Good Times

SATURN DAY: On Saturday, we headed down to The Museum of Flight to get in on their Family Fun Workshop, where the kids had a chance to make Saturn V rocket replicas.

The Museum supplied all the materials: corrugated cardboard to build each of three stages of the rocket, card stock for the nosecone and tail fins, markers to pretty it up, and tape to hold it all together. (I'm pretty sure Scotch tape wasn't used to hold the original Saturn V together.)

They worked methodically, and were proud of their finished products.

When we arrived at the museum, we found out that there would be a special Black History Month presentation that afternoon, with the guest of honor being Dr. Bernard Harris Jr., the first African American space walker. We got there at 11 a.m. and his talk wasn't until 2 p.m., but we didn't have trouble finding ways to kill the time in between.

For instance, CJ and Annabelle each got some practice docking with the Hubble Space Telescope in a simulator.

They also logged some time virtually piloting old fashioned bi planes.

And every time we go to the museum, we discover something we haven't seen before. Like here, Annabelle learns about WWII German flight formations.

And they checked out a couple of real cockpits.

At 2 p.m. we made our way to the auditorium and listened to a thoroughly entertaining and inspiring talk by Dr. Harris.

He had some great messages, especially for the youngsters in the audience. One was "You are an infinite being with infinite possibilities." The other (my personal favorite) was, "Do not let the fool next to you destroy your dreams."

Saturday was also Michael P. Anderson Memorial Day at The Museum of Flight. Though Anderson was born in N.Y., he called Spokane, WA, his hometown. He went to Cheney High School, and attended the University of Washington here in Seattle, where he earned bachelors degrees in physics and astronomy.

He rode aboard Endeavour for STS-89, a mission where the shuttle docked with MIR. STS-107 (Columbia) was his second - and tragically his final - shuttle mission.

There is a gorgeous statue of Anderson at the Museum. (In the background, you can see the old red barn, where Boeing got its start.)

Saturday was a wonderful day, and hundreds of people were there to honor the fallen hero and to hear Dr. Harris speak.

SUNNY MONDAY: We did some writing and math this morning, but the bulk of our afternoon was spent outdoors. We parked near the east end of the Magnolia bridge and, for the first time, walked the waterfront trail to downtown Seattle.  I don't know why we've waited 5 years to make this journey, but it was worth the wait!

I'm mostly going to let the photos do the talking. It was a nearly 4-mile round trip and we enjoyed every step (or scoot, in the kids' case).  Here's one of our first turns.

The rock the kids are standing on here is part of an art installation. And yes, they *were* singing the "Rocky" theme while standing triumphantly atop it.

The photo above has a ferry, a grain elevator, an ocean going vessel, a part of Century Link Field, Mt. Rainier, the port, and Elliott Bay. Not a bad panorama.

The cool graphic above can be found at the King County Water Treatment facility along the bay.

We saw a wild looking net setup and wondered what it was all about. Fortunately, there was a sign to tell us!

We encountered a towering totem pole ...

Luckily, there was a sign telling all about it, too.

Another great view - this one includes the public fishing pier at Myrtle Edwards Park. It's open 24 hours a day.

CJ and Annabelle did some "wishing" instead of fishing today.

Here's Annabelle whizzing past two Seattle landmarks.

Yay! We made it to the Olympic Sculpture Park!

OH, AND BY THE WAY: We made some Mars cookies today, complete with sugary polar caps.