We took a trip to Houston with three other homeschooling families. Isaac and Bailey's co-op class studied space this semester, so we decided to take a "field trip" to the Johnson Space Center.
We headed out on a Thursday morning to travel the 550ish miles. It took us approximately 50 hours (or 12, I can't remember!) with all of the bathroom stops. We had a picnic lunch at a park in Atlanta (Atlanta, Texas that is!). The children had a great time travling with their friends. We seemed to trade children at about every stop. We hit Houston at rush hour, which is quite a shock to our small town selves. Olivia said, "There sure are a lot of cars in this town!"
We headed out on a Thursday morning to travel the 550ish miles. It took us approximately 50 hours (or 12, I can't remember!) with all of the bathroom stops. We had a picnic lunch at a park in Atlanta (Atlanta, Texas that is!). The children had a great time travling with their friends. We seemed to trade children at about every stop. We hit Houston at rush hour, which is quite a shock to our small town selves. Olivia said, "There sure are a lot of cars in this town!"
We hit the Space Center on Friday with about 2,300 public school children (I am not exaggerating this time!). The children immediately jumped on the giant playground. Isaac was disappointed that he was too tall to play on the play structure. He really is growing up! We spent the day touring the center, and doing quite a bit of waiting in line. We saw some really neat things. Eli was not too interested in the movies or exhibits, so Mark and I took turns entertaining him.
One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing the origianal Mission Control. I have seen it in movies and on television several times, so it was neat to see it. I now have a better appreciation for the huge amount of time and effort that have been put into the space program. I was also struck by the lives that have been lost. I enjoyed seeing the Saturn V close up. Our two youngest girls really enjoyed looking at the fake green grass that was under the Saturn V. They completely ignored the rocket, and marvelled over the plastic green carpet!
Mark and I enjoyed the center, but we agreed that our family would get more out if it in about five years. There is not a lot of "hands-on" activities, and our children (especially the younger three) lost interest in the movies and displays. It is worth a return visit if we are going to be in the Houston area again. We will probably check and see how many school groups will be there before we decide to go for sure. Their system does not seem to be equipped to handle large crowds.
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