photobomb

i am sure that 5th grade is a memorable year no matter where you go to school, although I don't remember mine so much, but NCE seems to give their 5th graders amazing opportunities around every turn.  february turned out to be a very special month for my darling.  not only did she turn a year older, but she attended her first sockhop and went on a mission to mars.  

the sock hop fell on valentine's day and capped off an already exciting day at any school.  she started the morning out with a fainting spell, but rallied and made it to school in time to join in all the festivites.  she danced, hula-hooped, limboed, posed for many pictures, chased a couple boys and smiled the entire time.  

she still loves having us attend everything and we love that. 

just a week later she left for mars.  

at the beginning of the school year, she submitted an essay to be considered for her schools NASA program.  Nottingham Aeronautics Space Association.  this program happen to be started by her own teacher over 15 years ago and for many years was the only program of its kind.  it has now extended to a handful of other schools under his guidance.  it is AMAZING.  she interviewed her papa (a retiree from NASA) and her uncle (a current NASA employee) for her essay and was chosen for the beta mission.  she spent 8 weeks preparing and building a space shuttle, all in anticipation of spending a night at the school with 23 other students for a mission to mars.

ripp and i were fortunate enough to volunteer in 'mission control' for part of the evening and witness first hand what a organizational phenomenon this is.  each space shuttle was equipped with a tv and computer where they interfaced with mission control.  we were responsible for sending them research questions, coordinates for objects to locate on mars, minerals to study and restroom permission.  they played moon dodge ball, built satellites (shelves) while suspended from harnesses, experimented with a rover, watched Star Wars and stayed up almost the entire night.  i told ripp that it would have been worth moving here just for that.  it was that cool.  

we did attend johnson space center the weekend before and were lucky enough get inside actual Mission Control for the international space station. what an honor.  thanks uncle austin. 

phew...glad that is all over.  

throughout it all, she has been battling migraines and a freak fainting spell.  we met with a kind, eccentric and brilliant neurologist who gave her a clean bill of health.  excepts for the fact that she gets migraines.  one of the pitfalls of the move to texas, it seems.