Blogs from Houston, Texas, United States, North America - page 4

No matter how much I prepare mentally that I am going to pack early, it never happens. I really don’t enjoy packing. I don’t like thinking about all the scenarios and the logistics of how we are going to carry everything. The last Europe trip really put this into perspective. Hector ended up carrying way to many bags because I imagined my girls pulling their own cute Minnie Mouse suitcases through the airport looking stylish like world travelers and NOPE. In the end they are still kids and complain anytime you ask them to do anything. So as a result, we knew better. I was limited to 1 suitcase for 4 ladies…with a little room to steal from Hector’s suitcase. Hector needs and packs his own suitcase because he is really the only one who HAS ... read more

Hi everyone! Sorry for being so slow with this, now I've needed to start prioritising what I do and I've completely forgotten to update this! So lets start from the very beginning, it's a very good place to start! A couple of weekends after my last blog post my friend Lawrence came to visit. I did Biochemistry with him a Warwick, and he's now doing a Post-Doc in Pittsburgh. The rodeo was still on - so we took a visit and bought tickets. I still haven't decided whether I liked it or not. Again the atmosphere was great, but the rodeo itself.. I'm not sure. I quite enjoyed the bits with the cowboys on horseback rounding up the cows. However, I felt really uncomfortable watching the bucking horses and bucking bulls. It just seemed so unnatural, ... read more

Geo: 29.7605, -95.3698Lazy day...no plans today except to relax and enjoy our first full day at sea. After a leisurely breakfast we went by the ship's library to pick up the daily SuDuKo puzzle and for me to get a novel. Decided we should get some exercise and walked around the Promenade Deck for 90 minutes - a little over five miles. We sure were hot and sweaty when we were done; and though we had eaten breakfast only two hours earlier we headed up to theCafe Caribe for the special sushi lunch. Delicious! We went back our cabin and lazed around, sat on the deck and read. Jeff napped and I finished the Kindle novel I had started yesterday. This is formal night and for this cruise we purposefully did not bring any formal clothes. ... read more

Geo: 29.7605, -95.3698My brain is tired. Today we spent 7 hours at the Johnson Space Center and now my brain is tired. I won't even attempt to describe all we did and all we learned but I assure you - it was an interesting, educational and inspirational day!After walking past the space shuttle, the REAL space shuttle (!) and realizing Jeff had forgotten to put the recharged battery back into the camera (oops), we entered the building.Yikes! The noise level was incredible - there were kids everywhere - ah...Spring Break! This area was definitely geared to children - the brightly colored "Angry Birds" marquee was one of the clues that drew me to this conclusion...that and the Ripley's Believe It or Not" area.I admit to being a little concerned about our day, but it was great.We ... read more

I suppose I should've said where we're going as the first post, but like I said, I was filled with anxiety. So, now that we're at the airport, bags checked and in the waiting area, I've calmed down enough to realize my error. We are flying from Houston to London, London to Berlin then Berlin to Nurnberg, Germany. Saturday in Nurnberg we are boarding a river boat that will take us to the Danube and end in Vienna.... read more