Tucker goes to SPACE CAMP

Oh my goodness- Tucker just had the most amazing time I think he's ever had in his life.  My little spaceman got to go to SPACE CAMP!  There are many versions of space camp, but one version is "Family Camp" where parents and children can go together for either three days or four days.  At this camp there were entire families there- like both parents and their three children.  Marc and Tucker went for three days- noon Friday until noon on Sunday.  It was a perfect amount of time to do amazing things. 

Here they are saying goodbye!  Have fun boys!

A short time later they arrived at camp and checked into "Habitat 1"-

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The door to his room-

This does't always happen, but they did get a room to themselves.  They both slept on adjoining top bunks.  :)

There is almost NO downtime at all, but the few times they had to wait they told jokes.  Apparently Tucker had an endless supply. 

Climbing Olympus Mons (giant volcano on Mars)-

Climbing comes very easily to my little monkey-

Designing rockets.  When he got back today I said, "I missed you.  I didn't have anybody with curly hair to give a morning hug to, and nobody made me a morning craft." 

He said, "Oh Mommy- I was still making plenty of crafts.  I didn't have to give that up to go to Space Camp."  :)

Marc said that all those yellow stickers said, "No Climbing!"  Sigh.

Inspecting a REAL rocket that was used. 

On Friday afternoon they practiced for their "Mission."  Every person was given a job- and Tucker was made FLIGHT COMMANDER- the leader of the mission!  Daddy was the payload communications director.  They all had books with extensive duties and times they must be done.  They had to do everything correctly and on time as they were competing with the other space camp groups on campus- including an adult group!   Some were in Mission Control, some on the shuttle, some working in outer space, and some in the International Space Station.

Studying their manuals.  They throw in some "challenges" that they have to overcome each mission. 

Tucker was the one to say, "Houston, we have a problem!"

He was so cute calling me that night.

Mommy:  "I heard you were the Flight Commander."
Tucker:  "Affirmative."
Mommy:  "And you are having fun?"
Tucker:  "Roger that." :)

That night he slept on his top bunk with his footy space jammies, in his space sleeping bag with a space pillow and a Space Camp bear.  :)

P.S. Marc said the food was great every meal.  They had all you can eat buffets with several selections. 

On Saturday after breakfast they jumped on the multi-axis trainer!

 And they got to launch their rockets! 

Daddy  named his rocket "Tucker's Dad 1".  :)

Then it was time for the moon chair!  I asked Tucker what it did, and he said, "it makes you weigh 1/6th of your weight and you bounce all over!"

They got to watch how they train astronauts in the water tank-

After lunch they took him to the store and let him get his new space suit!  (Btw, that costs extra).  We also got him the backpack, t-shirt, shorts, sweatshirt and sweatpants.  He was totally beside himself.

They put his nametag on upside down until he got his "wings" at graduation.  :)

Playing on the space station-

Oh no- he got sucked out into space!

On Saturday they got ready to compete with their mission.  Tucker is brushing up on his part.  :)

He did great and didn't get giggly until the very end. 

Later they switched parts and Tucker was in Mission Control and E-com.  His job was to trouble shoot.  So when alarms started buzzing he would look up the problem and then tell the shuttle the steps to take to solve it.  He did great!

They got to learn about the other camps.  They also have a robotics camp that looks great and an aviation camp that is awesome. 

This is a "secret" project that the children worked on- a space base they called "Aries". 

On Sunday morning they got all packed up.  Marc said Tucker's feet almost never touched the floor in the room- to him it was a jungle gym.

They had time to explore the museum (and this is the simulated arm the astronauts walk on to get to the tower)-

In a wonderful ending- Marc and Tucker's "New Shepherd Family Camp group" WON the mission competition (they were at least five family camps competing).  Because Tucker was the "Commander" he alone went up to get the winning certificates and patches for the uniforms!  So proud of you Tuck Tuck!

They checked out at noon, grabbed a congratulatory sub sandwhich, went to 2:00 Mass, and came on home! 

Mommy:  "Well, was it as great as you thought it would be?"
Tucker:   "Oh, it was so much better than I ever dreamed!"

Thank you, Lord, for letting this all work out.  We are so thrilled that our little spaceman had his dreams come true.