Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California - Sheri's first bus ride

Last Saturday, we brought our little girl to Lawrence Hall of Science. Actually, we wanted to have a picnic at Botanical garden on the hill top, but somehow we ended up at Lawrence Hall of Science, which is also located on the top of the hill.

Ever since she was born, Sheri has never taken a bus. The only bus that she is familiar with is the bus in her favourite musical DVD called "The wheel on the bus". To her, riding a bus is fun and enjoyable because she can sing the song "The wheel on the bus" with her favourite characters like the 'mango', 'papaya, and 'coco' on the bus as shown in the DVD.

We were always wondering whether she would get a cultural shock if we were to bring her on a real bus ride and she finds that nobody is singing on the bus. Well, I guess that she must learn to grapple with the truth ultimately. In Berkeley, the public transportation is well-developed, so it is a good opportunity to introduce her to various public transports.

Here it is, Sheri Foo's first bus ride. We took bus number 65 to go
up the hill. Berkeley is an environmentally friendly city. Most of the buses here run on fuel cell, so there is zero emission.

She was very composed throughout the whole journey. We wondered what went through in her little mind as she rode on the bus. No music and songs on the bus?

The bus went round and round and up the hill. After an half an hour's ride, we were up on the hill at the last stop. To our surprise, the bus did not stop in front of the botanical garden. Instead, we ended up at Lawrence Hall of Science.

A panoramic view of the bay area from Lawrence Hall of Science

See how naughty this little girl can be.

Lawrence Hall of Science features many hands-on exhibits for kids. It's time to go in to take a look at what is inside.

Our little girl was very excited to see an inverted image of herself in the mirror (left picture).

Rolling a ball down the well.



Entertaining our little girl with mommy's self directed puppet show.

Controlling the gears just by turning one of them.

California is an earthquake zone, so some of the exhibits were designed with the theme of earthquake in mind. For instance, we were asked to build a structure that could withstand the shocks of earthquakes. This was the structure that we built together. Not too bad, it did survive at least 3 earthquakes.

Talking about earthquakes, most Californians seem to be quite cool about it. They do not seem to bat an eyelid when we mention to them about earthquakes. This is something which mommy and daddy are still trying to get used to it.

Playing with speedboats. This station allows you to investigate the best design for speedboats.

Wow, what a great achievement!

One last shot with the DNA sculpture before we left.