Field Trips

This week was fairly educational for our typical lazy summer agenda. On Friday we took a free boat tour at the Port of Houston. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but enjoyed seeing all the big ships. The kids favorite part by far was the "complimentary soda" offered at the back of the boat. McKay was concerned that they were losing money since they offered free soda on a free tour. I explained that it was covered by our tax money. We both decided that might be a justifiable cut to make when trying to budget the deficit.

Then McKay had a field trip with this Robotics Lego Team. This year the theme is Food Factor where they work on solving problems with food contamination. We visited the Health and Food Safety department and had a great presentation by the Chief Sanitarian there, then went to a nearby hospital to see a mock food safety inspection. The biggest take home message was to wash your hands often and thoroughly. We were given a little "germ glow" to rub on our hands. Even though you couldn't see it in normal light, when the room was darkened and a ultra violet light was shown the germs were obvious. Then they all went and washed their hands. If they didn't was long enough, some germs remained when the light was put back on them. It was very eye opening. We learned to wash for 20 seconds, about the same amount of time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice. We also learned about all sorts of micro-organisms and bacteria. McKay has been working a little on his cooking merit badge, so it all fit together really nicely.
For a few days I took a drink from a glass of water that Sierra had already drunk from. She said, Mom, don't do that, it's bad cafeteria." If she saw food left out, she'd comment about the cafeteria, and how that cafeteria was bad. I couldn't figure it out until I realized she meant "bacteria". I guess a bad cafeteria would have bacteria - so it sort of makes perfect 4 year old sense.