It was a quiet day at the farm... 

Scamp, the monkey, heard about the local space shuttle building contest open to all ages and told Sparky, the pup. The contest was to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11.

They thought it would be great fun to enter. Miss Emily had just had a new refrigerator delivered and the box was in great shape and all they would have to do is find things to use as the wings and the tail for the shuttle. 

Miss Emily looked out the kitchen window and saw them dragging the box off. She giggled and went outside to see what they were up to. 

She asked, "What are you two going to do with that box?" 

Sparky came running with the newspaper and dropped it at her feet and barked. Then he put his paw on the article. Miss Emily read the article out loud. 

"You two want to enter the contest?" she asked.

They nodded their heads yes and chattered excitedly.

Miss Emily asked, "Do you want your friends to help?" 

Scamp and Sparky nodded and everyone ran over with all kinds of things for the shipbuilding. Wings and springs and lots of things that could be used. They worked quietly on the project all afternoon. All the animals had a part in building the space ship. Scamp and Sparky were voted head of the flight crew.  

The spaceship was turning out really good. The body of the ship was the refrigerator box. The wings were from a really thick cardboard box that held books that were just delivered.  

Miss Emily cut out the wings and tail in the shape the animals requested. They used Gorilla Glue to attach the wings and tail. 

Then the animals took turns attaching things that were to be the gauges and the steering wheel controller and decorating it. The decorations were sure to be different than any other ship entered. They decorated it with stars and clouds, and some butterflies got snuck in also.

The little ones took a break from working on the spaceship to have a picnic. Miss Emily made all their favorite foods and for dessert, they had a specially made cake shaped like a space shuttle that was made just for animals. 

The animals cheered when they saw the cake. They love cake but they don't get it often so they knew it was a special treat

When they all had full tummies and started to yawn Miss Emily decides they all needed an afternoon nap. She spread out quilts under the shade trees since the little ones were messy from their adventures. They curled up on the quilts and looked so cute all bunched up together. 

Miss Emily watched over her little ones as they slept. Sparky, the pup, was the first to wake up stretching and yawning so big. He went over and nudged Miss Emily. One by one the other animals woke up. They had lots of energy to play and work on the spaceship. Miss Emily watched the animals work happily together.

Everyone was working on a section of it. The spaceship was multi-colored and very glittery. The animals were rowdy and covered with paint and glitter. All Miss Emily could do was watch them and laugh. She knew the quickest way to get them all clean and for it to be fun was to turn on the garden hose. The animals saw the hose and ran away from the spaceship so it didn't get wet.  

Miss Emily knew they wanted to be chased. They laughed and shrieked as Miss Emily sprayed them. They laughed and rolled around in the grass. They were all clean and ready for supper. Miss Emily let them have a picnic in the front yard since the weather was still nice out. They loved picnics during the warm weather.

Miss Emily fixed them a fun spaceship themed picnic. Everything was shaped like rockets, moons, stars, planets, and clouds. For dessert, they had fresh fruit popsicles shaped like rockets.

They finished dinner and helped pick up the mess the best they could. Then they worked together to put the spaceship and all the things they were using away since it was close to getting ready for bed. They would put the last minute touches on it in the morning then Miss Emily would take it to the fairgrounds and enter it in the contest for them.

They went to the barn and got settled in their beds for the night. Miss Emily tucked them in and grabbed the book she was reading to them at bedtime. It was the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The little ones loved bedtime stories. They got sleepy and drifted off one by one. Miss Emily made sure they were all tucked in all snuggly warm and kissed their foreheads. 

She said, "Good night my little ones."

The little ones had wonderful dreams of spaceship travels to the moon. They wanted to see if the moon was made of cheese. 

They woke up the next morning and had a great breakfast feast of all their favorite breakfast foods. After they had breakfast and getting cleaned up they ran outside to finish the spaceship so Miss Emily could take it to the fairgrounds to be judged in the contest. They thought it was the prettiest spaceship ever and hoped that they would win the grand prize.

The grand prize was a one hundred dollar gift card and movies about spaceships. The contest was divided into age groups. The spaceship was finished and was very colorful. The little ones knew it was one of kind.

Miss Emily had their two favorite sitters come over, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia, to watch them while she took the spaceship to the fairgrounds. She loaded it up in her red pick up truck. She gave Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia the usual instructions then got into her truck and headed to the fairgrounds. There were a lot of activities to do until the judging was done at 5 pm. 

Miss Emily saw a lot of her friends milling about the fairgrounds. She waved to everyone. Her friend Larry stopped with his dog Victor to talk a little and set up a play date with the animals. Victor enjoyed spending time at the farm. Miss Emily and Larry would drink coffee and talk about books and ballet and catch up on life while the animals played in the yard. 

Miss Emily enjoyed the games and had a bite to eat. She enjoyed getting away from the farm once in a while. She knew she could trust the sitters to take great care of the little ones so she was never worried. 

She gathered with the crowd to hear the results of the contest. The youngest was announced first. Miss Emily entered the spaceship in the category for her age since animals didn't have a category. They finally got around to the adult entries and Miss Emily was announced as the winner. She was excited and walked up to the stage to get her prize. She then got in her truck and drove home to tell the little ones the good news. 

She got home and the little ones were gathered in the yard waiting for her excitedly. Miss Emily parked and got out. She walked over and told the little ones the great news that their spaceship won first place. They were very excited. She told them about all the people she saw and how their friends Larry and Victor were going to come for a visit soon. They were excited about it. They loved when Mr Larry and Victor came for a visit. They knew Mr Larry would stay after having coffee with Miss Emily and read them a story  from one of his special books from his collection. 

Miss Emily said, "We will have a party to celebrate winning the contest" 

They cheered loudly. They loved having parties.

They had a great time playing with Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia. They played tag and hide and seek. They got to watch a movie on the giant movie screen that was set up in the barn for movie night. They watched a movie about outer space and had their favorite movie treats. They loved movie night and watching movies about spaceships and space was so much fun. Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia watched the movie with them which was great. 

Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia stayed a little longer and helped Miss Emily get the little ones settled down and ready for bed. They were overexcited so it took a little running around the yard chasing fireflies to calm them down. 

Then they ran to the barn and got settled in their sleeping area in their warm beds and waited. They got still when they heard Miss Cynthia, Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Emily come in the barn. Miss Elizabeth and Miss Cynthia wanted to say good night and give everyone good night kisses.  

They said, "Good night little ones, see you soon."  

They left and Miss Emily picked up the book she was reading to them. They loved books about Winnie the Pooh and friends. They drifted off to sleep one by one. Miss Emily tucked them in and kissed their foreheads. She turned off the lights and made sure the barn was warm and toasty. She walked out of the barn and headed to the house. She picked up the Mason jars off the porch. She smiled at the house remembering the history of the house.

She remembered the story her grandmother told her about the Apollo moon landing. She went inside and hunted for the box that had the tape of the Apollo moon landing that she bought before her grandmother passed away. She wanted to share it with the little ones after breakfast. 

The next morning Miss Emily went out to the barn and woke the little ones. She made their beds and helped them get ready for the day. Scamp was excited about the surprise Miss Emily said she had for the little ones after breakfast. After breakfast, Miss Emily showed them the newspaper that had pictures of their spaceship. Miss Emily read the article to them and they were excited about it. 

Once they got settled Miss Emily set up the movie of the Apollo 11 moon landing and they watched it all together. They knew Miss Emily was gonna use the gift card from the prize to order fun things. Maybe even new books and toys for them.  

Miss Emily let them play and run all over the yard until it was time for lunch. They had a simple lunch because it was too warm for anything big. Then they scampered off to play.

Miss Emily took them over to the pond on the property because it was shallow and safe for all the animals to play in to cool off. Once they were done splashing and playing it was time for supper. 

They had a light supper then a quiet evening until bedtime. 

Miss Emily set up a cartoon movie in the barn so she could get evening chores done without them up under her feet.  

They had fallen asleep watching the movie on the big blankets so she just covered each one with their blankets and kissed them good night 

They dreamed of their next adventure...