One thing that I’ve always appreciated about Ellie and Ethan is that they really aren’t the type of kids who go “I want that.” Yeah, it’s true that any time we go shopping, Ethan wants to make a detour through the toy car aisle to see what excitement lies there. However, our trip just ends with him looking instead of asking to buy. Ellie is the same way; she’s really never coveted possessions at all. It’s not really a bad thing. That being said, there is one area where both kids are apt to say “I want that.” That is generally in regard to having some kind of adventure.
For example, about a month ago, Ellie let Bethany know that
she would like to go on some kind of trip to celebrate her tenth birthday. That
makes sense to me. After all, ten is a pretty big birthday. With that, Bethany
began researching potential trips for the two of them and eventually landed on the
Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS. While Ellie is our lone aspiring astronaut of
the family, Ethan is intrigued by space as well. Taking that into account,
Bethany was able to talk Ellie into making it a family outing instead of a
girls’ trip.
Fast forward to Thursday as we all piled into the Traverse
and made our way to Hutch. As part of our adventure, we weren’t just going to the
Cosmosphere. We also picked out a hotel with an indoor swimming pool to ensure
our kids could swim to their little hearts’ content. At least that’s what we
thought would happen. Instead, we were treated to perhaps the coldest indoor
swimming pool in the history of the world. I’m not exaggerating at all here.
Ethan actually turned blue and physically shook in my arms for a good thirty
minutes once he exited the pool.
The next morning we got up and ate our breakfast at the hotel before heading to the Cosmosphere as soon as it opened at 9:00 am. The second we walked in the door, Ellie made a beeline for an astronaut-themed photo opportunity before we could even buy our tickets. After purchasing our tickets, we first made our way to the planetarium for a 45-minute documentary about the creation of the space shuttle. I admit that it’s a little shocking that our kids not only sat still for that long but also that they were engaged the entire time. After all, this was an adult documentary; not one made specifically for kids. Case in point, it spent time discussing both the Challenger and Columbia explosions which apparently Ellie was already completely aware of. Nuts, right?
Once the documentary ended, we began weaving our way through the museum. Before we go any further, there is something you should know about Ethan. He has a completely irrational fear of black-and-white pictures. Yes, I’m being serious. We actually entered a wing of the museum and his first words were, “I don’t want to go in there. The pictures are all too black-and-white.” With a little coaxing and some hand holding, we did successfully get him through that section of the museum.
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| That is a real meteorite/asteroid that she's holding there. It's pure iron and very heavy! |
Around noon, we made our way into “Dr. Goddard’s Lab” where
we we had a front-row seat to a show all about the concept of rocket propulsion
complete with awesome real-life explosions. We actually ended up in a slight
snowstorm of debris from exploding cotton. Ellie would actually refer to this
as one of her favorite parts of the entire Cosmosphere later on our way home
from Hutch.
There are definitely some other parts of the Cosmosphere experience that bear mentioning in any report about our experiences. Chief among them would have to be the Sphero Maze. For those who are unenlightened much like Bethany and I were, a Sphero is a ball-shaped robot controlled by an iPad. If you’re thinking of BB-8 from Star Wars, you’re not far off. Ellie has actually told Bethany and I about Spheros for the last couple of years as she has plenty of experience working with them at SAGE. This was our first time laying eyes on them though. While you think it might be easy to guide a remote-control object through a maze, it’s actually fairly difficult. I know I failed plenty of times. Both kids had a blast though.
Ellie and Ethan also received the opportunity to design an
actual patch for a future space mission. Unfortunately, I failed to snap a
picture of their designs. I did keep my own design though. After all, it seemed
a bit silly for a grown man to submit a design in a contest for children. Ellie
did say that I would have won though so I’ll always have that affirmation.
By the time we left the Cosmosphere, we had actually spent
five hours exploring the entire building. From an adult perspective, one of the
coolest things about the entire Cosmosphere is that it is the home of the
actual capsule from Apollo 13. I don’t mean the movie; I mean the actual capsule
that the real-life astronauts survived in. It makes its home in Hutchinson, KS
of all places. How wild is that?
For the record, even after exploring the Cosmosphere and
learning about the good and bad parts of space travel, Ellie still desires to
become a real-life astronaut more than anything. I don’t have the heart to tell
her that I’m not sure if people with glasses can be astronauts or not but she
can definitely pursue a career in space-related ventures if she’s so inclined.
Time will tell what she decides to do with her life but she does have pretty sweet
ambitions if I do say so myself.
#DaddyWrite
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| Good dog, Cosmo. |
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