Fun Family Times

The past week has been one big party! Last Thursday, my dad celebrated his birthday . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!! We celebrated by going to lunch with my Papa Joe (dad's dad) and then going to see the new Indiana Jones movie that evening.

After the movie, it was time for homemade pecan pie and presents - YAY!! :~)

Friday, we left for the Piney Woods for my "little brother's" wedding rehearsal. He arrived back in Texas from Twenty 9 Palms in California (Marine Base) late Thursday night. What a special honor to be a part of this happy time in their lives. I used to keep Sean (the groom) and his little brother . . . talk about making me feel OLD seeing him back from Iraq and getting married!!!! We got to visit with some great friends from Livingston over the weekend.

Sunday morning, we got up early, went to an early service, and then headed to the ballpark . . . Go 'stros!!

I didn't get around to taking our group picture (oops), but I did get my ice cream in a helmet! Unfortunately, not all ballparks (ie The Rangers' Ballpark in Arlington :P ) are offering the helmet of ice cream this year. The Astros have the traditional black helmet with the red star, but they also offer a red & black helmet this year. YAY!! These will be nice additions to my helmet collection. :~)

After the game ended (very poorly for my 'stros, by the way), we had some supper and went further south to Galveston to walk along the beach.

We were going to ride the ferry, but it got too late. Maybe next time. :-) Monday morning, we went to Johnson Space Center. I had NO idea how much there was to see and do there! We got there when the doors opened, and we left 6 hours later . . . exhausted, and still having not seen everything there!

Mom, Papa Joe, and me waiting to board the tram ride.

This is Old Mission Control. It's the room they used for all the Apollo missions. It's the room where they received those 2 VERY famous messages from space: "That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind." (Neil Armstrong) and "Hey Houston, we've had a problem here." (James A. Lovell, Jr.) The picture's a little blurry, but you can see what limited technology they had to work with. Obviously, no email was available, so they used the same type of tube system that bank drive thrus use to get information spread quickly. It amazes me what they were able to accomplish!!

This ball was used for the 1st pitch of the 2002 World Series Game. The players from the All Star Game that year signed the ball before shipping it to space to be used for the World Series. An astronaut (Peggy Whitson) threw it while up in the International Space Station as the "1st pitch". How cool is that?!?

After we left Space Center Houston, we came back home and collapsed. It was a busy and fun several days! I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, too! :-)