SB 2011: Day 1: Kennedy Space Center

This was an early day.  We got up at 3:00 a.m. and arrived at the airport at 4:30 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. flight.  It was a pretty easy trip, with two flights - Columbus to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Orlando.  The only bumps along the way were Sam not understanding about a layover, and being impatient about having to wait an hour to board the second plane.  And I was seated next to an overly affectionate couple during the second flight, which was uncomfortable and gross.  But otherwise, the trip was pretty easy.

Once arriving at Orlando, we picked up the rental car and then headed to the Kennedy Space Center.  We were starving, but never passed anywhere to eat lunch on the way so we ate when we got there.  I spent most of the drive (about an hour) on the phone with Disney, setting up a change to our plans to get back to the airport on Thursday.  It took a while, but in the end it was an easy change and even saved us some money.

When we got out of the car at the Space Center, that's when we fully appreciated how warm the weather really was.  Ben and Maria changed their shoes, but we all still had long pants on from the flight.  We had dressed in layers, though, so we had short sleeves on top.  It was only about 80 degrees, but felt so hot to us - it was 25 degrees when we left Ohio.  It would take a few times of stepping outside to get used to the warm temperatures. 


After lunch, we went to many of the different buildings at the Visitor's Center.  The kids enjoyed it, although didn't take a lot of time to read the information that went with the displays.  Since we arrived so late, and had had such an early morning, we didn't do the bus tour or drive out to the launch pad (if they even let you do that anymore).  We were very disappointed when we heard on Sunday that the shuttle is currently on the launch pad waiting for its next trip.  But we were so tired, I'm not sure we could have handled to bus tour.

We headed to the hotel around 3:30, and so after arriving the kids wanted to swim.  I took them down to the pool while Ben had a much needed nap.  The pool was beautiful and big, and the kids had fun.  Soon we headed to dinner at Wendy's, and then were all in bed by 9:00 for our big day tomorrow.