A Houston Weekend

Yesterday we got up early and headed to Houston.  Andrew has been looking forward to going to NASA with WCS in the 6th grade.  Since we moved, he has been disappointed that he will not be attending that.  However, when we moved here, we told Andrew that we are only three hours from Houston and we can go to NASA.  When asking what he wanted to do for his Birthday since it was a long weekend, he chose going to Houston. 

Last Wednesday, I started planning this special weekend.  I got one of the last hotel rooms in the area(I guess everyone else had the same idea) and started mapping out the order of activities.

Here is what we did:

We arrived at the San Jacinto Battleground and took a look at the memorial and went up to the top.  We also went over to see the Battleship Texas.

  After about an hour, we headed towards Johnson Space Center and ate lunch at Fuddruckers and then Andrew was in amazement.  He had so much fun trying out all of the different activities to see what it would be like to be in space and especially Mars.  That is their next focus is getting someone to Mars by the year 2035. 

 

 

 

 

I love the movie Apollo 13 and found the flight plan and the filter they had to make on board.  Andrew was interested in this too as he has seen the movie a few times but his favorite was Apollo 11 and the landing on the moon.

Here is the new mission control

Saturn V

Apollo 11 crew

This is Judith Resnik's suite.  She is one of the astronauts that lost her life on the Challenger January 28, 1986.  One month before this incident my family and my Uncle Kent and cousins from California came to NASA for a tour.  We were outside walking and a female employee nearly ran into our group, and she said "Excuse me, I am so sorry."  At the time I didn't know who she was but when the unfortunate accident happened my Mom said, "Remember that lady that nearly ran into us and apologized at NASA?  That was her!" referring to Judith Resnik.

NASA has definitely changed in 28 years but even for me, it was fun.  I landed the space shuttle perfectly..............maybe I missed my calling..............Hmmm maybe not, I get motion sick to easily.

After NASA we headed toward the Kemah Boardwalk.  This is of course right on the gulf and there are restaurants, shops and a amusement park. Other than it being overcrowded, it was a really neat place to visit.  We ate at Bubba Gump and had a corner table view of the gulf and boardwalk.  It was perfect.

After this, it was time to head to the Hotel and crash and we all did.

Today we took Andrew to get his Birthday present at the Lego store and of course Anna had to make a run to the American Girl Doll Store.

 

Of course a trip to an area where I have lived would not be complete without a trip down memory lane :-)

 

Our house!

My High School for three years.  It may not be my favorite place, but it was a part of my life for three years.  When I went there, this fence was not up around the entire school.

 

We went by our Church but Alan was driving too fast to get a picture and then he didn't go back around for a second chance........he got right on 610 and headed out. :-(

 

As I reflected on the past year and how Andrew has struggled to adjust, I remember how I struggled also to adjust to this huge school, but remember fondly the family time I had when we visited San Jacinto, NASA, Astro World every Tuesday in the summer, Astro Games and of course all of the shopping and much more.  We do live in an area now that we can and have created some great memories.  Summer begins next Friday and of course many more memories to be made.