Wild Ride Day 6

Day 6 brought us a trip to NASA! Almost. We actually went to the Virginia Air and Space Center, which is the visitor center for NASA/Langley; but Jaden didn't know the difference and he was just as happy as a clam. This was another hands-on and interactive little boy paradise. The place had full size planes hanging from the ceiling, flight simulators galore, programmable Mars rover robots, and a full size DC-9! 

Suh-weet!!

Here you see J "piloting" the DC-9. In 20 years, if you board a plane and the pilot stops you to say, "Hi there! Don't you remember me? I'm Jaden Potts!" you should turn and exit the aircraft immediately then ask for a refund. As the passenger a few rows back, first class of course, I think I died at least 247 times. Check out the windows though….LCDs that give you lovely CG images of the ground rushing toward you in the seconds before you crash. How thoughtful.

More thrilling than crashing the passenger jet, however, was exploring its cockpit. Jaden spent at least ½ an hour flipping switches, twisting dials, and imagining countless successful flights. This was a great surprise as he was quite dejected when he learned he couldn't go in the cockpits of the planes we flew in on the way to VA (how was that for preposition abuse). I finally had to threaten him to get him out so we could see the rest of the place. I'm thinking if we ever get rid of the trampoline in the backyard, we should replace it with the front end of a small plane. I wonder if you can buy those at the surplus store…

Now, I wasn't able to do this next shot any justice whatsoever, so let me give you some stats to put it in perspective…30 feet up, hanging from the ceiling, are these planetary models. Jupiter weighs more than 750 pounds and has a diameter of 10 feet. Saturn is 8.5 feet in diameter, weighs 450 pounds, and is encircled by an additional 495 pounds of rings. And it's all made from Styrofoam!! That's impressive.

After exhausting the wonders of the Air and Space Center, we headed south to Virginia Beach to explore the culinary delights known as P.F. Chang's and The Cheesecake Factory. Uh, I mean, we headed south to Virginia Beach to expose Jaden to the marvelous Atlantic coastline, the varied wildlife and their habitats.

Jaden and Neptune. I did not enjoy taking this picture. I seem to have an overactive imagination and could not stop worrying about the structural integrity of the hand/turtle.

We tried collecting some shells but the pickings were slim and it was freakin' cold on the water, so we headed back towards the boardwalk. When we reached dry sand, I stopped to scoop a sample into a trusty Ziploc (I'm totally stealing this idea from my sis-in-law in Richmond….whilst standing at their kitchen sink late one night scavenging a cup of water, I noticed on the window sill a collection of little apothecary type vials filled with different sands and gravelly rocks, each with a cute little tag denoting the origin of the sample/special place they'd visited…love it!). When I stood up I noticed a flock of seagulls flapping straight for us. My first thought, as they're circling overhead was, "Gee. This would make a cool picture!" So as I'm fumbling with numb fingers to make the camera work, my imagination started up, or maybe my brain just kicked back on, and I realized we were standing UNDER a flock of SEAGULLS. Ruuuuunnnn!!! Now let me tell you, seagulls are persistent creatures. Just because we decided to part company with them didn't mean they agreed. The flock chased us down the beach…some flapping overhead, others hopping along beside us squawking/laughing at our escape attempt. When I realized outrunning them was not an option, I tried the "idiot tactic" which, loosely translated, means flail your arms wildly about to shoo the birds away while kicking in their general direction when they peck at your new ½ price Sketchers. This new approach worked like a charm…although I think a few of the gulls actually fell over laughing. Apparently while I was performing the idiot dance for my seagull audience, Jaden had boogied on down the sand a short way and was happily playing on some recently installed playground equipment…his Alfred Hitchcock moment completely forgotten.