I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday...I'll explain why in my next entry....but let's just say I was busy .    On Wednesday, Abigail finally perked up after a dose of Motrin and we got to go outside and play and swim.  Well, I guess I should say I got to go outside and play and swim...the big girls had been doing that all day. 

I wish I could explain to you how much I love this girl:



She is my partner in crafting crime and science experiment mayhem.  She's always willing to try something new and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty for the sake of an experiment.  And, she's alwasy so excited about the results, whatever they turn out to be.  Long after the Twisted Sisters and Abigail have wandered off, she's still right there, trying different methods to see what will happen.  Now, some might say that she's this way because she's the oldest of the four.  But, I just don't think that's the whole story.  I think it's just her spirit...her mind is simply amazing and I love the time we get to spend together doing things like this.  She inspires me in so many ways!

So, for our bubble experiments on Wednesday, we started out with a worm bubble blower.  You took a soda bottle, cut the bottom off and covered it with a washcloth held on with a rubber band.  Then, you were supposed to dip the wascloth end in a little water then dishwashing soap.  We had to experiment a bit because we realized the rubber band really didn't secure the cloth enough and the bubble were coming out the sides.  Once we figured out you need to support the washcloth with one hand, it worked really well.



The girls really enjoyed this....Emmie and Gracie even had a mock bubble fight that left them shrieking with laughter.  We added some red coloring to the bubble mixture to see what would happen.  Mostly, it just turned the washcloth red, but the bubble mixture did take on a pink tinge.  Emmie and Gracie smeared it all over themselves and ran ardound screaming..."We're bleeding!  We're bleeding!"  Those two are definitely the comic relief around here....


Next up were a couple of experiments with a bubble mixture made with water (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons),  dishwashing soap (2 tablespoons), and glycerin (2 tablespoons...I a bottle of this on the first aid aisle at Wal-Mart).  First, you were supposed to blow a big bubble with the paper cone.  Then, you were supposed to stick a pair of scissors into the bubble:




The results were predictable...the bubble popped



Then, we tried the same thing but we dipped the scissors in the bubble mixture first.  The results surprised the girls....


The scissors slid right in and the bubble didn't pop!  They had so much fun with this...they must have repeated it 150 times, taking turns being the bubble blower and the scissor slider.  It was so cool!

Next, we took a break for a swim and supper.  Here's the requisite picture of all four girls together.


For our final experiment, we used the same bubble mixture, but this time we blew a big bubble and then took a drinking straw dipped in the bubble mixture and tried to blow a bubble inside the big bubble.  We had a little trouble with this one.  First, we couldn't get the big bubbles to work and then we had trouble with the little bubbles.  Gracie, Emmie, and Abigail all wandered off, but Ruby kept at it until we got it to work.  I went inside to get Steve to come and blow the little bubbles so I could get a picture of our results.  The light was fading so these aren't the best pictures, but you can see what happened.

The little bubble inside the big one:


And here's what happened.  The little bubble floated down and then came out of the bottom of the big bubble (that's one of the little bubbles on the bottom in this picture and another little one inside the big bubble).  This was really fun!





I went inside to put the camera down and when I cam back out, Ruby was still standing beside the bubble mixture.  "Look Aunt Daffy!", she said, "I can do it by myself!"  She was holding the bubble blower in one hand, and the straw in the other, still enjoying the experiment.  Like I said, she's just awesome.....