the day we met Col. Chris Hadfield

Several weeks (months?) ago, I learned that Chris Hadfield would be signing books and meeting fans at Bolen Books in Victoria on November 16th. I asked Paul to clear or change his schedule to make sure he could go with me and the boys for the day. We didn't tell them until the day before, and they were shyly excited and a little bit speechless. 

I'm SO VERY GLAD that Paul was able to be with us, as I had to get there early to purchase the book and get in line for the 2:00 signing. I was told by the store staff to get there "early", as they had a limited number of books and Hadfield had to leave at 5:00, even if there were still people in line.

I bought my book and found my place in line by 11:15. I found out some time later that I was #287-ish in line. Even later that day I found out that 1300 people showed up! I doubt they all got their books signed. The line started moving at 2:05 and did so steadily until it was our turn. We were back to our truck by 3:10. Paul and the boys passed most of the wait time by eating lunch, window shopping, and holding my place in line so I could grab a quick lunch. It was handy to have a video game store right across from where I was waiting in the line.

Dressed in appropriate attire.

With help from Oma, Jaxon made a gift for Chris,
which he gladly accepted and admired.
On the star it says "I like your song".

All boys introduced themselves
and shook hands with the Space Man.

4-hour wait for a 30 second interaction and a signature
cleverly disguised as an airplane. I'd do it again.

We actually got to "admire" him for longer than some people as he took a 2-minute break to chew some bites of a granola bar and try to have a conversation with a very shy 3-year old who was dressed in an astronaut costume. The boy was so sweet, but so shy, and wouldn't even shake Chris' hand. 

I commented to Paul on the way home that, you know you're the parent when you're too busy watching your kids enjoying the moment that you forget you are a part of it as well. I walked away wishing I had remembered to shake the man's hand myself! Paul stood back to take photos, but had the wherewithal to make eye contact and thank him for coming and meeting folks.

He looks like an astronaut, he acts like an astronaut, he sounds like an astronaut!

Short video of our meeting here.

CTV news clip (I have to watch on Safari, CTV links don't work for me on Chrome or Firefox).

Here's a great clip of Hadfield on a late night talk show, with some very insightful information about living in space.