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| A little hoe down after the wedding! |
- So I believe that I am becoming an insomniac-not by choice! I was up later than I should have been with the blog (probably should have done it first before playing on facebook and pinterest) and when it was bedtime, Whitman woke up to eat. I did make it to bed around 1:30 to sleep until 5:30 when he woke up again and then had to lay by me until morning. I think that is pretty good since he could have been really fussy due to his negligent parents and resulting sunburn.
- Hopefully tonight, we will get a bit more sleep. Though when I woke up, I felt well rested. It is just now 11 and I am just getting started on this blog, Whitman hasn't eaten his late night bottle and Robby wants to leave around 7-sleep really is overrated!
- I'm not complaining though, we have had a great trip and everyone is not going to be too pleased about coming home. But today they were excited about one more day of trip adventures. And surprisingly, everyone was really excited about the wedding as well. The kids woke up and were dressed before Robby and I were out of bed. We "got it going" as Anderson says and soon headed to breakfast.
- Today everyone had waffles and pecan twirls as their main dish. We have talked about not eating breakfast here tomorrow and I just told Robby to go over and take all of their pecan twirls and we can eat them in the car!
- The NASA Johnson Space Center opened at 10 but we arrived at 9:15. We sat in the car as long as we could-Robby changed the setting on the DVD player, worked on my phone and attached his gps better. When he had finished all of these tasks, he went to get in the line. Soon the line was crazy and he called us over to get a spot in the security line.
- We walked in the door at 10 and the lady tearing the kids tickets told them to go straight to the tram line. So Robby took that as a cue to walk swiftly there and that we did. We walked right on tram and even had room to spread out. The first stop was the old mission control. It was mission control through the early space days up until 92. Pretty cool to see that.
- Then we went and walked around the Saturn V rocket-it is a pretty big thing to walk around. The kids were pretty interested in the whole rocket thing-maybe we should check out a few library books. Then we caught the tram back to the main building and saw some exhibits.
- Soon it was almost noon and they were doing a show about reptiles. We needed to rest our legs for a bit so we sat and waited for the show. Keaton sat in the stroller, Whitman slept and the other kids played on the phone while we waited.
- The show was typical up until the host looked for volunteers and pointed to Robby. The kids were beyond thrilled to have him on the stage. And when the lady pulled out the albino Burmese python for Robby to hold, I thought Graham was going to throw up he was so excited. Robby said the snake was slimy and he did even see the toenail of that thing-who knew snakes have toenails.
- After the show, we let the kids play on their huge space angry birds play structure. The kids loved it and could have continued to play there. Robby told them to stay with someone and made sure that everyone knew that they could not leave Campbell. Of course, Reagan is the only one that hears that and dutifully stayed by Campbell's side. Reagan eventually asked if she could go and play without Campbell and Robby let her. I had been pushing Whitman and Keaton around the gift shop (trying to keep him asleep and distract her). So Campbell went with us to the bathroom and then back to slide a few times.
- We did let Keaton play for a bit in the ball area and Robby had to go in and get her. She was not too pleased about having to leave but we had other things to do-like touch a moon rock. There are only 8 moon rocks in the world that can be touched by the public (this was our second-Smithsonian in DC was the first. Robby joked that maybe touching all of his moon rocks should be on his bucket list). A bit more touring and then it was time to eat our lunch.
- They had picnic tables outside and we had our sandwiches. I way overpacked my food and have enough bread for us to picnic until the end of the month. Anyway, the kids ran around on the sidewalk until we had lunch ready. After lunch, we had a special treat-astronaut ice cream. The kids all ate their piece. Graham will be the astronaut of the group because he was the only one that continued to ask for more pieces of it.
- Next up was back to the hotel. We had about 2 hours in the room before we needed to leave. Campbell eventually fell asleep-the x games motorcycles must have bored her. Didn't bore me because it was girls racing the motorcycles. Anderson really needed to see that because the other day at the Children's museum, they had mock elections with 2 candidates-a boy and a girl. Anderson voted for the boy and I asked why. He said "well boys are better than girls"-must have learned that from his daddy.
- We knew that Keaton needed a nap too but there was no way she would nap in her bed. So we put Whitman's bouncy in the bathroom, put down a pillow for her feet, gave her some milk and buckled her in. We could not believe but it worked. That child was exhausted and stayed awake during most of Robby's shower a foot away. She only woke when he unbuckled her to wash her up.
- The wedding was at in indoor pavilion in a city park near Maradee's house. We had thoroughly explained to the kids proper behavior including rewards and punishments for improper behavior. It must have worked because they were all wonderful-Whitman slept, Reagan was all into it-even jumping up on her chair to see them kiss, Anderson and Graham sat perfect still watching it all, Campbell was in my lap a bit whiny but fine and Robby was on Keaton patrol. She did really well-coke, smarties and lots of distractions helped with that.
- After the wedding, we all headed to the lawn for the reception. They had food-bbq, chicken, potato salad, beans, fruit, homemade bread (delicious), slaw, homemade brownies, cobbler and ice cream. The food was all delicious. There was music and a bit of dancing -- mainly by Anderson and Greg. And there were games for the kids to play.
- My crew devoured the fruit and played with the outside games until they had all received candy and Anderson had even earned a prize-a Jurassic Park DVD. Robby had said earlier this week while looking at fossils in Houston that we should rent that movie. We will see if it scares them to death-Anderson said that they are going to watch if the very first thing going home.
- After a lot of eating and game playing, I took Campbell and Keaton to the bathroom. I had a diaper for Keaton and pulled down her pants to change her and sure enough she was poopy. So I grabbed some wet paper towels and started again. It is very, very hard to change a poopy 1 year old in a public restroom with no changing table. And during this Campbell had gone to the bathroom and needed me to wipe her bottom and my phone was ringing. We survived and went back to the others.
- Eventually, I took everyone but Whitman to the nearby playground. They played and played and probably could have played more but I heard them announce that Maradee and Robert were about to leave. So we booked it back to the reception so the kids could get some birdseed and throw it. Throwing something at anyone is so much fun for the kids. Afterwards, we stayed around for a bit longer and then hoped in the car to claim the kids rewards for being so good.
- They enjoyed the snow cones from last night so we headed back there. It was 9:15 but Robby thought they closed at 10. The open light was still on and that was great so we unloaded and headed there. I was still getting the baby out of the car and a bottle made since he wasn't too pleased. Robby and the others made it almost to the door when the worker lady quickly walked (Robby said "ran") to the door to turn around the sign and lock the door.
- I got out of the van and walked around it in time to see 5 heart broken kids walking back. Anderson was teary and about to fall apart. It was pitiful-I could even see people in the snow cone place watching our show take place outside. Robby immediately says that he will find them something else-this makes Anderson some better but not Keaton who is now refusing to get in the car. She remembered where we were and was expecting a snow cone.
- Robby stopped at Kroger and ran in to pick up 2 choices of frozen treats. While he was shopping, Campbell cried about the snow cone. Gracious, it was sad because the kids were so disappointed but then again, eating popsicles in the room was pretty easy and a lot less expensive.
- They had their treats as we loaded boxes and bins back up and into the car. By the time we laid everyone down it was after 10. Keaton was the last to get into her bed and was climbing on it trying to get in. By the time we turned off the lights, everyone was asleep except Campbell-my bedmate tonight. She just stared at my computer until I closed it but now she is snoozing away-like I am about to do!
