Happy 50th Lockheed Martin!

Today we spent the day at the 50th anniversary party for Lockheed Martin's space program! It was a long day - but they really went all out! There were IMAX films presented, face painting, live bands, TONS of free food, inflatable jump-around toys for kids, magicians and other performers, tours of the facilities and exhibits (like Sprocket the robot!). Wow - needless to say, especially for those with kids - we didn't even do half of what was available. I think maybe we should have gotten ourselves a babysitter for the latter half of the day so we could have seen the movies and tours. Oh well, we'll have the next "50 year" bash to ourselves! :) Since LM is a totally no pictures kind of place they were kind enough to offer us this picture you see here to commemorate our day. Very cool. They green-screened us into the space scene, hence the choppy digitization of my hair. Rick's of course looks perfect! And at least our kids aren't crying right?

Ashlyn's favorite part was the cotton candy (she has mentioned the "cotton ball candy" numerous times and gave thanks for it in every prayer she said today). Nathan's favorite part was the sno-cones and slushies (they put the shaved ice in a cup with the sno-cone flavored syrup). But this is our boy who lives to eat ice so that was no surprise. Ashlyn waited in line FOREVER (I seriously think we waited over an hour) to get her face painted and then decided she wanted her unicorn picture on her leg. So, she got a hot pink unicorn on her leg. Then she proceded to rub it off in the car on the way home because she didn't want it anymore. Nathan was kinda whiny and wanted to be held the entire time - lucky kid! Our arms got quite a workout. Why do I even have a stroller except to have something upon which to hang my diaper bag? :)

And I want to mention the "face painting". Wow - have times changed. They now do it with airbrushes and stencils. Not a paintbrush to be seen. They turn out amazing! Not much individualism in the paintings, but they're cool.

We had some interesting things happen as well (would it be a nice family outing be without a bit of drama?) Getting our second round of sno-cones Ashlyn got lost. Rick and I had no clue where she was. After looking for her and calling her name for maybe 30 seconds (it was a short-lived drama) a woman came over to me to tell me that there was a little girl over there looking for her mommy. The woman had seen Ashlyn standing out on the grass outside the tent where we were getting her sno-cone calling "mommy, mommy, mommy" and taken her to the police (who were standing in a booth just outside the tent - maybe 15 ft from where I was). I have to say I was so proud of Ashlyn! She was great with the policemen and told them her mommy's name was Erika (good girl! No my mommy's name is Mommy here!) and then asked if she could have a red sno-cone while she waited. That's my girl! "Hello Officer! While you're tracking down my mommy could you grab me a strawberry sno-cone? Thanks! You're a doll!" What a cute kid. And the other bit of drama occured when we first got there. Rick locked up the car (we've been driving the Corolla lately since gas is SOOOOO expensive) and turned to me and said, "Do you have the keys?" Whoops. Locked in the car. So after a bit of running around Rick made a trip to security to ask for a Slim Jim. (We had heard tell that there was one somewhere on campus - they just make you do it yourself so they aren't liable). They said no, but we can call a locksmith for you. Ouch. Dollar signs immediately ran through Rick's mind so he declined. We then made a deal with some neighbors who were there to give us a call when they left and they would give Rick a ride home where he would get the key and ride the bike back to unlock the car. Then we found a wife of Rick's co-worker who sent me to the special portable air conditioned womens' bathrooms where she swore she saw a wire hanger in the second stall from the right. So in I go - no hanger. I looked everywhere, in every cupboard under the sinks and in every stall. The girl in there must have thought I was crazy. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a hanger. Have you seen one?" :) Oh well, we stopped a maintenance guy and he directed us to another security place. This time I asked, and voila, they have a Slim Jim and they drove Rick up in a golf cart to our car where he successfully obtained our keys! Frightening how easy that is!

All in all it was an exhausting day! But it was great. Family days together are great and this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance for us. Hope you all had a great day too!