Just a few hours later...!

My home!

I'm in Denver. Paul texts me this





The patio build has begun!

We plan to fatten her up!

Blackberry:

And also...

It's freakish how Paul's clinic is exploding with success.

Freakish.

If you know what your soul's purpose is, you can be one truly happy being. Damn!

Hello again

Well good grief there's so much going on these days I'd have to blog daily to keep up.

1) I totally didn't even blog about our fun July 4th weekend we spent at my dad's in New Orleans. Or maybe I did? I don't think so. It's the yearly trip. In short, Anna was old enough to hold a sparkler this year, which kinda freaked her out and pleased her at the same time. She and her cousins spent 8-10 hours a day over 3 days in the swimming pool. Yes, this apparently is physically possible. I was exhausted for her. We ate really well, but Dad and his wife are on diets (and now look like rock stars) and so we didn't eat as halphazardly as we did in previous years. This means less guilt. We had a super fun time again this year crammed into just about 72 hours. Woo-hoo! Will post picture soon. Oh yes I will!

2). Fast forward to my return from Germany. I managed to stick around Houston for a week getting all the love I could from Anna, who has now become a daddy's girl thanks to my absence. Can you blame her? On day one of mommy's absence, I get a report that she got off camp early, went to her friend's house, and came back covered in glitter head to toe. Also she gets to stay up a little later thanks to Paul's schedule and she gets to sleep in my spot in our bed. She probably eats pizza for breakfast. Oh yes and then when mommy returns from travel, mommy brings her tons of cool stuff (special request from Germany this time was a pair of rainbow sunglasses with bows and rainbow hair bow. I actually got close). Who wouldn't love it when mommy's gone?

2). Then I went to Anchorage, Alaska with Dad. Paul is the most patient husband in the world for letting me go another week like this, and I managed to beat my own guilt by promising no more travel to myself anytime soon. But I pay the price in "I want DADDY to read me books at night, not mommy!" That's another post. Anyway, I talked dad into letting me tag along on a business trip and so I got to sit in on some of his business meetings AND do some cool Alaska things. Most notable of Alaska things: an earthquake! 5.4 happened 70 miles away at 6am, and my bed shook. I wasn't sure if it was an actual earthquake or if my neighbors were being inconsiderate at 6am so I googled the Alaska Earthquake Information Center who tracks these things. Apparently the list of daily earthquakes in Alaska is long! Pretty common are the small ones but a 5.4 at least makes the news :) We also went on a cruise for whale watching, sea lions, glaciers, puffins...we got a full taste of Alaska in our visit, including tasting salmon and local halibut. Fishing is a big deal there. In my mind when you can mix a business trip with pleasure, it's the best combo. I learned TONS just from listening to Dad's business meetings. To sum it up, my perspective is that the oil field is greatly about relationships. Relationships build trust so that people want to do business with each other. It's like everyone knows everyone and everyone goes back like 30 years or so in the business. Like astronauts, they even have nicknames. In fact, the oil field has plenty of parallels to my own career, and I definitely picked up on a thing or two while listening in. Second thing about relationships and the folks in the oil field: everyone I talked to seemed to be at least somewhat regretful about the time they'd spent away from the family while the kids were growing up. Being on the rigs equals big money but it comes with a price of being away from the family weeks at a time. The same theme runs throughout all I met: by the time they make the right amount of money to enjoy it, the kids are all grown up. I think it's a mandatory vicious cycle; however, I did pick up on the fact that times are changing. These kids coming into the business these days are protected by a different company culture: limits and rules and allowances on how much they can actually work at a time; safety improvements; things like this, which seems to be in line with the "mandatory seat belt, smoking is bad for you" generation. And so it goes. It seems at least from my perspective that while this can be a nuisance for the oil companies at times, the people I met at least respect that. They do lack a generation of engineers who know how to get their hands dirty though :) I'd be one of those.

3) We got a new cat. Well she's not new but she's new in the house. I have threatened KC that even though she's perfect in every way, if she didn't start exhibiting some cuddle time, I'd have to get another kitty for just that. I've been too busy to follow up on the threat. Plus part of me thinks it could be a bad thing to disturb the awesome harmony in our household. Alas, while I was in Alaska, I learned that a friend who is undergoing chemo found a sweet, cuddly cat that was left for abandoned outside her house. As she's already got a houseful to take care of and is extra fatigued these days, she was looking for a home for this kitty. So we took her in. She's around 2 years old, black with gorgeous eyes. We got her Saturday and she and KC still don't get along. It's the first time I've ever heard KC hiss. We're waiting for the epic battle to settle things but Blackberry still has claws and so I'm trying to push this off until we get back from our Colorado vacation next week. During which Blackberry will be boarded so KC can be at ease. So we're still on a trial period with this cat. Just as I was googling "Second Chance Pet Shelter" to look for an exit if I needed one, Blackberry hopped into my lap. What a booger. She did keep walking though. She does let Anna carry her everywhere. So we're in a trial period. No guarantees. But we certainly have disrupted the harmony in the house.

4) Anna starts dance class tonight as a trial class. As I was paying $70 for her latest gymnastics outfits a few weeks ago, she caught sight of the dance clothes and begged for dance class. She's been balleting all over the place and keeps begging so I told her she'd have to choose dance versus gymnastics. She's choosing dance. We'll see how this goes. We are NOT a dance family but maybe Anna will love it, and if so, we will too.

5). We are going on our annual vacation to Colorado. Let the driving begin! On Saturday, that is.

6) Contractors begin constructing our patio this week. Or so they say. Woo-hoo! Bring on the shade! Also we have really been enjoying the pool this summer. I spent this weekend in it with Anna for a bit and afterwards she said she'd let me read her books that night at bedtime. So apparently it's good for bonding time. Alas she changed her mind later again anyway.

7) I start teaching again August 22. Oh, also I am going to Denver tomorrow morning for a meeting and right back home tomorrow night. See how efficient I have become at travel?

8) Remember when I said I have a plan to pay off my student loans in the next two years? I haven't forgotten. I'm formulating it now. Hoping it works. It's a big leap for me. I'll only tell you about it if it's successful. Why would I blog about failure? HAHAHA.

9) I bet there's a #9. I just can't think of it right now.

10) I have tons of pictures to go with each of these little lines. One day I'll post them

Gotta run, Anna's dance class will start soon!

Bonn 2011

This week I'm back in Germany. This time, back in Bonn where I was a year ago when I ate myself through two weeks' worth of Italy and Germany, had a blast, and had enough of international travel. Back in Bonn, I noticed a few things I hadn't before:

-Strassel (or something) means street. That might have helped all of my Bonn/Koln train mishaps last year. Ok maybe not.

-I finally saw some castles, including that big one that means dragon but I can't spell here. Also saw Godesberg castle.

-Things that sound fun aren't as much fun without Paul and Anna here. I've about had it with international travel if they don't come from now on.

-my sandwich today had a sliced boiled egg on it. Look out, all my future sandwiches will never be the same! Yummmmmmmy!

Also I have come to accept that there are just several aspects of the physical sciences in space that I will never comprehend. At this conference all week, my head and ego both hurt from trying to hang in there but all this data is meaningless to me, someone with a mostly life science background . A Mechanical Engineering degree does not equal in depth knowledge of fundamental physics! Especially when it comes to the levels I've sat through the past few days.

Tonight was the conference social dinner. These are often amazing free dinners at some unique or ritzy place that I think I would enjoy except that it generally takes all my energy to socialize with people I don't know. Once I had to talk to a Canadian researcher and his wife for THREE hours straight about how the Canadians could never have a housing market crash because of XYZ. And when it was over I had a headache that I could only drown out with sleep that wouldn't come because my body was still set to Houston time.

Tonight was a dinner cruise, 6 hours round trip, up the Rhine river valley that is lined with castles super old (like the year 1200) and less old.




We had a stopover in a town called Linz. I sat by myself on the boat because I could. I was bummed Because Paul and Anna weren't with me. I think I am over this travel alone thing. Beautiful places like Bonn is way less fun when you're by yourself. At least that's how I feel these days.

And so when I got off the boat in Linz, and saw this, I was more bummed:







Then this just pissed me off:







FOR REAL?

























Thank goodness these awful pictures don't do it justice. This little town was unreally cool.


So a gift for Anna (shhh, it's a surprise!) made me feel a little better:







And this helped to drown my sorrows:







Back on the boat was an amazing dinner and wine and music. A group of scientists asked to sit with me and wow, what a great group! We had the best talks, about family and what we did at work and just stories of travel. And jokes! One gentleman told me what it was like to live in East Berlin before, during, and after the wall went up. Wow, talk about some cool perspective! And we all talked about our kids, and showed pictures. There's the great equalizer: being a parent. Doesn't matter where you're from, parents share a common theme: butt wiping. Oh and other parent-like-things.

Tonight was fun, and I'm almost done here! Been here since Monday afternoon, heading home Sunday. Even though I'll miss the miniature packs of gummy bears they leave on my pillow here every night, I am ready for this kind of sweetness:

Yes, it's the end of the space shuttle era

Dear Anna,
In 1981, the first space shuttle was launched: Columbia. Today, the final was launched: Atlantis.

The space shuttle was the symbol of a dream for me growing up: the huge orange external fuel tank next to the white solid rocket boosters and the unmistakable airplane-shaped orbiter. Huge backwards American flag on it. Today when it launched for the final time, I wasn't the only one who thought just for a split second, "damn, I really AM never going to know what it feels like to ride in one." And then a fleeting thought: how narcissistic, move on please. I watched from the place I wanted to be most: at work, with my coworkers in the International Space Station (ISS) office at Johnson Space Center. It was so fantastic to know I wasn't alone in saying goodbye. I wondered if there was anyone at JSC who wasn't tuned in to the launch today.

I wasn't compelled to travel to KSC to see the launch live like lots of others I knew. Today it seemed like every email I sent had an Out Of Office Reply stating that they'd return July 11. I could have gone myself or I could have hauled Paul and Anna out there, but none of us was compelled. It's kind of one of those things. These days I am all about being only where I want to be. And for real, JSC was where I wanted to be, second only to being with you real time (you got to watch it from your camp classroom at St. Thomas. Skip Hatfield's wife is your camp teacher). JSC is the place I always wanted to work, since I was a kid. It was good to be there today. I only got a little jealous when I heard Jimmy Buffett played live at the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building after the launch! AWWWWMANNN!!!...









I grew up with shuttle. It was my #1 love growing up (I had even memorized shuttle facts from the space shuttle's owner's manual), and then when I became an adult, it was the space station. Who knew that one day I'd be sitting there, an ISS civil servant at JSC, watching the end of the shuttle era? Even only 11 years ago I wouldn't have believed any of that statement. Who knew one day I'd be quoted on behalf of the ISS program the past few days in news articles, and according to some of Paul's clients who saw me on TV last night, a news brief regarding the end of the space shuttle era (Huh? I was totally at home catching up on Jon Stewart's Daily Show re-runs last night in my PJ's. OH! I forgot that ABC had done a segment with me awhile back that they were holding for the final shuttle launch. Guess they aired it).

Seriously. The end of the space shuttle. There will be lots of drunk people tonight.

Anna, this is how NASA works. In all instances, we are at the mercy of the president. As in the US President. The President of the United States. This is because NASA is a part of the Executive Branch of US government. The president is basically my boss. We are at the mercy of each new incoming president, some may have bold new ideas for NASA. Others may choose to just let us keep our mission straight, continue to underfund us, and let us do our thing fantastically like we always have. In 2003, the Columbia orbiter tragedy prompted then-president George W Bush to set a course for retiring the space shuttle, cutting funding of the space station and setting it to fall to the ocean in 2015, and beginning a new program called Constellation that would allow us to go to the moon and Mars. This was part of the 2004 Vision for Space Exploration. Essentially, a "nice-to-know-ya" to space shuttle and space station, so diverting the money for those programs to build up Constellation. My engineering friends were happy because they were going to be able to design the next steps that go beyond Low Earth Orbit for NASA (a dream job for them because ISS was boring, as it was not a rocket). I was not happy with the curb kick that ISS got, and disheartened by the proposed retirement of the space shuttle, I was depressed. But even that seemed far off enough.

We are now at far off enough. We've had time to mourn the loss of shuttle. Here's what's changed since 2003: George W Bush's two term limit was up, and a new president, Barack Obama, was elected. Obama was an incoming president in 2009 to a nation in recession and hard decisions were being made against all of government spending. By this time Constellation had been chugging along, behind schedule and underfunded. The usual NASA way. Don't get me wrong, we still pull it off...wait...no wait, we weren't exactly heading for pulling this off, as a board of space appointees told the president. Constellation was not sustainable with the meager budget it was limping by on. NASA was doing its best because the people loved the program. But let's face it, it simply wasn't even the budget that Apollo had to go to the moon. And so our new president shockingly dismantled Constellation in 2010, eventually restructuring it so as to leave only the Orion crew launch vehicle to be built by NASA, and funneling dollars to a new commercial crew launch industry. This hurt lots of NASA people and was pretty controversial on so many levels. Change hurts. What do you expect when you vote for a president whose campaign mantra was all about CHANGE?

Also by 2010, the shuttle retirement plans had gone as planned so far under the Bush administration that technically it couldn't even be revived. The mom and pop shops that made the specialty parts had long gone out of business. To ramp up the effort to keep shuttle running would be fiscally sucky. Also, by now at least half of people you ask would have accepted the notion that the space shuttle really was expensive and difficult to maintain; more so than a simple rocket. And so the retirement plans rolled on.

Now at 2011, we saw the shuttle launch for the last time, and we have yet no Orion or shuttle replacement vehicle to launch our astronauts to the space station. We will rely on rides with our Russian partners like we've been doing for the past 10 years and nobody has paid attention to because it wasn't an actual SHUTTLE launch. I was walking back to my desk after watching the launch in a conference room with others, I actually heard an ISS coworker who I otherwise liked say, "well, there goes America's manned space program." Was he high? Delirious? How he could say that and simultaneously be a staff member of the International Space Program is a complete contradiction. Did he actually fall for the media scare tactics and hype? No way. Really? Wow. Score one for media. Big time.











Dear Anna, there are still people on the International Space Station orbiting above our heads around the clock. Some of them are NASA astronauts. Others are from around the world. There may be up to 6 of them at a time. Seriously, doesn't this constitute a manned space program? He must have been loopy on the space shuttle final launch celebratory cake we'd just eaten.

NASA is at the mercy of the US President. I don't blame either president I've worked for for making mistakes. There are many reasons for their decisions and I can see good and bad in all of them, and admittedly there's plenty I don't even understand. The hard part is switching gears potentially every 4 to 8 years. It's the history of NASA as a governmnet entity.

The symbol of the space shuttle may be gone. But the astronauts are still here, right here at JSC. The big white EVA suits that I grew up with are still in full use. The space station is still here in all its glory, which is something I watched NASA design, redesign, and build since high school. There have been launch vehicle gaps in NASA before. Changes in space programs (think Apollo to Skylab to shuttle to ISS). It's history repeating itself, another generation. Change is so hard. The previous generations can tell you that.

I wonder what yours will be like?

In which my quotes are acceptable...

OK it never ceases to amaze me when I give a phone interview for an article: The Title.

The thing is when you do these interviews, you don't know the title (and I'm told the writer doesn't either and the Editor picks it after the story is written or something). You just answer the questions. Heck you don't even really have a feel for the angle so you'd just better be sure what you're saying is always positive, because you may talk your head off for 15 minutes, and they'll only use snippets.

My last interview ended up in a story called something like: "Is the ISS Really Worth $60 Billion?" Gasp. I had no idea THAT was the angle. It went OK.

This time, from LiveScience.com:
"Will Shuttle's End Leave Science Landlocked?"

Ack. What's with these horrible TITLES?
Fortunately this time, my quotes didn't sound so defensive. This one went well enough. Geeze.

Last day of "school"

Anna has been having a blast at the Armand Bayou camps (that's her bird's nest above from today), and she's halfway through her final week. Next week she starts the St Thomas camps, which last all day, thus mitigating the once-per-day freak out moment I encounter of "where's my kid what time is it Oh OK". The schedule has been a little wonky but she's been flexible and so it went fast. She's still never thrilled on the afternoons she had to go to "school" (and I can't blame her). But today is her last afternoon there until August 29 when she starts with her new Pre-k-5 teacher (yippie!).

Today when she started sulking about having to go to school I reminded her it was her last day. She perked up but I reminded her that she was saying final goodbyes to her favorite friends (Ryan, Karma, Erin) she'd grown up with since infants because they would not be going to her class in August. I think that hit Paul and me harder this morning than it has her so far (by the way, is this just my own pet peeve? For an explanation of when to use "I vs ME" read here: http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/ime.html).

We'll try our best to keep in touch with these kids (I like their parents) but who knows how these things go. That's life.

In the meantime, Anna can now swim to the bottom of the pool to pick up pool toys for fun! Well, she still needs our help in getting to the bottom but she holds her breath, looks around for what we've thrown down there, picks it up, and gets it back to us :) She does still want her arm floaties most of the time, just I guess for extra caution. Baby steps. So to speak. She's midway through her final week of swim class. Don't know if we'll continue on a semi-regular basis or what. I guess we'll see.

So long June!

Today I got half way to Anna's camp when I realized that in my rush out the door I'd forgotten to put half my makeup on.

The fact that nobody at work noticed is a testament to either:
-their politeness
-the fact that I must look pretty great without all the makeup; or,
-I suck so bad at putting on makeup, why bother wearing it.

First Class!

Let the wine vs caffeine battle begin!

Swim!

Go baby! So Paul and I were doing silent cheering jumping jacks while watching her do stunts in he firs swim class. We amused the other parents and she just stared at us with a grin :)






I was supposed to be on a plane. About that...have you ever actually known personally a dumbass who gets in line for a flight, hands over their ticket, then is told they're getting on the plane to some place called Harlington when they're supposed to be going to Columbus? Seriously? Well you have now. I just showed up to my gate, saw they were boarding, and got in line. When my boarding pass kept going bong instead of beep, the attendant informed me, in front of everyone, that I was headed for the wrong plane! I don't even know where Harlington is. I then announced to the witnesses "I swear I'm a seasoned traveler!" Turns out my plane got delayed so far back that I got to go home and then go to the first half of Anna's first swim class. Paul called me with some grand finale stories I missed (yay!) and overall she really had fun!!

She loved her morning camp too. She fame back sweaty and dirty and all talks about their hay ride and how she got to let a rollie pollie climb all over her arms.

I'd say she'll sleep well tonight!
I, however, won't be landing until midnight. And I've got charts to make on this flight for my presentation tomorrow morning. Yawn. I'm up first for free upgrade to First Class. It's looking good! Fingers crossed though the wine would conflict with the caffeinated caramel mochiatto something er rather I just got from Starbucks.

Still! Waiting...

She's all sunscreen and bug spray

Ready for her first day of morning camps at Armand Bayou, she started this morning. When we arrived she realized that she's never been to THIS camp and she's excited as we walk in. Heck, me too! Sure we were sweating our butts off but Armand Bayou nature center is notorious for local wildlife fun. This week's theme for Anna's morning camp is Animal Homes.

She is such a big girl. Geeze. She was full of closed-lip smiles that said "mom, I'm good don't make a big deal!" But I'm beaming and only even get a half-kiss with zero hugs (mommmmm!) and she's off with about 8 other classmates led by a nice woman she's never me before. And she's a sticky mess of bug spray and sunscreen and morning sweat, all clear confirmation that it's summer in Houston.
















This afternoon I catch a plane to Ohio so I can give a presentation at Ohio State University in the morning. So I will miss her first swim lesson tonight. Booooo. I know she claims she's excited and I totally need to be there but now Paul's got this but let's face it: he and I handle these things differently. In the extreme, He pushes her too hard and I don't push hard enough. We recognize this at least. I am counting on the instructor to be the tie breaker. But is it just me or do you agree the first swim lesson makes a critical impression about her whole approach to water much less the remainder of the 2-week lesson? Maybe it's just me. Fine.

She's gotten really good about holding her breath and going under water. Swim lessons was her decision. We even went over and watched few so she'd see what it's like. Yesterday we bought 3 more swim suits because already she's pretty much in the pool daily. Here's hoping tonight goes well!

Camp: week 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL TODAY! We are glad you were born J

 

Anna’s first week at camp (mornings, M-Th) was really great. She loved it! It was “critter camp” where they learned about animals and reptiles and things at the University of Houston Clear Lake campus. On her first day, though, she was NOT excited about having to go back to “school” for the afternoon session. In fact when I picked her up from camp and told her where we were headed, she stopped in her tracks in the UHCL building and internally threatened a 4-yr-old-type tantrum if I dared take this any further. I sat wondering: bribe? Threats? Pick her up and carry her out kicking and screaming? (yes, that’s MY kid. She’s not USUALLY one of those. Honest!)…Ultimately I got her to move with threats. Later, explanations about the schedule and why she should obey it. And more threats.

 

When she’s at school in the afteroon, it’s with her same teacher with her same friends (a few new ones), and as it turns out the classroom has moved to one that has a pet chinchilla. Of course, that was a big hit! On Tuesday afternoon she was home between me and Paul, then to the Valeo PT Astros game that night, and on Wednesday afternoon she went to play at one of her little friend’s house for the entire afternoon I was at work! She was so tired she and her friend actually passed out for a nap on her friend’s bed! MY CHILD? Unheard of! She spent Thursday afternoon at the clinic, then gymnastics, and on Friday morning she was at school (water play day!) in the morning, and with TJ and the kids swimming at a client’s/friend’s house in their beautiful pool on Clear Lake! They even own a pet duck that wears a diaper around the house so yeah, Anna had a blast. Topped that evening with dinner with TJ and family, and whew, what a week! On Saturday, a friend from her school came to swim for a little while in our backyard, and on Sunday we went to M’s dance recital (who did a GREAT JOB!!).

 

Hello? I’d say this kid had a pretty great week of summer!!! Except for the Astros game, we did our best to keep to her sleep schedule by 8:30 max nightly. This kid needs 12 hours of sleep, for real. The night of the Astros game, she had a major nightmare that we heard all about the next day, that consisted of Cat Monsters. The next night she and I had lengthy discussions at bedtime about the existence monsters and how she is safe in our house and that everyone has bad dreams, and different things can cause bad dreams. When I told her that she’d stayed up too late for the baseball game, and that may have been a cause of her bad dream, she declared: “No more baseball games for me, then!”

 

I knew the bad dream and scared at night thing would come eventually. This little girl was obviously so scared in her bed even as I lay next to her! She was stiff as a board, looking off in every direction, asking about every sound. We’re working on bravery and what’s pretend vs real and it’s a fine, delicate line. Hey, we all get scared as kids. Some more than others. This is one area I feel that you have to kinda be careful about how you approach it because I feel like it could impact her reaction to all things in the future that may be potentially fearful. Not like I have the answers or anything. In the end, with respect to things that go bump in the night, I do believe that we fear that which we don’t understand (oh, also fortunately we do fear things we do understand, like serial killers, but that’s basic instinct and survival ;) HA!).

 

Anyway, we’re on week 2 of camp: Kids’ Chemistry. This morning when I picked her up, she could tell me the difference between a solid and a liquid and she came back with a jar full of good-smelling bath salts they made. She LOVED this class! She said they even made the classic volcano with paking powder and vinegar. Sounds like a great first day to me J She didn’t cry there at pick up but gave me some grief at school during drop off. Her teacher is out of town this week, and the sub, Ms. D, is AWESOME. She lets no child in that class get away with any crap; her discipline is right on. I SO wish Ms. A could learn from that! No matter, this makes me feel more at ease this week with Anna being there. Then just two more weeks of part time there until school starts again in the fall.

 

One last thing, Anna has become a rude little booger. We are working hard on her manners. It seems she can’t find them lately.

 

 

 

 

Anna's home!

Anna had a blast at mom's house for the weekend. As I suspected, she looked and acted older than when we left her as always is the case after I've not seen her in awhile. As much as she had fun she was excited to come home, and as we pulled into the neighborhood she couldn't contain her excitement. KC! Her bedroom! Her pool (oh yeah I forgot to mention we got this about 4 weeks ago):





She was all over that poor cat, claiming she'd forgotten what KC looked like! Claiming she forgot we had stairs (please), and ran up to go see her bed because she missed it! We played in the pool, ate pizza, and when bedtime came she said she was excited to sleep in her bed again.

Today we just hung around the house, swam, and played games and puzzles. We made peanut butter rice krispie treats and pumpkin pancakes. O and M came over for the evening and lo and behold, Anna started swimming with her face in the water! Like holy crap, she and M were all crazy swimming under water! Both did great holding their breath and swimming! Anna had her arm floaties on even though she can touch the bottom but we are floored and proud of this huge leap from just in early May when she hated getting her face wet. Wow! She says she's ready for actual swim lessons and Paul and I agree so we will be looking into it soon. I think having the pool in the back yard has been good for Anna getting more and more time in the water. So she's getting more comfortable. We still can't believe those girls tonight!

Oh and WE HAVE FREAKING CORN STALKS growing in our garden. Corn stalks, people!

It's not lost on me the wonder of how we've managed to pull off an actual garden (Paul's determination, the first one to survive after about 3 previous attempts in 10 years) a new rose garden, and a swimming pool in the middle of a Houston drought during the busiest times of our lives. Go figure.

Anna starts her first day of KidsU camp tomorrow. It's 8:30-11:30 M-Th and the first week is Critter Camp. It's at the U of H Clear Lake campus so Anna's excited to be going where mommy teaches :) I am taking off Tuesday afternoons and Paul Thurs and Fri afternoons to be home with Anna. She will go to her school at GD MW afternoons and Fri mornings. We're excited and hopeful she will like it! It's the first time that she's been anywhere other than GD so it will be new for us all. Hoping for the best!