Total Eclipse of the Sun

When a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse was coming through our backyard, Team Cohen decided to make it a big deal. We started with some special foods, as all good celebrations do.

We made *crescent* rolls, galaxy popcorn, galaxy fudge, and eclipse cookies.

The hype was real. The kids understood the science of why the total solar eclipse was happening. They made their own models to show that the Moon casts a shadow on the Earth when it orbits perfectly between the Sun and the Earth.

April 8 finally arrived. We were nervous about the impending cloud cover, yet we decided to keep the children home from school and have a special day as a family with high hopes. Ethan, Spencer, and Mommy continued with our themed food and made eclipse renditions in our breakfast.

The kiddos got to wear new special occasion shirts from Grandma and Grandpa! We also made paper plate masks for our special edition eclipse glasses.

Ethan and Spencer worked hard on their driveway (and sidewalk) chalk art!

"Are you ready for the Solar Eclipse?"

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Ethan and Spencer made another model of the solar eclipse, this time with sports equipment.

After lunch, we joined many community members at the park around the corner. The clouds were starting to give us slight breaks in the coverage as the Moon's shadow started creeping in on the Sun. We were excited to start seeing *crescent shaped!!!* shadows for the first time all day!

Totally ready for totality!

We had quite the emotional roller coaster with the clouds covering, uncovering, and then recovering the sky. We would get excited for the breaks in the clouds as we watched the Moon cover more and more of the Sun.

We gained a couple new kids with friends Nora and Charles.

And just as the entire crowd thought the clouds were there to stay, they gave us a break at the exact perfect time, and we experienced the coolest natural phenomenon EVER. At 1:34 pm in the middle of the day, the sky turned completely dark, and the Moon was 100% TOTALLY shading the great big Sun.

Team Cohen in totality

Ethan narrates totality.

Jon narrates totality.

And just like that, after a little over 2 minutes of "totality," the Sun reemerged; the Moon revealed more and more of the big star once again; and the world returned to normal - all of us so much better off having experienced it together.