6

It is the last week of summer vacation. The summer seemed to fly by, but I am still looking forward to starting sixth grade in a new school. I had school orientation about 2 weeks ago, where I met my teachers, received my locker assignment and learned my class routes. I spoke to my dad today and reassured him that mom and I had gotten all my new school clothes, shoes and school supplies. Mom has been getting on to me about getting to bed early. I don’t know what it is, but there is just something fun about staying up late.

5

I’m about halfway through my summer break. I am really enjoying hanging out with my friends without any pressure to complete any school work, yet in an odd kind-of way, I am looking forward to getting into 6th grade! My mom has been letting me do pretty much whatever I want – as long as I don’t play X-Box all day and night! 

All of our neighbors have been gathering at our pool and having cookouts every weekend. It is a lot of fun. Last weekend, I was scheduled to have a video conference with my dad that was going to last for a long time. I brought most of my neighborhood friends over so they could talk to him too. My mom set it up so my friends could see him on our living room television. They loved it and thought it was very funny to watch him in zero gravity. He showed us around the Space Station, his room and even their garden.  My dad took a picture of us in my living room, from the Space Station. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see me holding my cat, Shelbi.

4

I am on summer break from school right now, but before school ended, my dad was able to set up a video conference with my class. All of the kids really enjoyed seeing him and asking him questions about space. I don’t care how many times I see it, I still have to laugh when I see him flip around in zero gravity and eat floating M&M’s.

Two nights ago, my mom and I went to a beach party with my classmate Joe and his family. Just around 9:10pm, we were all able to look into the night sky and see the International Space Station fly over. It looked like a bright star just moving across the sky. For those four minutes we were all watching, I couldn’t help but miss my dad.

Today is Father’s Day. My sister and I were able to do a video conference with our dad at the same time. She was in Houston, I was in Virginia Beach and my dad was flying over us! Really! He was actually flying over us. He put his video monitor in his window and took a picture of us with Virginia Beach in the background. 

3

It has been almost eight weeks since my dad left Earth and everything seems to be back to normal. My sister is back home and finishing her semester in school. I am back home and preparing for my SOLs. My dad calls me at least once a week. My mom even programed our phone so it reads, “Space Station” on the caller ID. I am also able to have a video conference with my dad about once a month. It’s kind of like Skype, except every call has to be connected through the nice people at NASA. We had our second video conference yesterday. Dad is doing well and staying very busy. He has a LOT of work! He lectured me on responding to his e-mails. I’m not very good at that. He has given me a tour of parts of the Space Station and I was able to meet a few of the other Astronauts and Cosmonauts on board. I do miss him and the video confrences make it a lot easier.

2

In May, my dad started on a long journey. He had been preparing for this journey for many years. My sister and I traveled to Baikonur, Kazakhstan to watch our dad launch aboard a Soyuz Rocket to the International Space Station (ISS). He has lived on the ISS before, but this time he will stay for an entire year. It was a great adventure that I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

1

My name is Charlotte Kaleigh Kelly. My friends call me Charli. I like to think that I am an average kid with an average life. The truth is, I am in a unique position that only a small handful of kids have ever experienced. My dad is an American Astronaut. As many kids look at this as “cool”, it’s just my life and the only life I have ever known. I don’t view it any different than Joe’s dad going to work at the local military base, or Ayden’s mom going to work at one of the local resort hotels. I am learning though, that many kids think a lot about my unique position. A lot of kids want to know what it is like to have a dad that travels to space for a living. I’m not sure I can answer all of their questions, but I can give them a small glimpse into my life.