Space Camp

Christian just got back from almost a week at space camp.  Check out how cool this place is...

20 years ago, ATK gave a grant to build an elementary school in Ogden and then dedicated an entire 2nd floor to Astro Camp. They've been running summer camps ever since. The kids typically stay for 4 days, 3 nights and spend time running flight simulations, going through astronaut training, building and racing Mars rovers, repairing 'satellites' and spinning in Newton's chair to feel what it's like inside a space shuttle.   They actually go inside that space shuttle and have scripts and drills that they have to complete for a successful mission. They went scuba diving to feel what zero gravity is like and also visited Hill Air Force Base. The whole experience was so cool.

The kids slept on cots in 3 different rooms. When Christian saw their room, he said, "Oh man, this is way nicer than scout camp."

The director, Ed, and his wife have run Astro Camp for 20 years.

The back side of the space shuttle.

All of the hallways look like this, just adding to the effect.

The sattelite that they had to 'space walk' to and repair. One kid forgot to put his helmet visor down and ended up dying on that mission. Nothing that Skittles couldn't fix though, apparently.

Christian's team leader, Malori. She looks like a 12 year old but she's really a college student studying elementary ed.

This is in the cockpit of the space shuttle. Christian was the commander for their mission. He said the most challenging part was trying to find the right buttons to press at the right time so the alarms wouldn't go off.

In the Mission Control room.

Eating lunch under a ginormous airplane at the base.

The Astro Camp motto, that the kids recited every day.

With his Alpha Team. The 4 teams had competitions all week to earn ribbons and points to determine the winning team at the end. That poor kid on the left cried through most of the graduation ceremony because he was so sad it was over.

The director said that the kids had jobs during the week, too. They had to keep their dorms totally clean, sweep the hallways and clean bathrooms. And they did all of that to earn stickers, which he then joked would be on sale in the lobby so that we could motivate the kids at home, too.

We all definitely missed him while he was gone. Haley said, "The house just isn't as fun when Christian's not here." True.

Rapunzel

Elle has always had great hair. It's silky and straight and grows really fast. She's almost always had hair flowing down her back, almost to her waist at times. But not anymore.

She's been begging for a couple of months to cut it for summer. And yesterday, I relented. She keeps saying, "Now I really am Rapunzel! I have short hair, too!" Knowing her hair, it'll be long again in a few months anyway.

Lost & found

We spent the evening at Lagoon last night. Usually a fun time for everyone, but last night tragedy struck. Unbeknownst to me, Haley took her itouch along with her. She put it in a ziploc bag (in case she got wet on any rides) along with her Lagoon pass and about $7 and slipped it all in her pocket. She went on a couple of rides with her friend and then came and found me, absolutely sobbing. The bag had fallen out and was gone. We hurried to lost & found, where we discovered that the ziploc had been turned in with everything minus the itouch. Of course. Haley let out the saddest sob. We sat down and let her cry on my shoulder for awhile. I told her other sad stories of my stuff getting stolen and we talked about how, sadly, you have to be so cautious with valuables these days. She turned angry and said, "Let's stop everyone at the gate and search them! How could someone do this to me? They must have a black hole for a heart!" She'd become so jaded in just a few minutes. But how could she not?

We stayed at Lagoon (even though she begged to go and swore that she'd never return to that "evil place!") and checked back at lost & found at the end of the night, with no luck. She cursed herself for bringing her ipod in the first place and cried herself to sleep.

Mike and I talked about it that night. Should we just buy her a new one? We both knew the answer was no. It was a painful lesson for her but an important one. By morning, she was counting her money and deciding to save all summer to buy another one. Paige & Elle planned a lemonade stand with her to raise some cash. The little sisters took the loss almost as hard as Haley did.

Then the phone rang. Caller i.d. said it was Lagoon calling. Could it be?? Sure enough ... someone turned her ipod in and it was unharmed. (Cue sunlight streaming down on Haley and heavenly choirs singing 'Hallelujah' as she beamed from ear to ear.) Major happy ending to a sad and painful lesson. She's been reconnected with her ipod and all is happy with the world. I'm happy, though, that she had the experience. She'll never forget it and will be more careful (and appreciative) as a result. That's how life goes, isn't it?

St. George '11

I've never referred to St. George as 'St. Geesy' but the teenagers thought it was cool.  Anyway .... summer just hasn't begun for us until we've been to St. George with these girls.

And these girls....

Not pictured are the 7 other teenagers that were with us.  The cute Fetzer sisters have allowed us to tag along on their annual trip to St. George for the past few years now. It's a week-long mom/kid-fest that we girls love.  (Christian & dad had some guy bonding time while we were gone.)   19 girlfriends (big and small) hanging out, painting nails, swimming, watching movies, shopping .... so fun.  My little girls wake up and have 6 other little friends running around to play with the whole day.  They're in heaven that week.

Did ya know there was a petting zoo (complete with miniature zebra) at a rest stop in Scipio, Utah? Neither did we, until this trip.

Fun with balloons...

The essential toys that Elle brought with her. Good thing Barbie felt so at home, too.

A little too much fun with chalk....

... and with bubbles.

We swam...

(I'm realizing how often I pose like this. Maybe 'cause it hides my double chin?)

...and were exhausted from swimming;

We had evening time at the sand dunes...

watched the Justin Bieber movie a few times...

had some good reading time...

and had my camera hi-jacked by the little girls.

Not sure about that last shot. Bums are naturally funny, I guess.

Great week. I love that the house perpetually smells of nail polish and sunscreen and that bedtimes and nutrition kind of go out the window. Not entirely, but still... Fun start to summer.