NASA Tour

I stole a bunch of these photos off of Marlene's Blog, she just got some better shots than I did, thanks sis. Just a bunch of cool rockets to enjoy outside.Family Photo, these are few and far between lately.
They took us inside the actual training center for the astronauts. Those people down there are real live astronauts, so cool!
This is a model of the Shuttles they fly into Space, life size! It was huge! They train in here.
And of course the wonderful American flag. Under the flag you will see the Challenger and Columbia Mission Patches. Both of these missions ended in explosions, so sad yet so neat to see them honored here.
Phoenix was bored out of his mind at this point of the tour. As we were leaving the training area I looked down on the ground and saw this "Batman" exit thing on the ground. It was some type of grate. Phoenix got all excited when I told him that's where Batman comes in to help the astronauts. I don't think the people behind me were too impressed, the didn't even smile or anything. Boring! Hey, Phoenix was impressed and that's all that counts.
As we moved on to the next area we passed this grove of trees. Each tree was planted to honor one of the fallen Astronauts. Pretty cool. Onto the Saturn 5! This Rocket was HUGE and used multiple times to launch all the Apollo missions into space.

Here's London in front of 1 of the rocket blasters used to shoot this thing up.

But it actually required 5 of these rockets to get it into space.

And it's no wonder, look how huge it is!

And all they were trying to get up there was this tiny capsule that was on it's nose. Crazy eh'?

Neil Armstrong and Buzz, 1st Men on the Moon. And my kids got to pose with them, how cool is that!

Apollo 13, no it wasn't really Tom Hanks, but these are the real guys, plus London.

NASA Star Wars the Clone Wars

Our next adventure with Aunt Marlene was to the NASA Space Center. Totally fun! And what got the kids most stoked was the Star Wars the Clone Wars exhibit. They had games, rides, mazes, all sorts of adventures all themed around Star Wars.

I don't watch the show enough to know but apparently Count Duku rides on some cool motorcycle like cruisers. So this ride was based around that. You had to be over 12 and under a certain weight. I only missed the weight by 5 lbs, so that's the goal for now so I can go back and do this ride. Way too cool.

I convinced Phoenix to go with me on the Obstacle course though. It was set 15 ft in the air so he was not too excited. But had fun all the same.

London and Aspen were way more brave than Phoenix. The worker guy had to carry him across this ladder bridge. And check out the crazy boards to the left.

BBQ at Brazos

We took Marlene with us to Brazos Bend National Park last time she came to visit and completely freaked her out with all the amazing wildlife (Alligators). So this time we just went for a cook out and tried to catch a few fire flies.

First things first came the Pit Stop, where we discovered our first wildlife right there in the bathroom. Cute little tree frog.

While Daddy tried to light the fire (the wood was WAY wet) Aunt Marlene and the kids took a nature walk. It was too pretty to not take some pictures.

Aspen found herself and umbrella out there in the woods. Can you believe the mushrooms get this big, ridiculous!

Sicily was kind enough to call everyone for dinner. She's trying to learn to cup her hands to make her voice carry farther. Thus far it's still a work in progress.

When the fire was finally going we had some yummy hot dogs. The kids hot dogs were more smoked than cooked, they were a bit to anxious for dinner.

Sicily's favorite part (all the kids really) came after the hot dogs. Who doesn't like a nice gooey S'more! Graham crackers, chocolate and a hot toasted marshmallow. YUM! Pure summer.

It was super dark and creepy by the time we left. The fire flies were out. And those things are stinking hard to catch.

No they are not walking the white line to test for Root Beer intake, we are actually on our way to the garbage can.

Love my Charlie

We took Charlie on a drive with us somewhere and it was hilarious. If it's just me and him in the mini van he goes straight to the back and lounges along the entire back seat. Well when there are kids in the car, he goes straight to the back and lounges across the entire back seat. Apparently kids just add extra comfort in his book. :)

Nakins

We were invited to dinner after church one Sunday and so excited to see this beautiful napkin holder that one of their older boys had made in Scouts. The reason we were so happy to see this is this is the Napkin holder that we grew up with. But ours said, "Please take a Nakin."

Water Time

We love Aunt Marlene! Aunt Marlene came to visit for a week and the kids were ecstatic. So excited to get to play with her. We always love when she comes and all the fun activities we get to do.

You gotta love an Aunt who's more than happy to soak you down. All smiles!

Cool Sites

Every now and again we see something pretty cool on the way home from church. A Parasailer, complete with fan. Cool, eh?!? The kids were actually excited to look out the window for once.

Cub Scout Ice Skating

To beat the heat we took the Scouts Ice Skating. It was WONDERFULLY cold! And just lovely.

But skating with a bunch of 10 year old boys can be a little far from lovely. ;) I did awesome, by the way, only fell on my butt once and that was because I lost my balance putting snow down one of the boys shirts. :)

That's London there in the stripped navy shirt faking like he can't skate. London's pretty good at this stuff.
Sicily was finally brave enough to put on some skates, size 8, so tiny!

She spent most of the 2 hours doing this. Her poor belly was cold. Phoenix got rather brave and was able to move along on his own and not fall down, he did awesome.

Jared's back was killing the next day, but it was so worth all the smiles he and Sicily shared.

True to form, Aspen thinks she's an Ice Princess. She really is a natural at this kind of thing. Much more interested in doing tricks than racing. Though she did enjoy chasing those boys.

One of the best events of the evening happened to one of the boys in the other Ward. He'd been racing along all evening, purposely falling and being crazy. In the end he broke his leg, got taken off by the EMT's and everything. So he'll be on crutches for the first 3 weeks of school

Last Childrens Museum

There are so many things to do at this Museum, and I did my best to show you all of it. But you will definitely have to try it out if you have kids, it is obviously worth the visit.

Childrens Museum Part 4

Houston just seems to be getting hotter and hotter. So we only ventured outside to this exhibit because it involved a lot of water. I think Phoenix pushed every button and turned every handle out here, he loved it.
Sicily is so much like her older sister it's scary sometimes. These girls don't like to just get splashed, they make it their personal goal to get drenched. And if that means just diving in...so be it.

These Locks are super cool. Aspen loved them when we came for her field trip, but I think Phoenix loved them more.

Childrens Museum Part 3

We traveled not only to the Museum but also went through Vietnam. Phoenix is a BIG fan of dragons, especially when they are life size.
Yes their faces are painted, self done actually. We put Sicily to work sweeping, Vietnam style. I am ever so glad I don't have this kind of broom. Though it might would come in handy outside.

Hard labor that Phoenix LOVES. He kept telling me to add on more and more produce. "Mulan" comes to mind.

Sicily in a round fishing boat. Isn't that the neatest design! I think a round boat would be a lot of fun.

Childrens Museum Part 2

Working in the Diner was one of the kids most favorite spots, Sicily's especially because everything was just her size. She ordered first though, then worked later.
The Brick Oven Pizza was the tastiest, and the velcroed pizza slices were the cutest thing ever.

She was ever so excited to be able to get her own "drink." She kept bringing me pitcher after pitcher "full" of soda, so cute.

Aspen of course was a good big sister and helped Sicily do the cooking. "Hot," she kept telling Sicily.

And London helped clean up. They turned on the water and "washed" all of the dishes. Sure wish they'd figure out how to do this at home.

All in all a good trip to the Diner.

Children's Museum Part 1

You never knew that they put the kids to work at the Children's Museum. But it's all about $$$, how to earn it and how to spend it. They gave each of the kids a Debit Card, there were ATM machines strategically located for pulling out their money, and Banks to deposit all their well earned checks. Then they put them to work.

We started out in the News room. They earned money by being the Camera Man, News Broadcaster, or Lighting Specialist. They even got to use a green screen and put the different pictures behind the News Man.
Next came the Ambulance, Hospital, and Police Station. Sicily had lots of fun learning how to be and EMT, and London was an excellent patient, Aspen could be a good driver one day. Where as Phoenix was more interested in being a Cop than anything else.

Art School! Teachers and students alike loved the easels.

Going grocery shopping was a lot of fun. You could either spend your well earned money on Lobsters, cake, veggies and more (all pretends of course). Or you could work as a Cashier or Stocker. Sicily's baskets was never quite big enough for all the veggies she wanted to buy.

What an excellent day. Stay tuned for more pictures.

Weird Park

There's a really strange park across the street from the Science Museum. I'm not sure what it's called but it's chuck full of statues of Presidents and important historical figures from all over the world.

Personally I thought this was Don Quiote! But I think it was actually the Spaniard President of like the 1400's or something. He has a cool hat, don't you think?
This was why we actually came into the park. You could see this guy from the street and I wanted to know who it was. It's Confucius. He was born around 550 BC and his sayings are still in every Fortune Cookie around. Isn't that amazing. ;)

Water Fountain Fun

I really think my kids might have been fish in a former life. :) We just can't seem to walk past a water fountain, of any sort, with out them all "diving" in.

I do like these kid of water fountains though. I always wonder how much water pressure do they have to release to actually lift a ball of marble that size. That being said, how do kids never get their fingers pinched on the bottom as they roll it round and round?
Phoenix was jokingly trying to jump in about 2 seconds after this shot. Pretty sure if Aspen had been closer she might have just given him a little push. Little stinkers.

The water fountain above is actually part of this giant sundial. I needed a shot of my currently stair stepped kids and this was perfect. I'm guessing it won't be like this forever. I have a feeling Phoenix and Sicily will one day pass up London and Aspen.

Corpse Flower

Phoenix and I read, "Stink and the Worlds Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers" a few months back. And we discovered that the stinkiest thing around is a Corpse Flower.

Do some research if you can cause they're really cool and only 29 have EVER bloomed in the entire USA! I'll just tell you this, when they are in bloom they smell like Rotten Meat. So one was blooming here in the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and we just had to see it.

Onto the Museum.
Heading up to the Flower.

It's lingering effects were in the stair well.

Since the flower has to be kept quite warm it was located in the Butterfly Exhibit, jungle area. They have a HUGE bug collection, alive and dead, that we got to check out while waiting in line. This is a freakishly huge katydid, that I am ever so grateful does not live by me.

But these cute little pink Katydid's I wouldn't mind so much, aren't they pretty!

Butterfly's everywhere! Even hundreds in their cocoons, we saw some hatching. So cool!

So if you zoom in on this you can read all about Lois, our Houston Corpse Flower.

And here she is. You'll notice she's 6ft tall and the Sink-O-Meter on the right is only at a 3. You really could only smell her if you stood right there by the meter, and man was she ever ripe! Can you imagine if we'd gotten there right when she'd opened and the Meter read 10?!! Wow, that would have been one stinky smell.