5,4,3,2,1 LIFTOFF!

This Saturday, we were so excited to get to go see some rockets launch. Marshall Space Flight Center is here in Huntsville and they had a national college competition of rocket launches out at Bragg Farms. Since we happen to know the Braggs and family pretty well, they invited us out for it! What a treat! It was amazing to see what these teams had put together. The rockets were huge and made of welded metal. They had tents for each team and they would work on them before the launch- they had make shift workshops in the back of cars and in the tents. The rockets had to go a mile high and they all had cameras on board and had to be retrieved. So cool- very Homer Hickam Rocket Boys, but more high tech.
Irv went with me, Jason and Owen and Connie was nice enough to keep Harris for a bit, so we got some fun time with Owen. He loves rockets (as he should- it's in his genes), so this was super cool. They launched about every 30 minutes, though, so it wasn't quite set up for the attention span of a 2 year old.

And the day was beautiful, but a little windy. And when we got out to the flat farm land it was REALLY windy. We were wearing short sleeves and shorts and most people there had on sweatshirts and long pants. So, thankfully, Jeannie had a blanket to lend us.

As you can see, my right arm is covered with the blanket (the gale force winds were coming from that direction) and if you have seen me in the past 2 days, you know that my left arm is completely sunburned! I've had about 5 people ask if I drove with the windows down!


And, for the record, "liftoff" is the proper term, not "blast off" like Little Einsteins or Mickey Mouse (or any cartoon for that matter) would have you think. We sometimes just let Owen get away with Blastoff because it is fun, but know that we will edu-ma-cate that child soon!