Florida Family Vacation (part 4 - The Space Coast)

We spent the last leg of our trip on the east coast at grandma and grandpa's house.


Day 1

 Our first day we were too exhausted to do much of anything.  Kevin and Dorothy played ponies and Malcolm dug out the Lego's.  Grandpa took the kids on a walk to see the gopher tortoises, while mom and dad recovered.


 Day 2

 Our second day, we were back at it again, and headed to Kennedy Space Center to see the sights.  Malcolm is very into anything space related right now, so it seemed like a good time to make the trip up there.  Kevin and I hadn't been in close to 20 years and I think it had been even longer than that for grandma and grandpa.

 The rocket garden was about the same as ever, and still impressive.

 The kids liked getting to climb in models.

 Laying down for take off is harder than they thought it would be.

 Malcolm thought it was hard to reach the controls while laying down. 

 Checking out a single engine.  Malcolm was impressed at how big it was.  Dorothy just wanted to climb on the bars.

 Kevin and Dorothy posing by the international space station mural.  The last time Kevin and I were at the Space Center, there was a walk though area where we could look down into the room where they were assembling pieces for the space station.  That was our favorite thing from that past trip.


 The first indoor exhibit we hit was Mission to Mars.   It was new to all of us, and we were impressed with all the interactive simulations the kids could try.  If I learned anything on this trip, it's that I should never be allowed to fly any spacecraft in any capacity.  If I'm ever in an emergency that requires flying, landing, or docking, Malcolm is who I'm going to put in the pilot's seat.

Practicing docking to the space station.

 Landing on the surface.

 Kevin and I each gave some of the simulators a try, but neither of us were very good.  I believe he tended to run out of fuel, while was just no where near where I needed to be.

 This one was much more simple and Dorothy liked that each button would show a little movie about problems that can happen in space and what the astronauts have to do to prevent or correct the issues.

 From Mission to Mars, we headed over to the Atlantic exhibit.


 Before going in to see the shuttle, there is a little movie that you watch.  Kevin and both thought that it was very well done, but I'm not sure if the kids really got what was going on.

 When the movie was over, the doors open up to reveal the shuttle and you can walk into the exhibit.  For adults (especially those who lived in the area during the shuttle launches) it was very powerful.  I think the kids were a bit impatient to just get to see the shuttle already.

 Checking out the interior.

 The entire exhibit area is huge and has lots of simulators to show different aspects of taking off, flying, and landing the shuttle.  Malcolm's favorite was the landing simulator.  He managed to land the shuttle successfully (though not smoothly) twice.  I tried it and it confirmed that I should not fly anything.  Grandpa also gave it a go and made it look so easy.  All those years flying planes certainly paid off here.

 Dorothy checked out some of the other interactive exhibits.  She found the ones where you actually landed or the ones where you were doing a space walk and doing maintenance on the space station too difficult.  She preferred the kind where you could just pretend on your own.   Malcolm was the perfect age, but even he found the space walk ones a little difficult.  I thought that were really neat though.

 There was a giant slide that shows the angle of descent the shuttle had to take when returning to Earth (there are so diagrams on the wall, but they don't show well from this angle).  Dorothy didn't actually slide, though she did try twice.  Malcolm loved it and did it multiple times, but he moved so fast, he was just a blur in photos.

Not pictured is what I thought was one of their best interactive exhibits; the launch simulator.  There is a movie beforehand that explains a bit about what take off is like and what the simulator will be like when you get in.  It was a little loud for the kids, but they did OK, even if they were nervous.  Grandpa and I did the simulator while Kevin took the kids to the observation area.  They saw everything we saw, but they didn't feel the shaking or get tipped backward or forward.

The simulator tips you back a bit, then it shakes pretty hard for take off, while running through a typical exchange between the shuttle and mission control.  Then it stop shaking and tips you forward a bit.  It does give you a slightly weightless feeling.  The overhead doors open up to reveal the stars and Earth as viewed from above.  I wasn't sure it was something that I really needed to do, but I'm glad I did it and suggest it for anyone to try.  They kids were a bit scared, so they didn't do it, but maybe next time.  They were both tall enough.

 Kevin and Malcolm has a special lunch with astronaut Wendy Lawrence.  Dorothy, Grandma, Grandpa, and I just had lunch at the cafe while the boys had their special time.  We had planned to let her play in the kids' play dome, but it was closed and under construction, so she had some ice cream instead.

Kevin and Malcolm both said they really enjoyed the lunch and that she was very interesting to listen.  She even answered Malcolm's  question, "Where do dust bunnies collect in space?"  I'm not sure what that says about the state of our home, but I thought it was an interesting question. 

The lunch cost extra, but they both said it was worth it.  The only problem with the lunch is that it times out so that you can't really do any of the bus tours because they last 2-3 hours.  We didn't do any of the bus tours or the imax movies, but we still had a very full day.

 While Malcolm was having lunch with an astronaut, this astronaut came out right where Dorothy was having her ice cream, so she also "met" and "astronaut."

 Once Kevin and Malcolm caught back up with us, we headed over to the memorial.  The kids didn't quite get it, but the adults like seeing it.

 Dorothy wanted to stick her head in the cut out, but wasn't tall enough, so Grandpa had to hold her up.

 We saw the astronaut again on our way into the gift shop, so Malcolm got a picture too.


 Overall, I think the Space Center was excellent and they have done a lot to update it since the last time I was there.  There were several parts we didn't get to, but we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything and it was fun for all the varying ages of our group.

 We had dinner at a seafood place on the river.  After dinner, we had some time before bed, so I took the kids out on the pier.

 The restaurant is hard to see, but just behind them.

 It was a little windy, but a nice end to our day.


 Day 3

Grandpa and I took the kids to Sebastian Inlet to play at the tidal cove.  When we got there, it was practically empty and they had it almost to themselves.

 Off with their nets that Grandma bought for them.  I'm not sure it they caught anything with the nets, but they certainly had fun trying.

 Lots of fish and other critters by the rocks.

 After a while, Grandpa ended up carrying the nets.

 Then Dorothy put Grandpa to work.

 They were on their way back over to me to show me something very exciting.

 Grandpa had caught them a good sized crab!

 Then, it was back to swimming...

 ...and Dorothy gave herself quite the mud bath.

 No wonder her skin is so soft and lovely.

 She even had a tiny mud mustache.

 At the end, they did a little rock climbing...

 ...Dorothy caught a snail...

 ...and took a nice walk.


 We had lunch at the concession stand, then took a walk out the pier, since I had never been out there.  We spotted a manatee that was moving quickly in the current.  I would have preferred to watch him lazing about and sticking his nose out, but he stayed underwater and was quickly gone.  Still, it is always fun to see them in the wild.

 Watching a guy surf badly on the beach side.

 On the way home, we stopped for some ice cream.

 Dorothy wasn't very happy with her choice of key lime pie and ended up trading with Grandpa for his vanilla cone.

Malcolm loved his coffee ice cream and my strawberry was pretty good too.

We could have used another day or two here, but we still had a great time.  We were just a bit tired since it was the tail end of our trip.  It was a fun vacation, but I think we are all happy to be back home again and settling into our regular summer plans.