited in line (inside—it was hot outside!) to get autographs/pics with the Princesses.

From there, we took the train back over to Frontierland, and the girls and Craig rode Splash Mountain one last time.  It had cooled off enough by then that I didn’t want to walk around wet.  Did I mention that it had been hot? 


I did manage to get a very blurry picture of them coming down the big hill.

From there, we went to eat, and then we decided to do some shopping.  Sarah wanted to ride the Dumbo ride, so Judyan, Katie, and I went our merry way.

 

Things fell apart after that, though!  They started randomly closing off areas, shutting things down, etc., and I was expecting the flesh-eating zombie moves at any moment.  No, seriously, they were getting ready for fireworks that were over an hour away.  So we got separated and cut off from Craig and Sarah, and it took some frustrating phone calls to figure out how and where to meet up.

 

By then, there was also a parade going on, so Main Street was closed down, which just made it worse.  The “friendly” cast members weren’t acting so friendly anymore, and there were so many people you could barely move.  Well, I had had it by then. I mean, that was it.    We tunneled our way over to the shop everyone wanted to go to, but the crowds were too much.  I think Craig could tell I was about ready to have a meltdown, and he wisely directed us out of there and on our way back to the hotel.

 

It wasn’t a good way to end our visit to the MK, but it was what it was.  It just sort of worked out badly at the end, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault.  We made it back to the hotel just fine and got everyone tucked into bed while Craig and I packed as much as we could.

 

Monday

 

Up early to finish packing and to check out.  The girls and Craig went swimming one last time.  It was hot!  I would’ve gone if I hadn’t had so much to do.

 

But we got everything packed up and ready to go, dragged all of our suitcases and bags to the front desk (which was a several minute walk away).  Did I mention that it was hot? 

 

It was a bit of a zoo in the main building, but we got it all taken care of (checking out, checking in our baggage there so that we didn’t have to do it at the airport and didn’t have to carry it with us on the bus, stowing away our carry-ons, etc.).

 

Then we caught a bus to Downtown Disney and did our souvenir shopping there!  There’s a very big Disney store there that had everything all of the other shops had, so it worked out just fine and was MUCH less crowded.  We also ate lunch at the Earl of Sandwich again.  (Yum!)

 

We only had about an hour or so to shop and walk around after lunch, but that’s okay because it was getting hot and muggy.    We caught a bus back to the hotel, got our carry-ons, did a bit more last-minute shopping, and then got on our Disney’s Magical Express bus back to the airport.

 

Oh, I did get my carry-on suitcase searched at the airport.  I knew when I put my booklight in there, that it would probably look suspicious.  Yep, sure enough!  They x-rayed it twice, and then finally just opened up the bag and searched it.  Eek!  It was up against the souvenir I got Mom, and the shape of the wires, the battery, and the mass in the box looked like a bomb, I guess.  Oh sheesh.  Scary!  But the guy was nice, and it helped that Craig played the cop card (and my Kettering PD sweatshirt was right on top of the suitcase when he opened it!).

 

But, that trauma aside, all was fine.  We ate and waited for the plane.  The plane ride was uneventful, thankfully. The lady next to me loved flying as much as I do, so we both made a bit of polite conversation and then cranked up the music with our earbuds on and tried to sleep and/or read.  I think I saw the ocean a few times!  The sunset was pretty, and we landed safely on time.

 

Brian was waiting for us, and we didn’t have any problems getting our luggage.  And then we were home….

 

To find the remnants of a mess that Mom had tried to clean up but couldn’t quite get it all cleaned up.  One of the cats went on a rampage and pulled the stuff off the top of the entertainment center.  That included my Galileo thermometer which was filled with glycerin, I think.  Yeah.  Glycerin and glass on the floor.  So Craig tried to get the rest of that cleaned up, while I cleaned up 4 cat puke spots in our bedroom.

 

Welcome home!

Thursday

We weren’t in a hurry to get up, but we managed to be at Epcot by 11:15 or so.  We had 12pm reservations at San Angel Restaurante, which is inside the Aztec pyramid. 

I had eaten there *cough* *cough* 19 *ahem* years ago with Kathy and another girl from high school when we were there with our marching band.  Anyway, it was as cool as I remembered it.  And the food was really good.  I had a chicken ensalada bowl, which had avocados, cactus strips, and a yummy dressing on it.  Then I had flan for dessert.  Everyone else’s meal was good, too.  The girls loved the atmosphere of the place.

After dinner, we rode the boat there in Mexico. It wasn’t thrilling, but it was okay.  After lunch, we headed to see how long the wait would be for Soarin’ or if we could get Fast Passes.  The wait was long, and the Fast Pass was for 6:30. 

We spent a lot of time wandering today, and that was frustrating.  Eventually, we saw “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” which was cute, but not as good as the bug show.  The girls, Craig, and I rode Mission: Space, and that was really neat!  I would’ve liked to have done the more challenging training mission, but Katie wasn’t sure she could do it.  Sarah either.  We stood in line for the girls to get signatures from and pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy.  Then we took a boat ride across the lake and started in Germany, working our way toward the front gate.  (We missed a little less than one half of the loop that way.) 

Morocco remains one of my favorite spots.  I’m not sure why, but I just like the feel and smell of it.  The mosaic fountains are beautiful. 

We ended up eating in France, which was another quick service meal that was fantastic!  I had a ham and cheese quiche and a raspberry schuss.  (YUM!)  The girls had croissants, which were good. 

I enjoyed the UK, too, but we bypassed Canada.  We were all feeling really tired and footsore by then. 

(Sarah wasn't with me at this point, so I only have pictures of Katie in the UK.)

We made it back to the hotel, and I’ve been typing this and downloading pics while Judyan, Craig, and the girls went swimming.  I’m done for the day!

Friday

Today we went back to the Magic Kingdom, this time a little more focused.  We went directly to Tomorrowland and got our fast passes for Space Mountain.  Then we rode on the transport ride to get an overview of Tomorrowland. 

Craig, Sarah, and Mom waited in line for Buzz Lightyear’s ride, while Katie and I went to the Carousel of Progress.  (It was getting too hot to stand in line for long periods of time.) 

Here is a cute ducky that was outside the Carousel of Progress:

Craig, Judyan, and Sarah said they had a good time; Katie and I had a good time, despite getting stuck on the Carousel of Progress!  (It was the Carousel of Non-Progress.)  We had to listen to the 1920s twice.  It was actually kind of funny but had the makings of a horror movie.

(Speaking of which, this whole Disney thing has all the trappings of a serious sci-fi B movie.  I mean, the employees are all very cheerful.  Everything is done very efficiently.  Everything has been thought of.  It’s just kind of creepy really.  Do they drug their employees to make them all happy?  Do the employees actually turn into flesh-eating zombies at night?  Do park guests occasionally get taken hostage during “It’s a Small World” and are then forced to dress up as the creepy dolls?  Are the employees all really animatronic robots bent on world domination?  Do people enter the Haunted Mansion and never leave?  Is Space Mountain actually that thing from Logan’s Run that zapped the people when it was their turn to die?)

These things go through my mind, but then I am seriously corrupted by Mystery Science Theatre.

ANYWAY...!

After that, we rode the Indy Speedway cars...

and then the Mad Tea Party teacups (without barfing, though Mom came close). 

By that time, it was time for Space Mountain, and Craig and the girls bravely rode it while Mom and I bravely stood by and saw them off.

We then said goodbye to Tomorrowland and journeyed to the Plaza Restaurant where we had a late lunch.  It was really good! And we had a lovely view of the castle and the parade that was going down Main Street.   (All while sitting in a comfy chair in the nice air-conditioning!)

When we were done stuffing our faces with our yummy ice cream desserts, we waddled…er, walked over to Adventureland where we rode the Jungle Safari boats for their silly cruise.  It was silly, but nice.

When we got off the boat, we decided to hit one more roller coaster.  At first, we were going to go on Splash Mountain, but the wait was too long.  So we decided to try for Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Before getting in line, we all decided one more trip to the bathroom was a good idea.  In the meantime, the wait time for Splash Mountain decreased by an hour, and we decided to do that after all.  We still waited for a good bit of time, but it was fun.  I managed to avoid getting seriously wet.  No one else cared whether they got wet or not.

By this time, it was getting close to park closing time, so we got on the railroad that takes you around the entire park and headed back to the entrance.  It was a fun train ride, too.

More swimming for the others and more picture downloading and writing for me.  We had a good dinner here at the resort and now we’re all heading to bed.

Oh, two final things.  We had some skywriting a couple of days.  The first day the skywriter wrote this:

(Love God)


And the next day:


(You can barely see it.  It was a smiley face and Jesus Loves U!)

Tuesday

It began with an early morning.  Well, actually, it began with a frenetic day on Monday, with laundry, cleaning, last-minute shopping and errands (two trips), etc.  (You know, I just couldn’t leave my Chinese food in the church van for a week.  It wouldn’t have been nice to the next group who needed to use it!)   But, anyway, it began early on Tuesday morning, with us leaving the house at 7:30am.  (Minor miracle for me!)  Brian was nice enough to ride with us, so that he could drive our van back home for us.

I was nervous about going through airport security; obviously not because I had something nefarious planned but just because I didn’t want them to think that I did and end up doing a body cavity search on me.   Anyway, it was fine.  I did the 3-1-1 thing with our gels and liquids and seemed to have caught all of the other little rules and regulations.

And then we waited.  Ho-hum, yawn.  We had a little over an hour to kill before our plane arrived, so we ate, sat around, walked around, etc.  I tried to read but couldn’t get into it.

Our plane arrived right on time, which was good.  The girls were very excited!  This was their first plane ride.  I was less than thrilled but trying not to show it for their sake.  I am thinking some Valium for my next trip might be a good idea.  Or margaritas.  Two, at least.  (Just kidding!)

Regardless of my state of serious anxiety, the plane ride was fine.  The girls were thrilled with the views, though Katie was squeezing my hand pretty hard when we landed in Atlanta.  In Atlanta, we had to quickly catch our flight to Orlando, so there wasn’t much leeway there.  Once in Orlando, we were starving, so we grabbed a quick (but expensive!) meal at the airport Burger King.  Then we got on the tram and made our way to the Disney transportation area, where we checked in and then quickly got on a bus that took us to our hotel.

That was a nice bus ride.  I saw some cool wildlife—snowy egrets, anhingas, red-headed woodpecker, kite, etc.  We were dropped off in front of our hotel, greeted by the staff ("cast members," as they are called here), and then checked in.  The girls got stickers.  Cute!

We did the dining plan thing and the Park Hopper, so our room key also serves as our dining ticket and our park passes.  It’s really kind of cool.  We have a huge list of places we can eat, with one sit-down service per day, one quick-service, and one snack.

Okay, the food has been awesome!  This very friendly lady the first night gave us some good suggestions on where to go, and we ended up at the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney.  Besides the fact that it was freakin’ cold outside, that was nice.  The girls got to see a bit of Disney World itself, and we walked around in the shops.  The sandwich place was soooo good!  It was an enormous sandwich and a dessert, which was too much to eat for all of us, and that was a quick service meal.  Despite the fact that it really was cold outside (40s or 50s?), the girls were going berserk to get in the pool, so we let them.  (Did I mention it was cold?)

Early to bed that night!  I think I was asleep by 10:30, and I slept hard till about 7:30.

Wednesday

We went to the Animal Kingdom this day.  It was a bit of a roundabout journey in the morning, because there were at least 100 people or more waiting to catch a bus for Animal Kingdom.  (You just wait outside the hotel in designated spots for whichever park or area you want to go to.

The buses cycle through fairly quickly, depending on the destination and the time of day.)  So I thought that rather than stand there and wait, we should try catching a bus to another park and then figure out how to get to the Animal Kingdom from there.

So we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom, which afforded the girls their first view of the monorail and Cinderella’s castle.  From the Magic Kingdom, we took the ferry across the lake to the transportation center.  From there, we caught a bus to the Animal Kingdom.  The ferry ride was cool, and there was hardly anyone on board because most everyone else was headed into MK, not away from it.

We finally made it to AK.  Was it faster?  Ehhh, probably not, but it was kind of neat anyway.  That day was also cold, though a little warmer than Tuesday.  We had reservations at the Tusker House pretty much right away, so we headed there first.

The food there was fantastic!  It was an all-you-can eat buffet with a North African/Mediterranean feel to it.  I love Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, so this was so cool for me.  I had tabouleh salad, cucumber/tomato salad in yogurt/mint sauce, pearl couscous, couscous with almonds, chocolate & mango bread, chicken with rosemary, baba ganoush, hummus, vegetables with saffron, baklava, etc.  It was really awesome.  

From there, we walked along the wildlife trail with the tigers. That was neat.  We also saw giant bats, and we got to see those bats mating!  Wow.  I have never seen that before, but now I can say that I have.  And it was a little too educational for the girls! 

We did the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” show, which was fun.  (It’s a 4-D show, where you get sprayed with water and things like that.)  We did the safari ride, and that was cool.  Katie took a bunch of good pictures on that ride.  After that, they wanted to go on the Kali River Rapids ride, and I did not because it was, once again, freakin’ cold.  So I took all the stuff and trekked through the Pagani Forest Trail. That was fun; I saw a hippo up close, some gorillas, a meerkat, and things like that.

I had a moment where I was just struck by the diversity of human life all around me.  There were several languages swirling around, people of all different colors, shapes, sizes, and types, and I had this overwhelming thought of how awesome God is for creating us all and how amazingly powerful He must be in order to have done all of this, to have thought of it all and planned it all out.  And then I had tears in my eyes as I thought of how deep His love for each of us is and how much He wants all of us to know Him and love Him.

Obviously, the stress and the crowds (and the weight of all of the gear) was making me wax sentimental or something.  Anyway, then I took the train to Rafiki Station, but as soon as I got there Craig called to say they were done.

I got to peek in the building (to note that it looked like a cool place to visit), and then got back on the train to meet them.  I hiked from the back of the park then to the front, carrying all of the stuff.  Bleah!

We made it back to the hotel where we had about an hour to chill out before we had to go to the MK for the Pirate and Princess Party.  This was something special Judyan arranged for us to do.  MK closed at 7pm to everyone except those who paid for the Pirate and Princess Party.  We got there around 7:30 and had the run of the park, basically.  There were lots of little kids there, but not nearly as crowded as it would be during the day (or even a normal night). 

We could go around and collect booty (beads, gems, etc.), and many of the rides were open.  We walked right on Pirates of the Caribbean.  We walked right up to the Aladdin’s Carpet Ride, frontier shooting gallery,  It’s a Small World (which has to be the creepiest darn ride in the world), and the Haunted Mansion (fun!). 

The parade was so neat.  The girls were mesmerized; Sarah loved the princesses.  Katie loved the horses.

The fireworks were spectacular!  Wow!  They were so good.   You couldn’t help but enjoy yourself, even if you really didn’t want to. 

The only thing about the night that wasn’t great was how cold it was!  It was downright cold.  We were all freezing.  Did I mention that it was cold?!  And Pecos Bill’s Café wasn’t that great, but the “fixin’s bar” for your burgers was neat (mushrooms!).

It was, indeed, a magical night.  We got home late (11:30) and all crashed.

Yep.  Sarah broke her wrist last week.  It was already a rough couple of days for her; she had allergy testing on Tuesday, which showed that she is highly allergic to dust mites and a little less allergic to cats, trees, grass, ragweed, fish, and shellfish.  Then she broke out in fresh hives Wednesday morning (probably a combination of the previous day's allergy testing and getting into some dust mites that morning).  Wednesday afternoon, she was in Mom's basement playing.  Then there came that cry that all moms know--the one that you just know means it's serious.

She slipped on the floor and put her hand out to catch herself.  She has a buckle fracture of her right radius.  She got her cast on Monday; it is lime green!

The pain hasn't been too bad, so I'm very glad for that.

Anyway, here is where dyslexia is an advantage--she is having to write with her left hand, and it's not all that different than her writing with her right hand (a little less nice but still quite readable).    Most dyslexics are quite ambidextrous, and Sarah has proved that to be true in her case.  Just a little silver lining!

The “talking science” badge.
Required for all members. Assumes the recipient conducts himself/herself in such a manner as to talk science whenever he/she gets the chance. Not easily fazed by looks of disinterest from friends or the act of “zoning out” by well intentioned loved ones. (DN)

- - -

The “MacGyver” badge.
In which the recipient has demonstrated that his/her science communciation prowess was handy in simplifying a potentially challenging scenario. For example, was able to escape from unjustified prison term, with the clever use of a paper clip and WD-40. You know, that kind of thing. (Note that display of badge must be accompanied by explanation). (JN)

My explanation is this: I am forever rigging things up because I am missing items for an experiment or don't have the right tool for something.  Toothpicks work great in place of screws in eyeglasses; a bent paper clip opens disc drives.  I do this so often that I can't even think of any good examples.

- - -

The “I blog about science” badge.
In which the recipient maintains a blog where at least a quarter of the material is about science. Suffice to say, this does not include scientology.

- - -

The “arts and crafts” badge.
Because you can’t have a bunch of badges without an arts and crafts badge. This one assumes the recipient has all manner of “craftiness” with a sciencegeek twist. (AC)

Um, we homeschool.  This is required.

- - -

The “I’m pretty confident around an open flame” badge.
Recipients have demonstrated proficiency around open flames in laboratory settings.

- - -

The “inappropriate nocturnal use of lab equipment in the name of alternative science experimentation / communication” badge.
In which the recipient has “borrowed” scientific supplies for the sake of stealth scientific communication. (JG)

-- - -

The “sexing up science” badge.
In which the recipient has had experience with things such as selective breeding, crossing, mate selection, prokaryotic conjugation, fertility studies, STD related microbiology, and/or any other acceptable interpretation of the badge. (RPM)

I earn this by way of the STD related microbiology stuff.  Oh, and doing semen analysis, too (morphology, motility, counts, etc.).

- - -

The “my degree inadvertantly makes me competent in fixing household appliances” badge.
Not necessarily a good thing. (JN)

This is related to the MacGyver badge.

- - -

The “I’ve touched human internal organs with my own hands” badge.
In which the recipient is “hopefully” doing something that is somehow related to human health. (JH)

As a matter of fact, it was a lung.  In my hand, no gloves.

- - -

The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL I)
In which the recipient has frozen something in the freezer for the sake of scientific curiosity. (JL)

- - -

The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL II)
In which the recipient has frozen something in dry ice for the sake of scientific curiosity. (JL)

- - -

The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL III)
In which the recipient has frozen something in liquid nitrogen for the sake of scientific curiosity. (JL)

Well, wouldn't you if you had access to liquid nitrogen?  Yes, of course you would!

-- - -

The “inordinately fond of invertebrate” badge.
In which the recipient professes an arguably unhealthy affinity for things of this category.

In particular, snails and slugs, but butterflies are awfully nice, too.

- - -

The “I’ve done science with no conceivable practical application” badge.
There are probably more who are deserving of this badge than you would expect. (BZ)

Yes, really, who hasn't?

- - -

The “I know what a tadpole is” badge.
In which the recipient knows what a tadpole is. Basically, an easy way to get a badge that looks a little like the semen one above.

- - -

The “experienced with electrical shock” badge (LEVEL I)
In which the recipient has had experience with the electrical shocking of an organism. (SH)

- - -

The “totally digs highly exothermic reactions” badge.
Might be best to keep an eye on such recipients. (JM)

Are there people out there who don't?!

- - -

The “I’m into telescopes astro” badge (LEVEL I)
In which the recipient has used a telescope to view celestial objects. (SS)

- - -

The “works with very small and potentially dangerous organisms” badge.
In which recipient conducts hazardous research on very small creatures.

- - -

The “I’ve set fire to stuff” badge (LEVEL I).
In which the recipient has set fire to stuff, all in the name of general scientific curiosity. (AB)

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The “I’ve set fire to stuff” badge (LEVEL II).
In which the recipient has set fire to stuff, while fully aware of all combustion principles at play. (AB)

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The “works with acids” badge.
In which the recipient has worked with acids. (L)

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The “works with feces” badge.
In which the recipient has worked with feces. (H)

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The “I’ve had to use the safety shower in my lab” badge.
Photographs accompanying this badge should be worth at least a free drink or two.

This is related to the "Works with Acids" badge.  Sulfuric acid on nylons is an interesting thing to watch.

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The “what I do for science dictates my having to wash my hands before I use the toilet” badge.
Another badge that is more common than you would think. (J)

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This was fun!  I was tagged by Melissa, so I'm going to post the rules here and then go tag 5 people (if I can think of 5 people to tag!).

Rules: