Astronauts Don't Need No Naps

Mom came for a visit last weekend, but since she drove all night, we went to NASA without her. We have a friend who works at the actual Goddard Space Flight Center, and the plan was to get a tour with him during his lunch break; it didn't work out this time, so we'll have to try again later. We did, however, get to peruse the visitor's center.

Mr. Graff and Studly outside the Visitor's Center

We played in the visitor's center for hours. One of the displays had a video on a lunar orbiting satellite, so Mr. Graff and I sat down to watch while Studly went off to entertain himself. We found him behind the display, playing with cords! 

"Mom, this is awesome!"

Both of my boys make fine astronauts. 

And there was a toy chest full of helmets, space shuttles, and astronauts. 

Mr. Graff and Studly also played Mission Control in the Gemini space capsule. Can you imagine being stuck inside this capsule for two weeks? I mean... where does all the waste go? What if your co-pilot flatulates? Rolling down the window and hoping for a breeze might not be an option...

Just curious.

Apparently, most of the universe is made of plasma, but had to be artificially created here.

Yup, those purple shooting lines are plasma! 

We had a blast learning about sounding rockets, the Sun, solar winds, the moon, and climate change on Earth. Interesting exhibits, and we just skimmed the surface of what was there. Studly loved climbing into the space capsule and going around displays. He kept us busy! We barely got out of the parking lot on the way home when he completely crashed. Score. 

It's harder to get Studly to take a nap without riding around in the car. He just needs to be going and doing all the time.  I've adopted the "when you're tired, come tell me and we'll go take a nap" policy. It works well, he'll get tired sometime between 11am and 2pm, want to be held, and quickly zonk out for two to three hours. 

I was working on the computer, and Studly was playing happily at my feet--singing, moving things, dancing, etc. All of a sudden, he got quiet and stopped moving. Then I heard snoring. 

I looked down and saw...

My little astronaut had crashed. 

Of course, he was holding onto the computer cords.

Silly baby.