Happy Independence Day to the U.S.! I hope folks had a great holiday weekend! We have a number of great voicemails from Tim, highlighting Darcy’s awesome reviews here on the blog, and reinforcing my discussion on recycling and reusing stuff! Then Lizzie calls in to tell us about her babysitting gig and how the parents are cool Brits who let their kids watch old Dr. Who! Then Tim gets me going again on role-playing online, so I gush about DDO again.  Finally, I pipe up about our love of Steam for downloading PC games, and Wyatt calls in about GameStop for console games. I hope you guys love the mailbag stuff! I’ll be back next week with another topic after my week at my folks’ home down on the farm.

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek-at-gmail-dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309   and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: The Jesus Geeks (Now Twisted Geeks!)and What The Cast

This adorable astronaut-in-training is the offspring of the talented @ageekmom on Twitter! If you want to go to a NASA Tweetup, let her know! And don’t forget to check out NASA’s Kids Club website for cool info about all of their programs for kids!

In this episode, we tell you our soap-making adventure, inspired by  Geeky Clean, and recommend this as a great easy craft! Here are some pictures of our starting kit and our lovely results! The kids had a blast, and can’t wait to do it again!

Next, we have a voicemail from Mark with the Tickle Me Plant Company, presenting his great product for kids and plant lovers of all ages. I am familiar with these plants, and think that they are very cool and interesting, especially for kids!  Then, Doug from Alaska calls in to tell us what he thinks kids are good for, and I agree!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309   and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: Dragon Page Cover to Cover and Podculture

Hi everyone! This time, I have a whole lot of great voicemails from Gary and Tim about a lot of recent topics. Gary tells us about his gardening experience with his kids, bemoans the popularity of SillyBands, and calls me out on using the kids as an excuse to collect American Girls stuff and Galactic Heroes figures.  Then I compliment Darcy on the great batch of stuff she sent the kids for Amanda’s birthday, and let her know I swiped the Girl Genius comic (It won a HUGO!).

After that, Tim discusses what kids are really good for, and thanks Darcy for reminding him of his and Jenny’s first wedding anniversary (Congrats to you!). After I wistfully discuss the oil drilling disaster in the gulf, Tim lets us know of a great opportunity to catch Jacques Cousteau’s great documentary on the oceans, “Under the Sea,” on June 11.

Call or email me if you have any opinion on which video game franchises you think need a break, or just need to die. Wyatt has a rant on this subject that I am going to do a special episode on soon, and we would love your opinions!

Don’t forget – you have until June 1 to nominate your favorite podcasts for a Parsec Award! I’m not eligible, so I’m not asking for me – I’m asking for all those other great shows that you listen to and love!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309   and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: MilkCartonTV and The Parsec Awards

This week I present a couple of cool activities you can do with your kids – tye-dyed t-shirts made easy (see pictures for example and the dye used, SEI TumbleDye, which I got at Hobby Lobby ), and gardening in a pot or a spot! Then we have some voicemails from Gary about Legos and Tim about games and the Nintendo Power Glove. Finally, Wyatt calls in again to give us another Xbox Live update!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309  and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: The Parsec Awards and Podculture

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: The Chronic Rift and The Seeker Cast

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: Technorama and Slice of SciFi

Our family vacation this summer gave me the chance to do some really fun, geeky things with the family. Tim and Darcy report on some of the cool places that they went on their vacation. Check out some pictures here on Darcy’s blog. Also on this episode, I play a movie review of “Up” from Gary, and a comment about my interview with Tracy Hickman.

And don’t forget, our friend Doug is at sea on the JOIDES Resolution expedition, and is blogging and Twittering back his experiences as a science teacher witnessing lots of scientists studying the sea floor. Check out Doug’s blog!

Thanks for all the input, and keep it coming! And, if you have some time, I would appreciate a review on iTunes!

Don’t forget to check out the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast! We have a show coming up on Aug. 18 all about helium and the Sun!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter!

Promos: What the Cast?, Slice of Scifi and The Babylon Podcast

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Our family vacation last week gave me the chance to do some really fun, geeky things with the family, so I decided to tell you about what we did, and I found a link for more really cool places to go on vacation as well. Also, our friend Doug is at sea on the JOIDES Resolution expedition, and is blogging and Twittering back his experiences as a science teacher witnessing lots of scientists studying the sea floor.

Magiquest

Tuckaleechee Caverns

100 Geeky Places to Take Your Kids This Summer | GeekDad | Wired.com

Doug’s blog from the JOIDES Resolution Expedition

Doug’s Twitter

Thanks for all the input, and keep it coming! And, if you have some time, I would appreciate a review on iTunes!

Don’t forget to check out the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter!

Promos: Great Hites and Carology

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

You can also make little fairy houses inside to play with more permenantly, using shoe boxes, cardboard or other recycled supplies, and decorate it with construction paper. You could even make little fairies out of clay or yarn to live in them. Just be sure to keep these kind inside, and only use the ones you make out of the natural materials outside, so it won’t litter.

Here is a link to more info, but use your imagination to create your own!

What is a Fairy House?

Today I give 5 suggestions of things to spend time doing over the summer – swimming, visiting playgrounds, cooking, watching movies, and going to the library! We also have voicemails from Darcy’s Dad Tim, and Tim C. from the Babylon Podcast – with book and movie reviews for the summer!

The new downloadable Popcap game, Plants vs. Zombies continues to rock! This game is well worth the $10 price, as it is cute, entertaining, addictive, and offers many variations to make it replayable for a very long time.

Also, Kevin Cumming’s son Evan has also written and is producing an audio drama, The Airship Diaries, and I encourage you all to check it out. Kevin is a proud dad, and Evan’s work sounds great!

Thanks for all the input, and keep it coming! And, if you have some time, I would appreciate a review on iTunes! And if you appreciate this show and other great Farpoint Media shows, please visit my website and contribute to the campaign to help Farpoint Media!

Don’t forget to check out the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek – at-gmail -dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums.And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter!

Bumpers: Paul and Storm

Promos:  The Parsec Awards and What the Cast!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton