I'll bet they were excited to see Venus and such during the day. It wouldn't have occurred to them that you could see planets and such during the day time.
Chris, do you have a GStar camera at all??. If so, try this...with the GStar connected up, slew the scope toward M42. Have the camera connected up to a monitor or your computer screen. After a very short while, you'll be able to see the nebula (fairly faintly) appear on the screen. That'll blow them away!!!
