S/o eclipse - what are you doing for it?

[matrips]

I think I must be missing something. My grand plans were to step outside with the kids close to the eclipse time. Watch a bit. And then go back in. I did but the glasses. But I'm beginning to feel I need to make a bigger deal out of it or something!

 

What are you doing? I know folks have big trips and themed days. Is everyone going all out?

[Guest]

Well, I live inside a national park, so we are driving to the outdoor amphitheater and listening to the park ranger special program. We have NPS viewing glasses that we got for free. I plan to spend a couple hours on it, then go back home. That's about it.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Kinsa

[DesertBlossom]

So my kids are in school this year and we were told that it will be "rainy day schedule" on Monday with inside recess so no one is tempted to burn their eyeballs looking at the sun. They will be live-streaming NASA footage into the classroom instead. If I don't want them to watch the NASA footage, I can send in a note and my kids will spend the morning in isolation doing busy work instead. Apparently some parents don't want their kids to watch it. My guess would be the flat-earthers but that's just spectaculation.

 

While both sound like awesome options (sarcasm) I am tempted to keep them home from school and make pinhole viewers instead.

[Alice]

Pretty much the same. My kids are actually at my parents for the weekend and will still be there but I bought them all eclipse glasses. We did watch the Mystery Science Video on Friday to help them prepare...it's very basic but was good for the 7 year old. I think you can watch even without a subscription. 

[Debbi in Texas]

It will be our first day of public school. The elementary principal sent out a message earlier that the viewing instruments were causing some safety concerns, so all our classes will be staying inside with live streaming.

[Ali in OR]

We're in the path of totality. We'll walk a couple of blocks to a park. We scoped it out today and will have a clear view (too many trees around our house to watch from home). We'll bring camp chairs. We'll be bored at times. We'll chat with neighbors who are doing the same thing (met a couple today). Dh will do some photography--a time-lapse of the eclipse (he has a solar filter, tripod, tested it all out today). We'll take pictures of ourselves wearing dorky glasses. We'll drink sunkist sodas and eat sun chips. Most of us will head home before it's completely over (dh will stay to finish a complete time-lapse.)

[Loowit]

The kids are going with their youth group to a camp where there will be totality.  I will be home with DH taking care of him while he is recovering from surgery.  We may go outside and see what is happening, I bought glasses for us, but we may not.  The way the weather report is looking it may well be cloudy and we will just be seeing darkness.  We are supposed to get 98% coverage here, so it would be fun to see, but I am not really to hyped about it.  I vaguely remember the one in 1979, I was in Kindergarten at the time.  I mostly remember mom telling me not to look at the sun.

[GailV]

I will be home by myself.  I might stay here, or I might go to church, which is having a viewing party.  I might attempt to get to church, get annoyed with all the traffic, turn around and come home (very likely sequence).

 

I will probably make a pin hole viewer because I think they're cool and this is a good excuse to make one.  I might take a colander along wherever I go so I can look at the shadows through all the little holes, because that's sort of magical, too.  I also have official regulation viewers through which I can look directly at the sun.  

 

In general, I plan to act like this is the most fun I've had in years, doing all the astronomy-book activities (I have LOTS of astronomy activity books) I've had to wait for since 1979.  I might weep a little from joy that I don't have to juggle a bunch of crap manipulatives around to explain what's happening to elementary/middle school kids in a co-op class who don't understand and appreciate how amazing it is that a cool science thing is happening right in front of us with no effort on our part whose interests perhaps lie elsewhere.

 

(BTW, it's okay if others aren't so excited -- y'all are probably excited about something I really don't care about.)

 

[gardenmom5]

Dh and 2ds are driving to a friends tomorrow night, then into the area of totality.

 

1ds has orientation/advising. He was quite annoyed they're delaying things for the Eclipse. This is his day off, and he's spending it on achool. He'd rather get things over with.

 

Eta. I have a 7am flight on Tuesday. I'm not going.

Edited August 19, 2017 by gardenmom5

[Amira]

We're driving to see it. We've all seen partial solar eclipses before, but I'm not going to miss a total eclipse. I've been waiting for this for fifteen years. I'm just sad that dh has to fly out the night before and oldest ds has his first day of college on Monday so they won't be there. But ds will be able to go outside after his first class and see the sun 91% covered, so that will be something.

[Pawz4me]

Our boys are at college, so no little ones here. DH is off work for a few weeks recovering from surgery. We'll probably hang around the house. Maybe take a nap. Hopefully when we wake up all the hoopla will be over, people will have regained their senses and it will be safe to go out and about again. ;)

Edited August 19, 2017 by Pawz4me

[MEmama]

I honestly don't even know when it is. So... probably grocery shopping?

[Liz CA]

Similar to OP, I may step out at 10:17am or look out the window :). Maybe I will notice that it gets darker.

I never got glasses. I am hoping the temps will drop a bit but I know it would be so minimal and short-lived.

Then I will congratulate myself that I am surrounded by the comforts of home and not stuck in traffic somewhere.  ;)

 

Hope everyone who is planning to be on the move is safe and traffic snarls will dissolve - sooner or later.

[thessa516]

Total eclipse nerds here. We made t-shirts like these. They turned out super cute. We're in 99.8% but we are traveling a bit out of our way to get 100% totality out in the country (read: AWAY from the tons of people coming into the city). We'll be watching from a rural airport grass runway where the owner has graciously brought in port-a-potties for the event. I'm surprising the kids with bubbles and fun outdoor games because we plan on being there for several hours. We're packing a picnic lunch, and I've purchased celestial-themed junk foods like Starburst and Cosmic Brownies. In addition, we'll be toasting the full eclipse with a bottle of bubbly. It's our first total solar eclipse and we're pretty excited about it.

[Spryte]

We had a plan. We were going to drive to totality, where there are lots of activities. We traded in points for a vacation in a resort with two or three onsite water parks. We figured we would stay a few days, to let the traffic die down before heading home. It's in the mountains, lots to do.

 

But we have the flu.

 

Anyone dying for a place to stay near totality? :P There will be an empty two bedroom suite with a full kitchen. 6 minutes out of totality, but lots of activities nearby. I'm so bummed.

[Beaniemom]

My MIL will be here which puts a damper on our plans since she is the super cautious type....she once told me I was pushing the stroller too fast. We had planned to view at our neighborhood pool but it is closed for emergency repairs. I think we'll walk down to a fairly open field near our max coverage (80% here). We do have glasses ordered way back in June.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Beaniemom

[Catwoman]

Nothing at all here. I guess I'm old and jaded, but I don't understand all the hype.

[bettyandbob]

I have small solar binoculars, eclipse glasses and I just made a pinhole viewer. I will be with my DD and younger ds somewhere between 92%and 99% , depending on how driving goes Monday morning. It will be fun.

 

DS and I will try to tackle the BSA merit badge.

[Liz CA]

We had a plan. We were going to drive to totality, where there are lots of activities. We traded in points for a vacation in a resort with two or three onsite water parks. We figured we would stay a few days, to let the traffic die down before heading home. It's in the mountains, lots to do.

 

But we have the flu.

 

Anyone dying for a place to stay near totality? :p There will be an empty two bedroom suite with a full kitchen. 6 minutes out of totality, but lots of activities nearby. I'm so bummed.

 

Oh gosh. That's seriously sucky. Just the resort and trading in vacation points sounds nice. Can you somehow redeem the vacation itself at a later point or is all lost?

[Mabelen]

I will be at school with a classroom full of kindergarten age kids in an immersion language program. That means right now we have about half who still don't understand the language of instruction. Plus a couple of kids who, regardless of language issues, will do exactly the opposite of what is asked of them. We are in the 50% area. I hope we adjust recess times so we are not outside during the actual eclipse. We will have some eclipse related activities. It's up to the individual teachers how to handle it. Some teachers have bought glasses for their students and plan to be outside, others haven't. We are the only school in the district already in session.

 

My 13 year old will either be home or with a friend but will want to watch. My oldest is at her college town. She has a job interview later. I don't know what her plans are for the eclipse.

 

There hasn't been a lot of hoopla in our area, we are too far from totality.

[Pen]

We'll be doing what you are planning pretty much.

 

I expect we will go outside at our own home (not a totality spot) taking eclipse glasses with us.  DS wants to film it, if it is safe to do so with the rear selfie camera of smartphone so as not to be facing sun while filming.  We don't have a lens filter, so we aren't sure about that. 

[Spryte]

Oh gosh. That's seriously sucky. Just the resort and trading in vacation points sounds nice. Can you somehow redeem the vacation itself at a later point or is all lost?

It's stinky. :( We needed to cancel 14 days in advance to redeem the points. But there is no way in the world any of us are sitting in a car for a minimum of 6 hours tomorrow.

 

And really - who gets the flu in August?! Yuck!

 

We are scrambling to figure out alternative plans, but those might just be watching online, from bed.

[Arcadia]

My husband took Monday off as his annual leave has saturated and will be forfeited if he doesn't take. We will happily sleep in.

[matrips]

We had a plan. We were going to drive to totality, where there are lots of activities. We traded in points for a vacation in a resort with two or three onsite water parks. We figured we would stay a few days, to let the traffic die down before heading home. It's in the mountains, lots to do.

 

But we have the flu.

 

Anyone dying for a place to stay near totality? :P There will be an empty two bedroom suite with a full kitchen. 6 minutes out of totality, but lots of activities nearby. I'm so bummed.

I'm so sorry to hear that. That stinks when you're looking forward to something so much. I do hope you all feel better soon though.

[matrips]

I do think it's cool and I appreciate being able to see it (well an 80% partial eclipse here). I just didn't get what else to do besides go outside and watch it. Obviously, I'm not the creative type!

I might take a few ideas to make it a little more fun, but still simple. Thanks all!

[Scarlett]

My boys are going with friends to the area of totality. 4 1/2 hours each way. So I will be here alone.....and I just realized I have a dr. Appt at 2.....I might need to go early and watch it from the hospital parking lot.

 

My mom is super worried about the boys. She thinks it will be mayhem and madness on the road. I told her they are young and these things are fun for them.

 

Then she looked it up and said the next total eclipse is in 2024 and she is in the area of totality. She asked if we wanted to book a room a pt her house now.

[MyLife]

We are traveling to totality. We have glasses and pinhole viewers, and we will also try to project with binoculars. In true homeschooling fashion, I am going to ask my kids to document the local time and draw a picture. We are packing a portable grill to cook hamburgers. We will also play baseball and soccer. It's going to be a fun day outside.

[Mama Geek]

My mom lives in SC so we drove there for a long weekend.  Her boss decided to close their retail store and have a party at his lake house about an hour away so we are headed there tomorrow.  Hopefully leaving 2 hours early will get us there by the time his party starts.

[Mama Geek]

Nothing at all here. I guess I'm old and jaded, but I don't understand all the hype.

Any excuse for a party is how it appears and yes we are guilty of it. :laugh:

[fralala]

It's going to be a BIG deal for my little kids because they will get out of quiet time early to see the eclipse.

 

I am a little sad and also perplexed about schools intentionally keeping kids in during the eclipse to live-stream the event. Why go outside when you can just watch the video? Why go anywhere or do anything? When I was a kid, we were all given eclipse glasses and sent out of classes to view the eclipse. Also, has anyone considered the possibility that a child could look up at the sun on any day of the year and harm their vision? Should these children be given outdoor recess at all?

[TravelingChris]

We are on vacation in Idaho right now.  Today we are driving to scope out the site we will be watching  and tomorrow we join thousands of others watching the total explipse.

[Just Kate]

Monday is the first day back to school for my kiddos and I didn't plan anything at all, as the school bought glasses for the the kids so they could watch. However, the school made a last minute decision to let the kids out at noon that day so they can watch the eclipse at home with their families. I talked to several of ththem teachers, who apparently had an hours-long meeting with the principal about this. Our school is K-12 and the teachers of the younger kids were nervous about the kids wearing the glasses properly, yet they didn't want to keep the kids inside to miss it (we are in a 90% area). So after much debate, the kids will be home.

 

I have two pair of glasses for three people. I'm hoping we can share?

[marbel]

We are in an area of about 80%.  I can't muster much excitement.  It's a thing that happens --> that's my view of it, I guess. 

 

But my husband made a pinhole viewer yesterday, and last night my daughter asked if a friend of hers can come over because suddenly she's become aware of the event.  So I think I need to find another box so another pinhole viewer can be made.  Or two more, because my husband might take his to work.

 

I just don't think it's going to be that exciting here.  We briefly talked about taking a trip to my in-laws' (they are in totality area) but that would be a 12+ hour drive*, my husband can't go, and I don't like hanging around my in-laws'.  So I said no to that idea pretty quickly.  

 

*That's the  normal time; after reading reports of traffic problems already starting, I can't even imagine what it might turn into.

 

[marbel]

It's going to be a BIG deal for my little kids because they will get out of quiet time early to see the eclipse.

 

I am a little sad and also perplexed about schools intentionally keeping kids in during the eclipse to live-stream the event. Why go outside when you can just watch the video? Why go anywhere or do anything? When I was a kid, we were all given eclipse glasses and sent out of classes to view the eclipse. Also, has anyone considered the possibility that a child could look up at the sun on any day of the year and harm their vision? Should these children be given outdoor recess at all?

 

I imagine schools don't want to have to deal with ensuring that kids actually use the glasses properly and deal with the inevitable complaints that they didn't do enough to protect the kids' vision.

[J-rap]

No young ones around, otherwise we'd be doing some activities at home here, though no traveling.  As it is, I'm still excited about it!  I think we're in an 80% area.

 

I think it's cool that some people are traveling to one of the totality areas, although the expected traffic and crowds are sounding kind of crazy!  It is anticipated to be the largest mass migration in U.S. history.  That part will be interesting to hear about too.   :)

 

Here's a sight where you can plug in your city (or closest big city) and it tells you the time and how it will look in your area:

 

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

[elegantlion]

I live in the path of totality and will either 1. walk outside, 2. walk to a friends a few blocks away, or 3. drive to campus (which is technically closed). This whole event has been tarnished by family members who are coming and the drama they have already brought with them. 

 

The town has been gearing up for this for over a year. I hope they get the tourists they expect because I went out yesterday and there were about half as many people out as normal for a Saturday. And now they are predicting rain. I ready for it to just be done. 

[Jkacz]

We were going to do nothing. Then DH felt badly and made pinhole viewers with the kids and showed me how to use the binoculars to (try to) project the eclipse. He'll be at work. It'll be in the mid 80's with only about 75% coverage, so we'll be doing it from the pool deck. Big question is whether our chickens will go in to roost.

[Arcadia]

My kids decided they will wake up early and attend another city's library's eclipse party. My nearest library doesn't have any event on. This library does not have enough parking spots so we would have to go early to secure a parking spot. The event is 2hrs long.

 

We are going Trader Joe's before it close tonight to get some food to make picnic lunch for tomorrow as food in that area is on the expensive side.

[Myeightkiddies]

We're going to the water park since most of the kids in the area have returned to school. We'll bring our viewing items in with us.

[Matryoshka]

Apparently we'll be pulling into the doctor's office parking lot, as two of my dd's have physicals scheduled at 2:45, which is apparently one minute after peak. We don't have glasses. It's only 63% covered here.

[hjffkj]

We will be in Sparta, TN to view it, which is currently an hour away from where we are camping right now. The camp ground is entirely booked and everyone is so excited and talkative. Talking to people they are going all over the area to view it. Hopefully that hour won't be too much longer than. An hour. But we're leaving in the morning with plenty of time to make it.

[ktgrok]

It's going to be a BIG deal for my little kids because they will get out of quiet time early to see the eclipse.

 

I am a little sad and also perplexed about schools intentionally keeping kids in during the eclipse to live-stream the event. Why go outside when you can just watch the video? Why go anywhere or do anything? When I was a kid, we were all given eclipse glasses and sent out of classes to view the eclipse. Also, has anyone considered the possibility that a child could look up at the sun on any day of the year and harm their vision? Should these children be given outdoor recess at all?

 

Yeah, it reminds me of something out of a dystopian science fiction book. Makes me sad, and REALLY glad we homeschool. Our entire school district will keep kids inside during the eclipse...not just elementary but middle and high school too. Although it did say "unless there is a lesson involved" so maybe some teachers will buy glasses on their own dime and take the kids out. I hope so. 

 

We have glasses and made pinhole projector things, and are super excited. But...the weather calls for mostly cloudy.  :crying: Surely though, there will be a break in the clouds at some point, right?? If not, I guess it will get even darker...sigh. 

 

I broke the weather report to the kids and my 7 yr old is very upset. Stupid clouds. If I hadn't just spent a ton of money on a new(ish) van I'd be looking for last minute tickets to the northwest right now. 

[Guest]

We were going to use our solar viewing boxes a few times during the various shades of the eclipse then go on with our day. We have two deliveries and an early intervention intake appointment all around the same time. Somehow everything got planned for today.

[Scarlett]

KC is suppose to be cloudy....for that and various reasons my boys plans fell through. They are going over to friends house to watch it there.

[myfunnybunch]

We decided at the last minute to get in the car and drive north. I was on the fence because predictions about traffic were dire. We're in the path of totality right now, trying to decide whether to stop in a tiny town or keep going.

 

The sunrise is gorgeous, like the sun knows she's got a show today. :)

 

We saw a couple fields with Eclipse Viewing signs on the way up but there's a bakery open in this tiny town so we're going to park at their eclipse festival and stay here.

[Guinevere]

Our local museum is doing a big thing, so we are going there. The kids are SO excited!

[KarenNC]

We stood outside the dentist's office with the dentist and staff, all of us with glasses, since my daughter had an appt about 20 min after we hit our max (98%).

[Beaniemom]

The clouds cleared and we enjoyed our 80% coverage.

[ktgrok]

Soon cool! And I have dibs already on my husband's aunt's spare room in Ohio for 2024! I need to see totality next time!

[hjffkj]

We were at totality for 2 minutes 41 seconds and it was incredible. No traffic getting there but we're in traffic trying to get back to our campsite. Completely worth it! I am certainly planning on doing the next one.