Magnolia Preparatory Academy

FUTURE FLIGHT: This afternoon the kids and I watched (over and over) a gorgeous animation of the Orion spacecraft orbiting Earth, re-entering the atmosphere and landing. NASA hopes to conduct this type of test in 2014.

I walked around a model of an Orion capsule in the middle of the food court at the Kennedy Space Center's Visitors Center. It was a favorite perching spot for some very mouthy birds looking for tourists' cast offs. When sizing it up, I couldn't help but notice it's considerably bigger than the old Apollo and Mercury capsules, both of which are remarkably close quarters. For example, here's an Apollo 14 capsule on display in the Saturn V building at KSC.

The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is targeted to be the next spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts to outer space. We've watched one of its splashdown test on Novermber 9, and are looking forward to following future tests.

CLASSY: This morning the kids had music class. It sounds like it turned into a bit of a mosh pit. Annabelle reports that one kid accidentally fell on her and another one was being squirrely and ran into her at full speed. Who knew music could be dangerous? Fortunately, she bounced back.

Tonight, CJ asked me if I'd rather have peas porridge hot, cold or in a pot nine days old. I told him "none of the above." One of the songs they worked on today in class

CONSUMABLE: In Annabelle's art class, they often repurpose or "upcycle" materials creatively. Yesterday, she used some cardboard and plastic castoffs to craft a creature named Pig Borg. She pointed out that his body is made from the box for a countertop compost bin. I told her I thought that was perfect, as pigs are often repositories for food scraps, just like a compost bin.

CURIOSITY COMIC: One of the neat-o takeaways I got during the Mars Science Laboratory Tweetup in Florida last week was this limited edition (only 250!) comic book called "The Amazing Adventures of Astrobiobot." I had Bill Nye the Science Guy autograph my copy, because I knew the kids would love the comic and they love Bill Nye.

We finally got around to sitting down and reading the comic and the kids LOVED it. It was put together using a series of comics first published on Astrobiology Magazine's Web site: www.astrobio.net. You can check out the story here at "AstrobioBot: The Story Begins."

MERRY CHRISTMOOSE: The Mariners released their game start times for the 2012 season today. As I was perusing their Web site, dreaming of the baseball season, I noticed a link to some cute holiday themed sheets featuring the Mariners Moose. There were , and interestingly, each kid independently chose the same one - the Moose with lights on his antlers. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the same pic they each chose last year to color.

HE AIN'T HEAVY: This afternoon, CJ and Annabelle were chaperoned to their LEGO class by big bro Kennedy, while I stayed behind to help K's girlfriend drape a rather largish cake in fondant. It's obvious they enjoyed this alternative transportation arrangement. After they got home, CJ said to Ken, "You are the best big brother a person could ever have." Sweet. :)

BEDTIME STORY: At CJ's urging, he and Annabelle are watching an episode of Vanguard titled "Sex, Lies & Cigarettes." It's about how tobacco companies are seeking out new markets in countries like Indonesia since the U.S. market isn't as fertile as it used to be. The kids were horrified by the footage of kids their age chain smoking. In Indonesia, there is no minimum age for people to buy cigarettes. Maybe you saw the "smoking baby" video a couple of years ago, featuring a two-year-old Indonesian boy. Sad.