The Art of the Brick {Perot Museum}

Our family is a huge fan of LEGOs.  They are a great tool for STEM education and creative expression but they are also just plain fun.  We were really excited to get the opportunity to go to the Perot Museum's new traveling exhibit, The Art of the Brick.  

The critically acclaimed exhibition touts the largest and most elaborate display of works constructed using only LEGO bricks. Created by internationally renowned contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya, The Art of the Brick is designed to inspire ingenuity and creativity with original pieces and re-imagined versions of some of history’s most famous works of art, including Van Gogh's Starry Night, Michelangelo’s David and Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. It was amazing getting to hear directly from Nathan Sawaya

Dr. Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer of the Perot Museum. “LEGO bricks are a beloved learn-through-play staple in so many children’s lives. The exhibition elevates a classic toy into the interesting realm of art and science resulting in something meaningful, educational and awe-inspiring.”


The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai.  It was built using 2,877 LEGO bricks and it is three-dimensional like the wave is just going to flow off of the wall.

No one can mistake this LEGO creation!  It is, of course, Starry Nights by Vincent Van Gogh built with 3,493 LEGO pieces.

AAAAAHHHHHHH!  There are 3,991 LEGOs making this amazing representation of the painting The Scream by Edvard Munch.  

American Gothic by Grant Wood. 8,303 LEGOs are in this creation.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci was made with 4,573 LEGO pieces.

This one looks a little blocky when up close but step back from the screen a little or try squinting your eyes.  It is unmistakably Rembrandt's self portrait recreated with 1,948 LEGOs.

This next creation is so unique!  It is a translucent LEGO creation of the Northern Rose Window at Chartres. It is comprised of 17,842 LEGO pieces.  Although the number of LEGO pieces used is quite astounding, what we really remarkable is the image on the floor below it.  How beautiful!

Whistler's Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1. It is made with 15,283 LEGO pieces.

Rachel was disturbed by the mostly naked LEGO statues in the next room.  I think my jaw dropped for other reasons.  Look at these amazing works of art....built from LEGO!

You can not possibly miss the looming head tucked away in the corner of the room!

Nefertiti was made with 1,675 LEGO pieces.

I didn't catch the name of this piece but I loved how the water droplets seem to pop out from the wall.

This amazingly huge piece is a self-portrait of Nathan Sawaya in LEGO!

Rachel enjoyed the entire exhibit but she was a bit entranced by the giant T-Rex made from 80,020 LEGO bricks!

We got a chance to talk to the incredible artist Nathan Sawaya.  

The next time you go to the Perot, check out the LEGO Pegasus that greets you at the door.  Guess how many LEGO were used to create this beauty and you could win a one year membership to the Perot!

If you would like to learn more about this amazing LEGO artist you can follow Nathan Sawaya on Facebook.

The Perot Museum is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas, Texas. Museum general admission is $20 for adults (13-64), $13 for youth (2-12) and $18 for seniors (65+). Museum general admission is free for members. Children under 2 are always free. The Art of the Brick requires a surcharge of $10 for adults (13-64) and seniors (65+), $8 for youth (2-12) and free for children under 2. Member tickets are $7 for all age levels.   For ticket information, parking maps and other details visit perotmuseum.org.

The Zamboni Experience

We are a hockey/figure skating family.  We spend all of our time at the ice rink and everyone there knows us.  Although we've seen it a zillion times, we still enjoy watching the Zamboni ride around the rink as it smooths out the ice between hockey games and skating sessions.  Last year Stuart mentioned several times that he would love to drive the Zamboni, just one time.  It was a "Bucket List" item for him.  So for his birthday this year I asked around and found out that our ice rink offers a "Zamboni Experience"!

I told Stuart that he had to take the day off of work for a birthday experience but I didn't tell him what he was doing.  I made him wear a blindfold while I drove him a round about way to the rink. 

When we were almost to the ice rink, we gave Stuart a little hint of what he was going to do.  It was a little toy Zamboni but he had to keep his blindfold on and just feel the toy to try to figure it out.  It took him just a few minutes to guess what it was but he still didn't understand what we were going to do.

He was pretty excited when he learned about his birthday surprise!  But we were going to get a tour of the Zamboni Room and learn all about the machine before he would get to drive it.  I think he was happy about this because I think he had gotten a little queasy from the long blindfolded ride with me driving and needed to let his stomach settle before driving heavy machinery.  I might have made the drive a little too long but I wanted to get him completely turned around so he wouldn't know where we were going!  

We have never been in the Zamboni Room so we were all excited to get a chance to go behind the scenes.  The Zamboni expert was on hand to teach us everything we might ever want to know about Zambonis.

Here it is!  The coveted driver seat of the Zamboni!  
(*Insert angels signing in the background*) 

The Zamboni was patented in 1928 and was name after Frank Zamboni.  This particular Zamboni runs on propane fuel and has a Volkswagon engine.  As it resurfaces the ice, it can remove around 2,500 pounds of compacted snow while it can leave behind about 1,500 pounds of water.  The blade on the machine weighs 57 pounds and is 1/2 inch thick.

Fascinating facts.  But ok.  Enough chit-chat.  Let's do this!

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Here is a video of Stuart's first time driving the Zamboni around the rink.  He was not spraying water and the blade wasn't down.  This lap was just to get the hang of driving the behemoth.  

Look at that smile!  I think he was having a pretty good time!

Now let's spray some water and actually smooth the ice.  Here's another video of Stuart actually resurfacing the ice.  Look at the nice shine on the ice!


That's some professional looking ice right there!

The kids were hoping that they would get a chance to ride along with Daddy.  And they did!!  Rachel went first.

Here's a video snippet of Rachel's Zamboni ride.  She was so excited!

Then we were all surprised when the Zamboni guy told Nicholas that he didn't get to just ride on the Zamboni but instead he was going to DRIVE the Zamboni!  We quickly told him Nicholas' age just to be sure he understood that he doesn't even have a drivers license yet but he was still cool with him driving!  

Of course, here is a video of Nicholas driving a Zamboni.  He was nervous but he did really well.  It's pretty neat that he has driven a Zamboni and flown an airplane before getting his drivers license!

We were all sad when the time was up but Stuart was still grinning from ear to ear.  

Bucket List item: Drive a Zamboni.  Check!

Happy birthday to the "World's Best Zamboni Driver"!

Lyda Hill Gems and Mineral Hall at the Perot Museum

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a frequent science destination for us and the Lyda Hill Gem and Mineral Hall is one of our favorite exhibits within the museum. 

The hall has recently received some updates and while we were checking it out we had the wonderful opportunity to hear Ms. Lyda Hill speak to the guests.  That is, THE Lyda Hill of the Lyda Hill Gem and Mineral Hall!  Ms. Hill is one of Dallas' biggest philanthropists and she is passionate about promoting a love of science especially in young people.  She remembers how she loved to pick up pebbles when she was young and she wants to inspire others to pick up pebbles and explore the world of gems and minerals.  

You see, gems and minerals are a "gateway science".  Kids who might not have much appreciation for formal science will still be fascinated by interesting or sparkly rocks.  As they develop a love for gems and minerals, other doors of interest might open for them into related sciences like chemistry, geology, art, geometry, art, etc.

The Lyda Hill Gem and Mineral Hall has four signature displays.  Their 5 foot tall amethyst geode has always been an impressive site.  The Eyes of Africa is a show-stopping fluorite found in the "Alien Eye" pocket in Namibia, Africa.  It has symmetrical black outer zones framing diamond-shaped vibrant green cores.  This beautiful piece is on loan from Lyda Hill.

Stibnite, also known as Antimony Sulfide, is one of Nicholas' favorite displays.  It is a robust cluster of crystal formations recovered from an industrial ore mine in Jiangxi Province of China.  It is an amazing piece.

And finally, the monthly birthstone case displays the rough and faceted forms along with a special display of beautiful jewelry featuring the current month's gem.

We admired the Aurora Butterfly of Peace, a 240 colored diamonds, some of which fluoresce under UV light.  This piece symbolizes "a spiritual connection to Earth for all humankind".

I am in love with this Ammonite fossil that has an iridescent coating of Aragonite.  It was found in Canada.

As we were admiring this amazing piece of Tanzanite, Ms. Lyda Hill came over to speak to us!!   This is one of her pieces that she has loaned to the museum.

She talked to us some more about her passion for inspiring children and adults to learn more about nature so that they will take care of this planet for the next generation.  We enjoyed hearing her stories about a few of her other pieces on display at the museum.

There are sections in the hall based on color, based on the country where the specimens were found, and based on the type of gem and mineral.  It makes it really interesting to look at the pieces this way.
 

For example, these three pictures below all represent rhodochrosite but look how different they look from each other.  

There are also several interactive screens where you can see what different minerals are made of or play a head-to-head game to test you gem and mineral knowledge.

Here are a few of our other favorite specimens in the hall.  I like the rich purple and turquoise of the Azurite/Malachite piece.  The stringy slivers of silver are one of Nicholas' favorites.

We love being inspired to learn something new every time we visit the Perot Museum!

As we were leaving the museum, Rachel proudly pointed out that we actually spoke to one of the founding donors of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  

Come check out the amazing new look of the Lyda Hill Gem and Mineral Hall but make plans to come back later in February for the museum's upcoming special exhibit, The Art of the Brick, featuring the world's largest display of LEGO art!  You can bet we will be back for that!

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas.  For more information, please visit their website at https://www.perotmuseum.org/.

Our Homeschool Electronics Class

One of the careers that Nicholas is interested in is Electrical Engineering.  He has always had a pretty strong knack for engineering.  He is always tinkering, creating, and building things.  It just seems to come naturally for him.  He enjoys working with electrical circuits and understands some basics about electricity but we wanted him to go a little deeper and learn more so he can really see if this is a field he would want to go into.  The beauty of homeschooling is that we have more flexibility in our schedule to let our children really explore their passions.  It also helps that our children are not allowed to have "screen time" during the school week so that allows for more free time for sparking their imaginations and interests.

One day when we were at Tanner's Electronics store just playing around with electrical components, we asked the owner if he happened to know of local classes or even curriculum to teach electronics to kids.  I'm so glad that we talked to him because we learned that they homeschool their children as well!  He gave us a great resource for a book which can be found for free on MIT's website.  It is called MAKE Electronics by Charles Platt.  It isn't a curriculum, per se, but it has lessons that build upon each other.  We even found kits that come with all of the supplies needed for the electronics lab exercises.  We even found a homeschool friend that wanted to do the course too so Stuart works through the book and the projects with Nicholas and his friend every Thursday night.  The two boys love this class and they get excited about the projects they do each week.  

Nicholas gets so excited about tinkering with electronics that when our coffee maker broke, he wouldn't let me throw it out.  Instead the boys took it apart as part of their class work and learned about how it worked.

And, when this microwave was seen at the curb in front of a neighbor's house, I was asked to pick it up so the deconstruction and investigation of it could become another extension of Electronics Class!  Note: microwaves can be dangerous to take apart so you must do some research before you try to tackle this project.

We also have a big trunk under the school table that Nicholas is using to collect other dead or broken things that I would like to throw away like an old PC, a monitor, an electric pencil sharpener, a kid's version of a tablet, and much more.  The trunk is so full that we can no longer fully close the lid on it.  I think he has enough electronic projects now to last him an entire year!  But do you want to know something cool?  Nicholas doesn't just dive into taking everything apart.  Stuart has a great understanding of electronics so Nicholas always wants to wait until Stuart is available to do it with him so he can teach him about the components and what they do.

I love listening in on Stuart and the boys during Electronics class.  I smile as I hear the excitement in the boys' voices as they learn cool new things or they successfully make their electronic projects work correctly.  Stuart, thank you for pouring your time and energy into making this class so great for them, especially when you do it after a long day at work.

Craftsman Crate: Hands-on Skills for Teens {Review}

Boys can be challenging to raise.  Even as a baby, our son has been constantly on the go and always wanting more - more adventure, more action, more building stuff....and since hitting the teens years, more food!  I love the encouragement I received a few years ago from reading Hal and Melanie Young's book, Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys.  I learned that my boy whom we affectionately referred to as, "Noise with Dirt on It", was a completely normal boy and we gained some wonderful insight on how to raise him to follow the plan God has for him as he grows into a man.  

After reading their book, I signed up to receive Hal and Melanie's email newsletter and it was through this newsletter that I learned about their new subscription kits for teens called Craftsman Crate.  This isn't like any other subscription kit I've ever seen.  It isn't just building a little model with cardboard.  This one teaches real hands-on artisan skills and it is designed specifically with teens in mind.  Of course, Nicholas was excited help me review this product for you so keep reading!

Nicholas was thrilled to see that he received a wood burning crate.  Wood burning is also known as pyrography which means "fire writing" and since Nicholas loves learning about fire he was anxious to dive into the kit.  

The kit came in a nice wooden box and included everything he needed to create several wood burning projects...which means Mom didn't have to make a run to the craft store - yay!  The Wood Burning Crate comes with a wood burning tool, different tips, practice wood, a wooden plaque to decorate, carbon paper, and a sheet of designs that could be transferred to the wood for a pattern to burn.  Of course, the wooden box it arrived in can also be decorated with wood burning as well.

The kit includes basic instructions on how to use everything but there were no detailed lesson plans that walk you step-by-step through a particular project.  Some people might be disappointed to hear that but my son dislikes those kind of kits.  He is an independent learner so he loved being able to just plug in the tool and go.  He used the test wood to experiment with the different tips and he improved his skills as he went along.

Nicholas made this piece just for me and decorated it with flowers!  He knows how to melt his mama's heart! ❤ He said he drew the flowers on the board with a pencil so he could erase any mistakes before he started burning.

He drew those flowers freehand but the kit includes some patterns and carbon paper that you can use to transfer designs to the wood for burning.  

Nicholas plays ice hockey and we love to watch the Dallas Stars NHL hockey team so it was no surprise to me that he wanted to burn the Dallas Stars logo on his plaque.  He found their logo online, copied it into a word processing document where he easily resized it to fit his wooden plaque.  He printed it and cut away some of the extra paper.  He placed the carbon paper under the logo and then pressed with a pencil around the edges of the logo.  This transferred the design through the carbon paper onto the wood.

He then used the wood burning tool with different tips to create the finished logo on the plaque.  He had so much fun with this project and he is looking forward to continuing to improve his skills.

I am really impressed with the Craftsman Crate subscription.  The kits include everything needed for the project and they introduce fun skills that teens might not normally have any exposure to otherwise.  For example, some of the other kits include chain mail and wood carving!  A new kit arrives each month and there is no long term commitment so you can cancel the subscription at any time.  The subscription costs just $39.97/month which includes the cost for shipping.

For more information, please check out the Craftsman Crate website. 

Disclaimer: We received one Craftsman Crate for free for the purpose of this review.  This review is entirely our own opinion.  We were under no obligation to say anything in particular about this product.  We do not make any commission if you purchase this product.  We just really like these kits and wanted to share it with you.