Graduation

Jamie graduated from the Pre-engineering program today. She made a presentation. And she made a 100 on her post-test for Logic and earned $20. She has done a great job this summer. She even made 102 in Writing/Journal class.

Last concert

Symphony Square Lucas Miller Silly Sparkles made Anne a little mouse balloon. Anne and I went to the last concert at Symphony Square Wednesday morning. She tried the lemonade this time. It was hot! Lucas Miller is a singing zoologist. Different. The featured instrument was the trombone and she played a little for us. We got a free rainbow popsicle from Blue Bell ice cream!

Schlitterbahn

Schlitterbahn Finally got my pictures downloaded from camera phone. Here are a few fun ones with Anne riding whales and ducks. She also rode the blue alligator. We spent most of our time riding in tubes on the river. We had an amazing day with Marilyn and her family.

Sushi

sushi Here are a few sushi pictures. There will be a real cooking class in the fall.

Miniature Eiffel Tower

We keep driving by this Eiffel Tower and I wanted a picture. So on the way home from Space Day we stopped and got it. I went to the moon and the tower on the same day. I'm becoming quite a traveler - Austin is bringing stuff to us.

Backyard Bible Club

Jamie was invited back to Backyard Bible Club this year. She enjoyed seeing her cousins and kids from the neighborhood. Jamie liked playing kickball in the huge field. The other picture is of a parakeet that came for pet day. James told us he used to have a parakeet when he was young. Everyone was surprised to see how big Anne is this year. She liked the playground. We were the only ones to remember to bring clothes to donate so the kids had something to pray over. We had chocolate ice cream sundaes Friday night.

Apple Store at Domain

Saturday morning we found the Apple store at the Domain and got to see Aidan and Noah's i-movies they learned how to make during the week. Anne liked playing games on the computer.

I met an Astronaut today!

A veteran of 4 shuttle missions in Austin over the weekend

by KVUE News

kvue.com

Posted on July 23, 2011 at 6:03 PM

After 30 years of service, NASA's space shuttle program came to an end earlier this week.

The landing of shuttle Atlantis marks the end of an era.

Nearly eight thousand employees at NASA are being laid off, leaving the future of America's space program in question.

Doctor Richard Linnehan, a veteran of four shuttle missions, was in Austin on Saturday.

"For America to be in space goes beyond NASA's creation of gadgets that work their way into daily life," said Linnehan."When people are involved, and other people can see people and put themselves in their place-- that goes a long way into creating an atmosphere to study and getting kids primed and sparked up to learn more about math and engineering."

Doctor Linnehan said looking ahead, "he believes earth orbit flights will be turned over to commercial operations, while NASA focuses on long range missions to the moon and beyond."

Space Day

Space Day July 2011

The girl scout leader sent us a note about Space Day in Austin. So we went downtown to the AT&T conference center and participated in several science experiments - like running on ?goobleck? - weird stuff made with cornstarch. Jamie and James were on Channel 8 news tonight. Anne helped make a pretty orange lava lamp using alka seltzer. Both the girls had fun with circuits as well. We saw moon rocks and star charts. We also went back later and found the discovery dome with the planetarium movie. I stayed and listened to the Astronaut Rick Linneham speak. I am all excited about space stuff now. I didn't realize Austin didn't have a planetarium yet but it's coming!

Schlitterbahn water park

Marilyn invited us to go and hang out with her family on their annual Schlitterbahn trip Thursday. We have lots of "free" time now. James and I had not been since Jamie was a baby. We have been going to Seaworld but gave up our passes this summer. Anyway, Marilyn and I stayed up late making food for the picnic - potato salad, macaroni salad, tuna salad, deviled eggs and sushi! I tried seaweed and sushi for the first time. She is going to teach me how to cook proper in the fall. She spent time in Korea and learned from friends there. She let me help some.

We spent a lot of time in the not so lazy river. The rides were a 2 hr wait most of the day so the guys kept coming back to the lazy river. We walked to the connecting park and rode in that lazy river too. Then we saw the rubber duck pond. Anne rode a blue alligator! James left in the afternoon to get Jamie from summer school and bring her back for twilight swim. She had a good time with Marilyn's son and granddaughter Kaitlyn. Marilyn, Anne and I hung out in the baby pool in the evening and it was very calm and quiet as the sun set. Anne was really good for us. We got a lot of sun even with the pretty wraps around us. But we had fun and slept good that night. Pictures are in camera phone to be downloaded another day.

Biscuit Brothers concert

Biscuit Brothers Symphony Square July 2011 Saw the cousins and friends from church at the concert on Wednesday morning. The Biscuit Brothers were a lot of fun.

Chocolate

""Seven Days without Chocolate makes One Weak!" I love this sign! Thanks to my friends who sent me chocolate recently. I needed it!

Benjamin's first birthday party

Benjamin's first birthday party Benjamin's party was held at the Brushy Creek sprinkler park. We got to see lots of church friends including the Drapers who now live in Houston.

Music under the Star

On Friday nights the Bob Bullock State History Museum has free music, food and admission from 6-9 pm. It was hot but we enjoyed looking around the museum. Anne enjoyed touching everything as well as finding buttons and cows. They even tricked me and drug me to the sulphur smelly wheel. haha

Beauty and the Beast Musical

I saw a friend Loretta at the grocery store Friday and she invited me to a musical Hannah Joy was performing in that day at 2pm. Hannah Joy was a spoon - covered with glitter. They did a great job. It was so much fun. And they had great desserts - I chose brownies with cool whip and chocolate shavings on top. It was put on by a Christian Choral Society of Austin: www.ccsa.info and was held at the new Hyde Park High School. I also saw friends Ricky and Valerie there from Backyard Bible Club which starts next week.

Footloose Musical at Zilker Park

Thursday night we went to see Footloose at Zilker Park with our friend Marilyn. She gave us a little chair for Anne that she had found. You are not allowed to take pictures of the show but we got the coach during intermission. Anne went to the playground and then stayed up the whole time until 11 pm. We broke the No Dancing rule! I remembered all the songs from 20 years ago when I saw the movie. My niece Sha played the YouTube video of it for me before we went. I enjoy musicals - it's a great family tradition!

Enjoy summer!

The days go by fast! Enjoy your summer!

Anne is Swimming

We met a few people at the public pools who recommended the puddle jumper. Anne loves it. She was swimming all over the big pool last night. "I can do it! I can swim!" We were so happy!

Free chicken and ice cream

We dressed in black and white and went to Chickfila for free chicken. They liked the ice cream/dream the best. The kids played on the playground for awhile. I texted friends to let them know.

Chickfila Cow Appreciation Day

Today is the day http://www.cowappreciationday.com/

Join us today at any Chick-fil-A Restaurant

Come dressed like a cow from head to hoof and we’ll reward you with a FREE meal. (If you’re a little chicken, don’t worry, a partial costume still receives a free entrée.) And calves in costumes get free meals too; so bring in the whole herd for some family fun.

Jul 4, 2011 We went to the Wells Branch FourthFest again this year. Jamie loves the candy they throw from the parade. Jamie also likes the games and the cool shade under the trees. We went in the pool this year and Anne loved the baby pool. Jamie tried for the biggest splash - just caught her in flight. Made a memory!

30 day photo challenge

30 day photo challenge

I love pictures but sometimes it's hard to find the one I want when I want it. Plus I am not good at copying pictures of famous people from our favorite shows - like Good Luck Charlie and Cake Boss. I'll keep trying. But I can't figure out how to find the album I made yesterday on facebook. It is a challenge for me. Ok - I'm going to try and create a web album in Picasa to update. Will see how that works. Good practice for me. haha