7 Quick Takes: Thanskgiving Rewind, Quote of the Weeks, & Space!

1. 

We headed down to my parents' house for a couple of days for celebrate "Merry Thanksmas" - a mix of Thanksgiving yummies with a ton of Christmas cheer! We play LOTS of games - Catan, Catan Junior, Poker... And, somehow...my 2 little boys got my dad (who says he is not a big fan of games, but really is...) to play Sorry with them!! I love it!! Us bigger kids got my mom to join us in a round of Cranium (she loved it!)...TOASTER! Good times.

Unfortunately, we had to cut our fun short, as 2 out of 3 of my littles were not doing so well. Austin started a fever about 2 hours into our drive to Pensacola. We stopped for dinner, grabbed some more meds, and kept on going. The next 2 days, he was better. Still a fever, but was a pretty happy guy. We've run into this kind of thing before, so we thought we were ok. Then Andrew got a fever Friday at some point... And come bedtime...no one slept well that night. So we made the decision to end out festivities and head home Saturday after lunch.

2. 

My poor little guys... Andrew and Alex have sinus infections. Austin has a mild ear infection (but on the bright side - we are past the point of ever needing tubes and he is doing just fine!! Best decision we made with our doctor. Love him!)

3. 

Happy Advent!!

4. 

Quote of the Week:

While reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the boys, we got to the part about the Grinch's heart and how Christmas is more than packages and things.

Me: Isn't that wonderful, guys? Christmas is SO much more than presents and packages. As long as we have each other, we can have a great time, right?

Alex: Yeah, or we can do what that guy did and just take it all.

Proud mama moment...

Um, no, dear. That is the point. Stealing isn't nice. And we don't need stuff to have Christmas. Ugh.

5. 

Feeling better is always awesome! Especially when it is warm outside and you have secrets to share.

6. 

Rainbow!

Gotta love a good rainbow in the early morning!!

7.

Oh, ready for a nerd moment? I love space. Maybe you have caught onto that with all my going ons about the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I love that place! Anyway, December 4th, Orion was supposed to take off. Yes, I got the boys out of bed for this. And, no. It got scrubbed for the day due to winds and some valve issues. Well, today it went up. That Delta rocket took off at 7:05 eastern. I had it pulled up on the ipad for the boys to watch after breakfast. They loved it! Even Austin!

Then, around 10:15, I got the boys in the living room and turned on the NASA channel to watch history. Yes, if this unmanned rocket makes it back in one piece, successfully, no issues, etc... The next time it may be manned. And, shortly, we can get to Mars (or back to the Moon!! I'll go!). So, we watched as the module made its way back home. The boys got to see some cool things, too!

I know... But, it is awesome! Because in just moments, we saw this:

 And then, the guy at Mission Control in Houston said, "And, there's your new spacecraft, America!"

It. Was. Awesome.

Best thing since watching the very last shuttle launch with Andrew.

Woot! Go USA!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This 7 Quick Takes is brought to you by: This Ain't the Lyceum :) 

Happy Friday everyone!

That First Star

source

Have you every watched the stars come out at night? Like, really watched them appear in the sky?

Andrew, Alex and I were playing outside after nap time (around 4:30) and, apparently, the sun sets at 5... (oh, I'm sorry Weather Channel 4:42 pm) Interesting. Gotta love the time change, right?

Well, the sun was just giving off it's last light of day and the boys were quite interested in the changing sky.

We never really played outside too late in the dark, but, like I said...I was only a little after 5. Crazy.

Andrew asked where the stars were since the moon was out and now the sun was pretty much gone. Since dinner was already in the oven, I grabbed the picnic blanket and flipped it over the the warmer side. It was getting COLD!

First, a wonderful thing happened: Both my boys snuggled up with me as we laid there in the grass waiting for the stars to come out. 

Next, a most magical thing began to happen: The stars started peeking out one by one. It was very slow at first. But that first star was the most beautiful of all. Andrew found it and showed Alex where to look. Alex saw it and then giggled up a storm which made all three of us burst of laughing even more.

They were so excited to see that first one that they laid there with me for about 30 more minutes until our hands were frozen (and it was about time for Jason to be home and dinner to be ready). We watched stars peeking out, twinkle here and there, hide again, and come back with more friends from the sky. We watched airplanes turn on their headlights. And we watched the moon move slowly across the sky in our backyard. It was all so wonderful.

But it was that first star that twinkled just enough that made everything we go through every single day worth it. Because one day they are going to be grown up...and it is all going to happen "in a twinkle of an eye."

Space. The Final Frontier.

We went to the COOLEST place this past Saturday! The coolest. Ever. Ok, minus Titusville, FL... But still.

We went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville!! WOOT!!

Andrew has been on a space kick for the past month. He builds rockets with his legos. "Flies" around the living room all the way to the moon (aka his room). I can't tell you how many space shuttle launches we have YouTube'd... He LOVES it all!

 Can you feel the excitement in his face?!

 We didn't tell either of them where we were going - except that it was super cool. Andrew saw a billboard for the Space Center before we turned at the junction and still wasn't completely sure. But he KNEW as soon as he saw a rocket off in the distance. THAT THING IS HUGE! Gotta love the Saturn V!!

 As we turned into the parking lot he saw something else that caught his eye...

WHOA. Space shuttle.

Alex was pretty excited, too! He kept saying "space! space!"

Funny story before I start  sharing pictures: When we got into the line to get our tickets (which thanks to our McWane Center membership - this was FREE!!), Andrew started freaking out. I asked him what was wrong he says, "I don't want to go to the moon!!" I'm sorry, but I busted out laughing at that. I had to explain to him that they don't send people to the moon anymore (boo, lame...) and that we were just going to see what those amazing people did to get there. He calmed down a bit, but was a bit worried again when we headed outside to see the rockets. Too funny.

 Looking at the different rockets  - they are so cute.

 I had to get a picture of this! A wagon with rockets. Classic boy life, right? This is a part of the Wernher von Braun exhibit they have on display right now. 

This is the V-2 Rocket Engine he developed in the 1930s. Awesome.

 In the next section of this building, Jason and Andrew had a blast with the MathAlive! exhibit. Basically, it is an exhibit that shows how math is involved in pretty much everything from sports to music to things used with the International Space Station (like the robotic arms). This is Andrew and Jason trying out a snowboard race.

 Jason and Andrew in the shuttle. Alex trying out all the touch screens.

 Andrew checking out a "super cool rocket" (his words - so cute. he like screamed it, too.)

He loved to watch these rovers. Some of them moved their cameras around and he would laugh and try to hid when one of the cameras "found him." Too funny.

 Saturn I Rocket

 A portion of the GIGANTIC Saturn V rocket - amazing

 Saturn V engines - I am such a nerd. I think that these are just so amazing. Beautiful engineering. Seriously. 

 Discovery - so proud of Andrew for remembering what I taught him about the fuel tank and rocket boosters. He knew what was what and what came off first. I am so sad I will never get to see a shuttle launch...that was on my bucket list, NASA... 

This is where Andrew got nervous again about going to the moon. Alex, Daddy and I all got into the space capsule. But Andrew wanted no part of that. 

 Look at that! Amazing! 

 Alex thought this moon car was pretty cool!

 And Andrew loved the lunar lander!

This guy though...they weren't too excited about. Thought, after I watched that scene in E.T. when they had guys wearing space suits go into the house...yeah, that was a little scary. But, the boys haven't seen that movie yet. Maybe it is because you can't see his face?? Still it is pretty cool.

I had to include this! After the astronauts get back to earth, they are quarantined immediately until everything has been checkout. This is a game they had set up in the quarantine unit. HA! Awesome.

It was such a fun day!! We all had a blast. The boys, of course, got a souvenir. 

 They got their very own space shuttles!

So, do you think we will ever go back to the moon? Think we will send someone to Mars? 

I think so...one day...

The Simple Things

Celebrating the final shuttle launch, STS-135!

No More Space Shuttles

Aw, I am so sad. Really. I love love love the Space Program. I was so obsessed with it when I was younger that I truly was that kid that wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I was so into it that my parents sent me away to Space Camp at Cape Canaveral. However, I wish that I could re-do that week of my life. Who knows, maybe I would have done better in math or something down the road. But, whatever, you take the road you are given, right? Anyhoo! It was so much fun and seeing a shuttle launch in person was on my bucket list. I guess that will never happen now. Maybe my wish of going to space one day will, though. They said on the news that in 4-5 years they will have the commercial space shuttles. I wonder how much those tickets are... My mom said that you would have to probably be this guy to get a ticket:

image via Google

 

Probably...but a girl can dream...

 

At least my son was able to watch a space shuttle take off this morning. It was his first shuttle launch to see on TV and his last. Crazy! He watched the whole thing and never took his eyes off of the TV. He watched as the rocket boosters blasted. He had that "wow" look on his little face when it lifted off. He even said, "Whoa!" when it was waaaay up in the sky. I told him that the shuttle was going to space to look at all the stars and stuff. He ran to the back door to see if he could find it in the sky! He's a funny guy, isn't he? It's pretty amazing that he will see even more fantastic forms of transportation within the next decade. He's going to be pretty excited. We are probably going to be taking a trip to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center soon. He is going to love that! For the time being, we will be coloring space pictures today. If you want to have a mini space party, click here for coloring pages.

For now, good luck and Godspeed STS-135! Come home safe!!