Cheesy Space

Dad and I have such wonderful memories of visiting the Johnson Space Center as kids, so we couldn't wait to take our kids there.

However. It is not the same. And our first impression was Not Good.

The first things we saw were this...

...and this.

Noooooo! The Space Center has been Chuck E. Cheesified!

The entrance to Space Center Houston looks like any suburban movie theater. Inside, it feels kind of like a Dave and Buster's.

The noise and glare were truly unsettling. It was like being inside a pinball machine. There were are few, meager attempts at science exhibits scattered around the room, but no one was looking at them. Most of the kids we saw were playing in the ball pit or chasing each other around and screaming.

I felt like screaming, too.

Then we found out that the Space Center we knew as kids, the real Space Center, still exists, but it's only accessible by tram now.

So we stood in a loooong line, had our bags searched, walked through a metal detector, and got on the tram. (Weeeell, helloooo, theeeeere, folks! How's everybody doin' today? My name is Jonah and I'll be taking you on your exciting tour...)

Thankfully, we were allowed to get off the tram and go in the building where the International Space Station and shuttle mock-ups are housed. You can look through a giant window into the entire warehouse and watch people working down there. To our relief, this part was awesome!

These are exact replicas of Space Station "rooms." Real live astronauts use these pods for training.

I thought the banners of all the different space programs were cool.

Here is the training shuttle. Someone was in it while we were touring, but they never came out so we don't know who it was. You can see space suits on a rack in the center of the photo--they weigh over 200 pounds!

The shuttle's cargo bay can hold a school bus! (Mrs. Frizzle, maybe?)

We liked the patches from the various shuttle missions--they reminded us of Scout badges.

Check out those engines!

There were DO NOT TOUCH signs on most of the equipment. It kind of struck me as funny: can astronauts not be trusted with this stuff? :)

Dude is totally into robotics these days, and he thought this one was really cool.

These look fun, too.

We were surprised by how, um, classic, these computers were.

And I don't know why, but this totally cracked me up. I'm pretty sure this is the same phone that was on my Dad's desk in 1982.

After we left this building, we boarded the tram and toured the rest of the NASA campus. The only other building you can enter houses the Saturn V. I'm pretty sure this rocket was outside back when Dad and I were kids, so I'm glad it has its own gigantic garage now.

It is impossible to take a picture of something so massive. Here is one end...

...some middle...

...and the other end.

After we had been walking around the rocket for a while, Super came up to me and said, totally wide-eyed: "Mom! I am standing under a rocket!"

Back at the arcade, I mean, main building, we watched a great movie about America's space program, saw some interesting artifacts from various missions, and went inside a "shuttle."

Only a hard-core history buff like Dad could get so excited about the podium where Kennedy announced the space program.

The kids got to touch a real moon rock!

And they brought the shuttle in for a safe landing.

In spite of our initial disappointment, we all had a good time and learned something about space. Dude's favorite part was seeing the Saturn V. Super loved going inside the shuttle replica. In other words, they loved the real science, not the loud, flashing neon playground in the main building.

I have to agree. In my opinion, that place doesn't do the space program justice. I'm all for getting kids jazzed up about science, and I know today's kids are used to flashing lights and loud noises.

But that's exactly why Space Center Houston shouldn't have flashing lights and loud noises. If you want to make an impression on modern kids, don't give them the same old junk that they get every day.

Exploring the universe shouldn't feel just like visiting a McDonald's playplace.

Space is special. It's mysterious. It's awe-inspiring.

Only a handful of humans have actually been there.

I just hate to think that generations of kids will come to Space Center Houston and remember this:

...instead of this.

A night out (with grownups!)

If you're ever in Houston, you need to check out Khon's super-awesome wine bar! This place is a new favorite of H-Town's happenin' crowd.

I was a little worried that we wouldn't be uber-cool enough...but we had a great time and the staff was really friendly and knowledgeable about their wines.

Wasabi and ranch work really well together! Who knew?

Live music, too! I thought the saxophone looked kinda cool there, waiting for the band to finish their break.

As usual, we couldn't wait to go out and spend time with grownups...and then we all spent the entire evening talking about our kids!

Thanks to Khon and Ashley for a fantastic evening!

Home (for a few days)

It's funny...I couldn't wait to get out of this place when I was young...but I always enjoy coming back. It's peaceful and slow-paced. The familiar sights and sounds are comforting.

Somehow coming home always turns off that annoying little stress-motor that constantly turns in my head.

Hope you're finding a peaceful moment or two, wherever you call home.

This got their attention!

I felt we needed a bit of decimal review before jumping into the metric system, so...

...I bought one of those really big Hershey bars and we cut it into tenths! (Note: warm it up in the sun for a little while before cutting. Ours was a bit cold so it broke a couple of times when we were dividing it.)

Here is one tenth divided into tenths, which would be...hundredths! We didn't attempt to make thousandths, but then again, who wants a thousandth of a Hershey bar?

We talked about equivalent decimals and fractions before munching our chocolate tenths. Each of us got 3/10, or .3. We saved the remaining 1/10 or .1 for Dad.

Can't remember where I got this little all-purpose spinner, but it's great for practice activities. Once we start multiplying with decimals, I'll change out the back of the spinner and make a multiplying game.

I also made a fraction/decimal matching game (left) and some centimeter and decimeter strips.

We placed the decimeter strips along our meter stick to show that there are 10 decimeters in one meter.

Then we placed 10 centimeter squares in a decimeter.

Then we measured a bunch of stuff! I ordered Math Science: Entomology 101 from CurrClick and we measured moths and butterflies while learning some interesting facts. We also measured random stuff from around our house (the pugs appreciated the attention, but were not very cooperative.)

Pug tails are too curly and too wiggly to measure! Right, Lulu?

Looking for Signs of Spring

We took advantage of sunshine and warmer temps yesterday, and went searching for signs of spring in our neighborhood.

Last year's cattails are looking a bit weather-worn.

This couple kept an eye on us. I think we were near their nest. Canada geese are here year-round, although we see a lot more of them this time of year.

Looks like they took an early morning swim before we showed up.

We didn't see the deer, but they left a sign at the water's edge, too.

This mossy rivulet was the greenest thing we saw on our hike! The trees haven't budded yet, but the grass has just a hint of green.

Something was busy digging holes in the soft soil.

And the ants were definitely busy! They are hard to see in this photo, but there were gazillions of them everywhere!

This little creek runs from the beaver pond to the lake. There were lots of deer tracks here, too.

It's still a good time of year to spot bird nests. They'll be covered in foliage before long!

This interesting tree trunk made me wish for my sketch book.

Hope you're having a lovely spring!