Christa McAuliffe Planetarium

The Homegrown Explorers, aka Little Explorers, packed up and headed to Concord to spend the day at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium and Discovery Center. The visit began with the planetarium show, Family of the Sun. I guess it was really cool, but the Imax theater experience just isn't for me. So I reclined in my chair and closed my eyes and enjoyed the few minutes of almost peace and quiet. I don't think Rebekah was too impressed. She kept asking to go home. But from what others said it was a great show. Luckily the day got a lot better for those of us with week stomachs.

There were some really cool murals in the discovery center. Here Rebekah is standing in front of the sun with all the planets inside it drawn to scale. This was about the only time Rebekah stood still. She had so much fun running from exhibit to exhibit. I think her favorite was the R2D2 model.

The second floor of the discovery center was dedicated to energy and conservation. The kids had a great time using their arm power to light different types of light bulbs, stacking blocks to see how much electricity their homes use, running appliances to see which uses more electricity. Hint here - blow dry your hair with cool or warm air. If you have girls with long hair you will save a ton! The picture above shows Hannah and her friend Ethan wiring fans and alarms.

Sarah took off with the big kids, so I didn't see much of her. I did catch up to them at one point when she and Tiffany were taping a weather broadcast in front of the green screen. The photos were humorous from my point of view, but not what two tweens would want to be published. So instead you get to see her trying to solve a balancing puzzle. The girls needed to balance 6 nails on the one stuck in the board. They weren't able to figure it out, but the answer is quite cool as we learned when the guide showed us. You will have to give it a try sometime.

Here is the group after a long day of visiting planets, moons, landing space craft, rewiring buzzers and such and so much more. If you are ever in the Concord area stop by and check out the Planetarium. It was a cool trip.