Tourist in my new home

Tuesday we saw Virginia Beach, Wednesday was the "Virginia Living Museum" and Thursday we jetted off to the "Air and Space Museum". I'm officially a tourist in my own new town.

Virginia Beach was traditional beachy fun (see earlier post). The Virginia Living Museum offered a mix of natural earth science and mini zoo. Everything there is native to my new home, Virginia. We pet spider crabs, horseshoe crabs, and saw all the native waterfoul, fish, snakes, etc.

The Air and Space Museum (see my profile photo)had every kind of flying machine, including a large Delta plane where Allison spent most of our time. We (my parents and I) sat in the first class seats, buckled in and listened to Allison talk into the mic as a flight attendant. My favorite moment is when she stormed into the cockpit and exclaimed "Excuse me, could you please fly to Paris because that's where everyone wants to go"

We also took in an IMAX version of the 3-d "Fly Me to the Moon", an adaptation of the apollo flight where 3 houseflies accompany the flight crew to the moon. I have told Allison the story about Neil Armstrong and the trip he took to the moon so it was neat for her to get to see the story in a movie. When the movie finished, we passed by the space capsule in the museum and talked about how it was the same kind as in the movie, and my dad reminisced about staying up until 4:00am that day to watch the moon walk live on tv. When we got home, Eric asked Allison what she had learned at the museum. "Nothing really" was her response. Dang. I guess I can't count that as a homeschool fieldtrip day.

Phase II of the "Grandparent Parade" has finished. (Phase I - Eric's mom here last weekend, Phase II - my parents here during the week, Phase III - Eric's dad coming this weekend). It's 9 straight days of people we love, and so far its going well. I don't know what else there is to see in town, but I imagine my tourist week isn't finished until the last grandparent leaves.