When it is hot outside...

and the pool has turn green (and is thus unusable).... it is time to blow things up! (Or so proposed Patrick)

So off we went to the grocery store to buy dry ice and another $60 some odd dollars worth of science experiment materials.  Items as benign as cabbage and flour and as exotic as paraffin wax, isopropyl alcohol and gelatin (OK maybe gelatin isn't exotic... but it certainly isn't a normal purchase for me... hmm, well I guess neither is cabbage...) Anyway, I am pretty sure after homeland security gets a copy of our shopping list we'll be on their list....

 Our first experiment was to use the dry ice with dish soap and warm water to make big bubbles that dissipated into thin air when you touched them. We tried a few different versions of it, in a small glass, big glass, coffee cup, and bowl.  No replications were made to ensure precision, however, the coffee cup appeared to create the coolest bubbles.
Next we took the last of watermelon juice and turned it into monster punch....

Then Patrick moved us outside (in the 110 degree heat..) to try to blow up some plastic bottles
There was much explosion expectancy....

But ultimately the first attempt failed to launch.  A second attempt involved Patrick filling a smaller bottle and then hurriedly lobbing it into the yard.... where no one could see what was happening.  This one did explode... and shot back toward that tree the girls are standing under and then the bottle landed (empty) at their feet.  Another attempt (not sure why we kept doing this....) resulted in a squirty bottle in the middle of the yard, and the final attempt, again with the first larger bottle, exploded ferociously and almost offed the cat. A good time was had by all :)

Later that afternoon we were blessed with a monsoon, which of course meant mud:

 And fairy garden tending fun....

Then yesterday we went over to my folk's place to watch a recorded women's soccer game (US v China) and once again watch the monsoon clouds roll in and get wet.  Although this time the wet had nothing to do with clouds, but rather with a present Mom bought for the girls... a water balloon maker/squirt gun/I don't know what (the label says three in one...) Regardless of the third use it was lots of fun for all!