2014-06-28: F-16

The family went with Aunt Blaire to an air show at Hill Air Force Base today. Nigel, on seeing (and hearing!) an F-16 jet for the first time: "Count me in for flying one of those some day!"

2014-06-24: Reading Large Numbers

Continuing a recent theme, tonight's Midnight Math was about multiplying by 10 (adding a zero to the end), with some practice reading large numbers, as well.

2014-06-22: Math with Grandpa

Grandpa came over tonight for Midnight Math. Dad pushed to do too much, and it dragged out a bit too long, but Nigel had fun talking about it with Grandpa.

2014-06-19: Chemical X

Nigel has been watching a show called Powerpuff Girls, and mentioned on the way to summer camp this morning that the show said they are made of sugar, spice, everything nice, and something called Chemical X. He decided that Chemical X is what brings them to life, and that their powers come from the everything nice. Dad thought this was quite a sweet idea.

2014-06-16: Dividing by Zero

Nigel asked today, on the drive home from summer camp, about a million and a billion and a trillion and a quadrillion divided by a million, and that sparked a discussion that lasted for most of the drive. Dad told Nigel about the dividing by zero rule (that the answer is undefined), giving the example of trying to divide a group of apples into zero groups.

2014-06-15: Camping in Escalante

Dad wanted to do a camping trip that involved getting out on some water, and Escalante was ultimately chosen. Nigel requested to take the raft this time, rather than the canoe. He and Dad went out on the water for a while, but didn't have the little boats to play with. A group of people were jumping off the dock into the reservoir as Dad and Nigel looked on. Nigel asked if he could just jump out of the raft into the reservoir, and Dad said that since he had a life jacket on, absolutely. Nigel just slipped in over the side of the boat, and he and Dad were in and out of the water a few times over the next little while, playing. The water was a bit cold, but not untolerably so.

Mom and Dad found that Nigel is not fond of hiking these days when hiking the petrified forest trail with him. The way back went well, but the hike up was not very pleasant.

2014-06-08: Swimming with Cooper

The family went swimming with the Davis-Travises today (Leigh, Wes and Cooper). Nigel and Cooper swam for quite a long time, and Dad for a good while, too. There was a diving board at the pool, and Nigel was very interested in the idea of jumping off. After swimming for a bit and discussing the diving board, Nigel walked right up and out to the end of the board, then turned back after looking down. He encouraged Dad to jump off a few times, then was finally convinced to try it.

At first, he said he didn't jump off, just stepped off the end. As soon as he was in the water, though, he swam right back to the side to do it again. Later on, he said he was brave enough to actually jump off the diving board, and demonstrated the difference to everyone as they watched.