Blow Up the Outside World

I've always felt a kindredship with Mount Saint Helens. It blew up the day after my first birthday, so I feel like we're grown up together. Like the dorky kid next door, who you're only friends with because he lives next to you. And he owns a Nintendo. (When I was 5, he was the only kid in the neighborhood with a Nintendo... that actually counted for something back then)

I digress.

As a kid in the Seattle suburbs, I truly believed that this piece of natural history was a part of my story. And to an extent it may have been the catalyst to my fascination with disaster in both it's natural and man made forms. In this respect, I feel this is an important chuck of cultural history that I want to teach my kids.

So, today was all about St. Helen's anniversary. No... no big bash, no volcano shaped cake. I used this day as an opportunity to educate my son. A little geography lesson, a little geology lesson, and a little OOOH SHINY.

First, I made sure he could locate our house on a map, then showed our neighborhood in relation to where Mount Saint Helens is located. Then I showed him pictures of the mountain before 1980. I asked him if he knew how a volcano worked. His answer was almost correct. Then we watched the video of the explosion (thanks youtube!).

"Where's the lava?" He asked.
I explained how some volcanoes erupt with lava and some just shoot out ash and rock.
"Oh," he said.
We looked at some more pictures of the mountain, and looked at what it looks like today.
Then, "Where's Africa?"
"The other side of the planet." I answered.
"Can I see what Africa looks like?"

Perhaps he'll appreciate volcanic explosions more next year.