Thursday was the day we were supposed to start our trek back to Iowa but since we knew launch was postponed to Thursday and we also knew the weather was most likely not going to be cooperative we extended our stay one night and decided we waited it out this long what's one more day? We awoke Thursday morning to the storms and nasty weather that were predicted all week and just waited for word of the inevitable scrub. If the launch countdown were to continue we would have had to be at the space center somewhat early so Carl and I awoke and started checking the news. Soon it was scrubbed the weather was not favorable enough to even try. It was not a surprise but still a bummer. Since we had decided to stay Thursday night we knew Friday was our last chance, we had to start to drive home Friday one way or another. With that thought looming in our minds we tried to decide what to do on a rainy, stormy day. We decided to check out the local mall and see if we could find a play place, on our way we saw some signs for the Astronaut Hall of Fame which was included in our admission tickets from the space center so we decided to make a detour and do that first. It was a fun place for the kids, they had all kind of stuff for them to look at. Gabe really liked the phone where you could listen to old mission control stuff from launches.
They also had several hands on activities for the kids to try
,
they got to climb in another control module, try on different types of astronaut helmets
and there was even a mock moon surface you could walk on.
We decided to avoid a little craziness in the gift shop the next day and purchased our Discovery t-shirts and a few souvenirs there instead of at the main complex on Friday. After the Hall of Fame we made our way back to the mall and just walked around and window shopped mostly. The kids had fun riding the moving mall rides(they even had a space shuttle) By the time we made it back to the hotel it was nap time for Callie and the boys had fun just watching a few kids shows on TV. In the evening the rain had cleared up for the time being so we headed down for one last goodbye walk on the beach. The kids ran in front and I had a cheesy mom moment where I just savored the size of their little feet running through the sand. Watching each little footprint was a good reminder that they grow up so quickly! When it was getting too dark to be at the beach we headed back and decided to drive to a spot at Cape Canaveral where we knew we could see the launch pads. We arrived and they did have the shuttle lit up for the night. It is quite a distance from where we were still but you could see it.
As we were sitting there an older couple drove up and wondered if we had a binoculars, we said no so they got theirs out and let us look at it through that. They were very nice and he told us he and a friend of his drove here in the 70's to see one of the Saturn V's on the launch pad! As we were talking the lady noticed something down by the car, this is what we discovered.
It freaked Gabe out a little bit but after we got back in the car it is all he could talk about for quite awhile afterwards! We got back to the hotel and watched the news and the countdown began for lift off once again as the weather was favorable for a Friday launch.
They also had several hands on activities for the kids to try
,
they got to climb in another control module, try on different types of astronaut helmets
and there was even a mock moon surface you could walk on.
We decided to avoid a little craziness in the gift shop the next day and purchased our Discovery t-shirts and a few souvenirs there instead of at the main complex on Friday. After the Hall of Fame we made our way back to the mall and just walked around and window shopped mostly. The kids had fun riding the moving mall rides(they even had a space shuttle) By the time we made it back to the hotel it was nap time for Callie and the boys had fun just watching a few kids shows on TV. In the evening the rain had cleared up for the time being so we headed down for one last goodbye walk on the beach. The kids ran in front and I had a cheesy mom moment where I just savored the size of their little feet running through the sand. Watching each little footprint was a good reminder that they grow up so quickly! When it was getting too dark to be at the beach we headed back and decided to drive to a spot at Cape Canaveral where we knew we could see the launch pads. We arrived and they did have the shuttle lit up for the night. It is quite a distance from where we were still but you could see it.
As we were sitting there an older couple drove up and wondered if we had a binoculars, we said no so they got theirs out and let us look at it through that. They were very nice and he told us he and a friend of his drove here in the 70's to see one of the Saturn V's on the launch pad! As we were talking the lady noticed something down by the car, this is what we discovered.
It freaked Gabe out a little bit but after we got back in the car it is all he could talk about for quite awhile afterwards! We got back to the hotel and watched the news and the countdown began for lift off once again as the weather was favorable for a Friday launch.
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