What an ENDEAVOUR!!

On Wednesday, the monkeys had a weird single day day off in the middle of the week. I had planned to spend the day at the beach, but my NASA loving dad sent me an email late Tuesday night letting me know the Space Shuttle Endeavour was making a stopover in Houston on it's way to California to it's retirement resting place. We made a last minute decision to try and see it and I'm SOOOO glad we did!! Endeavor, piggy backed to it's 747, was scheduled to do some fly overs of the area and then land at a smaller private/military airport about 20 minutes from us. I wasn't familiar with the area at all, but we hopped in the car and headed north with a "let's just go see what we can see" plan.

As we got closer to the airport, we started to see people standing outside of businesses and homes staring into the southern sky. I made a quick decision to pull into a bank parking lot and asked some of the spectators what was going on. They told me "you just missed it!!" CRUD!! The kids and I were disappointed, not knowing if that was going to be our only chance all day to see anything...but suddenly someone screamed "THERE IT IS AGAIN!" It was doing another loop by and these are the pics we were able to get...

This glimpse of the shuttle and 747 was amazing! It really is just mind boggling to see a space ship bolted to the top of a huge airplane, just taking a ride!!

After it seemed to disappear for good, we got back in the car and started driving toward the actual airport. The info I could find online said there would be "public viewing" after it landed so I was hoping we could find somewhere to park and see it up close. I was fairly lost as we headed toward the direction of the airport. I didn't see a "main entrance" but eventually found what seemed to be a side road that led on the property. As we drove on, we started to see people who had parked scattered cars in open fields and were standing on their roofs watching for the shuttle. The kids and I kept watching the skyline, hoping for a glimpse of ANYTHING, as I drove slowly down unmarked roads. We could see a runway...not sure if it was THE runway...and then suddenly out of nowhere Emilee screamed "MOMMMMM!!! STOPPPPPP!!!!" and she literally jumped out of my moving car (good thing I was going about 2mph!) and was able to snap this picture!

As I pulled to the side of the road, I quickly said to the boys "Guys, look! It's landing!! You are watching HISTORY right here!!" And Trevor didn't miss a beat in saying "Mom, it can't be landing, there's no landing gear down!!! Or is it gonna CRASH??!!" I said something like "Trev, it's like 30 feet off the ground, it HAS TO BE landing..." and then wondered if we were going to be witness to some terrible NASA disaster. We watched it disappear behind a building and then suddenly POOF, there it was...pulling back up into the sky! It had done some weird low fly by of the runway and scared the junk of out me in the process!!

The next five pictures are what we were able to snap as it actually landed. I love the last two because you can see the smoke as the tires hit the tarmac.

(Notice in all of the flying pictures...the escort fighter jet...it never left the side of the 747/shuttle.)

After it landed, we had to hop back in the car to drive a mile or so to where it was going to park, by NASA's famous Hangar 990. Again, we totally lucked out. I was on these back permiter roads, not the main roads where 99% of the public was. I just started driving toward where we saw the shuttle, and I ended up lucking out, getting ahead of the miles of traffic that was lined up to get onto the property, and parked right away! Here's what we saw as we walked in the main gate of the runway...

And a picture of it up close at the barricade line...

Monkeys in front of the Endeavour!

And two different nice people offered to take a picture so that Mommy was IN a picture too!!

NASA had a bunch of cool displays and such set up...and Carter wanted him and Bunny in a picture of the space suit...

Unfortunately, this picture is blurry, but it's a shot of a moon rock that we all got to touch. We learned that there are only 8 moon rocks on Earth that the public are allowed to touch, so it was pretty monumental that we all got to touch this VERY rare piece of history!

I can't believe how lucky we were to have seen so much of this famous event, and that it fell on an odd day off for the kids! It was the MOST fun we'd had in a long time and I know the kids will remember it forever!!!

Monday Tidbits...

Trying a blog post on my iPhone tonight. Bear with me. I'm not sure how the format is going to look with my pictures and chatter. You might have to put 2 & 2 together a bit this time til I figure things out. (Click on the pictures so you can see rhe whole shot for right now. They aren't loading right grrr.)

We did some yard work the other night. The weather was almost tolerable (hallelujah!) and the big monkeys did a really nice job working together.

I had lunch with Carter at school today. One of the hot lunch choices for the kindergarteners was Fiesta Salad and black eyed peas. I'm fairly certain I didn't see one single kid choose the salad over the pizza they were also serving, but I have to say I REALLY enjoyed it. The dressing was yummy zesty and the black eyed peas were very flavorful! A pleasant surprise for a school cafeteria lunch!

Carter of course had peanut butter and jelly. And he was so excited that I came and ate with him. Man, I'm missing that little monkey during the day!

360, BABY!!!

After things settled down with the move this summer, we made a big decision to consolidate our toys. We had a camping trailer and a boat, and didn't have the time and finances to keep and play with both of them to their full potential. We also wanted to upgrade them both, mostly because our monkeys are growing up (and bigger kids come with more friends!). We decided we should pick one and have the most fun with it. So we sold our trailer and our beloved boat, Pink and Paid For...and bought a new, much bigger boat!

May I proudly introduce...our new green boat with no name LOL! (We are currently taking suggestions!!)

It is a 23 ft "deck boat", which is a cross between a standard V-hull runabout and a pontoon. What that means for our family? We've gone from a 6 passenger boat to being able to carry 14 passengers, so it hauls ALOT of people, but still handles like a runabout so we can ski and wakeboard like crazy!! We really scored a rare find! It is used but in immaculate condition. It's just beautiful! We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful toy to enjoy as a family, and to be able to share with friends!

We took the boat out Friday night and enjoyed a perfect evening out on the lake. Emilee got first turn up because it was her first time on the new boat. Her wakeboarding was awesome as usual!


And then Trevor pulled off the move of the evening, without a doubt! He did the first huge trick out of anyone in our family...a 360!!! Go, Buddy!!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend!!!!

First Day of School!

Well all the monkeys are out the door and the house is QUIET! After a nice but busy and crazy summer, school has begun and everyone is at their new respective schools. Yup, count 'em, three separate schools this year...boy am I going to be running back and forth like crazy!

In the order they headed out the door this morning...

Beautiful Miss Emilee, ready to take on her first year of HIGH SCHOOL! Wow, this one is killing me, cuz I vividly remember the day I dropped her off for the first day of Kindergarden! She's now soooo grown up and off in a big new world. But I'm super excited for the opportunities there for her to have a BLAST in the subjects she loves!

Ahhhh, our baby!! Carter started Kindergarden today, the last monkey officially in school full time!! (Whatever will I do with myself *wink*?!) He did great when I dropped him off, especially since his teacher instructed each child to bring their favorite stuffed animal to hang with them on their first day...so you know that BUNNY went to Kindergarden today!!

Mr. Trevor! Looking just terribly handsome, and pretty grown up too, as he tackles 7th grade and a new middle school without Emilee! He still has the sweetest heart to help anyone, and I'm excited to see what new interests arise for him this year!

Now seriously, with all the quiet around here...I do declare I am off to take a nap!!! :-D

McKinney Falls State Park

Joshua took the week around 4th of July off and for the first few days we went camping. We stopped in on Brett and Sanda for the first night, visited and had breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Kerby Lane. Then we headed to McKinney Falls State Park.

The break from the Houston humidity and mosquitos was wonderful! We really got to enjoy some time outdoors, including the must-have camp fire.

So Trev chopped our wood...

And Em got the fire started.

The "Falls" at this state park are really cool. They make two swimming holes that campers and day trippers can enjoy. We would pack in our lunch and spend most of the day playing there.

Here's Joshua and the monkeys near the top of one of the falls. You can see the swimming hole past the cliff.

And here's a shot from the bottom side. Joshua and the kids were standing up there on the top of the cliff above, but now they're in the water and on the lower rocks. Em and Trev are on the rock and Joshua and Carter are swimming near one of the water falls, just to the right of Emilee. Some parts of the water were too deep to touch, and some parts had partly submerged rocks so you could swim up to them and then sit half in the water. It was really cool!

Trev and I playing near the waterfall...

And one of just me...

We went back to the top side of the falls one evening to fish. It was beautiful weather. I enjoyed sitting there reading a magazine and Joshua and the monkeys tried to catch something.

The boys fished a bit during the day too. Joshua and Trev caught a couple, but Carter kept reeling in fish after fish. He always does this and no one can figure out how lol!

Traveling Teens

Emilee was SUPER lucky to have one of her dear friends from Idaho fly here for a week long visit. Ali is one of our favorite friends too, so we loved having her!

In the car we hopped and we did our best to show her the Texas sights! (Nope, Carter was NOT in the mood for a pic that day lol!)

We started with Galveston.

The girls struck a few poses...

The boys and I walking out toward the end of the jetty

Trev with a silly 'CHEESE'!

A trip to Houston wouldn't be complete without visiting NASA...and posing as an astronaut!

Ali...

Trevor...

Emilee...

And Mommy and Carter in front of the flag on the side of the rocket booster. Carter was just enamoured with the flag for some reason and insisted on a picture with me. Cracks me up...some days he refuses pictures and some days he's dying to be in them!

(Uuggghhh please forgive the two next sideways pictures. I've just fought for over an hour with these. They are technically right-side-up but blogger keeps turning them and I can't figure out HOW to fix it. So at the risk of this post never getting up, you guys will have to just turn your head for these two lol!)

We also took Ali boating. This was really special for us as Ali unfortunately missed Emilee's boating party last year in Idaho so we were super excited it worked to take her out while she was here. We gave her a shot at wake boarding, cruised around for a while and then watched the fireworks with her.

And as the title to my post alludes...there were multiple traveling teens last month. Ali traveled here to us...and then we sent Emilee back to Idaho to visit her other friends for a week. This is a shot of the plane she left Houston on.

I didn't end up personally with any other pictures of Emilee's trip...but in a couple of sentences I can assure you she had a blast! This was her first time flying alone, but she did great! She's flown many times before so we were confident she knew how to handle herself (but this was still a "yikes, she's growing up" kind of event!!) Oh and of course Daddy made sure she flew first class so she got the royal treatment on all of her flights! In Boise, she got to spend five days with her friend Kaitlyn...and they went to the mall and the waterpark and movie theatre and tons of other places while seeing bunches of old friends. Kaitlyn's mom was awesome running these two girls hither and yon for every social event under the sun, and Emilee had so much fun! Thank you "L" family for taking such great care of Emilee!! We miss you!!!

Houston Astros!!!

One of the most awesome things we've done since moving is go to two Houston Astros games. Joshua and Trevor went to one four years ago, but Em, Carter and I had never been. We aren't baseball fans necessarily and embarrasingly know little about the game, but we discovered going to the games is FUN! All the monkeys loved it, Joshua loved it, and I was surprised that I did too.

Minute Maid Park is GORGEOUS. My pic doesn't do it justice, but I loved this one cuz we got Carter's foam finger it in!

All 5 of us in our seats ready to watch the game.

Two big fans!

Carter takes his cheering pretty seriously!!

The two games we've gone to were also followed by a free concert following the game. Both were bands we've been dying to see for years.

The first night we got to see Third Day!

And the second time we got to see MercyMe!!!

It kind of seems cliche, but this was hands down just awesome American fun that we got to enjoy as a family!