The space launch

Today we went to the space coast to visit the Kennedy Space Museum. We were supposed to be going somewhere else but Mummy saw on the news that they had just decided to launch a real rocket into space tonight and we wanted to see it.

First we had a look at the nature and technology. We liked looking at the animals and reading about what experiments they did in space helped nature on earth. We walked around lots of rockets 🚀 and got to sit in 3 of them. They were really big. On one of them we got to lie down with our feet up like you were sitting on a chair lying down.

There was a bus tour so we got on a bus. The bus took us all around the real NASA area. We saw the building where they build the rockets. It was huge and the blue bit of the flag on the side is the size of a basketball court. You can drive a double decker bus down one of the red stripes in the flag! The guide told us the Coluseum in Rome would fit on the roof with room for a car park too.

We saw the launch pads and where the rocket was going to go from. We got off the bus and there was loads more to do. We went into a big hanger where there were more rockets, real space suits and lots to learn about space.

There was a bit of rock from the moon that you could touch so I felt it. It felt soft. We went in to watch a film and it was over the real control centre they used to launch the Apollo rockets to the moon. When the rocket blasted off the roof was shaking and it felt like it was really happening.

We went to watch another film about the space shuttle Atlantis. At the end the screen lifted up and the real Atlantis was there in real life. I went like this 🙀🙊 I can’t believe it. This part was really fun, we climbed through a tunnel to see what it would be like crawling through a space ship and went down a slide like what they use to come out of their space ship. Me and Dad went in a simulator but Eliza was too short. It was like being launched in a real rocket and was really epic.

The Kennedy space centre is amazing and you should definitely go if you ever get a chance. We then had to go and get ready for the launch as time was running about. There is a launch window when they can launch the rocket and it opened at 8:45pm. We tried to get tickets to watch it here but they had all sold out so we went to the beach to watch it instead.

The rocket was about to launch and there were lots of people with us on the beach to watch it.  We didn’t wait long then it started and the whole sky lit up and we could see the smoke. It looked like a white shooting star from my camera but on mums camera it looked like the sun or a ball of fire. It was very noisy. We watched it getting higher and higher. We could see the tail on it and it was getting smaller and smaller then it disappeared and came back again. This is because it has 2 lots of fuel. When it disappeared the first fuel had run out and that part of the rocket drops off then the second fuel starts and takes the rocket further. It just looked like a star in the sky now then it disappeared for good and Dad said it would be over England soon. The rocket was called Falcon 9 and it had 3 things to deliver on board.

NASA and SpaceX have an amazing video about the launch where there are cameras on the ground much closer than we were and they even have a camera on the rocket! You can watch it here.

We’ve made a video of our day and the launch. We hope you like it!

 

 

 

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Gatorland adventures!

Today I went to Gatorland🐊 It was so much fun. First we got to go in a gator’s mouth as we waited in the queue. Next we saw lots of baby alligators and then went to watch a show about alligators. Me and Eliza got to go on the back of a real alligator – it was epic!  We saw Chester, a really big alligator 🐊 who was rescued after he ate lots of dogs near Orlando!

The best thing was going on a zip slide. I said I wanted to do it and Eliza said she did too. Eliza has always been scared of heights and I thought no way will she do it. I was amazed and very proud that she did it. We had to wear a helmet and climbing stuff and then zoomed out over the alligator lake. They looked beautiful. Eliza wanted to go again. Eliza is now a water baby and an adrenaline junkie!

Me and Eliza got to hold an alligator. She had the head because I had a snake round my neck, Super cool.  We also got to go and feed the really large alligators by hand.  We got chunks of meat out of the bucket and I threw them into its mouth.  I was so excited I clapped and Mummy got blood over her top – whoops.

Eliza was much better today so we had lots of fun together.  Bye bye. Hope you’re enjoy the pictures and my blog.

p.s. We have a video of the zip slide but we can’t upload it yet so will do that later x

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UPDATE – Zipwire videos

A trip to the Doctor 👨‍⚕️ 👩‍⚕️

We went to the big swimming pool around the corner from our holiday house. We went for a swim and took our blow up toys. I took my slinky, that’s the toy that sinks to the bottom for you to get. It was so hot 🥵 but brilliant fun.

Later today Eliza’s ear infection got really bad and she kept crying so we took her to the doctor. We had to wait a bit but then we saw a nurse and a children’s doctor. Children’s doctors are called a paediatrician. Eliza got some medicine and ear drops. I got to see what a doctors is like in America. They were really kind.

Our first wild Aligator and the snow moon.

We travelled to Florida but it was really long and now we are in Davenport near Orlando.

Today was a brilliant day! We were walking around Celebration and whilst we were walking I saw some people looking at something and one of them said that they saw an alligator or a snake. I had a look and saw an aligator. It was a baby aligator. I went to tell Mummy and Daddy and Eliza. Mummy took a epic picture but there was lots of rubbish in the water ☹️ We carried on around the lake and saw lots of birds, some turtles in the water and there were 3 baby turtles climbing on a log. After our walk we went to the cafe, I had a chocolate chip cookie, Eliza had a chocolate brownie. It tasted a bit sickly. Next we went back by the lake where there is a splash pad. I’ve been pestering to go there all day because I went there last time when I was 4 1/2. I got straight in with my clothes on 🤣 Eliza put her swimming costume on. When I came out I was drenched. On the way home we went to the shops to buy some food which was boring but then we got to go to the toy section. We got some blow up things for our swimming pool. When we got home we went in the pool. It was getting dark and the moon was super bright. Mum said she heard on the news that tonight is the snow moon. It’s the brightest moon on the year here in America.

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Beautiful Oban on New Years Day

It’s 2019! The rain has stopped and although it is cold the sun has been out and we can see the islands across the water. Oban is beautiful and we have taken a lot of pictures. Mum got up and went for a run…

Then we all went for a walk on Ganavan Sands. Some people went for a swim in the sea, the grown ups thought they were crazy but I wanted to go in with them.

We relaxed after lunch and my little sister got her telescope out. We could see a lot of things across the water and it was fun to try and find things.

Everyone felt quite tired so we went for another walk to wake ourselves up before dinner. We still haven’t seen any otters but the sky was a really bright red and looked amazing!

Hogmanay

We have arrived in Oban ready for Hogmanay. Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year which is what we call New Year’s Eve in England. I’ve been told that in Scotland people celebrate Hogmanay more than Christmas and that there will be lots of fireworks at midnight. I’m going to try and stay awake but Mum says if I fall asleep she’ll wake me up so I can walk into town and see them. We are staying in an apartment right on the waterfront so I have already been on the beach looking for what’s been washed up by the tide. It’s a pebble beach here so there are lots of rock pools and seaweed. I’ve been told people sometimes see otters but we have only seen birds so far. It’s still raining but hopefully that will stop before midnight. I almost stayed awake, I kept myself busy by playing with the neighbours 2 kittens and pulling funny faces on snapchat. Mum woke me and my little sister up and we walked into town so we could see the fireworks that are set off from the McCaigs tower. I thought they were brilliant but I think my little sister would have preferred to stay asleep but she is only 4.

 

Kelpies, mountains, lochs and lots of rain!

Our latest adventure is a trip up the motorway heading to Scotland ready for Hogmanay in Oban. We called in to visit family on the way, had a visit to Beecraigs country park and to see the Kelpies. We stayed with my cousins and because they have Scottish accents when they told me where we were going I repeated it how they say it which was really funny. We called in on the kelpies but it was raining (it’s been raining since we got here) and we read a bit about them in the visitors centre http://www.thehelix.co.uk/things-to-do/the-kelpies/kelpies-tour/#.XCuz74qnzxw

We were on our way again heading over the mountains to Oban. It’s still raining. A few nice things to see through the rain and mist and they reminded me of Harry Potter.

A pocketful of pine cones

I reach into my pocket to warm my hands and without fail I stumble upon a collection of pine cones, dutifully collected by my eldest.  I notice that I’m smiling to myself and realise that these pine cones are bringing as much joy to me as they do to her.  I’m walking a few steps behind my children as they explore a National Trust property.  Every couple of steps they’ll drop to the floor or reach to the sky at the next snippet of nature they’ve discovered.   Today we’re using the zoom on the camera to look at things up close, it’s a little like a pocket microscope for the field and they are in awe; a leaf, some bracket fungus an old piece of wood all look so different under the zoom.  It’s only today that I’ve realised that my eldest has always loved the outdoors and adventure (the nature argument), however it’s coming to the youngest and it’s clear that a love of the outdoors can be nurtured very easily when there is so much to discover.

 

 

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Enjoying the time in between

Ok… so we travelled for 3 weeks almost a year ago.  It was a fantastic experience, we saw some ‘once in a lifetime’ things and and my two children still talk about it constantly! I would love to take them out of school and travel forever but if i’m honest this isn’t a realistic option right now… but perhaps one day.  The thing is I keep getting  asked when we are going back to Yellowstone, when we can go on Safari to Africa or by my Crocdile mad 3 year old when we can visit Australia Zoo. I’ve been telling myself the blog was just for the amazing holidays we might be able to afford once every couple of years then I remembered the essence of the blog is to get kids outside, exploring and enjoying a little bit of adventure.  We have been incredibly lucky to do what we have been able to so far but we have also had some amazing adventures in our back garden too.  I’m going to start looking at some of the amazing things we’ve done and write about them retrospectively but also hope to put a few bits in that help others do the same things too.  I’m going to start with this little video of us climbing a local hill.  The video was really easy to put together on my phone and my daughter helped me to do it.  She loved designing the video, choosing the design, text and music and was absolutely made up when with the finished product.  Although there is a lot of negativity around screen time with children its another way to let their creative minds loose and what a brilliant way to capture their memories!

 

Steamboat Springs to Denver

Today we left Steamboat Springs and headed for our hotel near the airport in Denver.  It was a long time in the car so Eliza and I watched some films on the iPad.  First we watched Balerina and then Swallows and Amazons and then Inside Out.  Swallows and Amazons was great.  We stopped for a picnic at lunch time but there were lots of insects so we ate it in the car.  The view over the lake was cool and there was a little boat on it.  The road was really high up in the mountains and there was a lot of snow.  (Daddy said the highest point was at Berthoud pass at 11300 feet).

We’re at our hotel now Eliza said she has missed everybody but I want to go back to our hotel in Steamboat Springs and the log cabin in Yellowtone to see some more bears.  I miss everyone too and can’t wait to see Toby and my hamster again.

The best bit of my holiday was seeing the Mummy Grizzly bear with her two cubs.