Solar Eclipse

The kids and I flew to Kansas, the day before the eclipse. 

They are amazing travelers!  I'm pretty sure at least half the plane was full of people also traveling to see the eclipse, which made it really fun to be a part of something big.

My parents had everything ready and prepped for a fun day of eclipsing.  The plan was to set up camp in the field by my parents church.  Mom made a picnic lunch and we brought balls to play while we waited for the totality.  Watching the moon start to cover the sun was the coolest!

For us, it was nice to just be outside, enjoying the fresh air.

 

Colin, however, was freaked out by the ants on the picnic blanket and refused to stand anywhere but on my legs.

 

About 15 minutes before totality, clouds started to roll in and it looked like it was going to rain.

We could see clear skies to the south, so we jumped into the car and raced toward a better view.  We thought the farm would be in that path, so that was our destination.  But right before the turn off, the skies opened up and we pulled over on the side of the road.  I don't think I've ever seen my mom just pull over on the side of the road and jump out of the car...definitely worth documenting.

 

And let me tell you, it was 100% worth jumping out of the car on the side of the highway and definitely worth the chase.  It was an absolutely incredible experience!  We didn't get total darkness, but it did get cool and we could only see a sliver of the sun.  I love the point my parents made; look how much light that 1% of sun gives the earth!

When we finally looked down, we realized that everyone had pulled over on the highway and the road was just lined with cars and people looking up with us.

 

Clouds rolled in again, so we drove a little more south and pulled over again.

 Seeing the eclipse is right up there with seeing the Grand Canyon.  It made me choke up a little, but I really couldn't explain why.  It was just breath taking.

 My favorite picture of the day:

When the clouds covered again, dad suggested we go get some ice cream.  We were almost to Ottawa by this point, so we just kept chasing the eclipse south.  We pulled up to Dairy Queen and took one last look.

My dad went inside and handed out all of our glasses to the employees and told them to go outside.  I'm pretty sure we shut down the Dairy Queen for a few minutes, but I loved seeing them get to experience something they otherwise wouldn't.

Chasing the eclipse is a day I will never forget and I am so thankful we got to experience it!

My dad even made T-shirts to mark the occasion.