Space Shuttle Endeavour | Weekend Adventures

I've been looking forward to the Space Shuttle Endeavour coming to it's new home at the California Science Center for a little while now.  Local news, as well as Twitter feeds from the Science Center and NASA (yes, I'm a dork..and I follow them) have helped build my excitement over the event.  As last week approached I became really torn over watching the fly-overs on TV *or* at one of the many locations set up for viewing (or a fly-by). 
My kids may never know what it's like to watch a shuttle or other spacecraft 'lift off', watch and listen to real astronauts share their experiences & discoveries from space or eagerly wait to see a successful landing.  I at least, wanted them to be able to look back 30 years from now and tell their kids about the time they saw a NASA Shuttle's final ferry flight. 
Sooo, after football practice Thursday night, we packed it up and headed to Anaheim where we stayed the night in hopes of avoiding the morning rush hour traffic.  The Space Shuttle Endeavour was scheduled to fly over a bunch of So Cal locations between 10:30-11:30 a.m...and we wanted to be ready.

We watched the final take-off on TV, then headed into Disneyland for breakfast.  The boys were dying to hop on the rides..but mean~mean~Mommy didn't want to chance missing it.  We stood on Main Street watching the skys over the castle from 10:20-11:15...and it was H.O.T...like already 90+ degrees hot. Think sweat dripping down your back hot..ugh.

Here's an Instagram shot I posted there and on Twitter.  I was pretty stoked (haven't used that word in a while!) to see that NBC4 had retweeted it! :)
Then we overheard a Disney employee saying the Shuttle was running late and it would be another hour...an HOUR!!..yikes..I was gonna get heat stroke before it even shows! Sooo we decided to head out to the open area between Disneyland's and California Adventure's enterances.

Hot and tired...these two little ones laid down in the shade of the monorail track.  Cody actually fell asleep!!
We waited..and waited.  I checked the #spottheshuttle feed on Twitter over and over.  I knew it was getting closer....THEN IT HAPPENED!!!!
{i seriously can't put this next part in any words that would do it justice..but here goes..}
There was a growing rumble and the crowds chattering grew louder and faster.  As I looked up at the crowd, hundreds of heads spun around and hands were thrown into the sky pointing behind me.  I spun around, and in the distance saw the Shuttle piggy-backed on top of a giant plane!! ...It seriously came out of nowhere.  I quickly shook Cody to wake him up and the poor thing sprung up in a daze. I yelled to Natey to stay with Kyle and Daddy..(you have to understand this sucker was loud and the crowd..many of which were hanging out in nearby shaded areas..were on the move ...a serious frenzie). I grabbed my camera and just started shooting...The feeling that came over me was A.MAZ.ING!!! Total awe, respect, joy, saddness, amazement, feeling proud to be an American...sigh..seriously people...it was sensory overload!  The crowd's excitement turned to cheers and yelling and finally applause!! It all happened so dang fast!!!! I wanted to reach up into the sky and just hold it still for a minute because in about 30 seconds it was all over. 

 

The signage in this last picture sums it up.  We were extremely happy!
*The rest of our weekend looked a little like this:*

 Lots of Disney Characters

 Tasty treats

 My weirdo's heading into Car's Land for the first time ev.er!

 "Oh, Lightning!!!" ...hoping you've seen the movie for that quote :)

 Yep...'Dang near fainted' when I found out the line for the Radiator Springs Racers (the main attraction in Cars Land)..had a 120 minute wait. 

 A football game..."Go 5-0!!"

 A homecoming Dance..My Kyle with his friend Macey

 And two baseball games

 Somehow, we made it all work.  :)  Hope you are having a good week so far. See you soon :)

love, lisa