August

  

In August we resumed living much like pre-Covid.  The first week of August Ben had soccer practice Monday and Thursday night and youth group activities Tuesday and Wednesday night.  He started his first day of Challenge A (7th grade) on Wednesday. The only real difference was that he had to wear a mask to youth group.

Our two tomato plants have been producing lots of tomatoes.

A picture of one of the many chipmunks that run around in our yard.

She was supposed to be cleaning up the playroom.

So excited to climb a tree.  This is a pear tree and we ate several pears from it last week!

Annie was building a fort to do her schoolwork in while Mollie Grace was climbing the pear tree.

Annie climbed this shorter tree and ate her lunch in it.

Annie came home from the neighbor's house looking very fancy.

While we were at the beach a tree fell in our backyard.  We had a tree service come and remove it Thursday and cut down this dead tree while they were here.

The tree fell in that gap between our yard and the rode.  It feels very bare.

While Ben's Away

Mollie Grace has been wanting a cat for years.  She finally convinced her Daddy to let her have one for her birthday but she had to wait until after our trip to the beach to get it.  While Ben was at Space Camp we went to the animal shelter and chose a kitten.  They played with three different kittens before deciding this gray and white female was the sweetest.  Her shelter name was Lia and they decided to keep that but call her LeLe.  We went to the shelter on Monday but couldn't bring her home immediately.  On Tuesday she visited the vet for shots and to be spayed.  We picked her up Wednesday morning.

 On Tuesday we drove to Southaven and spent the afternoon with the Ruckers.

Because Marcie is not a fan of the kitten, LeLe lived in the kids' bathroom for the first two weeks.

Mollie Grace carried her to her room, upstairs, and outside to play.

We watched Ben graduate from Space Camp on TV.

We saw a fox in our neighbor's yard, which is one of the reasons that the kitten is staying inside until she gets bigger.

Before Space Camp

 

On Friday mornings we do yard work.  The girls pick up sticks and pinecones.  Ben mows the places that are difficult for John to get around with the riding lawn mower and I mow the backyard.

Mollie Grace has been begging to mow so she was thrilled to help mow the backyard.

Only one person could drop Ben off at Space Camp so Ben is saying goodbye for the week to John and the girls.

Ben's bunk.

I received this e-mail Sunday afternoon.

While I was taking Ben to Space Camp, the girls were chalking their hair with the neighbor girls.

Space Academy

On Friday, I (Ben, the writer of this blog post) returned from Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. After my weeklong stay, I have plenty to tell you all about. We did many fun activities including rocket launches, microgravity simulators and even a mock mission to Mars. I also made friends with people from all over the country during my stay. The photos taken can't even describe all that we did and how fun it was so I will go into detail about each picture.

Here I was experiencing walking with 1/6 gravity, which is what astronauts feel on the moon.

In this picture I am training for my mission and specifically learning how to operate the computer generated rover which you can see on the screen in the top left.

In the past five pictures my team was working on a set of various teamwork challenges that we were graded on during graduation.

Here I was  working on completing my mission. I was the commander so I had many responsibilities including rover operation and landing my crew safely back on Earth.

Me exiting our Martian habitat right before entering the Orion capsule as shown in the previous picture.

This is me in the 5DF Chair experiencing what it feels like to be doing a spacewalk.

Here I am launching my rocket that I had built the day before. They flew up to 100 ft and were very fragile.

This is me after graduating from space camp on Thursday night. My team did not receive any awards but it was still a very fun week.

(Left to Right) Top row: Tyler, Freya, Breye (Crew Trainer/ counselor), Ryan, Mia. Middle row: Jacob, Will, Eli, Ryan. Bottom Row: Ben, Lexie

Not everything we did was photographed meaning that there was a lot you haven't heard about. There were not any pictures taken of my favorite part which was being able to Skype with former astronaut Dr. Don Thomas. We also rode the MAT which trained early astronauts to focus in an out of control spacecraft. Here is a link to someone else doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu2lVqVajhk We also got to swim in a 24 foot deep diving tank that older trainees and astronauts scuba dive in to complete task while weightless. We also went to the IMAX theater and planetarium during the week. It was a great experience and I would love to do it again.