13 July 2008

For Family Night, we did a little kitchen chemistry, exploring carbon dioxide. Pure carbon dioxide is denser than the air in the bubbles so Sophie can make soap bubbles float over a bowl of carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide was made with that old stand-by in the kitchen-- mixing vinegar and baking soda.


Here is Abe looking through the microscope at yeast reacting with sugar and water. Tiny streams of bubbles formed, pooling into ever larger circles. Yeast breaks sugar down into water, alcohol and carbon dioxide and it's the carbon dioxide bubbles that make bread rise.

Wednesday we sadly said goodbye to our friends, the Weavers. Rob turned our ward into a bunch of soccer nuts, Amy made our choir sound angelic. She has been Sophie's piano teacher the past 3 years and now we're a bit snobbish about piano teachers-- she's set an impossible standard for Sophie's next teacher. Amy is also a terrific cook and fellow Barefoot Contessa fan. They have 3 great kids who are some of our kids' favorite playmates. We're so sorry for them to leave, but if you're looking for a good dentist in Nampa, we have one we can recommend.

Thursday's harvest-- two orange tomatoes, a handful of strawberries and 5 purple beans. You can't buy produce like this at Albertsons. On the other hand, we'd be pretty hungry if we only relied on our garden for dinner.

It's been so hot, our kids have worn their swimsuits almost every day. They've been to friends' pools, the water park, the river, and here is Gibson playing in the sprinkler in the backyard.