"One small step for a man . . ."

. . . Many small steps for first-graders and their tired chaperones!

Today was our space field trip to the Udvar-Hazy museum, and I must say it all went pretty well! We first saw the IMAX film "Space Station". We watched that awhile back (with you guys, Aunt Claire?), so I knew where the loud parts would be. Caleb and Jonathan weren't phased by the noise though; in fact, Jonathan was quite entranced. Maybe there is a new phase coming on (goodbye, Lone Ranger?). Then our big group split up into grade levels, and it was time for the first graders to do the scavenger hunt that Elizabeth and I had worked on. The kids were for the most part pretty interested, and one of the parents even commented that she was learning alot! We found all the things, but the display that caught the kids' interest most was the one where they showed samples of old space food. Well, that and the dead mouse that had been preserved in an old experiment tunnel. A guard pointed that out. The mouse's eye was falling out, so you can imagine the excitement! Then it was our turn for storytime, where a worker read a story about the Apollo 11 moon landing. Since we covered that in class, the kids were on top of all her questions! The kids were then able to touch a real space suit and try on space gloves and boots. Then they designed and colored patches for their own shuttle missions. After we were through there, we went up to the 7th floor observation towere, where we watched planes take off and land at Dulles Airport. After about 15 minutes of that, it was time for everyone to go home! Yay! I was so hungry and tired! Overall, however, it was fun, and it went a lot more smoothly than I thought it might! I did come home and take a nice nap....

When we got home, I was thrilled to find birthday messages from both my brother and my Aunt Claire ! Thanks, guys! It hasn't seemed like much of a special day, but I am looking forward to celebrating more completely in Ohio! Tomorrow we are going to drive straight to Young's Dairy, where we'll meet Mom and Dad and also Amy and her boys. Of course, I will get my absolute favorite flavor, chocolate peanut butter. Mmmmmmmmmm. Bob will fly back here Thursday, and then on Friday, Amy and I are going to get away to a hotel in Columbus for a night! We're planning on some shopping, maybe a movie, some scrapbooking, and definitely chocolate! THAT will be my real birthday! And letting me go like that is Bob's real present to me!

Speaking of the trip, Bob took the van in this afternoon. Apparently our catalytic converter will need to be replaced sometime in the future (to the tune of about $1,000). Also, they would be happy to change out our brake pads and rotors for another $500, plus it is about time for our timing belt to be changed (another $1,000). Bob made sure they had turned off the "check engine" light, then thanked them all politely. We hadn't planned on dropping $2500 on the van this afternoon! So it looks like nothing is seriously wrong, and hopefully it will continue doing just fine as we drive tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers! I finished packing last night, so tonight after dinner I'll load up the van. Hopefully we can leave around 9:00 tomorrow morning! Blogging will probably be light for the next couple of days as I relax! : )