Space museum

Yesterday we drove up into the Oakland hills to go to the Chabot Space and Science Center. The kids had a good time getting into a capsule from the Mercury space mission of the 60's, playing by a pond that had koi and two turtles in it, and playing in the fun "Discovery Room" that had all kinds of science and art toys in it. They got to dress up like astronauts, put together a giant tiger jigsaw puzzle, do some artwork, etc. There was also a cool exhibit about animals who come out in the dark, complete with an enormous model of a bat's head that showed how echolocation worked.

One guy we saw there was sort of a biker-looking guy with a leather jacket and bandanna around his bald head. Douglas looked up at him and yelled, "All right, pirate!"

Douglas seems to need to pee constantly lately. He went to the bathroom 5 times between 6:45 and 8:30 this morning. He went 4 times at the space museum. I doubt he has an infection though because he just finished a course of amoxicillin for an ear infection. Plus, although he usually gets up during the night to pee he didn't last night, so I don't think it's a "can't." I don't know what that is about.

Saturday was Picnic Day, the UC Davis annual "open house." Unfortunately, it poured all day. I did manage to take the kids to the Doxie Derby, the dachsund races the vet school runs. They are pretty hilarious. They are held on the floor of the rec hall where they play basketball. They have a box at one end that fits six dogs. The dogs tend to have names like Precious and Little Miss Muffin, which the MC reads out. The vet students have a stuffed animal tied to a string wound around a bike wheel at the other end. They unwind the string and show the dogs the stuffed animal, then lift the door and start winding the string to pull it across the floor and give the dogs something to chase. However, it didn't work very well this year; most of the dogs ran randomly around the floor, ran up into the stands, or jumped on their owners rather than going in the proper direction. It is quite a crowded gym - there are probably 1000 people there or so at a time - so maybe the dogs find it overwhelming. It's entertaining though, particularly on a rainy day.