Last Wednesday NASA had a homeschool day. NASA was closed to everyone except homeschoolers and they had special classes and things for us to do. Tuesday was a busy day as we schooled and then had baseball practice and then I drove down to Clear Lake City and we spent the night as a Marriott. I didn't know that homeschooling is this popular in Houston! We got there early and we still waited in line until they opened. 
Mandy decided to take her wheel chair in and then leave it in the front. She did very well but got tired toward the end and we went back and retrieved her wheel chair.
A picture outside the nose of the shuttle and then inside.
The man explained how the shuttle returned to the Earth and landed. Nathan wanted to know how he knew everything. He said he had been a controller for 30 years before retiring.
I WON'T TO FLY IT!
National Geographic had a display on using maps through the ages. How sailors used the North Star, etc.
Below: On a raft pushing the tiller.
Putting our telescope together
For the first 300 families NASA supplied instructions and materials to make a simple telescope. Here we are as we begin. By the way, they had more families than materials.
Since it was only me, reading the instructions and helping put things together - we don't have a picture of the other steps but we completed the telescope and it really works!
Confession - I don't have any idea what Mandy is looking at but it was something above her!
Nathan wanted to try to land a simulated shuttle. Here he is putting on the goggles and starting up.
Look close! That is what Nathan is seeing and trying to land on the desert floor. You get three tries and he didn't quite make it but he had fun!
The last time we were at NASA Mandy had just broken her leg and was in her wheel chair. She didn't get to play in the huge ball area and so while Nathan landed shuttles Mandy played in the ball pit! She had a lot of fun.
Supply station to make your own rocket! I am not sure who this man was - I think he was part of the helpers. He was walking around and instructing the kids how to put the rockets together and then they took their rockets over to the launch area and watched them take off.
Mandy's went up, up, up. Nathan decided to go back and see if he could put more length on his and see if it would fly farther.
Nathan and the man discussing what to do to make it longer and then more flight.
And off it went!
What the cockpit of Amelia Earhart's last place looked like. Part of the National Geographic exhibit had a wonderful look at her plane and the maps that she used on her flights.
One of the exhibits was called Blast Off. We experienced a launch and as the rocket went up, steam bellowed out and you felt like you were part of the launch. We enjoyed a talk about the future of NASA and what they are planning to do. They are closing out the era of the space shuttle and are opening a new era of space exploration. They have planned two new rockets - one to go to the Moon and back. They are planning on setting up a settlement and in the future they plan on making a trip to Mars and also setting up a settlement. They will be finished with the International Space Station soon. I think they have three more trips up to take building supplies and then it will be a type of shuttling back and forth. 
There were many other things we did and we enjoyed the day immensely. A couple of last pictures - we were refilling our cups for the ride home and Nathan commented on the Chefs hat that the man in front of us was wearing. I explained the reason that a chef wears a hat. The man left and went to the back and came back with a hat for Nathan. It always blows me away - the effect my children have on other people! Here are our two little chefs - to end the day.
Our little boy – grew up overnight! He is now 8! Nathan’s birthday was on Tuesday but we celebrated on Saturday so that Daddy could celebrate with us. He chose to do some interesting things! We opened presents first thing – sorry, no pictures. He brought them into our bed and we all sat there in pajamas and unwrapped. He is very excited to try to put together his 636 pieced Legos Star War plane. 
