Memorial Day - Remembering those who gave us freedom

The week prior to the memorial day weekend, my daughter had to recite a poem "No, Freedom isn't free " by Kelly Strong for their weekly memorization. The title of the poem is so very true! It brings to me the memories of my childhood when my father narrated to us, the struggles they had to put during the partition of India which followed after the independence. My father and his family lived in Karachi, Pakistan(which was part of India then) before the independence. During the partition period they had to leave their land, house, belongings and flee to India to be safe and free. Most of the households in India probably have a similar past and the value of freedom has been handed over to us from our fathers and forefathers. Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, is an occassion when we can be thankful to all those who have laid their life to give us freedom.

In the spirit of Memorial Day, we decided to visit the Roaring Camp at Felton as they were going to host the Civil War enactment. The act was put up on a great open field. The actors dressed up in soldier uniforms represented the Union soldiers and the Confederate soldiers. Bayonets, swords, cannons or volleys and gun powder was used for the shootings. The battle was enacted for about 45 minutes. As the battle proceeded, the Union soldiers slowly advanced in to the Confederate territory and finally declared victory.

The Union Soldiers (Northern states)


The Confederate Soldiers (Southern states)



The enactment demonstrated how the Napoleonic tactics were used during the war. It includes formation of line of battle by the soldiers to attack the enemy. These tactics were not very effective as the artillery was short ranged and would often miss the enemy. As the artillery became advanced, the trench war tactics were adopted during some of the wars.

Celeberating victory




The uniform worn by the Union soldiers was navy blue, however there were couple of soldiers in Zouave uniform. These were bright red colored uniform worn by Native North African soldiers who fought for French. As the Zouave uniforms has to be specially made, they costed more and only few soldiers had the previlege to wear it.

At the end of the act there was a Q&A session. Photocopied money from the civil war period was distributed.



And lastly the best part......President during the civil war, Mr. Abraham Lincoln!

Insect Fair at Sanborn County Park

Last weekend Youth Science Institute had organized an Insect fair at the Sanborn County Park. How could I miss it! This event was mainly geared toward kids. There were displays of many native and non-native insects as well as many kids activities. The display had following insects:

Walking Stick or Stick insects: Their bodies are like sticks and they use camouflage to hide themselves in plants and trees.



Banana Slugs: These are usually bright yellow in color and feed on fungus and decaying matter.



Vinegaroon: They belong to the arachnid family and resemble the scorpions. When in danger they spray a material that smells like vinegar due to the presence of acetic acid.



Desert Ironclad beetle: Found in deserts, these beetles try to fool enemy by playing dead.



Yellow Mealworm Beetle: We saw the larva and full grown stage of the beetle. They are found in storehouses, warehouses etc.



Centipede: The front feet in centipedes are modified to form poisonous claws which are used to bite orcatch prey.



Millipede: They are non-poisonous however they secrete or spray foulsmelling liquid and leave odor. They move lot slower than centipede and are scavengers.



Tomato Hornworm: These are green in color and found on tomato plants.



Madagascar hissing cockroach: When disturbed, they force air out of breathing holes and make a hissing sound.



Other animals: Grasshoppers, Silkworms (in different stages - eggs, worms, cocoon, moth), Scorpion, bees, wasp colony, black widow spider.









Lifecycles: There were displays on lifecycles and metamorphosis

Lifecycle of a ladybug



Lifecycle of a grasshopper and a hornworm




Kids activities: There were insect art and craft activities for kids.

Sunday Hike at Uvas Canyon County Park

Santa Clara County Parks is offering a "Healthy Trail Challenge" to encourage people to go outdoors and take a stroll, hike or bike instead of sitting in front of television or computer. The incentive is that after you complete 5 out of the 22 trails listed in their guide, you get a gift, however the biggest incentive I feel is health. I enrolled my family members for this program and decided to take the first hike at the Uvas Canyon County Park. It is located in the Santa Cruz mountains near Morgan Hill off of 101. Another reason for choosing this site was that I had read about the waterfalls here (imagine visiting waterfall near Bay Area!).


We took the easy and kid friendly hike, the Waterfall Loop, along the Swanson Creek. It is about 1.1 miles and covers most of the waterfalls. Most of the trail is shaded. We saw the Black Rock Falls, the Basin Falls, the Upper Falls and enjoyed the gushing sound of water during the entire hike. The uphill hike is steep at places, however my little one made it while snacking on cereals and bars and taking few halts to enjoy the nature. While coming down we took time to look at the ferns, oaks, California buckeye and poison oak trees. Throughout our journey we used our plant, bird and butterfly identification charts to figure out what we were looking at.




We spotted the turkey vulture and the California sister butterfly:



The hike took about 1hr 15 min. On our way back we drove past the Chesbro Reservoir.



My family enjoyed this first hike and can't wait to go on another one pretty soon!

Musical Greeting Card at Intel

Another session at Intel museum and it involved the application of their knowledge about circuits and switches to make a musical greeting card. They were each given a circuit, card, envelop and decoration material. This session was less intensive than the previous two sessions. The instructor asked them to identify the different parts of the circuit and then showed them how the switch works.

The kids decorated their Happy Birthday cards and then installed the circuit. The store-bought musical cards which amused them till now were very easy to make with circuits and some creativity!

Here are some of the cards that the kids made: