Solar Eclipse 2017

When the duo visited the planetarium back in May on one of their school field trips, they were told all about the total solar eclipse on 08-21-2017. They saw a film that explained the path of totality and saw that our city would be within the 90% path. They were pretty excited.  

As time grew close, their school made the decision to view the eclipse indoors on screens. We respect and support the decision completely, as it would be challenging to monitor a large group's viewing experience to ensure safety for all. However, all students were given the option of an excused check out to view the eclipse on their own.  

Our town hosted a big event, but in the end we opted to stay home so that we could get a glimpse of the eclipse but also watch the footage. Our neighbors were home and out also so it ended up being really fun.  

I took a photo of the cool shadows several minutes after totality, but I still managed to get a few.  

During the eclipse I was mostly making sure William George did not stare at the sun without glasses. I definitely remember a big showdown with him in the car when he was two years old and kept looking at the sun. We all were telling him to stop staring at it, and he finally got really frustrated and yelled, "I'm not looking at the sun! Sun's looking at ME!"  Given his history, I was focused on making sure he didn't damage his vision, and therefore, took minimal photos. Below is my one shot when the eclipse was almost over.  

The trio's school made this event really fun. They aren't allowed to have parties so I definitely wouldn't say it was a party, but, yeah... you know. (Wink-wink.)  

George shared his schoolwork from earlier that day with us. He made an eclipse model, and he read his eclipse book to us.  

I talked with one of our local librarians this morning (they hosted the city-wide event), and they had a wonderful turn out. She knows they had at least 700 people present because they gave out that many pairs of glasses before running out. If you are local and in our library, be sure to voice your appreciation. While we ultimately didn't attend, it was such a great local option, and I'm glad the event was well attended.  

Were you in the viewing path? Did you watch? Did you watch via screen?