Rocket Man

Over the weekend, Mark and I went on an outing with some new friends. Two were single parents like myself, and the other two were the kids they'd each adopted.

For me, it was pretty cool to meet other adults who shared my road to parenthood. Mark also liked meeting kids like him, who were adopted and old enough to remember it. He was even more thrilled to find the two boys were his age (he was worried they'd be little kids).

Mark did great. He's not always comfortable starting conversations with new people, but people with a good fashion sense are a different story. He asked Tyler if he'd gotten new shoes since we last saw him, and complimented Tyler's dad on his watch. I giggled to myself, knowing most boys wouldn't have noticed either the shoes or watch.

We went to the open house event at the Jet Propulsion Lab, which is responsible for building and sending unmanned rocket ships into outer space.

The boys are still getting to know each other, so there were some awkward moments. Most notably was the one in which girls were brought up. The two 10-year-olds proudly named the girls they had crushes on, but poor Mark turned a deep shade of red. The boys tried baiting him into naming a girl, but Mark just shrugged them off.

I commended him later on how well he handled the situation.

"I know it was uncomfortable for you," I said. "But you did a great job of just changing the subject."

"It was hard," he admitted. "And when Connor kept saying, 'What's her name, what's her name?' I almost said, 'Your mom.'"

And now I was the bright red, awkward person.

"Oh my god, I would have KILLED you!" I blurted out.

I probably should've answered in a more appropriate, touchy-feely way, but I was mortified at how that scenario would've played out. Thank God Mark used that moment to display his new-found sense of discretion.

But the day turned out well despite the potential for disaster. We went into the control center, where the rocket scientists send commands to the rockets. We went to a hands-on exhibit, where the boys shot paper rockets, played on a computer, and checked out 3-D pictures. They liked the infrared camera best of all--the pictures of them in all their heat-sensing colors was so cool! (That's Mark with his mouth open.)




We stopped for lunch, which the boys ate only because they couldn't wait to get to dessert--astronaut ice cream! It turned out to be a weird freeze-dried ice cream sandwich, which was chalky but light and airy in your hand. Once you put it into your mouth, it rehydrated, which was kinda weird.

Mark really liked his, although he didn't quite understand which part to eat at first.



We visited a few more stations, and took pictures of the boys on Mars (okay, a Mars background). It was a pretty fun day.

Even if it almost included a disastrous "Your mom" joke.