Goodbye to NASA!

So when I heard about the final space launch, I knew that we had to do something special. Part of me totally understands the space cuts because, hello they are so expensive and dangerous, and part of me is sad that we’ll miss out on the thrill of them blasting off into space. Honestly though, I was all about this launch but really had no idea of what they’d do after they were in space. Greg said they were going to the space station but even he didn’t really know what they’d be doing up there. We finally determined it would be probably to clean out their desks and lockers since they won’t be going back.

Doesn’t that just bring back memories from your youth? Here are some spacey things from my and Greg’s childhoods:

• Space Camp, the movie.
• The swing count down when you go from 10 to 0 and then ignition, blast off and jump off the swings.
• Playing with space legos
• Glowing ceiling stars and planets
• Tasting astronaut food
• And sadly, watching the Challenger explode

So we decided to have some friends come over because

a) we like them and

b) their little boy, Kalen (Tati’s age) is obsessed with space and you can often find him muttering something about planets and blasting off, and

c) things like this are always better when you have friends over.

Here are some shots of them getting ready. Gavin is priceless here.

And here is a cute movie of the countdown.

I forgot how intense and scary it is when they are lighting the fire and waiting to see if everything is ok. Then when the countdown stopped, me and Sharon kind of looked at each other and thought, “Uh, oh.” But luckily everything was ok.

The kids had a lot of fun and afterward the crafts turned out super cute too. We made an astronaut when Chloe was little and I have to say it was still fun all these years later. Note to you though if you make an astronaut, get the small slurpee lids so the head doesn’t take up the entire picture like ours did. And P.S. 7-11 won’t charge you for the lids but it is always nice to offer.

Here are the final results of the crafts.

Isn't it so cute how he looks just like his finished product?

And finally all together on the art wall: