Team WhyMommy's Virtual Science Fair

Today, Camp Mom is participating in the Team WhyMommy Virtual Science Fair, to show our love and support for Susan (WhyMommy) of Toddler Planet, who is having surgery today to combat a recurrence of inflammatory breast cancer.

You can read more about that here.

Whymommy is an astrophysicist, so Stimey decided to make this day all about science. And women and kids doing science together.


Here is Whymommy and I discussing cold fusion. Ok actually we were discussing wine.
We WERE talking about free radicals in the wine though. It was totally sciencey.

My love for science falls mostly in the medical/biological realm.

(My children's interests, on the other hand, fall mostly in the electronic realm.)



But I'm in charge today, so medical/biological it is!

I thought long and hard about what we could do for our science fair project. I thought back to biology projects I loved in school.

We could dissect something? A frog? A fetal pig?

But alas, you have to order those things ahead of time, and I hadn't done that. (I've been keeping my eyes out for roadkill though.)

Maybe we could type our blood!

That was fun. Except I KNEW there would be DRAMA if I had to stab each kid's finger until I drew blood. (And? Last week, Shout got a paper cut on her finger that bled, and bled, and bled and OMG the blood... which is now like her 4th symptom of having some sort of coagulation disorder (according to Dr. Google anyway), so I didn't want to risk her bleeding out for a science fair project, am I right? More freaking out on that topic in a future post.)

I could let them take out my appendix!

They did a practice run a few months ago that went really well. I'm almost sure they could handle it.

Except that would require creating a sterile field in MY HOUSE (you've BEEN to my house, right?) which is far beyond the capabilities of modern science. I'm certain there is MRSA lurking on my coffee table.

So I started thinking that a field trip might be a better idea for us. And there's a place I've always wanted to go...

The National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Right up my wheelhouse, no?

So I told my loving offspring of the plans for the day.

And there was whining. The whining was in fact DEAFENING. You remember that my kids are cultural Neanderthals, right? And the thought of a museum makes them break out in hives whine?

It took some advanced coersion tactics on my part, but my skills in that area are well- honed. Eventually, we all set off with a thirst for science in our hearts.

And I must say, this is one of the best museums I've ever been to! (I will add, it was high on the gore factor, which my kids and I love. Just a warning.)

There was a display about Lincoln's assassination, including the bullet that killed him, shards of his skull and the bloody cuff from the doctor's jacket.



Much of the collection is about the development of battlefield medicine, which I found fascinating because so many of the advances in emergency medicine actually start on the front lines.

They have amputated bone pieces from the Civil War.



A display on facial reconstruction.



And an actual field hospital trauma bay from Balad, Iraq. (Seriously SO COOL.)



There was also a great video about the history of battlefield medicine.



Ok, well 50% of them are watching it anyway.

In addition to the military stuff, there was a whole section of the museum about fetal development with (GORE WARNING) actual skeletons from fetuses at every month of growth, some preserved fetuses with anatomical anomolies and what looked like a really great video. BUT the natives were restless at this point, so we decided to call it a successful trip before someone had to be carried out of the museum screaming. (Me.)

Did I mention, it was the most beautiful day EVER?


Pear trees in front of the museum. Where you park RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING. Swoon.

We decided to hit up the cherry blossoms at the National Arboretum after a very non-sciency lunch at McDonalds.



Notice how there are no kids in this picture? That is because there were freakish numbers of carpenter bees SWARMING EVERYWHERE around the National Arboretum and my kids were SHRIEKING IN FEAR. I snapped this photo from the relative safety of the car. (Next science project... what is UP with carpenter bees?)



We did take a minute to say hello to the koi though. Because they're so cute.



Susan, the blogosphere isn't nearly big enough for all of us to say how much you inspire us. In so many realms. So this is just a small slice of our deep admiration. (Seriously. I actually contemplated letting my KIDS REMOVE AN ORGAN from me. I wouldn't do that for just anybody.)

Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as you wage your own war. We are strong behind you.