After breakfast, we gathered 'round the kitchen island and I shared with them all the swag I brought back from the trip. We went over all of the stickers, flyers, coins, pins, patches, bookmarks, a bottle, a backpack, and more, and I shared the story of each keepsake with them.
The kids were especially excited by Curiosity rover-inspired comic books I had astronaut Doug Wheelock and Bill Nye the Science Guy sign for them.
From there, we hopped to the magical Internet, which allowed me to share a video of Bill Nye's 15-minute appearance at our Mars Science Laboratory NASA Tweetup. The woman who filmed it was sitting directly in front of me and we could hear my voice and laughter on the video several times. See how close I was to him?!
Perhaps not too surprisingly, Bill is extraordinarly enthusiastic about science and the space program, and he had important things to say about education and critical thinking in today's society. The video (link above) is worth a watch.
During his speech, he plugged The Planetary Society, the world's largest space-interest group, is dedicated to inspiring the public with the adventure and mystery of space exploration. Through our projects and publications, the Society plays a leading role in creating innovative coalitions to engage the public and fuel support for exploring other worlds. We make YOU a part of space exploration!
PROCESSING: I downloaded the photos from the Tweetup/Mars launch trip. Turns out a took, oh, around FIVE HUNDRED of them, all of which I'll post here!
Just kidding.
It's going to take me awhile to work through them, and I want to actually be able to say something germane about the ones that are keepers, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are a couple of shots that don't need much explanation.
Here's the Visitors Center at Kennedy Space Center's rocket garden, complete with palm trees and crescent moon ... Over the course of a 9 to 6 day, I spent approximately four hours just hanging out in the rocket garden during my trip to the Visitors Center.
And here's a pic from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. John Glenn's flight suit. Sweet!
IN OTHER NEWS: Today we FINALLY finished the Singapore 2B math book. That's about 2 months overdue, but cause for celebration, nonetheless. Next up: 3A. The kids are more than ready.
And CJ had his acting class this afternoon.
Oh, and we found out tonight the IRS lost our tax return for this year. That's swell, isn't it?
LOVE the Rocket Garden photo.
ReplyDeleteOh, did I see a copy of Tim Taylor's autograph board?