NASA

The kids had Good Friday off from school so we decided to take a mini family vacation.  It seemed a bit strange to go to Houston without seeing the Van Dukers, but they are off on their adventures in Papua New Guinea.

We drove to Houston Thursday night hoping the small people would fall asleep in the car- it didn't work.  Fortunately they were pretty good travelers.

Friday we went to the NASA space center.

This was Melissa and Isaac's favorite part- a massive jungle gym right by the front entrance.  

 Isaac loved the ball zone. He had fun sending the balls up pneumatic tubes and then having the balls rain down on top of everyone.  

We took a tour of the astronaut training facility where we saw the mockups that the astronauts use to practice their missions.

 Future lunar robots

Future moon rover

 Pretty Texas wildflowers outside one of the buildings

Matthew's primary request was to see the moon rocks, so we couldn't leave without checking those out!

 Space capsule from one of the Apollo missions

Matthew also had a chance to meet an astronaut and hear him speak about what it is like in space.  (And it was free!)

(Picture that Matthew received at the end of the presentation)

Colonel Michael Bloomfield piloted 2 missions and was commander of a third.  He described accelerating to Mach 25 (the speed needed to break free of Earth's atmosphere and remain in space), the two years of training required to master the more than 1,000 switches used as a pilot, working inside and out of the space station, and viewing Earth down below.  He was an engaging speaker, and Matthew's favorite part was his descriptions of eating and drinking in space.  Water molecules tend to form a ball in space making it ideal for all kinds of entertainment.  Col Bloomfield described shooting M&Ms at water at different speeds to see what would happen (all in the name of science of course!).  If you shoot it gently the M&M will stick to the outside of the ball of water.  Toss it a little harder and it will float in the middle of the water.  Chuck that M&M with all the force you can muster and it will shoot through the water and fly out the other side with a spray of water droplets.  Floating goldfish crackers in water spheres to make "aquariums" was another pastime of bored astronauts as was blowing air bubbles into the water with a straw.  Matthew laughed and laughed and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

We spent half a day there and saw maybe 1/10 of things to see and do.  It would have taken several days to take in everything.  We certainly did enjoy the trip and would recommend it to anyone visiting Houston.

More Fiesta Pics

Confetti eggs!

 Isaac cracking the egg on his own head

Me, covered in confetti

Battle of the Flowers Parade

As I've mentioned before, Fiesta is a BIG deal in San Antonio.  The whole city parties for a week and a half and there are over 100 events throughout the city.  There are three main parades, the Cavalier's River Parade (on boats), the Battle of the Flowers Parade (day), and the Fiesta Flambeau Parade (night).

We've seen the River Parade, so this year we decided to catch the Battle of the Flowers Parade.
 

Air Force

Cavaliers

 Snacking on barbeque turkey legs during the vanguard and before the start of the actual parade.

Basic Training Recruits from Lackland AFB.  I threw this in because I know what fond memories Chris had of his training there last summer. 

 King Antonio

Senator John Cornyn

 

Part of the parade court (I missed getting a picture of Miss San Antonio)

If you yell, "show us your shoes!"  the beauty queens oblige and show off their boots. 

Melissa waving.  She had a ball seeing all of the colorful floats and queens.

Later we asked Melissa what her favorite part was and she said that she liked the horses best.  "It was funny when they pooped!"

The parade lasts for 4 hours and we got there over an hour early to secure parking and see the vanguard part of the parade.  We lucked out with our seats since they were close to bathrooms and food and drink.  About an hour and a half into the actual parade the kids had their fill and we left.  They were really good parade watchers though.  They played with their bubble blowers, snacked on food, and had a great time.  Even though Isaac was really tired (it was waaay past his naptime) he was a pretty pleasant chap.

Kindergarten Fiesta Parade

 The kindergarteners all decorated floats for the annual Kinder Fiesta Parade.  Gee, it seems that it wasn't that long ago that Matthew did this!

Here she comes!

There she goes!

 Dancing.

 Melissa's turn in the middle.  She's leading the dance moves for her class.

The kindergarten class.

Melissa's buddy, Oliva.

Melissa with her teacher, Mrs. Chandler.

Cupcakes!

Grandma gave the kids a mini-cupcake maker. 

It makes 7 miniature cupcakes in about 6 minutes.  Matthew and Melissa each took turns with the batter.

Needless to say, those little cupcakes were a big hit.

Rub-a-dub-dub!

I reminded Isaac that he needed to go back and wash his hands after using bathroom.  Then I went upstairs to hang up some clothes.  When I got back, this is what I found:

He had the water running and was making soap bubbles in the sink.  Funny kid!

33 weeks

Here's a snapshot of The Belly at 33 weeks:

Annnd a closer look:  Oh my!

Baby girl can put on half a pound a week at this point so there's a lot more growing to do...

A year of DataStax (née Riptano)

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Originally uploaded by jbellis

We flew everyone* to Austin for the company's first anniversary: Jake from Connecticut, Ben and Mike from Utah, Sylvain from France, and a whole bunch of people from California.

We're up to 30 people now. Which I already knew, but it feels like more when you see them all in the room at the same time.

(Except one: we weren't able to fly Pavel in from Belarus because of visa complications.)

Soccer, visualized

Matthew is starting to look like a soccer player already. He's really a natural athlete. He's not the oldest on his team, but he's the fastest.

Melissa desperately wanted to play soccer this year, Just Like Matthew. But she's just not that into it. Here she is watering the lawn while she's benched; she's not a whole lot more involved in the game when she's on the field. If she looks in the same direction as the ball, it's pure coincidence. (To her coach's credit, she gets as much playing time as the others.)

They both agree that climbing trees is fun.

March Peanuts

• Isaac can open the fridge now. This is bad.
• Gave Matthew a good night kiss and turned to leave. Isaac shrieked and pointed to his cheek: "Mine!" I gave Isaac a kiss too and he was happy.
• Woke Melissa up for pre-emptive bathroom time. She never quite wakes up when I do this. "Time to get on the toilet and pee," I told her. Then I left. I came back to make sure she got back in bed, and found I needed to be more specific with step 2, "take off your underwear."
• Me: "Who is Dan C?" Matt: "New hire." I thought it would take longer before I had that conversation.
• Coach: "Okay, I want Daniel over to the left. Nate, play back." Melissa: "Can we play duck duck goose?"
• I haven't trained in years, but last night I dreamed someone was harassing Rachel, so I threw him to the ground with a beautiful osotogari. Then I broke his arm, and told him, "Judo, bitch." This is your brain on testosterone.
• Melissa: "You picked a big man, Mom."
• Melissa on Pixar movies: "When the words are coming down, there's silly parts!"
• Melissa: "My bottom doesn't like these pants. He's getting squished." (She was wearing Isaac's pants. I thought maybe they were supposed to be capris.)
• Me: "They have segway tours of downtown San Antonio. That might be cool." Dad: "We'll take the segways. You can jog alongside; you need the exercise."
• The only decent new york style pizza nearby closed (RIP Pizzabella). Guess it's a sign that we should move to Austin.
• Melissa's friend came to see if she could play, after Melissa's second post-sandbox bath of the day. "You can play, but NOT IN THE SAND." Melissa: "I promise!" I went to get her when the pizza arrived and found her playing in the sand. I think this is Melissa's first time to be grounded.
• Matthew: "What's this?" Me: "A red booger." "It's not a booger!" "That's what I said: snot. A booger." "DAD! It's not snot!" "Yes; snot snot." Sometimes I crack myself up.
• Just found out Rachel has never seen a mimeograph machine. Even my wife makes me feel old.
• Rachel: "Eighteen year olds are like puppies."
• I love replying to unsolicited resumes with, "Great! Let's see you solve this [challenging but doable Cassandra ticket], and then we'll talk."
• Business trip to Seattle; Thai for dinner with Telitha. Forgot that Seattle-ites don't like spicy food -- ordered the spice at a safe 3/5 but I could barely taste it; had to ask for some dried peppers to add.

Evil legos

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Originally uploaded by jbellis

This is all that is left of one after Rachel stepped on it in the dark.

Legos on the floor were a bête noire of my father, too.