Not so long ago in a galaxy only 2 hours away

Luke, Leia, and R2D2 alongside a Saturn V model, originally uploaded by MCuthbert.

Earlier this week, I had the chance to visit the U.S. Space & Rocket Center along with The Huntsville Times for an exclusive early look at the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit. Yesterday I returned with Misty and the girls for the Space Center's media and family event.

We drove up to Huntsville the night before and stayed in a hotel, making the trip feel like a mini-cation. There was a cardboard cutout of C-3PO in the lobby, which the girls thought was super-cool. Misty, on the other hand, delighted in our dinner at La Alameda, a Mexican buffet.

The girls have turned into quite the little Star Wars fans, so they were very excited about the exhibit. Kendall loves Princess Leia (especially with "her loops"), Chewbacca, RT-TTO (which is pretty much how she refers to both C-3PO and R2D2), and Yoda. Meanwhile, Emily has been enjoying playing the Lego Star Wars game.

They liked the exhibit as much as any kids their age enjoy a museum (which is to say, it held their attention for about 10 seconds), but the real treat for them was meeting the characters. There were tons of people there in costume -- from Darth Vader and Obi Wan to Tusken Raiders and Rutian Twi'leks (yeah, I didn't know either -- I had to look it up). Emily and Kendall got their pictures taken with as many as they could. Here are more photos from the event.

Afterward, we had lunch at lunch at Tortora's, which we found to be deserving of its title of "Best Pizza" from a Huntsville Times readers poll. We had their house salad and a pizza called the "Sydney," both of which were superb.

Despite being full, we followed up lunch with dessert at Gigi's Cupcakes. That place is a little girl's dream come true; the cupcakes are so fancy. I was shocked that neither Kendall nor Emily wanted the Princess cupcake, though. Regardless, they loved their desserts -- which they're still working on finishing.