Prague Trip

Ross and I went to Prague, Czech Republic last week. We attended the International Astronautical Congress. It was a really good conference with lots of interesting people and presentations. Ross was there to present the work he and his company did in Hawaii earlier this year. He did an awesome job as expected! The conference was a good reminder of the big, global picture of the space industry for me. I have a tendency to stay very focused on the International Space Station efforts, so I really enjoyed being able to take a step back and see where I fit in the bigger picture. I also got to catch up with a few friends from International Space University, which I attended over 4 years ago now!

Ross' mom, Susan, came to Houston to keep Jackson and Audrey for the 10 days we were gone. His sister, Leslie, and our nephew, Mitchell, joined her for the first weekend. I think they had their hands pretty full, but I know Jackson and Audrey had a good time. Susan got to take Jackson to his first dentist appointment after he loosened his tooth running into the corner of a desk and busting his lip the day before we left town. He didn't end up doing any permanent damage, which was good news, and his face and mouth are both almost back to normal now. Kids heal so quickly! The next weekend my mom, Deana, joined Susan for a couple of days to give her a little break before we returned on Sunday.

We left Houston Friday afternoon and arrived in Prague Saturday evening. After getting settled in our room we decided to go for a walk to check out the town. We decided to head to Old Town. The weather was pretty dreary, but we didn't really care. We were there to see a new part of the world! We walked a couple of miles down one of the main roads and ended up having dinner in one of the squares next to a market where we could do some people watching. Here's a picture of the museum at the head of the street that we started on.

We only had one full day before the conference and one day after to really do the tourist thing, so we picked up an extra umbrella (we'd only brought 1) along with some breakfast and headed out first thing Sunday morning. We started at Charles Bridge, which connects Old Town and Malá Strana.

The bridge is lined with statues on both sides, and you have a good view of the Prague Castle area's St. Vitus Cathedral.

One of the statues was of St. Elisabetha...

There were lots of artists and street vendors lining the bridge as well, and we actually picked up a little ceramic flute with a Prague skyline painted on it for Jackson. He's had lots of fun making noise with it since we returned.

About 100 yards before the end of the bridge, there is a set of stairs leading down to Kampa Island. We decided to check it out, and were so glad we did. There was a beautiful park and a contemporary art museum that we really enjoyed wandering through. I had fun taking pictures of some of the more interesting pieces...some of which were outside.

I didn't let go of the camera very often while we were there, so Ross snapped a picture of me after I stopped to tie my shoe at the gallery.

From there we made our way up to the Prague Castle area. This was the view of the city from the entrance.

Prague Castle is the largest castle area in the world. It's very different from what we typically think of as a castle. It's not a single building, but an entire area that was founded around 880. Walking down the streets gives you a real sense of the history that's hard to describe.

Here's a close up picture of St. Vitus Cathedral, which is what stands out from the area when wandering through Prague.

As we left the castle area we stumbled upon a wine festival and decided to check it out. There was a little vineyard on a hill in the middle of everything.

We had a great view of Charles Bridge from the vineyard.

That evening we found an incredible restaurant where we stuffed ourselves before heading back to the hotel to prepare for the conference.

We didn't do much in the way of picture taking during the conference, but we did enjoy ourselves. The opening ceremony involved a wide range of talents from singing and dancing to a black light show. The welcome reception the first evening was a fun event held at the conference center that allowed everyone to spend time checking out the booths and saying hello to the 3400 people in attendance from around the world. As part of the "young professionals" group, Ross and I had the opportunity to participate in several extra events that included meeting with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden for a question and answer session.

We also participated in the "fun evening" at U Flecku, which is one of the most famous landmarks in the Czech Republic. It's a brewery and restaurant that has been brewing beer for 500 straight years!

The other planned events during the conference included an evening at Prague's Planetarium and dinner at a beautiful French restaurant.

The day after the conference we set back out to explore more of Prague, and this time the weather was perfect!

As you can imagine based on the length of this post, Ross quickly tired of the number of pictures I wanted to take, so I'll try to limit the number I post here. There are a bunch more in the album if you're interested though.

Here's an annoyed Ross on a typical little street in Prague.

The astronomical clock in Old Town Square.

There were several couples getting married or taking their pictures in the square, at parks, and at the castle while we were there.

Some beautiful roses along the river.

We stumbled on another little park with lots of weather veins while wandering around, but that wasn't the only unusual thing for us. There were peacocks wandering around, and I happened to get a picture of a man feeding them like we do ducks!

Taking a break at the park.

After visiting the Jewish Quarter and realizing we weren't going to be able to see much there because it was the Jewish Sabbath, we decided to head back to the castle area to do a little more venturing. This time we spent the majority of our time in the gardens.

The way these berries or pieces of fruit had fallen on the statue just made me laugh, especially the one on the top of his head and in his horn.

Looking for bears...

Some pictures of us! We even found a trustworthy person to take a picture of the two of us.

Deciding where to go next...

Another view of St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague.

To end the day we stopped at a little restaurant just outside the castle area before heading back to the hotel to pack. We ended up walking 12 miles the last day we were in Prague and enjoyed every minute of it! Here's to Prague!

Busted Lip

Thursday afternoon, Ross' mom, Susan, came to town to take care of the kiddos while Ross and I are in Prague for a week. Ross and Susan went to the daycare together to pick up Jackson and Audrey. Apparently, Jackson was a little excited and tripped on his way to push a button on the keypad where we log them in and out each day. He was running full force and hit face first on the corner of the desk/counter. He hit hard enough that he has a scratch/line that runs from his from his forehead to his chin. He busted his lip wide open and even managed to loosen a tooth. Check it out...

You can tell from the picture that his gums and lip were both bleeding. Ross and Susan decided to take him to the doctor to make sure he didn't need stitches. Fortunately, he didn't, but he does have to go to the dentist about the tooth. Our pediatrician said there's a possibility it will turn grey. It's about the right time for him to make a trip to the dentist, but this wasn't exactly the reason I had in mind. The poor fella is having trouble eating because it hurts, but his Grandmother and Aunt Leslie and cousin Mitchell are taking extra good care of him this weekend!

Audrey is over 6 Months Old!

Audrey turned 6 months old a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't had a chance to update the blog. At her 6 month appointment she was 26 inches long (50th percentile), 17 lbs. 7 oz. (75th percentile), and her head was 16.5 inches in circumfrence (25th percentile). She is continuing to amaze us with how strong and aware she is. Everyone comments on how she studies things, and now she even cocks her head to the side sometimes if she's really interested in something. It's adorable!

Audrey now sits on her own very well and has her bottom two teeth. She also started eating baby food this month and loves it! She still pushes up on her hands and knees and rocks or scoots from time to time, but she's not mobile...yet. Playing in her jumperoo and watching Jackson seem to be her favorite things to do. Here is a recent picture of little Miss Audrey, and there are more in the album.

There are some new pictures of Jackson from the same day in his album too.

Jackson is as sweet as ever with Audrey. From time to time he forgets that she's not as strong as Mommy and Daddy, and he tries to force her to do the things he wants her to do. Most of the time he's very gentle with her though.

We are SO blessed! I'm actually writing this post from Prague where Ross and I are attending the International Aeronautics Congress, so seeing the pictures and updating everyone just makes me miss them so much more! I'm sure there will be more to come on our trip soon...stay tuned.

Little Monkeys

This weekend our friends, Heath and Barbara, and their son, Carter, came to visit. They made it in late Friday night, which of course, meant we stayed up late visiting when they arrived. The only reason we went to bed as early as we did was because we knew Jackson and Audrey wouldn't be sleeping in!

Saturday morning we loaded everyone into the car and headed to the zoo. We started with the traveling dinosaur exhibit. Jackson loves dinosaurs when they're in a book or on a puzzle. Up close and personal was a different story. His initial reaction was to cling to Daddy's leg.

Carter on the other hand had seen the exhibit somewhere else before, so he was ready to go!

It didn't take Jackson long to start "roaring" at the dinosaurs from the safety of our arms, and once he saw the baby dinosaurs, he was ready to check them out.

He still wasn't real sure though...

Especially after these guys started spitting at people and making them scream.

From there we made our way over to the children's section of the zoo, where the boys got to check out an injured bald eagle.

They had fun checking out the cows, lamas, geese, pigs, and other animals. Of course, getting to brush the goats was a highlight!

Audrey slept through most of this part of the visit, and as the older of the three, Carter made sure to take good care of both Jackson and Audrey. He held Jackson's hand to make sure he didn't wander off, and entertained Audrey during lunch.

Jackson helped entertain Audrey by being a bird and making her smile.

Our little monkeys enjoyed watching the monkeys.

It was shortly after this picture that I realized Audrey's ear was filled with blood! She'd scratched it, but she wasn't complaining at all. It took at least 10 minutes of putting pressure on it to get the bleeding to stop...I was beginning to worry that it wouldn't!

Next the boys watched the elephants eating, and Jackson spent a little time speaking to them in their language (raising his trunk and blowing at them).

To round out the trip, we hopped on the train and checked out Memorial Hermann Park. We were all hot and tired by this point, but it was a great way to end the adventure.

We took it pretty easy the rest of the afternoon and then made our way to Lupe Tortilla for dinner and some play time in the sand.

This morning we cooked a yummy breakfast of huevos rancheros and took our time getting ready. Then we headed to Kemah and let the boys play in the fountain. Again, they were a little slow to get started playing, but once they decided it was okay, there was no stopping them!

Audrey was great all weekend...she was simply adorable!

Believe it or not, there are even more pictures in the album from both the zoo and Kemah. We all had SO much fun...we already miss them!

A Walk in the Park

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Shreveport for the Stone Family Reunion (Ross' Mom's side of the family). It's been a wonderful tradition for many years, but this year was a little different. There were a few people missing for different reasons, but most notably was the absence of Ross' Grandmother. She passed away in July, and since we also always celebrated Ross' grandparents' wedding anniversary during this weekend, she was greatly missed.

Between the big family gatherings the Taylor family spent part of the morning walking together in the gardens behind the Norton Art Gallery.

Jackson had fun wandering down all the paths even when Mom made a request for him to stop and pose.

Audrey was all smiles most of the weekend. If you look closely here, you can see her two new teeth that cut through this week!

The water features in this garden are beautiful and very intriguing to the little ones.

There are several sculptures throughout the gardens that caught the kiddos attention. Here they had fun riding the mountain lion!

We all took a little break by the pond and snapped a few more photos.

Of course, we had to take advantage of the opportunity to get a few photos of our adorable nephew! He's another happy baby!

There are a few more pics from the weekend in the album.

I didn't take hardly any pictures at the big family gatherings this year, but here's one of the boys splashing around at the pool party.

It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and to see how much the kids have grown and changed. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see everyone every year!