Saturn's Rings

Grandma Johns got Mac a present for his birthday about the solar system. I knew as soon as I saw it that Mac would love it. It's sort of like a giant laptop looking thing with pictures of planets and lots of buttons. When you push a button, a planet will light up, and a very serious sounding man tells scientific facts about the planet - all of which seem way beyond the comprehension of a five-year-old.

Mac calls it his "planet computer," and he'll say, "I need to go do my planet work." Then he goes and pushes buttons and listens to the facts over and over again, making expressions on his face of wonder and amazement and saying things like, "Did you hear that?," and, "that sounds so dangerous!"...all the while having no clue what -200 degrees celsius or 50,000 light years means.

Today Mac found a fact that was hilarious and had us laughing all afternoon. We must have listened to it about 50 times.

If you didn't quite catch it, the man said, "Saturn has seven major rings. Most of which are composed of ice particles the size of fingernails and ice chunks the size of a butt."

Mac and Corrie both think the word "butt" is hilarious, but I have not been letting them use it. Instead, they must say "bottom." I have been good at keeping a serious, disciplinary face in the midst of some actually really funny times that the kids have said "butt," but I just could not hold back when I realized that the solar system man was actually saying that. 

A while ago Mac asked me when he would be old enough to say the word "butt," and I told him when he was 18. I never expected to make an exception to that rule to allow the kids to scientifically describe the size of the ice chunks in Saturn's rings! That is one fact about Saturn we will never forget!