On July 1 Dakota turned seven years old. Seems like it was just yesterday when we brought this beautiful 5 month old baby home from Guatamala. But he is seven already.
We had his birthday party at the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center. We love this place. They have classes on space and rocket building and all kinds of cool things.
The first thing they did was talk to the kids about the difference between a moon rock and an earth rock. The kids got to see and feel the two rockets and then play with magnets to see that the earth rock was not magnetic but the moon rock was. 
Then they made a vortex in water bottles and had races to see which bottle would drain the fastest. (I think it was rigged because the same bottle won every race.) the kids then made bracelets out of pipe cleaners and white beads. Then they went outside and looked at the sun with magic glasses. When they came back inside they looked at their bracelets. Guess what? The sun had turned the bracelets different colors.
The next activity was to go into the classroom and talk for a bit about outer space and the space shuttle. After completing this short class the kids were all dubbed astronauts. Then they actually went into a space shuttle room.
They took a trip to the moon and back. Right after take off they discovered some aliens on board the space ship. When they put the aliens under the black light they saw that some of them were very homesick for Planet Z. They put these aliens in a special pod and sent them back to their planet. 
The little astronauts watched on a video camera to make sure they landed safely on Planet Z. The aliens who were not glowing with homesickness stayed on the space shuttle to enjoy the trip to the moon. After a successful moon orbit the little astronauts prepared to return to earth. Suddenly an alarm went off. 
Oh no! There is not enough oxygen left to make it back to earth.
Special astronaut Dakota looked for the hidden oxygen cartridge. Once he found it he was able to replace the empty one and in minutes they had enough oxygen for the rest of the trip.
When the astronauts returned to the Challenger Center, they found birthday cake waiting for them. After enjoying cake, ice cream, and juice, there was a frenzy of present unwrapping. 
Dakota was thrilled with all he presents he received. I think everyone had a great time.Happy Birthday Dakota!
