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Popular Long Island Museum Runs Out Of Eclipse Glasses

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Thousands of families descended on a popular museum on Long Island Monday to view the eclipse.

So many came that they ran out of solar glasses! Luckily, it still turned out to be a special time.

With daylight darkness as the main attraction, thousands stood in line for hours hoping to snag free solar glasses. But the Cradle of Aviation Museum had only 700 pairs and quickly ran out, instead offering handmade cardboard reflectors instead.

It's not what many parents and their children were hoping for.

"I'm really disappointed," one mom said.

Those who made it through, armed with solar glasses, felt as if they had struck gold.

"I've been looking for these glasses for a very long time," one girl said. "It's been the talk of the week."

A group of college students took selfies after getting their protective glasses.

Modeling the solar shades was a big hit with 12-year-old Katelin Theodorus and her 10-year-old brother, Nico.

"They're actually pretty cool," big sis Katelin said. "You can't actually see through them, but they protect you from the eclipse."

That was something everyone knew -- not to look into the sun, and only wear glasses or a reflector.

"They make false models of solar glasses and I read you could go blind if you look at it even for a short time," 13-year-old Sebastian Weinstein said.

With safety in mind, two Girl Scout sisters demonstrated how to build a solar reflector from a cereal box by using a pinhole to focus the eclipse on the ground.

Their mom says it brought them together.

"When it comes to science and technology, they kind of join together and feed off each other and learn something new from each other," Karen Mason said.

As for Katelin and her brother, it's a historic moment they'll never forget.

"We can talk about it for years," she said. "We will talk about the time the solar eclipse came. It's memories."

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