Almost Summer

ALMOST SUMMER: Ever since we've lived in Seattle, a 'summer's coming' activity has always been heading to the International Fountain at Seattle Center to cool off on the year's first 'super' hot day. 

It was about 85 F today, and so we thought it time to hit the water.

The photo above doesn't show it, but the place was super crowded! There were multiple graduations going on at adjacent Key Arena, so hundreds of graduates and their families were standing by the fountain and the Space Needle back drop for photo opportunities. I told the kids to photobomb as many of them as possible. ;)

AMELIA'S CLUB: Friday night, Annabelle slept over at The Museum of Flight. Lucky girl! I'd love to do that!

Following, she'll tell you a bit about that. 

At the Amelia’s Aero Club sleepover this year, there was a variety of cool things to see. As soon as we arrived (and after a brief “name game”) we went to the Challenger learning center, which had been turned into a mock-up of a Mars Transport Vehicle, or “MTV.” The group split into two, one for the MTV and the other at Mission Control on Deimos. Each person got their own role/station such as medical, navigation, or remote operated vehicles (ROV). For our first mission, I was the weather specialist on the MTV. My primary mission was to locate a dead satellite that had been orbiting the planet and radio the location to mission control. However, on my way to doing that, I found an asteroid in the sky grid! The asteroid was headed straight from our landing site, which gave us only a few minutes to land, refuel, and leave immediately.

This caused a problem for our next mission, where a team of geologists had been separated from the mars base by the crater and the nearby greenhouse was damaged, risking years of research if not saved. This time I was in mission control, and by communicating with the weather personnel on the MTV, we were able to track a nearby dust storm and determine it was not a problem for the geologists or the rover that was planned for launch. The geologist team went to the greenhouse and saved the plants, all returning to the mars base safely (except one member who had heat stroke but made a full recovery later). The rover launched on time and went into the crevices of Mars to look for signs of life and/or water.

After that, everyone regrouped and began making rockets from 2-liter soda bottles. These rockets were launched the next day with nothing but seltzer water and a bike pump. We all took turns either making rockets with our partners or going to check out the crew cabin of the space shuttle trainer. The cabin is very small, being only two rooms: one mostly empty save for a 1-foot “kitchen” (hot water/microwave) and Velcro on the walls to hold sleeping bags. The second room is predictably the control room, with a pilot and co-pilot seat surrounded by more than 7,000 buttons and switches. This part is usually closed to the public, so it was a treat to be able to enter it without needing a special reservation!

The final thing we did was trek to the World Wars gallery to watch the movie “Arrival”. The movie is about a mysterious yet peaceful race of aliens known as “heptopods” and how they help the protagonist overcome the loss of her daughter. With microwave popcorn in hand, the movie ran until past 1 AM. The World War gallery, while uncomfortable to sleep in, was the best we could do at the time and ended up being mostly okay. There were plans to get up early and explore at night, but we were all so tired that no-one woke up in time. Overall, the sleepover was fun and, even if you can’t attend a future sleepover, I recommend checking out both the Shuttle trainer cabin and the movie “Arrival.”

Saturday morning, I headed to the museum to watch the launch of the rockets the club had created. I got there a little early, so spent a few minutes alone with Michael P. Anderson. 

This lovely statue of the Washington state native is a tribute to a man gone too soon. Anderson was on board shuttle Columbia, which burned up upon re-entry back in 2003. I remember standing in Fred Meyer south of Portland, in their audio/video section, watching the horrific coverage of the event. I was very pregnant with CJ at the time.

I've seen the statue many times, but never really studied it before. It is lovely. The detail is phenomenal. 

 Right down to the mission patch, Anderson's name patch, and the strap on his flight suit.

The base of the statue says "Keep the Dream Alive." That's just what the girls were doing Saturday morning. 

The grass next to the fallen astronaut's statue was where the girls launched their rockets. Below is a photo of the one Annabelle and friends made.

Not bragging, but I have to admit, their rocket flew the highest. Annabelle said that's because each group got 40 pumps on the bicycle pump, and she made sure to use the full length of the pump each time, to get the most power. :). Go Bee!

SWEET SATURDAY: Friday and Saturday next week, we were a little busy, making 5 different kids of cake. It was for a cupcake buffet for a friend's graduation party. 

We made some Elvis cakes - banana cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream topped with a whopper of a chocolate covered peanut butter candy.

 We also made some summery strawberry lemon cupcakes.

 A little something for the adult palate, we made some chocolate cupcakes with a healthy splash of red wine in them. 

 And for our vegan and gluten free friends, there were chocolate coconut cupcakes, with yummy toasted coconut on top.

And we made a cupcake cake. :) Purple velvet with raspberry puree, the cupcake 'wrapper' was actually a solid candy melt shell, and entirely edible!

Not sure why it looks so blue in the photo, it was definitely lavender.