When it came time for science experiments (or anything involving math), most of our dads were useless. But here’s one dad who didn’t just create a science experiment with his kid, he started a space program.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

It’s easy to go insane when you’re logging some serious hours in a car with a four month old strapped in the back seat. The traffic. The screaming. The crying. And then there’s the baby. Since my kid is too young for SpongeBob DVDs (thank god), we had to turn to another resource, my iPhone.

Mid-meltdown on the drive back to NYC, we realized we had a visual pacifier in our hands the whole time: the Bloom app by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. Try it out next time your little one can’t be consoled. Use his fingers to tap the screen on “Create” mode, or just hit “Play” and watch them be mesmerized. It makes the miles fly by.

by contributor Rob Curtis

My father, Skip Curtis, passed away four weeks ago at the age of 64 due to the ravaging effects of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. He had dedicated his last 4-5 years to numerous studies at Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Research Center to help any way he could so millions of others won’t have to face this disease.

In remembrance, and in honor of him, I’m proud to announce our upcoming “Hike to Remember” in support of all those that have lost someone to Alzheimer’s Disease. My twin brother Jamie and myself are set to hike the 51 miles of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway starting on Saturday, October 9th.

If there is not a cure within 5 years the number of people affected will rise from 5 million to 15 million. This hike is not only in memory of our Dad but to create further awareness of the disease and raise money for the Skip Curtis Fund at BU’s Alzheimer’s Research Center.

I will be blogging along the way at my site, BostonOutdoor, and hope you will follow us along our journey. Our friend Kristen will also be hiking with us and blogging for the SELF magazine fitness blog. We welcome anyone that would like to join us at any point during our hike.

We will also be giving a donation to the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail Club as a thank you for all their hard work in maintaining this little slice of paradise.

We have raised just shy of $5,000 so far and we are looking to double our efforts in fundraising this week!

Donations can be made the following ways (be sure to mention Skip Curtis Fund when donating):

Thank you in advance to those that have already donated and to those that plan on contributing to our efforts.

First, a disclaimer: Band of Fathers does not purport to offer medical advice, so if your kid sticks something up her nose you should follow your instincts and do what’s right for the little one. But after a visit to the ER Friday evening (my two-year-old stuck a pomegranate seed up her nose), I wish I’d known the following before I went in.

If your kid sticks something up his/her nose, don’t panic! Also, don’t try to suck it out (e.g. with a turkey baster, nasal suction thingy, your own mouth, vacuum cleaner–my wife and I tried only one of the aforementioned). But do try to blow it out.

After a two-hour wait in the ER, the affable young doctor/intern recommended this the second he walked in and it worked in under a minute. First, don’t bother trying to calm the baby. She’s gonna freak out anyway. Make sure she’s sitting up (so that whatever you blow out can’t fall back in). Second, pinch the unobstructed nostril. Third, form a seal on the baby’s mouth and blow until you can hear air coming out of the blocked passage. Voila! The pomegranate seed came right out!

After we got home we found several similar articles on the Web, which means that we just didn’t Google properly before we went into the ER. I hope this little piece of advice saves you a trip.

What ‘medical home remedies’ have you discovered the hard way?