More KSC and beach fun!

Since Abby and Megan were at Aunt Ronda's, Bethany did NOT want to leave. So, she stayed with them and James, Roman, Hope and I headed back to Kennedy Space Center for more fun. It was strange not having the Bmonster with us, but we all had a fantastic time! We started with the Shuttle Launch Experience and this time Hope didn't chicken out. In fact, she loved it!! Then we toured Explorer and caught the Launch status report. We had to exit that a bit premature in hunt for a bathroom. James and Roman then headed to the rocket garden while Hope and I went to the playground. We had a quick space dots break then caught "Mad Mission to Mars", a fun children's skit. It was partially 3-D and also had audience participation. My kids are very leary of volunteering for such things, well, maybe not B, but Hope and Roman definitely are! So, when the first 4 volunteers were called up they sat on their hands with heads down to avoid notice. LOL All the kids had to do was hold a ball so show the solar system... no big deal. So the next time a volunteer was called, Professor Hope Von Braun hesitantly raised her hand. She got to go up, they were VERY excited to meet her and then she got to demonstrate gravity by shooting off a rocket across the stage. Way cool! She was very proud of herself! Next up..... a wacky space chair?? The possibilities alone sent Roman's hand flying up into the air before he could think straight. Much to my amazement he ran on up too, AND was not disappointed. The new captains chair was decked out with boosters that raised him to the roof. As he grinned, the two astronauts started a cheer.... R-O-M-A-N Roman Roman!!! He pumped his arms in the air in triumph and just totally played into it. It was too cute! After the show we headed to see the robots and called it a day. There was soooooooooooooooooooooo much more to see, but Sarah was getting out of school early and we all wanted to head to the beach too.

We made it back to Ronda's in time for lunch, then packed everyone.... Kari, Kermit, Abby, Megan, Emma, Sarah, James, Roman, Hope, Bethany and me .... into cars and headed for the beach! The kids swore they saw lots of dolphins and manatees while crossing the river. I'm not too sure they weren't imagining them, but I can say for certain that we saw plenty more sting rays once at the beach! A whole group of about 8 that twice swam past us. The last time they passed Kermit yells, "Kari, STOP!" What does she do?? She takes off running as fast as she can to get out of that water! LOL It was a little rainy while we were at the beach and quite windy. Still we hung out for a good hour or more before heading home for a dip in the pool and dinner before attempting to settle in a baby and 5 excited kids ages 3-8 for the night, all in one adult free room! After a busy day in the sun, they surprisingly began dropping like flies with little fuss!