Florida Bound

CHECKING IN WITH KSC: You had to know that the very first thing I did this morning was hop on NASA's Web site to make sure the Atlantis STS-132 countdown clock was still clicking down - and it was! Hooray, no technical hitches overnight.

The kids enjoyed a few more "How Things Work" videos about the shuttle this a.m., including video about the launch processing system, payloads, and a really interesting one about how the rocket boosters are recovered at sea after they are spent and fall from the shuttle.

From there, they went on to the NASA Kids' Club page. First, they played the STS-132 memory game (matching photos of the crew of the Atlantis launch we'll be seeing). Next, they explored a feature called "Take Off." It featured a dodecahedron and on each of its planes was a picture of a NASA craft. When the kids selected a side, a photo of the vehicle would pop up, as would facts about it. There were some wild looking rides there, to be sure.

The activity spurred a Play-Doh session. The kids each made their own experimental aircraft. CJ's was the X-Zero. Piloted via remote control, "It flies without wings or a rocket booster," he explained. "It has been damaged by other planes. Other planes are jealous of it because he's the best plane."

Annabelle's plane was the NASA Super Plane. Pink, of course. At one point during its construct she said, "Ooops. I busted one of the solid rocket booster tips off." Let's hope that doesn't happen to the Space Shuttle Atlantis! "It can actually make a thin rocket booster out of its nosecone. Really," Annabelle says of her vehicle.

SHUTTLE GAME: Doing "the Google" for Space Shuttle worksheets, I discovered a new (to us) site - PlayKidsGames.com - that has some educational games. The one that drove us there was Space Shuttle Math. The kids could select addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or random (some combination thereof), as well as what level of difficulty they wanted (easy to hard). They each played that for about 20 minutes before it was time to take off. ...

SOLD: Via Thrifty Northwest Mom, I learned about a great discount for family membership to the Seattle Children's Museum. It's one of the many, many places we've been meaning to go, but still haven't made it to, and it's located so close to home. That being the case, I jumped on the $40 price (it's $75 usually). Since the children's museum is located at Seattle Center, right in the Center House, now when we're there for other reasons, we can pop into the Children's Museum, too.

I was a bit worried that the museum might be too primary age-focused (or 'babyish' as CJ would say) but on the museum's Web site I learned "The Museum and our educational staff provide a variety of programs for children ages 6 - 10 that augments the learning that happens in school or during homeschool programs. Science, Math, Arts, Culture, Literacy, and so much more is wrapped into purposeful play. Designing costumes, putting on plays, running science experiments, there's so much fun to be had!" Excellent!

The have a page for Six to Ten" programs and there I learned about their clubs, including the Young Inventors Club. According to their site, "YIC is an interactive, hands-on program for children ages 6 - 10 and their lab assistant (parent!). During the 45 minutes program, children will do experiments, learn about cause and effect, test their theories and more." That sounds fantastic. You can be sure we'll check that out in the future.

Through May 23, the children's museum has a "Build Your Imagination" exhibit celebrating Tinkertoy's 95th anniversary. I am ashamed to admit, CJ and Annabelle don't even know what Tinkertoys are. :/ Oh, the hours and hours I spent as a child playing with Tinkertoys. We need to remedy that situation, stat!

COURTING CONSUMERS : We went shopping today for last minute items for our trip. Our list was longish. Too longish, in fact (I really don't like shopping in bricks and mortar stores ...). We needed good sandals and sunglasses for each of the kids, practical-but-not-too-ugly walking shoes for me, compact beach umbrellas (for the Causeway/launch, where we'll basically be hanging out in a field in 90 degree heat for hours on end), some personal misting fans and a couple of kids snacks for the plane.

First stop, Fred Meyer in Greenwood, where we found some suitable, waterproof Nike sandals for each of the kids, as well as sunglasses for all three of us. Cool! But nothing else on our list there, so we were on to Target by Northgate. We picked up stuff NOT on our list there, but they didn't have any of the items we needed. Bummer. Down to Ross, hoping to score an umbrella. They didn't have one that would work, but they did have this "pocket sunshade" thing that looks like half a pup tent. Hopefully the NASA powers that be will allow it in (folding beach chairs and umbrellas are OK). From there it was over to Northgate shopping mall (insert the sound of me groaning loudly here). I hate malls. Yes, really. Hate. Them. (If you need proof, here's an anecdote. Last month I was doing a mystery shop at a mall and on our way there Annabelle asked me, "What's a mall?" because I've never taken her to one before. See, I hate them so much, you pretty much have to PAY ME to get me to go to one!)

But I caved and we went today. The first stop was the food court for the kids. It was nearly 2 p.m. and they hadn't had any snack/lunch since breakfast. They were aghast to find there was no burger joint in the court. They quickly rebounded, however, upon spying a Baskin-Robbins. Yes, that's right, CeeJ and Bee had ice cream for lunch. In my "defense," they were kid's-sized cones (about 160 calories each and 8 to 9 grams of fat according to the posted info), and I'm guessing that's significantly less than the amount of calories and fat in the typical fast food meal!

So I sat in the court antsy to get the hell out as CJ and Annabelle lingered over their cones. Have I ever mentioned that Annbelle is The Messiest Eater Ever? Seriously. She had ice cream on her forehead, in her hair, on both forearms and a full beard by the time she was done.

We ended our mall "experience" with a trip to Designer Shoe Warehouse, where, amidst approximately 24,000 pairs of shoes, I found one that would work.

HARVEST TIME: We needed to water our precious plantings before taking off for Florida. First, we hit the bean and pea patch. There, we found a nice big bean ready to be harvested. We let CJ do the honors.

After he picked it, I broke it in half for the kids and told 'em to eat it. I was pleasantly surprised when CJ took right to it. He smiled and said, "I like beans! They're delicious!" Hallelujah!

We also watered the blueberries, and planted the apple tree CJ started from an appleseed, as well as Annabelle's watermelon start.

PACK IT IN: Signing off now. Time to finish packing and to try to get a few zzzzs before we arise before 4 a.m. for our 6 a.m. flight.