Monday morning, we hit our first port! Grandma, Grandpa, Carrie, Shane, and I hopped on a bus to the Kennedy Space Center. Nana and Pop stayed on the ship to rest and relax.
Shane didn't act very happy at first. He'd heard some people were going to Disney and got zero sympathy from us.
He likes making faces in general.
Grandma and Grandpa were probably the most excited.
I was happy for the opportunity to take some good pictures!
We drove past a lot of Florida (flat, sand patches peeking out, palm trees, cracked/worn concrete, ditches, and none of the plants were too tall) before we got to the interesting stuff. There was a large, private rocket facility owned by Amazon/Jeff Bezos called Blue Origins and then we parked in front of the oversized, countdown clock.
The rocket garden was the first sight after getting through the turnstiles (Shane locked Carrie's, but they let her in, heh).
We stopped for a bathroom break and it developed into a work call.
Shane was unaware. He was busy trying to catch a juvenile crow.
When his efforts proved futile, we found a play structure for him to climb in.
It said, "socks required." No one was around enforcing that, but Carrie was worried so I donated mine for the cause.
It was a long work phone call, but Shane didn't mind. Carrie spent part of the time on the phone going back and forth with our real estate agent. We had our first bite at the open house on Sunday (more on that later).
When Grandpa and Grandma switched back to fun mode, they wanted to hear an astronaut talk.
That wasn't the top of Shane's list, but he did well enough. I thought the astronaut, Jerry Ross, was well spoken and interesting. He had some videos and materials that helped Shane stay interested at times.
The talk was short enough and we got a family picture afterward.
I was a little disappointed that there were a lot of "pay to play" type experiences as we walked around. I get that they need funding, but things that are supposed to be as educational as they are recreational shouldn't have multiple paywalls in my mind.
Thankfully, there were some free things without long waits for Shane to play around with.
It didn't seem to be too crowded until we went to see an IMAX movie (narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart). Carrie and Shane squeezed into the end of one row, Grandpa and Grandma split up, and I decided to duck out. There were other families trying to find nonexistent seats and 3D movies hurt my head.
I walked the length and breadth of the center while they watched the film. That way I'd know where to direct everyone after.
It afforded me a better chance to read, too.
As high tech as NASA is,...
...I was surprised at the crappy quality of their bathrooms.
Shouldn't they have a robot to help out?
National parks were hit a lot harder in the shut down. I don't know if the Space Center was affected or not.
We met up for lunch and then went to see the space shuttle Atlantis. Shane and I crawled through a mini, suspended International Space Station and then Carrie joined us to go down a big slide. My phone was turned off or I'd have pictures (Grandpa may post some I can pirate later).
There wasn't time to do everything, but we stopped to see a 10,000+ lbs rock on our way out! With enough people, it's roll could be redirected!
There were some pads that absorbed kinetic energy and turned it into electric energy Shane was also enamored with on the way out. We were running in place and trying to charge up a rocket!
I love it when the simple things take on a life and joy of their own. It doesn't always have to be something big.
After we got back on the ship, Nana and Pop had a surprise: They were going flying!
Shane was jealous. Oh, was he so jealous. Carrie signed us all up to fly a different day, and we hadn't told him. I didn't have clearance to tell him that, so we had some frank discussions about jealousy and being happy for people you love.
It was rough, but hopefully he learned a little about combating jealousy and will be even more excited when he finds out he gets to fly too later!
I managed to get Nana and Pop on video before my phone died!
More excitement to come!
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