Last Saturday, I toured the battlefield of the Second Battle of Bull Run, as known by the Yanks or the Battle of Second Manassas as referred to by the Rebels. Click here for all my photos of the Second Manassas battlefield tour. It was an intense, fulfulling day for our group of 14 zealous civil warriors as we discussed and interpeted events, movements, tactics and intent of the blue and gray on August 28-30, 1862. Our tour started at the Manassas Battlefield Park Visitors Center at 9 am sharp and ended a little over 5 pm. We rented a tour bus for the occasion and thanks much to our driver - Roy Rogers.

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This morning, we're returning to Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC to check at least one exhibit - How Things Fly. After last week's great visit to Exploring the Planets and checking out Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity, Raphael interest is shifting toward flight. "Daddy, how does the plane fly?" And fortunately, there happens to be a great exhibit on exactly that at the Museum! The following description is from Smithsonian's Web site:

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Saturday mornings lately usually feature a trip to a great local (if you're in DC) resource, the Smithsonian Institution. Today, we're taking a trip the National Air and Space Museum to check out the long-standing exhibit, Exploring the Planets. Our solar system and space exploration in general has been Raphael's passion since we purchased this humongous book, Cosmos by Giles Sparrow at Costco.

I believe it's perfect for a three-year old because of the great mix of large, detailed photography and informative text that doesn't overwhelm. Cosmos is very much like a USA Today-like science book where sections are clearly defined, so Raphael just points and requests a read.

Although I've been to this exhibit many times, I still get excited because as Raphael requests I read every single caption, I learn something new as well. But today, I have a feeling he'll go straight to the Mars section as his favorite thing to say is "Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system" as well as the Jupiter exhibit to confirm "Jupiter's main gases are hydrogen and helium."

We're also going to check out Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity at the Albert Einstein Planetarium. Following is a description: "There's a place from which nothing escapes, not even light, where time and space literally come to end. It's at this point, inside this fantastic riddle, that black holes exert their sway over the cosmos. Zip through other-wordly wormholes, experience the creation of the Milky Way Galaxy, and witness the violent death of a star and subsequent birth of a black hole. Mathematical equations, cutting-edge science, and Einstein's theories fill in holes along the way, providing the most complete picture yet on this mysterious phenomenon. (25 min.)"

Click here to check out Exploring the Planets Online, Interactive Exhibit: http://www.nasm.si.edu/etp/

Check out the Cosmos book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cosmos-Giles-Sparrow/dp/1847241255

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