Hail Atlantis

WE HAVE LIFTOFF: Our morning started with another pre-dawn alarm. This time it was 5 a.m. By 5:30, we were on the road to our rendezvous point with our tour bus to the Kennedy Space Center.

We were on the bus by 6:30 or so, and had to wait and wait (the theme for the day) and then wait some more. We arrived at the Kennedy Space Center about 8 a.m. where we waited in a long line to get in. We perused the place for a ridiculously short 1.25 hours.

We did get to see some stuff, of course, including a retired shuttle up-close-and-personal, and some old school Gemini modules. We also made our way through the uber cool Rocket Garden.
> Too soon, it was time to get in line for the bus out to the Causeway, our launch viewpoint. That was a mega wait - first in a line about a mile long (no lie) and then once we got on the bus, we had to wait for all the lame people who can't follow directions to finally make their way to the bus.

Oh, and speaking of people who can't follow directions, our bus driver got LOST on the way to the Causeway. Now let me ask you this - if you were driving a chartered bus full of people who had paid dearly and traveled from round the world (there were Aussies and Europeans on our bus), do you think you might break out a map to make sure you knew where you were going? Well sure you would - but our driver didn't. Sigh.
The good news is, that because the driver was so flipping lost, she took us where she wasn't supposed to, including very close to the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building, where the space shuttle is stood up on end and attached to its rockets. Cool!

Eventually we arrived at the Causeway about three hours before launch time. We set up camp and the Big Wait was on. The first 2.5 hours dragged by (although one welcome diversion was a dolphin that swam up to near our campsite and played around in the water in front of us for awhile). We were able to hear updates from the NASA audio feed and knew that things were progressing smoothly. We had no reason to think the launch would be scrubbed.

Finally, at about 2:10, a built in hold in the countdown was completed and the 9-minute countdown began. The crowd started buzzing electric! The last five minutes seemed to fly by in a couple of heartbeats. The crowd chanted down the last 10 seconds and then magic happened.

It's impossible to describe the sight of a shuttle launching. The initial billowing clouds reminded me of Mt. St. Helens blowing her top. These clouds didn't float - they were forced, just like a volcanic explosion. Soon, the rocket fire began burning and it was every bit as bright as the sun. I can't IMAGINE sitting in a vehicle riding that explosion. Those astronauts are 99.9 brave and .1 percent downright crazy.

It's low resolution and NASA.gov has better footage, but here's what we saw ...

The happy family smiling in the aftermath as the exhaust trail began to dissipate.
After another Huge Really Bad Long Wait on a 90 degree bus in bumper to bumper traffic for two plus hours, we headed back to our Cocoa Beach motel and within 5 minutes were out the door to frolic in the Atlantic.

I have soooo many more photos, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sunshine State

SKETCHY START: The day got off to a rather horrific start. We arrived at SeaTac airport and went through security without incident, but as we approached our gate, it became clear that something was up. There was one harried gate attendant, a not-moving line of people at the boarding desk and the seats around the gate were oddly empty for a place where a plane should be departing within 30 minutes.

We quickly came to find out that there would be no 6:05 American Airlines flight from gate 39. Our flight had been canceled due to some mechanical failure. Not good, especially since it was the first leg of the trip and we had a plane to catch in Dallas at 2:15 their time.

Really not good.

We were able to get four seats on an Alaska Airlines flight leaving at 7:05 for Dallas, which should give us enough time to hit our flight to Orlando.

I won't rehash all of the details of rushing through airports like a scene out of "Home Alone," but suffice it to say, it wasn't a relaxing day.

The good news is we did make it to Orlando and we're sitting in our hotel room, very ready for bed and wondering what tomorrow holds in store for us. ... I checked NASA's Web site and all systems are still go, still a forecast of 70 percent good to go weather.

Right before bed, the kids took a dip in the pool. Annabelle was in heaven. :)

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.

The Countdown's On!

WORD UP: This morning first thing on the docket was the First Annual "Word Girl Definition Competition." ("Word Girl" is a PBS show with an emphasis on vocabulary.) We've been building up to this competition for a couple of weeks now, studying special Word Girl worksheets and looking up the meanings of words. As we waited at the computer for the clock to strike 10 a.m., the kids were both excited and nervous.

Presented by Scholastic, the competition's format was a live Web cast out of New York. There were four contestants (about 9 years old, I'd guess) and an emcee. Interpersed were animated clips of Word Girl and her sidekick, Captain Huggyface (a chimpanzee).

There were three rounds of questions relating to word definitions, and then a bonus round (antonyms). The kids took it very seriously. The event had their full attention and they answered every question right. I think they are pretty certain they'll be receiving some sort of trophy from the competition HQ.

At the end of the event they did a celebratory dance to the "Word Girl" theme.

ROBOT MASTERS: After the competition, the kids were still in Word Girl mode, so I let them play around on the "Word Girl" Web site. They chose to play "Tobey's Robot Workshop."

CJ's robot had a bit of Wild West influence. All three heads were wearing cowboy hats and its body had on a brown vest.

I asked each of them to write three sentences about their robots. CJ wrote, 'My robot power is descueing (destroying). My robot has six arms. My robot has four lags."

Annabelle's three-headed robot had an angry Carmen Miranda look going. "My robot has a funny power. Its funny power is huging. My robot is goldin My robot is relly big."

VITAMIN D: Our outside time today was spent in the yard. I really wanted to get it a close crop mow before we leave. So while I was mowing and weed eating, the kids ran about the property for a good hour.

DOWN SOUTH: Tuesday means yoga. After the kids' session we went across the street with a friend from class and the kids had a cookie to celebrate our upcoming trip. Speaking of which ...

ON THE CLOCK: Today at 4 p.m. our time, the official countdown clock for shuttle misison STS-132 got underway. Yeehaw!

According to a NASA press release today, "Teams at the Kennedy Space Center and at other centers around the country have been working very hard to get this vehicle ready to fly, and I am happy to report everything is going quite well at [Launch Pad 39A]," NASA Test Director Steve Payne said Tuesday morning. "Atlantis, crew and launch team are ready to go and looking forward to a beautiful launch Friday afternoon."
Image above: Members of the STS-132 launch team take their stations in Firing Room 4 for the start of the STS-132 launch countdown. From left are United Space Alliance Orbiter Test Conductors Lauren Sally and Scott Kraftchick and NASA Test Directors William Heidtman and Jeffrey Skaja. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

Squid and Bridges

Photo: Rare giant squid captured off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico by NOAA scientists in 2009. It's only the second giant squid on record having been obtained from the Gulf of Mexico (the first was in 1954).

DECAPODS - While watching SpongeBob Squarepants this morning, CJ got to wondering how many tentacles a squid has.

I started to tell him '10' but thought I'd better make sure before pronouncing it as fact. Turns out squid only have two true tentacles, plus eight arms. The tentacles are longer than the arms, and they're used for grasping prey and pulling it toward the squid's mouth.

(However, because nothing is ever simple, there is also a group of squid - the bigfins - which has ten very long, thin arms of equal length and no tentacles.)

INNER WORKINGS: Eager to learn as much as we can about the Space Shuttle before we head for Kennedy Space Center later this week (THIS WEEK!), we took advantage of a series of "How Things Work" videos on the NASA Web site.

We watched short videos about the shuttle's external tanks, its booster rockets, the
the environmental systems onboard the orbiter and its thermal protection system. One thing I learned today is that the people at NASA call it "the orbiter" when referencing the white vehicle the astronauts ride in. It's called "the shuttle" when speaking of the entire set up (the orbiter, its rocket boosters, the external fuel tank, etc.).

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: Today, in the vastness of NASA's Web site, I found some games I hadn't seen before. One group featured the popular Buzz Lightyear, who apparently completed a 15-month mission on the International Space Station a couple years back.

The first of five games required the kids to use some math (yay!). They had to fill a rocket's payload area to the weight specified by combining individual items of varying shapes.

Mission 4 was cool -it required the kids to come up with the correct sequence of movements to use a robotic arm to connect the Kibo module to the International Space Station (ISS).

Mission 5 was interesting. It was all about how different toys (a yo-yo, basketball, jump rope and more) "behave" in space. Actual footage of astronauts playing with the toys in space was used to illustrate.

For our last mission we had to help assemble the ISS (a process that real astronauts began in 1998). When the ISS construction is complete (projected to happen in 2015), it will be the third brightest object in the sky (behind only the moon and the sun). It will weigh about 925,000 pounds and be as long and wide as a football field - including the end zones. The ISS is the result of a cooperative effort of people from 15 nations.

TRAIL BLAZING: Today we finally explored a path we have been meaning to check out for months and months now.

We parked at West Ewing Mini Park (I can't recall ever having been to a "mini" park before). It's on the Lake Washington ship canal, between the Fremont and Ballard bridges. From there, we headed east, along the waterfront. We practically had the (nice, wide, flat, paved) South Ship Canal Path to ourselves (save for a few mallards and Canada geese). The stretch along the ship canal was peaceful and verdant.

Before long, we found ourselves standing at the footings for the Fremont Bridge. CJ noticed the structure's Roman numeral "birthdate" right away.

East some more and soon we were underneath the dramatic arches of the Aurora Bridge.

Pedaling onward, we reached Lake Washington and its charming houseboats.

On the way back westward, I spied Google's Seattle HQ across the canal. Can you spot 'em? (You can click on the photo to get a larger version.)

All in all, this new-to-us trail was yet another fantastic find, and it's five minutes from home. We're spoiled.

ON THE MOVE: Overnight our Painted Lady butterfly larvae finished their transformations to chrysalides. This morning, the five of them were hanging out on the lid of their little plastic cup.

Per instructions (which the kids read carefully), that meant it was time to move them to their big butterfly hatching habitat.

They're supposed to hatch within a week. I'm guessing they're going to be butterflies by the time we return from Florida.

AT THE CENTER: According to an email I got from NASA this evening, "The six astronauts for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission to the International Space Station now are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their pre-launch preparations. The crew arrived at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility in four T-38 jets at 6:49 p.m. EDT. STS-138 Commander Ken Ham made a brief statement to media who were gathered at the SLF for the arrival, and then he and his crew departed the shuttle runway."

Tomorrow Ham and pilot Tony Antonelli will practice shuttle landings in Shuttle Training Aircraft, which are modified Gulfstream II jets.

The official countdown clock for Atlantis' Friday launch begins Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Cool!