2 weeks in Review

Ok, so at least it isn't a full month this time! LOL A lot has happened since the last time I blogged almost 2 weeks ago. We have done school, had the flu, stomach virus, muscle ache virus, gone on field trips, had a date, enjoyed the warming of the weather and many other mundane things like taking care of hospital bills, going to eye appts. etc. etc. etc. So I have decided to make a "2 weeks in Review" post. The last time I blogged was the 15th of Feb. I don't really remember what happened from the 15th to the 20th so I am sure someone was ill during that time.

Glass Blowers
But the 20th was a good day. It started out with a field trip to a glass blowing factory. It was amazing and if you get a chance to go see this I highly recommend it. Here is a quick step-by-step sequence that took an hour to complete.

Here they take small pieces of glass and put them in the oven an melt on really high heat. He is shaping the first small blob of glass that they melted to start the piece.

Next they blow the glass. (This is not the actual piece but I missed that picture so here you can just see how they blow the glass).

You can see the piece taking shape on the end of the pole. The final piece looks nothing like this.

After heating the glass again in the oven they shape it by hand. You can see that he has a pad in his hand to shape the glass. It is just a thick stack of newspaper. They moisten it and let steam help shape the piece and keep the paper from sticking to the glass.

They use blow torches to keep the glass heated as they shape it. They had these going non-stop and walked so close to them I was certain someone was going to get burned. But they are so comfortable around flames.

After heating the glass and making it pliable again they take what look like hotpads and stretch the glass to shape it further.

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the final piece. It ended up to be a goose-necked open wine decanter.

Friday Evening 3D Movie "Coraline"

Later in the evening Phillip and I actually got to go out on a date! Everyone was well and we were free to go. We went to see the movie "Coraline". I do not recommend the movie but, the 3D was fabulous. It really was better than the 3D of the past. I really enjoyed it even if I did not enjoy the movie.

Here we are in our very fashionable 3D glasses. LOL!