Moon Missions & Pumpkin Patches

PRICELESS PHOTO: Above, CJ and Annabelle are pictured with Al Worden, one of just 24 humans who have flown to the moon. We attended a presentation of his at The Museum of Flight on Saturday. It was a standing room only crowd in their theater. Nothing like a moon traveler to get people's attention!Worden was a wonderful storyteller. He basically took us blow by blow from lift off of Apollo 15 (his moon mission) through splash down and the Navy SEALS plucking him out of the Pacific. AMAZING stuff. What a treat to hear a living legend share his stories like that. I took lots of notes during his talk, which I'll transcribe at a later date, but here are a few fast facts:

-It took TWELVE seconds for their rocket to clear the tower (that's forever compared to most launches I've watched). It was the heaviest launch ever (and still is). So instead of the thrown back in the seats with an elephant on your chest sensation you usually hear about for lift off, Worden's experience was QUITE different. He said it was like being at a red light, having it turn green, taking your foot off the brake and NOT stepping on the gas!
- Yes, he drank Tang. He hated it and says he hasn't had it since.
- He didn't get along with one of the two other astrodudes on his mission. He said in the end, it was a positive result for the mission, as they were constantly trying to outperform one another.
- One of their three chutes was destroyed during descent - basically dissolved by toxic fuel being jettisoned as they descended. Fortunately, their capsule was actually designed to land with two chutes, with the third just being an extra one for safety's sake.
- Worden was fired from NASA just nine months after his mission. It's a long story, which he tells in "Falling to Earth," his new book. He was exonorated years later, but it clearly still stings like crazy.
- He was greeted and treated like a hero at The Museum of Flight.

Before the even presentation started, I asked CJ and Annabelle to look around the auditorium. I pointed out to them that they were two of just 5 or so kids in the audience. Most people were my age and older. I told them that they were SO lucky to have the opportunity to hear the stories of a man who has flown to the moon, as those astronauts are so few in number and will only shrink with every passing year. And I'm happy to report, CJ and Annabelle were awesome little audience members. In fact, three times during the talk CJ leaned over and said to me, "This is really interesting." :)

While we waited in line to get a book autographed, the kids enjoyed some freeze-dried, astronaut style ice cream.Afterward, when we got a chance to visit with Worden, he was nice as could be. We're so lucky to have been in a time and place to get to meet him!

Naturally, while we were at The Museum of Flight, we took some time to revisit some exhibits. I was THRILLED that CJ practically begged to go see the World War I exhibit. He really seems to dig this place - more than any museum/science center/zoo we've ever visited. In the WWI exhibit he was absolutely entranced with a multi-layered map showing Europe in the WWI era. He really wanted me to photograph each layer for posting to the blog, so here goes ...


ICING ON THE CUPCAKE: Sunday, we FINALLY finished Annabelle's custom "Vanilla Cupcake" cat hat. We made the arms/scarfs that attach to the sides of the head, as well as little pockets on the paws that serve as furry mittens. Naturally, Annabelle had to trick it out with some glittery pop poms, representing sprinkles on a cupcake. In order to get proper placement of the frills, Annabelle employed CJ as the model. I told him to pretend he was a "Project Runway" model, but he was nonplussed with the job. He found the hat itchy and too warm. Fortunately, he soldiered through.

THE GREAT PUMPKIN: Today we made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch. If we'd put full stock in the official weather forecasts for the day, we most certainly wouldn't have gone. They were all dire forecasts - 90 to 100 percent chance or rain, with some accumulations, perhaps even lightning or thunder. But when today dawned (grey, albeit), Christian and I looked out at the gray skies, sized them and some radar action up, and decided we'd take our chances. Good call on our parts. :)
We actually saw some blue skies while winding through the challenging and pretty corn maze, where the corn truly was as high as an elephant's eye! (Can you seeCJ?)

Above, the kids are at the entrance, eager but confident.
And here they are in a "Rocky" style celebration at the end. We did take a few wrong turns (four by my count), but for the most part it was a pretty successful navigation through the maze.
After the maze we visited the Kids Korral. There, CeeJ and Bee tried their hands at lassoing a 'cow.' They weren't good at it. Perhaps the pro rodeo circuit is not in their futures.

There was also a milking station the kids had fun with. There was also a bubble table. CJ spent more time there than Annabelle. He blew one bubble that went from his wand toward the farmhouse, made a 360 degree circuit around the yard, andwhen it got back to him, he popped it. :) After that it was on to a hay maze and a corn bin. I think the corn bin was the highlight of both kids' farm visit. They did snow (corn?) angels, dove in, swam, slid, you name it. It was sensory overload (in a good way).

We had to do the obligatory stand by the ruler pose ...In the Kids Korral, our two also REALLY dug the ducky races. They got to pump water to flood and flow rubber duckies down a gutter trough.

Of course, we visited the pumpkin patch, where we found a couple of cute pumpkins and a scary scarecrow. :)