{"id":538,"date":"2011-04-04T03:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/florida-discoveries-7-emerald-coast-science-center-fort-walton-beach.html"},"modified":"2011-04-04T03:11:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T03:11:00","slug":"florida-discoveries-7-emerald-coast-science-center-fort-walton-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/florida-discoveries-7-emerald-coast-science-center-fort-walton-beach.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Discoveries 7: Emerald Coast Science Center, Fort Walton Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

My sister Margaret and her 3 sons were in town most of last week.  It’s always really wonderful when my sister’s family visits.  All 5 of our boys are almost like a pack of wolves, they rarely fight, and Margaret and I can talk talk talk talk talk talk talk…..<\/p>\n

Did I mention we talk?  We were up till 1-2am every night they were here…<\/p>\n

Ironically, the weather was fabulous for the 5-6 days prior to their arrival, and on the day they left, it was once again sunny and warm.  They were greeted with windy, cloudy days, complete with a severe weather outbreak on one of the days!<\/p>\n

But that didn’t stop us.  I’ll write about our chilly kayaking trip in my next post, but for now I’ll discuss the activity we did on the one day I took the boys out of school.  It thunderstormed most of the day, so we visited the Emerald Coast Science Center<\/a> in Fort Walton Beach, which is about 30 minutes east of us.<\/p>\n

It’s a small operation, probably about 2 hours total to see the whole thing.  And that was with 5 very curious, geeky boys.  They enjoyed it just the same, they were especially interested in the hands-on activities, such as the bubble tables and the interactive health and anatomy areas.<\/p>\n

Enjoy some pictures from our afternoon.  After we visited the museum, we met up with our friend Lisa who lived nearby.  By then, the rain had stopped and the boys enjoyed a couple more hours at Fort Walton Landing park<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Just off Highway 98 in old historic Fort Walton Beach.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The kids didn’t seem to care that this “Hot Hands” exhibit didn’t really work anymore.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Playing with the Van De Graff machine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This was fun…you open\/close the mirrors to make the mice multiply.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timmy trying to figure out how the color lights work for this exhibit.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The bubble room was by far the most popular area!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Quite a face, huh?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The boys were having contests to see who could make the longest bubble!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This had the makings of a really great picture, except for the little ones having their eyes closed….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
So we suggested they shade their eyes and this is what we got….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My sister Margaret and her 3 sons were in town most of last week.  It’s always really wonderful when my sister’s family visits.  All 5 of our boys are almost like a pack of wolves, they rarely fight, and Margaret and I can talk talk talk talk talk talk talk….. Did I mention we talk? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[144,97,626,143,624,629,619],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-8G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":534,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/03\/florida-discoveries-5-mass-wisteria.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":0},"title":"Florida Discoveries 5: Mass Wisteria!","date":"23 March 11","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a 12.3 mile drive on U.S. 98 between our neighborhood in Navarre, and Dave's base to our east. That road is a nightmare a lot of the time; it's the only east-west artery along the Gulf Coast connecting Pensacola with Fort Walton Beach, so the majority of businesses set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida discoveries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/TYpjEJnpavI\/AAAAAAABSIo\/mNT2HI3EVCw\/s640\/IMG_4424.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":582,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/06\/florida-discoveries-14-billy-bowlegs-pirate-festival.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":1},"title":"Florida Discoveries #14: Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival","date":"07 June 11","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend was the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival at Fort Walton Beach Landing...about 20 miles east of where we live.\u00a0 Dave suggested we hang out at the festival on Friday night, so after the boys got off the school bus, we went to the base to pick up Dave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida discoveries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-y4VM-dDpzV4\/Te2KLpIfehI\/AAAAAAABWT0\/pu74el6i52k\/s640\/IMG_8182.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":539,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/pretty-camellias.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":2},"title":"Florida Discoveries 8: Pretty Camellias","date":"06 April 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I was in downtown Fort Walton Beach to pay a visit to the local running store. Between the parking lot and the store you walk through a pretty camellia garden. These variegated ones caught my attention. Enjoy! \u00a0Click the picture to see it in better detail.","rel":"","context":"In \"florida discoveries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":555,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/05\/florida-discoveries-10-dr-beals-shell-museum.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":3},"title":"Florida Discoveries 10: Dr. Beal’s Shell Museum","date":"04 May 11","format":false,"excerpt":"I call it \"Pulling a Maryann\". \u00a0I see something while driving down the road, so I pull over and take some pictures.When it's in my neighborhood, that's one thing. \u00a0I don't have many problems doing that when I see some pretty flowers. \u00a0But today I screeched onto the shoulder off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-PHj9nszYiRo\/TcCnGEGJYtI\/AAAAAAABVV8\/OtVcbr6JFQY\/s400\/IMG_4656.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1975,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/03\/florida-discoveries-41-navarre-beach-marine-science-station.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":4},"title":"Florida Discoveries 41: Navarre Beach Marine Science Station","date":"27 March 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Just before the kids' Spring Break, I had the chance to partially chaperone for Timmy's class trip to the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station. My sons have taken field trips with their classes every school year they've been living here, and I suspect it's an annual tradition for all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dolphins\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Navarre Beach Marine Science Station is run by Santa Rosa County and the Santa Rosa County Schools. Its mission is to promote environmental awareness through education of the county's marine ecosystem.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/DSC_2606-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":279,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/12\/i-know-what-i-want-to-be-when-i-grow-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":5},"title":"I Know What I Want to Be When I Grow Up!","date":"14 December 08","format":false,"excerpt":"I want to fly into hurricanes when I grow up!Many who know me know that I've wanted to do that for many years. I may have even mentioned it in high school, but probably didn't talk about it anymore once I learned that most of the people who do that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"friends\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}