Notes: Get well wishes to Mari and Sammy! Love you both.
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated!
Hope you enjoy!
Snowballs, Blizzards, and Blubber (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"This is gonna be so fun," DJ was saying to Joan and Angie as they walked toward the library's large program room. "We came here for a big Halloween program and there were so many fun things to do."
"So many fun t'ings," Angie echoed, nodding enthusiastically.
Joan grinned eagerly then the three stopped in the doorway of the room, jaws dropping in amazement.
"Welcome to our winter wonderland," the librarian Ms. Kristin said.
"Look at the snowflakes!" Joan squealed, pointing to the ceiling where dozens of large sparkling snowflakes hung on fishing line.
"All da snowflakes aw up high!" Angie said, her face bright with excitement.
"You must've had a big ladder to get up there, Ms. Kristin," DJ said.
"Not me," she admitted. "But our maintenance staff did use some very big ladders to hang the snowflakes for me."
"It looks great," Aaron commented.
Mary nodded. "Definitely a winter wonderland."
"Ms. Kristin, this is our Aunt Mary and Uncle Aaron and cousin Joan," DJ said, excited to introduce his family to his favorite librarian.
She smiled warmly. "Oh yes, I've seen your faces before on visits. I've definitely seen Joan in storytime. I'm so glad you all could come today."
"We're giving Steve and Catherine a few hours to themselves after all the hosting they've been doing this week," Mary said.
"That's so thoughtful. I'm sure they appreciated it."
"It almost looks like the snow in New Jersey," DJ said, pointing across the room to where a large piece of white fabric was draped over tables and chairs to look like a snowy hill.
"We've got lots of snow and winter activities for you to do," Kristin told them. She grinned. "Trying to bring some of that cold, snowy feel to our island paradise."
"My kind of winter wonderland," Aaron said with a broad smile. "The kind where I can walk back out into the 80 degree weather after we're done."
"Let's start over here, Daddy!" Joan said, pointing to a station a few feet away.
"Have fun!" Kristin said with a wave as she continued walking a circuit of the room to monitor the different stations.
"Oooh," Angie said as she saw the pom poms and paint on the table.
"Do you want to do some snowball painting?" the teen volunteer at the station asked. "It's pretty fun."
"And potentially messy, so right up our alley," Mary quipped.
"We're using these clothespins to pick up these fun pom poms and dip them in paint," the volunteer, Katie, said as she demonstrated on the paper in front of her. "Then you make these cool designs on your paper that look like snowball splatters."
"Cool!" DJ said. He and Joan moved to spots in front of fresh sheets of paper as Aaron brought a chair around beside them for Angie to kneel on.
"Okay, squeeze your clothespin to open up the ends and grab a pom pom," Katie said.
Joan giggled, opening and closing the clothespin. "It looks like an alligator."
DJ laughed. "An alligator who eats snowballs."
"Rawr," Angie said, trying to open hers.
Mary chuckled behind them. "You three are silly."
"It not wo'king, Ann Mawy," Angie said, her little brow furrowing as she struggled with the clothespin.
"Try two hands, kiddo," Mary said.
Angie smiled when that technique worked and turned to the paint covered pom poms. "I get a blue one."
"Put it on your paper like this, Cousin Angie," Joan said, demonstrating with her a white pom pom.
"Do you think we can put these on the fridge when we're done?" DJ asked as they worked.
Aaron grinned. "You may have trouble finding room on there," he said. "There are a lot of special school papers and art projects already."
"We'll find room, right, Angie?" DJ asked his sister who was diligently making snowballs on her paper.
"Wight," she agreed, nodding.
"Looks like you're running out of room on your paper there, peanut," Mary commented.
Joan nodded. "Almost done."
Meanwhile Angie was studying the pom pom she had just picked up curiously. Pursing her lips, she pressed it to her cheek, leaving a paint splotch.
"Angie!" Mary said, unable to control her laugh.
"I paint on my cheek!" she told them, as if they hadn't all seen her do it.
Aaron stifled a chuckle as well. "Why? Just to see what it felt like?"
She nodded.
Mary and Aaron exchanged a look. "Makes all the sense in the world," Mary said, shaking her head in amusement.
"What does it feel like?" Joan asked Angie.
"Feels nice," Angie said.
Joan bit her lip, looking at the pom pom in her own hand.
Mary chuckled. "Oh, go ahead, peanut, I know you want to."
Beaming, Joan pressed the pom pom to her cheek and giggled. "It feels weird, but kinda nice. Try it, Primo DJ."
"Twy it, DJ," Angie encouraged.
As DJ pressed a pom pom to his own cheek, Katie laughed. "I've seen kids get paint on their hands and shirts and cheeks by accident, but never on purpose."
"Those are McGarretts for you," Mary said. "We explore the world through experience."
"I'll have to tell Ms. Kristin next time we should have face painting."
"Hey, there's an idea," Aaron said.
"Daddy, do you want to see what it feels like?" Joan asked.
He winked at Mary. "I don't know, I'm not a McGarrett, am I allowed?"
"Daddy!" Joan scolded.
"Oh, all right, lay it on me," he said, bending down. As Joan pressed her pom pom to his cheek, Angie and DJ reached over to the same, surprising him. "Hey! Three against one!" He laughed.
"You did ask for it," Mary said, chuckling.
"You guys definitely have to do the fake snowball fight over there," Katie said, pointing to where several kids were tossing white yarn balls around. "You can pretend you have snow on your face."
"Oh yeah!" DJ said excitedly.
"Mama, you need some snow on you," Joan said. "You're a McGarrett, too."
Aaron leaned over to Mary, murmuring, "You really should have seen that coming."
After they spent some time in the yarn snowball area, they moved to another station.
"What do we have here?" Aaron asked the volunteer behind the table.
"This is a blizzard in a bottle!" the volunteer, a teen named Jada, said. "Watch this." She picked up a water bottle and shook it, then held it in front of the kids. Inside, the bluish liquid swirled with glitter and small snowflakes.
"Oooh," Angie said, reaching for it. "I see it?"
"Even better, how about you make one you can take home?" Jada suggested.
Angie nodded eagerly along with DJ and Joan.
"I'm going to call it my Elsa bottle," Joan announced as Jada put empty bottles in front of her, DJ, and Angie.
"Of course," Mary said with a grin.
"First, we're going to fill most of the bottle with water," Jada said, lifting a pitcher. "Can you hold the funnel in the top of your bottle while I pour?" she asked Joan.
"That white thing there that looks like a hat, pumpkin," Aaron said pointing to the upside down funnel on the table.
Joan picked it up and placed the skinny end in the top of the bottle. She held the bottle with one hand and the funnel with the other while Jada filled the bottle three quarters full with water.
"Great, now you can pass the funnel to your brother," Jada said, nodding to DJ.
Joan laughed. "DJ is my cousin."
"DJ my bruddew," Angie said emphatically.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jada said. She smiled self-deprecatingly. "I should know by now not to make those assumptions."
"You can do Angie first," DJ said.
His sister smiled at him. "T'ank you, DJ."
"And such a good brother," Aaron said, squeezing his shoulder.
"Angie, can I help you hold your bottle steady so we don't spill?" Mary asked.
Angie nodded and together they held the funnel in place while Jada poured. After, Angie diligently passed the funnel to her brother. "He'we, DJ. I's you' tu'n."
"Thanks, Angie."
As he positioned the funnel in his own bottle, Jada said, "That's really cool that you guys are cousins and come to programs like this together. All my cousins live really far away so I don't see them very much."
"We live in L.A., but we're lucky to be able to visit a lot," Aaron said.
"We have lots of fun together," Joan added, smiling at her cousins who were quick to return the gesture.
"That's so awesome," Jada said sincerely as she finished pouring water into DJ's bottle. "Okay, are we ready for a little blizzard magic?" She held up a bottle of blue glitter glue and a bag of plastic snowflakes.
"Yes!" all three cousins responded excitedly.
Aaron smiled as he watched them. "Bring on the magic."
"Watch this, Mama!" Joan said, shaking her bottle again to watch the glitter and snowflakes swirl.
"An' dis!" Angie echoed as she and DJ did the same with their own bottles which had been glued shut before they left the previous station.
"I can't wait to show Mommy and Daddy," DJ said.
"Probably should've done that one last," Mary said, grinning. "I don't know what's going to pull your attention from those blizzard bottles.
"I know something that might," Aaron said, nodding to a table where he had spotted a familiar face.
Mary followed his eyeline and smiled. "Hey, kiddos, look who we found."
"Kaitlyn!" Joan squealed, running over to the table, quickly followed by DJ and Angie. "Look what we made." All three shook their bottles so Kaitlyn could see the blizzards inside.
"Wow, those are so cool!" She laughed. "And it looks like you've done some painting too," she said, motioning to their cheeks.
"Dis snowball paint," Angie said, touching the dried paint on her cheek.
"Thank you for telling us about the program," Aaron said. "This has been great."
"Though I gotta say I'm very curious about the bulk container of Crisco you have there," Mary added.
"What aw we doin', Kaitlyn?" Angie asked as she climbed up into the chair Aaron slid into place for her.
"Ms. Kristin is letting me do a little science lesson about how marine mammals stay warm in really cold water."
"Oh neat," Mary said. She looked at the kids. "Are you all ready to listen to Miss Kaitlyn's science lesson?" She winked at the young teenager.
Joan giggled, putting her hand over her mouth. "Miss Kaitlyn!"
"We're ready!" DJ said.
"Weady!" Angie agreed.
"I promise it's going to be fun, too," Kaitlyn said. She carefully pushed a large bowl of water and ice toward them. "Okay, first, put your fingers in this water and tell me what it feels like."
The three did as instructed.
"Oh!" Joan said, immediately pulling her hand back out. "That's so cold!"
"I's vewy vewy cold, Kaitlyn," Angie told her, shaking her wet fingers.
"Yeah," DJ agreed, wiping his hand on his shirt.
"Well, the oceans at the north and south poles are even colder," Kaitlyn said. She pointed on a globe to the Arctic and Antarctic regions. "But there are still animals that swim there like whales, seals, and walruses." She motioned to the photos she'd laminated of different species.
"How do they stay warm?" DJ asked.
"They have blubber!" Kaitlyn announced.
"Blubber?" Joan asked.
Angie giggled at the word. "Blubbew."
"Blubber is a type of fat. Marine mammals have a thick layer that insulates them from the cold."
"The Crisco is making sense now," Mary said.
Kaitlyn passed each kid a latex glove. "The blubber is really under the skin, but it's a little less messy this way." As Mary helped Angie get her glove on, Kaitlyn added, "Sorry, Angie, I know that's a little big for you but it should still work."
"Now what, Kaitlyn?" Joan asked.
"Now for the blubber." Kaitlyn pushed the large container of Crisco closer. "I want you to take a handful of this and we're going to spread it over your hand." She put her own gloves on as the kids reached into the Crisco.
"Whoa! That's weird!" DJ exclaimed.
"Ewww," Joan said even as she laughed.
Angie giggled as she squished the vegetable shortening between her fingers.
"Of course this isn't quite the same as actual blubber," Kaitlyn went on as she spread a layer of Crisco around each kid's hand. "But it will give you an idea of how blubber keeps an animal warm."
Joan couldn't stop giggling as she moved her Crisco-covered fingers. "It's so weird!"
"Weird but warm," Kaitlyn said with a laugh. "Next we're going to put some plastic wrap over it."
"That's the layer of skin," Aaron said.
"Right," Kaitlyn said as put the plastic around each kid's hand. "Now put your hand back in the ice water and feel the difference."
DJ gasped. "It's not so cold anymore."
"Not so cold," Angie echoed even as she used her free hand to poke at the plastic wrap-covered Crisco on her hand in the water.
"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Kaitlyn said with a proud smile.
"Pretty warm, you mean!" Joan said.
Kaitlyn laughed. "That's right. Pretty warm."
"That was a really good lesson, Kaitlyn," Aaron said sincerely.
"Thanks!" Kaitlyn said. "I found it on the Internet while I was reading about arctic animals."
"And you've got quite a knack for explaining," Mary added.
Kaitlyn smiled back. "I really like it," she said. "It's fun to share what you've learned."
"That's so true," Aaron said. "And speaking of sharing, let's get cleaned up, you three. We have a few more stations to explore and then we can go home and share everything you've done today."
"Mommy! Daddy!" DJ exclaimed when they returned to the beach house.
"Hey, you're home," Catherine said, sitting up from where she and Steve had been relaxing on the sofa.
"Did you have fun at the library?" Steve asked as Angie, DJ, and Joan all ran over, their hands full of their winter activities.
"We made snowflakes out of salt and threw snowballs, but they were really made of yarn so they didn't hurt or anything," DJ started excitedly.
"And we made blizzards, look!" Joan continued, shaking her bottle.
"Wow!" Catherine said. She pulled Angie into her lap. "What about you, baby girl? Did you have fun?"
"I do all dem, Mommy! See?" She shoved her papers and bottle toward Catherine, her face bright with the excitement of sharing what she'd done at the library.
"Wonderful, honey," Catherine said, kissing her head.
"And Kaitlyn showed us blubber!" DJ said. "That's how whales and seals stay warm in the really cold water."
"How'd she show you that?" Steve asked.
"We put on a glove and put this goopy stuff on our hand and put it in the ice water and it wasn't even cold anymore!" Joan bubbled.
"Crisco," Aaron put in by way of explanation.
"Oh wow," Catherine said. "What a good science lesson."
"And the girl that helped us make the blizzard bottles thought DJ was my brother but we told her he was my cousin!" Joan said.
"DJ is my bruddew," Angie reiterated, and Steve and Catherine smiled at them.
"It sounds like you all had a lot of fun at the library," Steve said. He chuckled, reaching over to touch the paint splatter on Joan's cheek. "And looks that way, too."
"Three guesses who started that trend," Mary said with a grin.
"Oh, I don't think we need three guesses," Catherine said, tickling Angie who squealed in delight.
"Thanks for taking us," DJ said to Mary and Aaron.
"Yeah, thanks, Mama and Daddy," Joan echoed.
Angie smiled and chimed in. "T'ank you!"
"Yes, thank you," Catherine agreed. "And tomorrow you two get the afternoon off while we have a little adventure planned."
"With us?" Joan asked excitedly.
"You got it," Steve said, smiling as the cousins beamed at each other.
Catherine chuckled. "No snowballs, blizzards, or blubber, but we think it'll still be fun."
"Yay!" Joan cheered. "More adventure!"
"Yay!" Angie echoed.
DJ grinned. "Can't wait."
Hope you enjoyed!
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