My kids took a field trip into outer space today

     Today was the final launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. I feel so blessed that God lead us to live in beautiful sunny Florida. We are only a 45 minute drive from the space coast. We could have watched the launch from our balcony but I love watching the launches up close. We drove all the way down and found a spot to view it from under a bridge. It was a nice shady spot which was great because the temperature was in the 80s today. 

     I dropped my husband, the kids and my father in-law off at the viewing area and then went off to find a parking spot. There was a park that was filled with cars. Unfortunately there was no one directing traffic so people were double and triple parked all over the place. They had lined the outside of the grass fields but the insides were empty. After driving around for awhile, I found a spot that was small enough to get my tiny Nissan Versa through. I drove past a man who then told me he was saving that spot and it would be blocked soon. I drove onto the grass and parked in the middle of 4 cars... 

     When I said there was no one directing traffic I meant no one official. There was one old man in a camping chair sitting behind his car telling people they were parking wrong. I guess I wouldn't call it directing traffic so much as criticizing it. He called me stupid and accused me of blocking the person in front of me in. Which made me giggle because we are all there for the same event. How could I be blocking someone in who was in front of me and would be going the same direction at the same time??? And he called me stupid??? LOL

      After the launch, I knew no one would be going anywhere fast. When you go to an event like this, you have to assume you are going to be stuck in traffic for an hour or so while everyone tries to leave. There were thousands of people there. We rushed back to the car and found that not one person had moved. We spent about 45 minutes hanging out around the car and getting to know the people around us. 

       The traffic was bad and the parking was nuts but the launch was a success and  my family got to participate in a part of history. Their pictures were launched into space on the shuttle this afternoon. If you would like to have your child's face launched into orbit on one of the final shuttle launches ever, check out NASA Face in Space. 

Here is a video of the launch.