Once every five years, Sandia National Laboratories opens it's gates and employees are allowed to bring in their families and show them around. Matthew had just started and didn't have his security clearance yet in 2014, so we've had to wait a long time for our first Family Day experience.
We arrived bright and early and spent most of the morning in his new building. He showed us his office and some of the other areas he spends time in. There were several visuals and demonstrations set up that we examined and learned about, and the table of refreshments was a hit with the kids. We were able to go with a group into one of the labs and watch them blow some stuff up, which was also a big hit. Matthew doesn't have 24 hour clearance, and wasn't able to open his lab himself, but we were grateful that a coworker was able to open it up for us. We got to see cameras and lasers and microscopes and monitors and all kinds of tools and other equipment that he works with every day. We even got to go into the explosion chamber, which was really cool. We obviously were not allowed to take actual pictures of any of this, but I loved seeing his lab and his office and getting a picture in my head of where he spends his days.
After several hours in Matthew's building, we headed off to check out some other areas around campus. We stood in line for half an hour to see a wind tunnel demonstration, but they closed down before our turn came up. We then walked over to a field where they had several booths set up and ate our packed lunch under a tree. We saw what there was to see there, then made our way towards a truck driving simulation which ended up not being where we thought it was. We did manage to check out a few demonstrations, and everyone agreed the invisible light lab was the most interesting. They measured the width of Mercy's hair with a laser and we learned what bees see when they look at certain flowers. We ran into a few friends and families we know, and overall had a great time.
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