Today was Young Minds at Work day on base. They started this last year, and I can only say that it was even better today. That is saying a lot because last year was great.

After everyone signed in, we had a little presentation from the Resident Director, and a few folks from Safety. It's a pretty standard thing which I think that the older kids, as well as the parents get more out of than the younger ones.

In the morning they broke up the age groups; 6-12, 13-18. The younger kids went on to tour the Technical Services Building (Cal Lab), while the older ones went on to hear about the importance of school/college, and what types of careers were offered. I went with the younger ones (Meelie was in that group) and we got to learn about dried ice, sound waves, and the Space Shuttle Tiles, and how they deflect heat. We then went out to play with the "bottle rockets" which was a blast for the kids. We then met up with the older kids (after they had toured the lab) and went on to one of our newer buildings to learn the things that go on there. It was then time to look at a variety of vehicles used here on base, and some of them were fascinating. The kids got to climb up and sit in the drivers seat (AND HONK THE HORRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSS!!!), as well as climb in the back of them to look at all the "stuff." We then all headed off to lunch at the park, which consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cookies and soda. It was definitely needed at that time because everyone was STARVING by then, including the parents.

After lunch we broke up in to different groups, this time; 6-9, and 10-18. The younger kids (and parents) went to take the Mammal Tour. This consisted of being able to get up close and personal with dolphins and sea lions (and feed them!) that are used in tactical operations. Good stuff. The older kids got to go on a tour of Submarine which, according to them was AWESOME!

Around that time we had one heck of a storm move in and the kids on the sub weren't able to leave until things settled down a bit. The end result was we missed out on a tour of the training facility, which was a bummer, but ok, because we'd had such a great day.

We then went back to our starting point where the kids received a photo (we had done a group photo early in the day), as well as some gifts and a back pack. We also got some really cool posters, so I know what I'll be doing later on tonight.

It was a great day and the kids are still talking about it. Apparently Meelie was something of a clown on the sub (sigh) and made a lot of friends with the "sailors" (her words). This is my child who never meets a stranger. She met a new best friend as well, and they were inseparable when they came back.

On the way home, we stopped off at the grocery store. This is where things kind of took a turn for the worse. When we got back out to the car, I went to start it and....NOTHING. Deader than a doornail. I called my husband and told him what had happened. Fortunately, he just worked down the road and came to my rescue with some jumper cables. The Gods were on our side, and Mercury was aligned with Venus (or maybe they just had a good day), because the car started right up. We made it home safely, and I waited a bit, after stopping the care and started it up again. It worked fine. We won't mention anything about lights being left on or ANYTHING. Because that would make me grumpy. I'm just sayin.

Now I'm off to cook dinner, and then play some Wii with the kids. I'm hoping I make it that long. Apparently I didn’t get enough exercise today.