The Eclipse Trip

So, the 2017 Total Eclipse was a big topic of conversation in our family last week.  Honestly its been a big topic in our family for the past year as my Spacey Hubby has been anxiously awaiting its occurrence.  There was some talk of taking the long drive up to the totality zone and seeing it first hand, but as it ebbed closer and the reality of school, travel logistics and the fact that little children and 14 hour car drives don't mix, we made the big decision to stay local and witness the eclipse in the 75% zone.

In an effort to make this natural phenomenon a cool kid thing, Bob got a hold of Lily's teacher and asked if he could come into the class with eclipse glasses and do a whole presentation to the kids about the eclipse.  How cool!  What an awesome Dad!

Then the Mesa School District made the decision to require all children under the age of 3rd grade to remain inside during the eclipse so that no foolish child looked at the sun.  Boo.  What a bummer.  Poor Bob was so disappointed.  So we decided to take the girls out of school, head up to the White Mountains and spend the  weekend and eclipse day with Memaw and Papa!

We were left with 25 eclipse glasses at our disposal, but we made really good use of those by sharing our wealth with the surrounding neighbors.  

Bob, of course had backups and big plans.  We snagged 2 big boxes from the local Lowes and he built eclipse projectors for the girls.  They were a big hit because they served as sleeping forts in the days leading up to the eclipse.

In the hour leading up to the eclipse, the girls were curious excited and asking all sorts of questions, they were eating cookies too which was extra fun.

Bob took the box projector out to the middle of the road and made sure that his contraption was indeed catching the sun and we began our eclipse watch.

We had a great time walking the dogs and wandering around outside stopping in and out of the viewing station to see what was happening.

I am SO grateful that my husband cared about this experience.   It was SO COOL!  Even though we weren't in totality, the experience is just simply something you don't see every day and lets admit, its not very often that you get to stare at the sun!

At its max point we were right at around 75% coverage and it was amazing!  It was really amazing to watch Lily's face and see little Evie witness the phenomena.  

I realized that the last time I witnessed an eclipse I was in about 5th grade.  That was 25 years ago!!!!  Thankfully, my girls will not have to wait that long for the next one in 2024 and we already have plans to travel to the path of totality to see it!  I will admit, I've got the totality bug now!

Eclipse 2017 was a memory worth making and was extra special to be able to enjoy it with Memaw and Papa.  Here's to 2024 when one kid's a teenager, one kid's an 11 year old, we are in our 40s, and we make our total eclipse trip!