Well it's not Colorado...

Though I think Colorado could have used our economic contributions (wildfires) more than ever this year, we made the painfully-grown-up decision to stick to budget and stay local. We had a Disney World trip coming up in September, and two back-to-back trips of that magnitude (Colorado is as costly just for the sheer gas prices) is a bit much on the finances.

So we decided to go local: New Braunfels. Schlitterbahn, the Natural Bridge Wildlife park, and the Caverns. Anna was (surprisingly) bummed about not doing Colorado but all was forgiven when I told her we'd be staying in a hotel. The child LOVES to stay in hotels. As she puts it, she loves the smell, the look, the bathrooms, the beds, the elevators, restaurant, the lobby, etc. Hilarious! She's a regular traveler!!

We stayed at he Courtyard Marriott and it was right on the river, with trees and grass and a great swimming pool. We were upgraded to a room with a balcony, which made for nice evenings! Anna and Paul spent good pool time in between tourist stuff...

I had reserved a King bed room out of habit (and ok snuggle opportunity) but Anna asked for her own stinking bed so we got two queens! Little booger! She's growing up and I guess I'm still stuck in old habit.












The wildlife park was neat but the zebras were hiding from us (bummer!). The others pretty much came up to the car to get fed (you can buy a bag of feed) and that was neat to see up close.

Schlitterbahn was easier than I thought it would be...for such a great theme park, there's not the logistical overhead of a large one. Parked right near the entrance with no parking fee. You can bring your own ice chests and pick a picnic table once you're in for the day to spread out your stuff. Lots of rides but not a crazy amount of walking to have to get from one to the other. Lots of options for the little ones and grown ups. Anna struggled with the whole tubing concept in the beginning but we basically pushed her into it and she took off with it. By the second day she was telling me to let go of her tube as we would head down little waterfalls and rapids!! The rides were awesome but I can say I wasn't 100% in enjoyment mode, as I was constantly worried about losing Anna or her flipping over or whatever else!!! We talked about what to do if we ever got separated on a ride but that thought freaked me right the Hell out so I was mostly consumed with those logistics with a smile on my face! The rides were awesome but I was always a bit relieved when they were done.

At one point we were headed for a 25ft waterfall on the Congo ride,unbeknownst to us until lwe saw it dead ahead :) Anna sees it, "Mama I want to get out of that door right there!" (Fake door for effects). "Too late, baby! Just hold on tight and I'll catch you at the bottom!!" Me first, then Anna, then Paul. Her first words at he bottom: THAT WAS FUN!!! The same words she's used on every roller coaster since she was 2!
She was pretty tough and confident the rest of the time. We also rode one of those uphill water rides, the kind that pushes you uphill with strong jets of water. Funny how no one mentions it's quite the butt spanking and you're at risk of losing your shorts in the process!!! For real, I don't think I really needed that spanking!! Where do you think that big jet of water pushes?! Ack!!!

Anyway Schlitterbahn really figured it all out. Even their amusement park food and gifts were reasonably priced. Nice place and we are talking about season passes for next year because even those pay for themselves after just 2 visits.
Wish we had photos but Paul's iPhone Life-case FAILED and leaked, and almost ruined his phone.




And the caverns were awesome! Not sure ever why my iPhone always takes yellow photos when I use my flash, but...












And they had a little kids rope course and adult rope course/zip line. Anna tried out the kids one and was frustrated she was too short for the "high" one.
























And finally, they had panning for gems (her love of rocks still strong!)




Not a bad little vacation just a few hours from home! We spent some
Time on the drive home teaching her how to blow bubbles with her gum....she's desperately serious about that.

Now school starts Monday, and tomorrow morning we finally meet her teacher. Kindergarten!

She also has a super loose tooth. Not sure when that baby's coming out but she is having fun with it. Figuring out new ways to eat and all :)

It was her first tooth in, soon to be her first tooth out. Seems like that JUST CAME IN!!!

Happy end of summer, all!

Hello Huntsville!

I finally got a trip to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL for a week-long training for the Payloads Academy. It's basically a course designed for folks who are going to work with the ISS experiments and supporting hardware etc on console, and for folks who do some crew training. I'd wanted to go for a few years already and finally got the chance this week. It was really cool and totally set me straight on he goings-on in the operations world I'd always heard about but was clueless on. Also learned about some very limited ISS systems and how data is handled, etc. Totally missed Paul and Anna for the week, especially on the heels of Germany, but totally glad I got to go!

While there I got to visit our old stomping grounds: Space Camp! I got to attend as a camper in 1993 and then I was a counselor in 1995. It was freakish to realize I hadn't stepped foot in Huntsville in 17 years, since we packed up my Geo Tracker and drove to Ft Collins to start the fall semester at CSU. While at Space Camp, Paul's air force enlistment ended and he came down to be a counselor at Aviation Challenge. Those were the days!! We worked double shifts because it was fun and because $7.25 per hour added up!

Good days. I visited again while I was there yesterday. In fact, Mike F, who was our camp counselor chief in 95 is now the VP for Operations at Space Camp, showed me all around he place and all of the good work they've been doing and have planned for that place. I met the CEO, Dr Barnhardt, and agreed it'd be fun for me to help beef up their ISS science curriculum. So I'm excited about that! We have tons
to share!!

I was doing fine nostalgia-wise until after my space camp tour and I went out to the Aviation Challenge site to take pictures for Paul. There it was quiet and nothing had changed at the site where Paul last worked his double shifts. And it hit me how far we've both really come, the good days we had here, and how so very good our lives have been. And how fast 17 years goes by. For real.

Some of the specifics are fuzzy to my memory, but lots of memories are still there. Man what a ride we've had. And look where we are now. Wow!






































Life is so very good.

Sugar

Meet Sugar, Anna's new "lobster" haha! (She's always called hamsters lobsters...).

Last weekend on our way to Petco to get a Spongebob fish tank insert for the beta (lots of things wrong with that statement but I digress) she asked if she could get a lobster as we were getting ready to go.

Huh? Well...errrrr....ummmmmm...I....
Guess it'd be ok right? I mean the thing lives in a cage and will have to be separated from the cats but otherwise cheap enough, right? Food, filler stuff at the bottom, a cage that the cats can't get their paws through, an exercise wheel.

So we came home with Sugar. And also a Krusty the Krab restaurant for the fish tank.

I picked the name Sugar because she looked like a mix of brown sugar with a stripe of white sugar. Anna picked her out of a bunch.

We warned her that Sugar will bite. Inevitably and repeatedly.

I've been in Huntsville Alabama all week so I only hear the stories. Sugar has been very patient with Anna except for the time Anna reached in and grabbed her while she was sleeping. She bit, Anna dropped her, and Sugar scampered under the dresser, where Anna proceeded reach under for her...and got bit.

Also there was the time Sugar thought Anna's finger in the cage was a carrot, thanks to week-long carrot-in-the-cage-conditioning.

Youch!

There were tears followed by much forgiveness. Apparently Sugar now has a little portable cage so she can join Anna at the clinic in the afternoons. And Paul bought into that!!

Sugar will be sleeping in Anna's room I guess. But there's the whole need to lock Sugar away so the cats don't eat her. Tricky...
























The poor creature...

Germany-Bound!

I'm on a plane loading up for Paris, oui! It'd be cool if that were my final stop, but I am onward to Strassburg, where then I'll catch a 2hr train ride to Freiburg, Germany. It seems I have a yearly trip to Germany for one reason or another! This time it's to attend a plant biology workshop, specific to space plant growth. I'm going to be working with scientists on creating a plant biology in space user's guide for potential future investigators. The do's an don't's of growing plants in space. It'll be the first in a series of manuals like this for the space station program.

As many times as I visit Germany, I'm pretty sure I'll still never get the hang of that language!

On to Paris! I'm on a plane of happy people :)

The End of Gloria Dei

Gahhhh! Today is the last day after 5 years that I will drive Anna to Gloria Dei. This is her last day.

I remember the first day I dropped her off, happy to hand her over to such capable care givers, honestly. Anna was a screamer, plagued by painful acid reflux, and most of my maternity leave was about coming up with various ways to soothe her. Like standing under our loud vent hood over our stove to get her to sleep. She hated the swing and she hated being swaddled. Turns out she loved it when the teachers did it! I was quite honestly ready for some help, and ready to return to some form of my old routine. But 2101 NASA parkway was the only thing in my life that ever came back from my old routine. Even my career at that address changed to what I'm doing now. And this is the first major change since I dropped her off 5 years ago.

I've been debating on whether to tell her today's her last day. She may not care. But she might. I think when I drop her off I will tell her and show her around her old rooms a bit before bringing her to class.

Change is weird.

Last day of 5:00 pick up

Today, as I was going through my outlook calendar, a realization: for the last 5 years I had a reminder at 5:00 in my Outlook calendar, "Pick Up Anna" with a 15 minute alert.

She's been right across the street from me for 5 years now. In the early days I'd leave right as the alert popped up at 4:45 because I didn't want her to be the last kid there waiting for mommy. But in the last few years I'd snooze it until 5:15 because she'd always want to stay and play and she was never the last one there. I'm certain that some parents showed up past the 5:30 pickup time.

As I looked out across the calendar at what's ahead for the rest of the summer, I noticed there were no more 5:00 pickups left for me. The structure of her camps requires Paul to pick up from her camps at 3:00 daily. She is only at her school, GD, some mornings. My last day of 5:00 pickup was actually June 28.
I'd have probably sulked all the way home. Or at least relished it. I'm trying to think of what that day's drive home was like...

A few years ago that drive home was car seat screamer Hell. Or fighting off her fussiness with making sure I always had a snack and water waiting for her in the car.

These past few later years it was more about talks of her day, and what we wanted for dinner.
Now what?

Before knowing I had to pickup Anna before 5:30, what made me leave work on time? Nothing. I was in Engineering and I was usually there until I got hungry for dinner.

Now that restriction is gone. She will be with Paul from here on out, including when school starts. What's going to require me to leave my desk at 5:00? Now I'm in Space Station Science, where if it's possible, there's even more work to do.

She will still get me to leave by 5:15 because in the 5 years, the restriction has forced me to respect a balance between work and family time.

Ok to be honest I am already planning to work late tomorrow night, but that's just because I have some major events I need to really prep for due on Tues!
So I suppose there will be exceptions.

I will really miss the drives home with her in the fall the most. Where it gets dark early and she asks WHY and we stop to look at the Halloween and Christmas decorations in the yards.

I won't be the first to see her at the end of her school day. And she will now wait for mommy to get home. Holy cow, JUST WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

I guess this is where we start a new routine. And I thought I was ready for kindergarten because Anna had been "in school" so-to-speak since 3 months old.
Now I get it.

Anna's the coolest kid ever

Just had to share :) She still
Says I Love You out of nowhere. Her art work fills every crack of the house. I especially like the ones where she writes my name next to hers. It's
So sweet that my baby can write my name. And she makes books. Thick books of construction paper of drawings after drawings usually of hearts or the family. And the back of her books always say "tet-end".
She likes to write "I lvoe mom" and "I lvoe Dad". We were in a store a few weeks ago and saw the word "love." Hey, wait a minute! She catches that it's spelled LOVE, commented on that, and spells it right ever since.
She can read some stuff, do so much on her own, and hit an amazing growth spurt since march. Her favorite ride at Kemah is the same that was mine: the big flying swings (oh and she loves the kid bouncer too :) ). She's in so many different camps this summer we have spreadsheets to keep up. She's enjoying the summer and we're enjoying her. She starts kindergarten in 8 weeks.

Love her so much!!!




And daddy's 40th birthday card :)

Some of mommy's work

Dear Anna-bear,
When you're old enough to read this blog you'll probably wonder what I was like "back then". Here's part of what I do at work. Hopefully you'll inherit my lack of fear in Public speaking.

NASA's Aspire to Inspire Program


ISS Update: Student Spaceflight Experiment Program


ISS Update on science


NASA 32/33 Press Briefing


This doesn't cover it all but it's a snapshot of me at work within at least the last several months!

Here comes summer

We've had such a mild spring! It's nearing the end of May and just now hitting the 90's. Anna has been dragging me to the neighborhood park nearly every evening and once I'm there I'm glad we came, as it's been so cool and calm and rare evenings. She races to the park in her little big wheel, stopping at every corner to wait for me to catch up. We watch the parade of dog walkers who are also enjoying the weather and she makes new friends on the playground. She's so funny, just like her Dad and me, she's not one to approach a new friend but will play along if someone approaches her. Must really be genetic.




She made me take this picture of a dog walker!

















But this week reached the 90's and so we are nearly there: summer. Already there's been plenty of backyard pool time. And this week marks the end of her pre-K curriculum with Mrs Umphres. She was the best teacher ever! Anna can read a good set of words and even some very simple books like the Bob book. She can do math, numbers up to who knows what. And they even did some science experiments. They started learning how to tell time. At the beginning of the school year Mrs U was clear on her goals and here we are, seeing how far these kids have come. We will miss her. I suspect she's special and has now set the bar too high for public school! That being said, one of the students in her class now will also be starting kindergarten with Anna in the fall. That mother has sent 2 prior boys through Gloria Dei and on to Ward and she swears we will love it and the kindergarten teachers are as good as Mrs U. I hope so! I'm really excited for Anna to start, though still in no rush. Anna has been at Gloria Dei since June of 2007, when she was 3 months old. Her last day there will be June 30, 2012. That's been a good 5 yrs.

3 years ago, her unyielding car seat tantrums Made me dread picking her up at the end of the day. Now I will miss hauling her and all of her rocks, feathers, other friends' borrowed hair accessories, glittery art work, and uneaten snacks home. I will miss her singing along in the back seat of the car, and I'll miss our talks about the day. I will miss her questions about cars and driving and weather and birds and school zones and our rhyming, counting, and word games. It's only a 15 minute trip but it's only us. In the fall I will be bringing her to school, though it's just a few blocks from my house. She won't be across the street from me like she's been the last 5 years. She will be across the street from her daddy. And she will be taking the bus home from school to her daddy, and I won't be home for another 2 hrs. I guess we will form new evening routines and talk times.

Happy Mother's Day To Me!

I'm so glad she picked me...

Kindergarten Registration

Today's the day! Anna's officially on the public school's radar.









The generic meet and greet for teachers is August 16. That's our Colorado vacation week! School's already cramping our style.

Also this morning, a Mother's Day tea party with Anna's class! So fun, the children decorated the hats for us, decorated the room and tables and even served us our food :) Such big kids, it was the best!!















That's the plate of food Anna made for me :)



Love her! Will miss this school. 5 years now.