GATLIN STS Days 4 and 5!

The real STS! The launch was scheduled for 6:21 a.m. Doesn't sound too bad, until you consider exactly what times you actually have to leave to be in place by then. Here's the run down of our day/night/day.

7:00p.m. We had the kids in bed with strcit instructions not to come out and tell us they couldn't go to sleep.

8:30p.m. After some last minute packing and organizing Ted and I were in bed.

11:30p.m. The alarms wake us up. We had put the kids to bed in their clothes so that all we had to do was lift them out of bed and get them to the van.

12:15a.m. We were on the road heading south to Kennedy Space Center.

1:00a.m. We arrived at KSC and made our way into the Space Center. We wandered around the park, found some snacks and looked at some exhibits--especially the walk through a shuttle. Ted and the kids rode the Space Shuttle Experience which was a big hit for all of them, and really gave them a perspective of the upcoming event.

3:00a.m. We get in the lines to board the buses which would take us to the launch viewing sites.

This was chaos--there were TONS of people, and all with different ticket colors indicating different viewing sites. It was also very slow. While waiting for the buses, we saw a raccoon and a possum roaming around the Space Center grounds--that was a fun diversion. We finally boarded a bus and headed to the viewing site.

4:30a.m. We are at the viewing site, and we settle in for our next wait. Lucy found a way to get comfortable and slept on one of our chairs.

The big kids laid out on blankets and played DS's and Gameboys.

And we all took turns looking at the launch pad (which was over 6 miles away) through the binoculars.

See the white light in the picture? That's the space shuttle--far, far away.

While we waited we heard some of the radio communication between launch control, the shuttle, and others. At one point, during the 45 minute hold that happens 9 minutes before lift off (see if that makes any sense) we heard the dreaded "No Go." Apparently some radio somewhere wasn't working right. It was at this point that I did some serious praying. It had been a long night, and, although I was very much looking forward to seeing a launch, I just wasn't sure we would be able to come back another night and do this all over again. About ten minutes later the problem was cleared and they were back to "Go" There was a lot of cheering.

6:21a.m. An ON-TIME launch! Unbelievable on so many levels. The launch was great. It was very, very bright. We were told we'd see it before we heard it, and even though we both completely understand there is a difference between the speed of sound and light, we were still surprised at just how long it was before we heard any noise.

It was about 30-40 seconds before we heard the sound--go ahead, count for 30 seconds while you imagine watching something shooting up into the sky. So, Lucy slept through the lift off--but, 40 seconds in she was awakened by the noise. :) Can't say she was impressed.

We were. (thanks, NASA for a great picture)

6:45a.m. After this, we boarded our buses while we watched the sun rise. Eventually we made it back to Kennedy Space Center. Ted bought a hot dog (because, what else would you have for breakfast after being up all night long?) and we hung out a little longer before beginning the trek back to our condo. 10:00a.m. We're back at the condo. Ted and I were completely exhausted and ready for a long nap. The kids, on the other hand weren't. Therefor, before long we were all out on the beach. And later that afternoon we were able to join other friends and family of Jim Dutton at a reception. It was the TIME of our lives.

GATLIN-STS Day 2

Williamsburg in Numbers

540--the number of weapons displayed in the Governor's Palace. Cory loved them

2--The number of nails the blacksmith can pound out in a minute

At least 6--the number of refills we got on our $10 mug. Had to get our money's worth!

Greater than 20--the number of times we had to take kids to the bathroom because of the unlimited refills on drinks (were the refills, then, really worth it?)

4--the number of people in America who still make wigs by hand. She is one of the 4.

Too many to count--the number of times we had to stop for Lucy to either get rocks out of her shoes or collect rocks in her admission tag...

Notice Lucy's admission tag compared to one of the others--hers is emptied of the ticket, and in its place are her rocks.

75--today's high in Williamsburg--making it a perfect day to visit!

Gatlin - STS - Day 1

611 miles

across 7 States and 1 "District"

1 driver (someone decided to not mention her license was expired before we departed...grrrr)

We loaded the ark and called out for all local animals who wanted to drive south to safety away from the New England Biblical floods...and began our own "mission" - the Gatlin - Spring Trip South. Our ultimate goal is to cheer on our friend Col Jim Dutton as he Pilots STS-131 Discovery into space in a few days.

Here are a few highlights from the day.

The van loaded to the gills...

Kristi is the best mom ever and packs a special treat for the kids as we enter a new state. The treat somehow relates to the new state, sometimes obviously, and sometimes more abstractly. A couple of examples - CT - where vulcanized rubber was invented - the kids got a pack of oreos that represented tires; MD - apparently there is a law in MD that says you cannot take a lion to the movies - so they were given a pack of animal crackers and were encouraged not to take any of the animals to the theater.

The kids do remarkably well on road trips. However, honestly, it's not that tough for them. Unlimited movies and DS/Gameboy time does wonders for the oldest 3 for keeping them happy, quiet and entertained. When we were kids, all we had were passing cars and scenery to pass the time with. Lucy did very well and did not force any extra potty stops - but she did force the first stop of the day by pouring out her water bottle all over herself just a couple hours into the trip. She provided plenty of entertainment by singing and making crazy noises many times during the trip. However, she didn't eat very well; at dinner, I think she only ate the whipped cream off her pancakes.

Our route took us through Washington DC. This week is the peak of the Cherry Blossoms. We just couldn't pass up a chance to see that again, although we didn't want to extend our trip any more than necessary. Do you remember the National Lampoons European Vacation movie? Look kids Big Ben, Parliament? We had the DC version today. Look kids, the Washington Monument, Cherry Blossoms.

The detour into the heart of the city caused us to hit something we don't miss about DC. Traffic.

Ugh. We saved a few minutes in the HOV car-pool lanes, but still had an extended drive in the afternoon hours.

We finally made it to our hotel and stop 1, Williamsburg VA, after 13 1/2 hours on the road. Before space, we step back in time to early America...

Out of this World

We're prepping for our big trip to Florida and the STS-131 launch with lots of fun space-related activities, and experiments.

Newton's Third Law being demonstrated above--for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The exciting part was that today, nearly a week after we did this activity, Mary was able to relate her knowledge from this experiment to something we were reading about satellites. Rock on!

We're also creating more lapbooks. Sometime I should go into detail on the lapbooks for those of you who don't know about them and are curious, but for now suffice it to say that they are fast becoming our favorite way to record what we're learning. I'm, as usual, learning as I go and gleaning lots of information from the internet, but I could probably really benefit from a teacher's workshop on these things

Mary used NASA's website to learn that she would weigh only 7 pounds on the moon. Just a few days before we take this school on the road!

Stars Wars and Hockey?

We made a trek to the Lowell Devils Hockey game on Fri night. It was an odd combination...bobble-head doll night, Air Force Night and Star Wars character night. It was great for my kids but a little crazy if you ask me. I took the three old kids as well as a couple of neighbor kids.

We made it to the arena well before the game started and got our food and settled in for a fun time.

I was the lone adult with the group so every time we needed a bathroom break or more food - I had to make the run. One of the kids was old enough to take them, but I didn't want to burden him too much with the kids.

Lots of fun characters were there...Darth Vader and a tie-fighter pilot

A storm trooper

Some Jedi Knights

Some bounty hunters and more imperial forces.

And my personal favorite -Chewbacca. The Chewy guy even had the wookie groan down pretty well.

The base organized a party room before the game with pizza, subs, and soda for an extra fee on each ticket. I decided not to buy those tickets and instead just purchased seats. By the time I ordered soda, pizza, dogs, and more - I think I would have saved money with their deal.

Oh well. The kids had a great time! BTW - the devils lost 4-2, and the fights were only so-so.

St Patrick's Day Fun

I don't know if you've noticed this about me or not, but I'll take any excuse to celebrate. So although I'm not Irish, the fun of wearing green and worrying about trickster leprechauns is always worth it. Those leprechauns did not disappoint, either. Again, this year our milk was GREEN when we got downstairs in the morning.

The weather was cooperative, too, so we spent a lot of school in recess. I opened up the brand new sidewalk chalk for everyone to color with--rainbows with pots of gold, shamrocks and eventually a city filled the circle. The kids spent the afternoon riding their bikes on the "road," stopping at the "airport," or going to their "jobs," all drawn in chalk on the sidewalk, driveways and road.

The big kids played with the big box of chalk, and Lucy got to use the box of big chalk. And while we're talking about Lu, check out that combination of greens. Whoa.

One of my friends is equally enthusiastic about celebrating. Perhaps even more so!

We ended the day with Irish Beef Stew, Irish Soda Bread, Jell-O jigglers cut out in the shape of shamrocks, and our family tradition -- Leprechaun Fizz. This is perhaps the St. Patrick's Day highlight for the kids. A simple beverage, that proves hard to produce. Lime sherbet, the key ingredient, is not so easy to find--at least not here. After four stores I was finally able to locate Key Lime frozen yogurt to substitute. A little Ginger Ale on top, and it's an official Ceilidh.

One Man's Trash...

Recently one evening, Lucy and I were looking at the back of one of our favorite Sandra Boynton board books. She was noticing the pictures of other books, some of which we have, others which we have borrowed from the library. One in particular she mentioned was in the trash.

Kristi: What? No, Lucy, it's not in the trash. We returned it to the library.

Lucy: Uh hunh. It's in the library's trash.

I paused to think for a moment and then realized she was right.