March 24th – Friday Night.  We had a full day today.  Only a few students fell asleep on the bus trip.  Hopefully they will be able to get a “full” night of rest tonight in that we have another full day planned for Saturday.

Students were up and ready at 9 am and we proceeded to the Target Mall.  At the Mall area students scattered in groups of 3-4 students per group and visited Dollar Tree, Target, Game Stop, and more.  Students picked up a lunch to go while there.  At 1 pm we proceeded to the Monte Sano State Park on top of the big hill next to Huntsville.  While at the park we had our lunch then had an quick Egg finding contest.  Barbara Boyer had purchases plastic eggs and we had filled them with candy.  I believe we found almost all of the hidden eggs.  After the search we proceeded on a 1.2 mile hike/stroll around the crest of the park.  It provided a number of great views.  The weather for the time at the park was nearly perfect, blue skies, breezy but warm enough to have a good time.  We completed the afternoon with about 1 hour of down time at the park play area.  Many students took advantage of the swings, play ground equipment and the great expanse of grass.  At 4 pm we rounded everyone up and headed back to drop the students off at camp.

While we were out, Space Camp graduated a huge group of campers.  The dorm rooms should be much quieter tonight for the students.  Tomorrow morning their breakfast should be less crowded.

Students reported that most got sleep last night.  The hours many reported were often broken by periods of time awake as students are working through 13 hours of jet-lag.

Tomorrow we have a full day our of camp planned.  We get picked up at 9 am again and we will head first to a FRC high school robotics competition.  This is a regional event and the winner will proceed on to the World Championships in St. Louis in April.  Being able to add this activity tomorrow morning is a big plus in that many on our trip are involved SAS Robotics at the Middle School and High School level. See (http://www.huntsville.org/event/2016-alabama-rocket-city-first%C2%AE-robotics-competition/31333/ ) for more information about this event.

Following the time at the Robotics Event, depending on time we will proceed to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens for an hour or so.  If time does not allow we will instead immediately proceed to the Bridge Street mall area for lunch and a afternoon movie.  We will have supper at the mall area and then work our way back to Space Camp.

Sunday begins our “real” Space Camp experience.  Students will officially start their program and missions on Sunday.  Sunday will have tours of the facility, getting to know the program activities, and preparation for Monday when they will have their first Mission Prep’s.  The campers will take their first mission on Tuesday.