School's Out for the Summer!

We ended our school year with two field trips:

First the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham,

And second, NASA's Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.

A very educational and important place to visit.

16th Street Baptist Church - the place where four little girls were killed in a bombing.

This was not the original sign.  The sign that came out of the wreckage was in the institute.

Touring Kelly Ingram Park - the place where children were shot with fire hoses and had attack dogs set on them.

A statue remembering children being placed in jail for singing freedom songs in the neighborhood.

A great educational and eye-opening day!

US Space & Rocket Center, Hunstville AL

Standing under a Saturn V replica where we ate our picnic lunch

C flying a rocket to the moon.  She did well too!  Landed that thing with no problem.  I, on the other hand, did not.  My rocket is still lost in space I think. :)

Gv testing out a ride on the Saturn V.  Tight quarters for sure!

And my adrenaline junkies had to ride the G-Force.  I believe their words were, and I quote, "That was AWESOME!"

In front of the space shuttle, from this angle you can only see the fuel tank and boosters.

Hey there IS a shuttle on top of that thing!

Some of my astronauts

K would only weigh 10 pounds on the moon!

My family in the Mars Rover similator

Just a fun fact: You know how I love those!

Rock climbing - I'm not sure what this had to do with space, but my kids loved it!!

We learned about thrust

And then we figured out how many of us it would take to launch a rocket.  I think it said they'd need 75,000 of Gt.

Taking time out for a massive sugar injection.

K landing the shuttle back on Earth

Playing with switches in the shuttle

Learning about Black Holes

A K'nex space shuttle.  Yeah, the kids and I want this!!