Atlantis Returns

SAFE AT HOME: While most of the West Coast was sleeping (myself included, I'll admit), space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, touching down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Aboard were the six astronauts who were ending a 12-day journey of more than 4.8 million miles on this maiden voyage.

"They probably had their breakfast on their way down," said Annabelle (presumably because of the morning landing). She thinks they had waffles, "Because they're light," and she knows from our studies that payload weight is really important in space travel. :)

I cued up the video of it landing and played it for the kids. "Twenty-five years, 32 flights and more than 120 million miles traveled. The legacy of Atlantis now in the history books," Mission Control's commentator announced at touchdown.

While this marks the end of Atlantis' scheduled missions, I did learn today that the shuttle will be loaded with rocket boosters and will be on standby. Per NASA, "Later today, Atlantis will be towed from the runway to its processing facility. It will go through the normal flow of prelaunch preparations in order to serve as the "launch-on-need" vehicle for Endeavour's STS-134 mission, the last scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle Program. That flight currently is targeted for November."

I can't help but think about returning to KSC in November. ...

FALLOUT: Before 9 a.m. this morning Annabelle implored me to look at her loose tooth. It was practically falling out of her mouth. She was PETRIFIED at the thought of me yanking it out. I told her I would be doing no such thing, that I was simply going to pick it up off her lip, so she didn't swallow it. She was OK with that. :)

The Tooth Fairy will be coming to our house tonight.
Naturally, Annabelle has taken some time today to get used to the hole in her grin. Early on, she dragged a stool into the bathroom to take a good long gawk in the mirror above the sink. "My smile looks different," she concluded. At lunch she asked, "Can I eat a hot dog with my tooth missing?" Yes, you can. No worries."Do you think I'll be able to eat dinner with my tooth out?" she fretted.

For a couple of hours, Bee was talking kinda funny, too - a bit tight jawed. By this evening her voice was back to normal. And yes, she did manage to eat dinner. ; )

CATAPULTING: Last Saturday the kids participated in a Lowe's Build and Grow workshop. The project was building catapults. (An aside - CJ's hammering technique improved dramatically as compared to the last time we did a Lowe's project. He started out miserably again this go-round, but when I suggested that instead of tapping the nail with a hammer, he pretend he was a caveman and club it. Worked like a charm!)

Today, we finally got around to experimenting with their catapults. They came with ping pong like balls. Before we started launching, I asked the kids how far they thought the ball would fly. We did a couple of initial flights and I asked the kids to mark their touchdown spots with coins each time. We talked about things that affected the flight of the ball and the distance it went, like how many fingers they used to hold the launcher and how far back they pulled the launcher.

After several rounds with the ball, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast how far a different object would travel. Enter - and exit - the marshmallows. ...

CALENDAR GIRL: I spent about 45 minutes this morning going over the Seattle Public Library's recently-announced schedule of events for the Summer Reading Program. Last summer I took the kids to a few events (mostly magic shows) and they really dug it. On tap for this summer are puppet shows, paper airplanes, raptors, Chinese, Mexican and African music and lots more. And all of the programs are free! (Yeah, I know, we pay for them via our tax dollars, but still, it's a great deal.)

WE'RE NUMBER ONE (AND TWO): A CNBC report this morning says the Evergreen State lives up to its name. Washington is the number one state when it comes to recycling.

(In case you were wondering - I was and researched it - CNBC's story is based on the findings of an outfit called Greenopia, which bills itself as "Experts on Green Living". In their About Us, it says "We set out to create a directory of eco-friendly retailers, services, and organizations and conducted extensive research on those we listed in the guide. This guide is not a paid directory; companies cannot pay to be included and all listees are included because they met our strict standards of eco-friendliness. They have already been screened for their sustainability in the product or service arena and are now being compared with 'the best of the best'.")

In other news, Editors of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine list Seattle as the second best city to live in for the upcoming decade. Why? "They Rain City? We'd say Brain City. Home to a well-educated workforce, a world-class research university, über innovators Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, and a host of risk-taking, garage-tinkering entrepreneurs, Seattle crackles with creative energy," said the story. "Seattle is revising its tax, zoning and permit policies to make them more business-friendly. Meanwhile, this sophisticated Pacific Rim city has other qualities to recommend it, including great food, a glorious setting, an outdoorsy culture, and, yes, enough rain to keep the locals' complexions looking dewy." Aw shucks. ;)

(In case you're wondering, Austin, TX, got the top spot - being dubbed the "best crucible for small business, offering a dozen community programs that form a neural network of business brainpower to help entrepreneurs.")