Mardi Gras in Shreveport

Last weekend we made our way to Shreveport for the Crew of Centaur parade. We spent a little time the morning before the parade walking around the gardens at the Norton Art Gallery with Pop. It was a gorgeous day, and I was extremely disappointed to realize I'd left the memory card for my camera in Houston. That didn't keep me from taking pictures though! I was determined to see what my phone could do since the kids were eager to pose with Pop!

While they took some great serious shots, they loved being silly too!

Both kids took a great nap, which we were grateful for since we knew they'd be up a little late at the parade. My mom, Susan, and our krewe arrived at Ross' Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Laura's site around 3 PM just before the streets were closed. We wandered up and down the streets for a while taking in the fun and craziness of the day. Then we settled in at our spot for some delicious food and a little karaoke!

The party continued after dark with more karaoke and a nice fire to keep us warm. When the parade arrived, the kiddos were ready to climb up on our shoulders and catch some loot! Audrey was a little nervous at first as you can see in the picture below...I'm not sure how Ross was catching anything at that point! It didn't take her long to relax as long as the floats weren't on the scary side. Her strategy was to put every bead, cup, and toy she caught in her bag rather than wearing or holding them. Jackson was more eager to wear and hold on to what he got. I'm not sure which strategy was most effective, but I do know we came home with a LOT of beads, cups, and toys!

It was a very quick trip, but it was worth every moment!

There are more pics in the album.

Baseball and Cookies

Since both kids were recovering from the flu the weekend after the Tims came to visit back in January, we decided to take it easy and enjoy some downtime at home. Jackson and Ross spent a little time throwing the baseball around...

And we made some chocolate chip cookies...I think these kids are a fan of cookie dough! I wonder where they get that from?

It was nice to take it easy for a few days after the busy start we had to the new year!

There are a few more pictures of the kids playing around in the album.

President's Weekend with the Tims!

The Tims family arrived for a visit the day I returned from my first MLLP training trip. We spent most of Saturday morning visiting before we headed to the neighborhood snow day! It was so much fun that it deserved it's own separate post with pics, which you can find here!

The guys were amazing and let Barbara and I shop the new outlet malls without the kids for the afternoon. We had lots of fun finding deals and catching up on life!

Sunday afternoon we made our way to the zoo. It was an incredibly gorgeous day, so everyone else in Houston had the same idea. We had a tough time finding a parking spot, so we dropped everyone off while I circled the surrounding area for over 45 minutes trying to catch a spot. I was ready to give up just when a spot became available, so the fun quickly continued from there. Since it was such an ordeal to get there, I was determined to see and enjoy every moment!

We saw as many animals as we possibly could, enjoyed some popcorn and monkey tails, hugged and brushed some goats, played on the playground, and eventually wore ourselves out!

The next morning Jackson was excited to play a little Mario Kart with Carter before they headed home. Poor Audrey wasn't feeling great at this point, which we discovered later in the week was because she had the flu. Unfortunately, Jackson got it later in the week as well, so we got some extra time together, which made up for the week I was gone before that!

We loved getting to spend some time with one of our favorite families for the weekend though! There are more pics of the fun in the album.

Snow Day in Houston!

So it didn't actually snow in Houston this year, but we did have a snow day in our neighborhood! Our friends, The Tims, happened to be down for a visit, so they joined in the fun!

The community association brought in the snow for a social event. A "hill" was built since we don't have any in this area, and the kids and adults had a blast sledding down!

There was also a square of snow set up for very small snowman building, snow angel making, and of course, snowball throwing! All the kids loved it, and Audrey couldn't resist tasting a little snow. Even baby Graham enjoyed the experience from the warmth and safety of his stroller!

Jackson was having a tough time listening and following directions at one point, so he had to take a break/time-out. I, of course, documented the experience with pictures, which, to my surprise, helped Jackson get out of his funky mood. I love that you can see the devious thought process on his face...he's throwing leaves at me.

I was happy to see the smile back on his face, and the rest of the day was tons of fun!

There are a few more pictures in the album!

New Opportunities

With the start of the new year came several new opportunities for me (Elizabeth) at work. On January 2nd I became the Group Lead for some of the ETHOS flight controllers, which are responsible for the environmental and thermal systems on the International Space Station, and on January 13th I started a sixteen month Mid-Level Leader Program (MLLP) within NASA! I'm truly honored and humbled to have both of these opportunities. This will be my third group of flight controllers to manage, which means I have had the opportunity to continue learning new technical information, as well as growing in my leadership skills and working with more amazing people. NASA's MLLP training has already proven to be an invaluable experience for both my personal and professional growth.

There are 28 participants in this year's MLLP from across all of NASA's centers, and I get to be one of them! We all had to go through an interview process at Headquarters in Washington DC in November where each center sent several of their top mid-level leaders forward in hopes of being accepted into the program. The fact that I was on this list and had the opportunity to interview meant the world to me! I found out the next day that I was accepted into the program with a few other friends from Johnson Space Center, and we were all ecstatic!

Everyone in the program got together in January for our first of four joint training sessions. Everyone in the group is amazing, and I'm so excited to get to spend this time getting to know them better and learn from them and the experts that are pouring into us! We spent most of this training session digging into who we are as leaders and figuring out how to stretch and grow to be better. We each have a mentor from a different NASA center to help us with this as well.

This training session was at NASA's Stennis Space Center, and we got to spend some time one afternoon touring the center and some of the tenants that reside there, such as Pratt, Whitney, Rocketdyne. It was fun to see what they are working on, and being an industrial engineer by training, I was impressed with their manufacturing processes! The highlight of the tour though was getting to visit one of Stennis' rocket engine test stands. Some of the guys that work there gave us an incredible tour of the A-2 test stand! Here are a few pictures I was able to capture with my phone.

There are a few more pictures from the tour of the test stand in the album.

The week we spent together in training was a non-stop, intense period that helped us to quickly form bonds with each other, but it also allowed us to step away from our daily lives to look closer at who we are and where we want to go. We were all exhausted emotionally and physically from the long hours and introspection when we returned home, but I can honestly say I feel like it was one of the best training experiences I've ever had. I'm excited to continue this journey!

Mom meets Robonaut

Over the Christmas holiday, I was able to take my mom, Susan, to my office to see what I am working on and see a demonstration of Robonaut. Here are the pictures.

Mom shakes hands with Robonaut

Family picture

New Years in Leakey, TX

Once again, we spent our New Year's Eve and the weekend leading into it in Leakey, TX with Ross' side of the family. It's always fun to see our city kids playing in the Texas hill country and enjoying the great outdoors. Our nephew, Mitchell, got a little 4-wheeler for Christmas, and all the kids had fun driving it! The big kid, Ross, drove us around on the Polaris at the ranch too, which was one of the highlights of the trip...so much so that Jackson did a little pouting when it was time to go inside and warm up!

We also spent a little time at the elementary school's playground, which Jackson and Audrey loved. It's always fun to play somewhere new!

As with any new playground, there were new challenges to overcome along with some standard playground favorites to play on like the swings. Some of the challenges were met with fear or frustration and some were met with sheer determination, but almost all of the them were conquered. Jackson decided the chain ladder was his favorite. In my mind he wasn't really quite old enough to do it, but he was determined. He mustered all the strength he had, looked past his fear of stepping out, and made it to the platform several times!

There was also a great tree for climbing! Ross led the way, and Jackson quickly followed.

It was a little cold for Mitchell, but he eventually decided the fun was worth it!

When we took our breaks from the cold, Grandmother got some good snuggle time with the grandkids while watching movies or reading books.

We spent a good bit of time relaxing and enjoying the slower pace. All of the kids had their ups and downs emotionally, but whether there were smiles or tears or pouting, we were all glad to be together!

On New Year's Eve Ross and I went for a walk with the kids in Leslie and Philip's "neighborhood". The walk quickly turned into an exploratory/educational journey as Ross guided them down the road. They discovered an Emu, a puppy, and lots of dogs. They also talked about lots of other things they saw and why those things were the way they were...why water flows downhill, why there are short and tall fences, why some driveways have gates, why you can't always see the house that goes with a driveway, why dogs bark and how to tell if they're happy, what to do if a car is coming down the road, etc...

Audrey loves to stop and pick flowers anywhere she sees them, and this walk was no exception!

There was also some tall grass along the road that Mitchell and Audrey thought was a lot of fun!

We spent that evening visiting with family and friends. The kids got to stay up a little later than normal, but we didn't even attempt to try to keep them up until midnight. After they crashed, we spent the rest of the evening playing cards and laughing. We crashed not too long after midnight, and we were grateful the kids slept in a little on New Year's day since we made our drive home that day. It was a fun, relaxing weekend and a great way to end 2012!

There are more pictures in the album!