Testing 1, 2, 3

HAMMER TIME: This afternoon, CJ and Annabelle took on a monumental construction project. They built the Space Needle!

No, not the original, but a neat-o LEGO kit sent to us by a fellow space fan. Somewhat ironically in a geographic sense, she (who lives in Pennsylvania) got it for us across the country, in Washington DC at NASA headquarters. Long way for the Space Needle to travel, considering it's about 2 miles from our house. :)

The kids put the kit together quickly. I can tell their weekly LEGO class has helped them read and follow directions much more quickly than they used to.

While they were building, I figured the kids needed some construction music. I cued up some old P, P & M. Music to the ears. :)


BEANSTALK: Among (many!) other things, we planted green beans a couple of weeks ago. Seemingly overnight, they've burst onto the scene!

HANGING OUT: Long day on this end. We left home during rush hour this a.m. to make our way to Shoreline. CJ was due to take the Measurement of Student Progress test for the first time. (It's an annual thing we Washingtonians do for students in grades 3-8).

We got to the testing site plenty early so I had CJ get his adrenaline going by running around outside for awhile. At 9:30 I walked CJ to his testing room and wished him luck. We found out that the reading test would be this morning, followed by math in the afternoon.

While CJ tested, Annabelle and I hung out.

Most of our time was spent waiting in the school library, where we got a number of things done. Annabelle handcrafted a couple of Mother's Day cards (not pictured here so no surprises are ruined), and I got caught up on some reading and calendaring (is that a word). I had a backlog of NASA-related webinars and such I wanted to get written down before the dates passed.

If you're at all curious about NASA's fabulous webinars, check out their Web site here:

http://neon.psu.edu/webinars/

CJ did get a one-hour break for lunch. When I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch, I was meaning the question to be, as in what type of food. They took it to mean McDonald's. Doh! Oh well, I figured Big Test Day was a special event, so I caved. 

CJ ordered chicken nuggets and at the counter I asked for honey mustard sauce. CJ is a super picky eater and to date he's been a strictly ketchup guy. After one tiny dip in the honey mustard, he declared, "I have a new favorite continent!" 

That's right, the "continent" of Honey Mustard. 

MEANWHILE, TOWARD MARS: Did you realize that there are less than 100 days left until Curiosity reaches Mars?! It's still on target for an August 6 landing.

In this artist's rendition (courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech), the rover is touching down onto the surface, suspended on a bridle beneath the spacecraft's descent stage (at the top of the picture). The stage at the top controls the rover's rate of descent with four of its eight throttle-controllable rocket engines.

Three nylon tethers attach the rover to the stage, as does an umbilical providing a power and communication connection. When touchdown is detected, the bridle will be cut at the rover end, and the descent stage flies off to stay clear of the landing site.

The latest info on the mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.