Nathaniel Day 10 - Decorating and Stargazing

The tree decorators: Grandmas and Grandpa, me, Dave, and Abby with Nathaniel bear

You can read about the idea behind Nathaniel Day and the activities of previous months here (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

For our December Nathaniel day activity we decided to decorate Nathaniel's tree for Christmas. We invited our family that lives close to us to come help. Dave, Abby, and I had each picked out a special ornament to go on his tree. Abby chose a donut, Dave picked a sparkly blue bird, and mine is a sparkly ball with pretty swirly cutouts. We plan to each pick an ornament each year to put on his tree. This year Grandma and Grandpa had brought some ornaments for him too.

Nathaniel bear with all the ornaments for the tree

All decorated.

Family picture in front of Nathaniel's tree

After we were done and the Grandparents left we went inside to warm up with some hot chocolate before leaving for the planetarium. We needed to eat some lunch and since it was Nathaniel day we decided to go out to a restaurant on our way downtown. Abby was very excited about getting macaroni and cheese…and a balloon.

It was cold and we parked a ways away from the planetarium. I did not dress warmly enough so I was ready to be inside out of the wind by the time we got there.

Abby playing with the interactive walls.
She was pushing the astronauts around.

Abby had a lot of fun at the planetarium. We mostly staying in the kid's area, which seemed new from the last time I was there so I was fine staying and exploring with her. We also went to a show. Abby was not as much a fan of that. She didn't like having to wait for it to start and was ready to leave before it was over.

It was one of those 360 degree dome theaters so I knew that I was probably going to feel sick by the end. I did. And then when we went back to the kid's area I decided to do a rocket launch simulation with Abby. Bad idea. I really felt sick then. I think I spent the rest of the time we were at the museum sitting and drinking water to try and get my stomach to calm down.

Rocket launch

The museum closed pretty early (4:30) and with the tree decoration, restaurant lunch, drive downtown, and walk there we were only there for about two hours. Since it was free day that was fine. Next time we go we will have to give ourselves a little more time if we want to see the other half of the museum. I'm sure we will be going back. Abby had so much fun and wasn't ready to leave even when the museum employees were telling us that the museum was closed. She just wanted to stay and keep playing.

Watching the rovers from inside the exhibit

Abby driving a rover

Nathaniel's tree all lit up after we got home.

Ornament from Grandma and Grandpa