Space Camp day 5

Space Camp

 Bub called this morning all excited because he gets to buy a rocket to bring home and build and shoot off!  He is full of happy news every time we talk to him.

He also says, "love you mom" every time.  Which is sooo sweet.

Message from the teacher:

Astronaut Wednesday

We had a chilly start to our day today, but the kids are troopers and bundled up to face the day.  We had a rare opportunity today one of which has never happened in all the years we have been coming to Space Camp.  Our group was asked to attend a briefing at Marshall Space Flight Center by Commander Chris Cassidy, who returned from the ISS in September.  He discussed what made him decide to become an astronaut, his raining, and his missions.  Following the presentation, we took a brief bus tour of Marshall.

Today we had one group of kids experience what it is like to walk on the moon using the 1/6th chair.  The other two groups had the opportunity to see what it is like to move through space using an MMU.  Students received a new mission today and id a dry run.  The will complete it tomorrow.  A few teams braved the cold temperatures and launched the rockets they madeyesterday.  The kids also looked at shuttle history and completed their Mars presentations.

 Blurry pictures of him moon walking.  I wonder if he'll be an astronaut now? I'm also happy to see him wearing pant instead of shorts like yesterday :)

one more snowy day

We woke up to a snow covered ground, which meant of course that we didn't have school.  The girls were thrilled.  We spent the day doing a lot of nothing really special but of course it was special because we had the little pumpkins here, and Dani here.

We walked the dogs, did some crafts, Dani made some delicious Thai soup, did some laundry, laid on Hannah's bed reading books, played horses, played with baby dolls, had a dance off, painted, built a snowman, sledded and now we are watching a movie.  I love having these girls here.  It is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup

1 1/2 lbs chicken

cilantro

1 T ginger

1 onion

1 cup frozen peas

2 T red curry paste

2T fish sauce

1T lime juice

2t peanut butter

2 T brown sugar

put in crock pot and cook until done, serve over white rice in a bowl.  Yummy!

Space Camp

bonus day

Hannah and Penny ready to go to lunch

School was cancelled today because of "snow".  The girls were happy for an extra day to play with the little girls.  I would have liked them to go to school because our little Miss Sarsaparilla is having a hard time being jealous of the grands and it's been trying.

So we slept in, then picked up a little and then went to lunch at the Great Wall.

When we came home Miss PJ got a nice nap and we watched a movie and made some projects.  We read the Giving Tree then made a tree with thumb print leaves and pointer finger apples, then read via a you tube video, Papa Please get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle.  I couldn't find my copy :( but luckily Grace had the good idea to look on line and we found a teacher reading it on you tube so there you go. Painting and putting yourself into art is always a good time.

Tonight we are having Cincinnati chili and putting children to bed.

art projects

Cadet training day 1

It's super strange to me how even though we have a house full of people we still miss the one that's gone.  One thing I am really glad of is the pictures and updates we are getting from Ethan's teachers.  It's so nice to know what he's doing and to see the great time he is having.  Also he has been calling for  just a minute each night to check in and he is having such a great time.  I was very surprised to hear him say how much he liked the simulators.  He hates carnival rides and roller coasters so I thought he would hate them as well.  He said he "loved them!"  His teams mission is on the space station group, he was happy with the assignment.

from the program guide; "During the five-night program, trainees participate in two 1-hour simulated shuttle missions. Students in mission control will monitor the progress and safety of the mission, those in the shuttle will successfully launch and land the spacecraft, and those in the space station will conduct science experiments while learning basic scientific principles."

We had a beautiful day for all the teams to get to ride all of the outside simulators including Space Shot and G-Force.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get photos from all of the teams but the ones that are there are pretty good.  The rest of the week looks like it will be getting colder so it was good to get those in today.  The teams also rode on the infamous M.A.T.s!!!   

Mission trainings were also completed by all teams and the kids seemed really excited about their positions.  We did one of two of the IMAX movies, hit the gift shop, learned about the early missions of Mercury and Gemini and finally a lesson on how to find and identify constellations.

Nifty Nine!

Today is Grace's actual birthday.  To celebrate Dad took the day off of work and we went on a field trip.  I had one thing in mind but Lu wanted to do something different so we went with her plan.  We went to the National Aquarium, which we love and then she chose to go out to eat at PotBelly, her 2nd favorite restaurant.  Subway being her first favorite.

Grandpa and Penn

the birthday girl with her daddy and her niecey

Hannah playing the pipes at a cute little park right by the water

Nine things about my Nifty, neat and nice nine year old baby girl!

1. Grace loves all animals.  We spent a long time talking to the dolphin trainer and while Lu wants to be a vet I think she was very interested in all she was being told.

2. Grace is an excellent student with a keen mind for math and science.

3. Grace is musical and can pick out songs on many different instruments.

4. Grace has a good sense of humor.

5. Grace likes to be busy and thrives on having lots of activities.

6. Grace likes electronics.

7.  She loves girl scouts and activity days.

8.  She likes to swim and boat and fish.

9. Lu and I like to read out loud together each night before bed.

I am grateful for my sweet girl!