How stuff works: catapults

So P-rock is way, way into how things work. When first encountering a motion-activated hand drier: "How does that hand drier work, mommy? Is it magic?" No, it's not magic, it's just, um, automatic. "What's automatic?"... Then we have a 15 minute discussion on the inherent difference between things that are automatic (air conditioners that click on unexpectedly, the doors on elevators) and things that are magic (wizards and flying horses). I think we've nailed down that "automatic" requires the intervention of some kind of machine, whereas "magic" does not.

And at some point every day, we're treated to a long lecture that starts with "Lemme tell you what. It's sumpin about how X works...", X being the subject of the day, whether lightbulbs or shrimps' legs or - our favorite - anything having to do with dinosaurs.

Apparently, catapults have something to do with dinosaurs (ps: "hopticopters" means, of course, "helicopters").

Beacon

We took a day trip to Beacon, to check out the Hudson valley. Of course, we needed to keep ourselves occupied on the trip back... Guess which shots are the ones P took.