Hello to all!
So, you are not going to believe that I do not even have a single picture to put in the blog this week! I know, it's Tuesday again because I had quite the crazy Monday... again. So last week was not very eventful in the eyes of other people I am sure. For me, there were a few magical moments. The first shinig star was on Tuesday when I presented my children's story in sign language. It was my last project and it was really good. I really think that I nailed it!
Wednesday was a great day for me. It was the day that I taught my seminar on Social Stories as a part of my Thesis Project. I was so nervous. It was a little over an hour and what made it so nerve racking was that I was suddenly teaching my teaching peers instead of three and four-year-olds! It is hard to get up there and demonstrate that you know something that these people really want to know about. Some of the people sitting in front of me had been teaching and working with kids with Autism for more than five times the amount of experience that I have! Once I got started, though, I was really into it. I completely made every point that I wanted to make, people were interested, and people really learned new things! I was so excited when it was over. I had required that one person from each classroom attend the session, so that would be 10 people, but I ended up with a totaly of 25 people!! Not only did teachers and therpists come, but parents and other people from the community were there, too! There was a woman there who had heard about the program and changed her lunch break to be at the time of the seminar so that she could attend!! How cool is that?!? I felt like a real respected speaker! The best part is that people were telling me for days (including today) how much they enjoyed the session and how much they learned from it! There were some people from the school that I have no specific relationship with who stopped me to tell me that it was the best inservice that they had been to. That it ran so smooth and time went to quickly because you could tell my interest and passion in the information! I just feel really proud of myself. I actually think that I could do this kind of seminar as a profession when I can no longer work in the classroom with kids (old bones, or whatnot). I really didn't think it was something that I would be good at, but as I told Dr. Clark the other day, I am realizing things about myself that other people have known for years! Thanks for always supporting me everyone I love you guys!
Thursday was business as usual. I got over to the gym and worked on my final thesis paper. Thursday night, Kris and I had dinner at Red Robin! It was super delicious! It was really nice to hang out with Kris as well, we had a really nice conversation and it was a good relaxing time.
Friday night was all about my scrapbook, so that was a lot of fun. I printed out the zillions of pictures from Houston and Charlotte and I got to work on that a little. I used some of my new fun scrapbooking gear that Aunt Christa got for me! Saturday was PiYo and Thesis! The most fabulous part of Saturday was that JAMES CALLED! Woo! It was so incredible to be able to hear his voice. We had such a long time where there was no communication at all, I finally got the emails back, and then I got to talk to him! It was perfect. Marissa, a friend from the boat, is truly the best! Her fiance has an international cell phone, so he can call her as soon as the boat docks and she lets me know that they are in so I can get my phone ready! It is the best plan, otherwise, I would have missed James completely (probably every time on the entire deployment)!! It has been such a blessing to have that extra support! Thanks again Marissa!!
Sunday passed as usual with a delicious Sunday supper and family time at Aunt Christa's new outside table set. We had beautiful weather all weekend! Monday was just a blur, but Kasey and I did got to see the Soloist and I absolutely loved it! It had a great message and was completely meaningful. It is the kind of movie that people really need to see to be able to get some real perspective. Kasey and I had dinner at Friendly's. It was the greatest thing, full meal (big burger plus fries), a drink, and a delicious ice cream sunday including whipcream, a cherry and two toppings all for $9.99!! You can't beat that!!
I guess that covers me for now. I just got out of my last exam ever and got a 97, I can't complain about that! All that I have left of my educational life is to defend my thesis projoct and graduate! To start that process, I am going to go to bed! Can't do anything with a cloudy head! Talking to James a couple of times has given me an entirely new enthusiasm. I miss him more every day... every minute. He is as sweet as they come and I cannot wait for him to come home and marry me! I wish everyone the most wonderful week and, for those of you I am going to see next week for graduation, I CAN'T WAIT!
Oh sweet Sailor, please be safe and get your tush home to me! I love you to pieces!
always,
Jamie
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I will have the bacon cheeseburger with a side of a corndog and chicken nuggests... no, that is really an option.
Hello friends and family! I am sorry that I didn't make it to the blog yesterday. It was quite a busy day and a little stressful because of it being James' birthday and me missing the living daylights out if him! I had a ton to do on my paper and then I had to get some sleep because I was just pooped! But, here I am today and ready to fill you in on all the fun of last week! I have to say that the good times certainly did not stop in Houston! On Tuesday, Jolyn had to head to work in the morning, so I did some work on my paper, packed, and was sad about leaving Houston. I had a great time! She came home from work early and (looking rather dapper) took me to get some lunch and head to the airport. We ate at Whataburger, which I thought was hilarious! It was very tasty. We just found a good spot on a bench and enjoyed the food and eventually a sad goodbye!!
She looks amazing!
I love my Big Sister!
I got back to the apartment after midnight on Tuesday night! I was so exhausted and poor Kasey had to pick me up! She even had to get up early on Wednesday! I got to sleep in a little on Wednesday, but I had to pack to get back out of town on Wednesday night. I got through packing and I was about ten minutes from leaving for class when I got an email that said that my flight from Syracuse to NYC was cancelled!! Oh no! I was so ready to get down to see my friends. What a disappointment?! I called and got al the flights changed and ended up heading out at six am on Thursday morning. Kris ended up taking me to the airport. He picked me up at 4:30 am! Yikes. It was way too early! When I got to JFK, I was hanging out at this table where I could use the internet and started messing around with this computer screen that was set on the table. I suddenly realized that it was a place to order food... but there wasn't a restaurant around. I called my mom for some support asking if she thought I should buy something. I totally had to! And, I did. It was super cool. This woman just appeared out of practically no where with my food and a reciept for me to sign! Then she was off, and it was a glass plate! HA! It was crazy. It was worth the $10.
It was pretty delicious!
Once I finally got to Charlotte, (after being 48th for take-off on the runway from JFK) Melissa was there and happy to have me back in my old homeland! It was SO great to see her! She is my biggest connection with James. She is why I met him, so having her makes me feels a little closer to him... not to mention being with her is the best- period!! I love her! We hung out during the day. I saw the place where she works (very nice) and we ate at a drivethru called CookOut. It was so good. The burger was huge and the side items included choices like chicken nuggets and corndogs, which I thought was hilarious! I got onion rings and french fries! Yum! Melissa and I hung around the apartment and got some chicken wings for dinner. She likes chicken wings now!!! I didn't know she could get any better!! :-) After sleep, I dropped Melissa at work and used her car to drive over to Cyzner to see all my friends! It was so much fun! We got to talk wedding talk and I got to meet all the new kids, plus see some of the older kids were still there! You should see how big they are! Crazy! Kasey is super excited about her wedding! So am I! I can't believe how close it is. We are going to have such a blast! After hanging with my peeps, I headed back to get Melissa. We had to take her car in for a little problem. Cyrena picked us up with her little one Rebecca. Now, that little girl is adorable! Would you believe she is about 16 months old and she rolled her eyes at Melissa!?! She has the best facial expressions! Eventually, we got the car back and got ready for dinner with friends at Brixx! MMMmmm, I love Brixx! We had the best time! I love old friends and reunioning! We had a blast!!
It's a boy.
Cyrena is having another baby! Hooray!!
Friday night we stayed up late so that the Latina girls could make shirts to surprise Sam because she just had a sweet little baby and we were going to celebrate on Saturday. In true Latina fashion, there was lots of bling to be had! Melissa and I got up on Saturday and ate some delicious Chick-Fil-A and then headed out to meet the girls and see Sam and Parker. It was so much fun!
SB and Sianneth
The Latina ladies minus Mami.
Apparently, I was super excited. He is so cute!
Precious. He is perfect!
I have the world's greatest friends! I am lovin' this picture!
He is a flippin' porcelain doll! Look at that face!
:-)
Are they having a moment? She should make some babies!
She is MY hero!!
One of my little sisters. We are too cute!
How cute are they?!
After hanging out with the girls and sweet little Parker for a while, Melissa and I headed back to her apartment. I started talking about food again... of course, but Melissa said no, so I decided I might be able to persuade her to get ice cream. It turned out that wasn't too hard. We went to Marble Slab and enjoyed some of that goodness and headed back to the apartment to relax before going out later. So, suddenly there was a knock at the door and who should it be? My family!! Hooray!! For whatever reason, I didn't think that they were going to be making the trip, they got me! It was really fun to see them, it had been since Christmas. I was very impressed that Melissa knew that they were coming and didn't give me a single hint! It will come as no shock to most of you that we went out to dinner. We couldn't think of any place to go and ended up with Firebirds. We had previously been there and not liked it, but we gave it a second chance two years later. They deserved that second chance! It was incredible!! YUUMMM!
I stinkin' love this girl!!!!!
My Brother, John Paul, and his lovely Wife, Sam.
"John Paul and Sam came? I don't believe it, this is great!!" hehe.
What do you think happened here?
My Mom and Dad are by far the greatest people on the planet! I love them times a million!
My parents and there other wonderful child.
Do not- I repeat: Do not put your hand near that plate! ha!
I am a happy girl!
This was so so good. I need another one of those: Pronto!
The only way to end any meal, I say!
We headed over to the hotel for a few minutes and then Melissa and I had to head back home. We had to get up around four to get to the airport on time. We made it and I barely remember much of the flight. I was so tired from the combination of fun and, the obvious, no sleep that I was passed out. Kasey, so very kindly, took me out to lunch when I got home. It was Zebbs and super yummy. I finished a bit of my paper and then I literally passed out for several hours. When Kasey woke me up for dinner, I didn't even know what was going on. I headed right back to sleep. Yesterday was James' birthday. It was really hard to be without him and be thinking about him (even more than usual) all day. I drove his car to work. It still smells like him, which I love. When I got home to find multiple emails from him I was FLOORED with excitement. It has been almost four weeks since I heard from him, so I have been tortured with that missing. Just a simple I love you completely made my week... my four weeks! I love that boy so much! Even better still, I had organized a little bit of birthday joy to send him, getting a collection of people to send cards that I could put in the box I sent with him, plus I reminded people to email him, plus some people probably just email him on their own, so he got tons of love going his way! He emailed me again today telling me how much mail he got and how he thought he was going to be reading forever. He was SO happy in the email. I could feel his excitement. I got a complete high off of his email. His happiness is everything to me. I can't thank everyone who helped out enough. I know you just did it because you love him too, but it still made my day as well, so thanks for that! Now, I am getting ready for a big presentation for the thesis tomorrow! You will have to wait until next week to get the story on that!!
Have the most fabulous rest of you week! I will keep spreading this smile that I can't get enough of!
Be safe, Sweet Sailor, and hurry home to me!
I love you.
always,
Jamie
She looks amazing!
I love my Big Sister!
I got back to the apartment after midnight on Tuesday night! I was so exhausted and poor Kasey had to pick me up! She even had to get up early on Wednesday! I got to sleep in a little on Wednesday, but I had to pack to get back out of town on Wednesday night. I got through packing and I was about ten minutes from leaving for class when I got an email that said that my flight from Syracuse to NYC was cancelled!! Oh no! I was so ready to get down to see my friends. What a disappointment?! I called and got al the flights changed and ended up heading out at six am on Thursday morning. Kris ended up taking me to the airport. He picked me up at 4:30 am! Yikes. It was way too early! When I got to JFK, I was hanging out at this table where I could use the internet and started messing around with this computer screen that was set on the table. I suddenly realized that it was a place to order food... but there wasn't a restaurant around. I called my mom for some support asking if she thought I should buy something. I totally had to! And, I did. It was super cool. This woman just appeared out of practically no where with my food and a reciept for me to sign! Then she was off, and it was a glass plate! HA! It was crazy. It was worth the $10.
It was pretty delicious!
Once I finally got to Charlotte, (after being 48th for take-off on the runway from JFK) Melissa was there and happy to have me back in my old homeland! It was SO great to see her! She is my biggest connection with James. She is why I met him, so having her makes me feels a little closer to him... not to mention being with her is the best- period!! I love her! We hung out during the day. I saw the place where she works (very nice) and we ate at a drivethru called CookOut. It was so good. The burger was huge and the side items included choices like chicken nuggets and corndogs, which I thought was hilarious! I got onion rings and french fries! Yum! Melissa and I hung around the apartment and got some chicken wings for dinner. She likes chicken wings now!!! I didn't know she could get any better!! :-) After sleep, I dropped Melissa at work and used her car to drive over to Cyzner to see all my friends! It was so much fun! We got to talk wedding talk and I got to meet all the new kids, plus see some of the older kids were still there! You should see how big they are! Crazy! Kasey is super excited about her wedding! So am I! I can't believe how close it is. We are going to have such a blast! After hanging with my peeps, I headed back to get Melissa. We had to take her car in for a little problem. Cyrena picked us up with her little one Rebecca. Now, that little girl is adorable! Would you believe she is about 16 months old and she rolled her eyes at Melissa!?! She has the best facial expressions! Eventually, we got the car back and got ready for dinner with friends at Brixx! MMMmmm, I love Brixx! We had the best time! I love old friends and reunioning! We had a blast!!
It's a boy.
Cyrena is having another baby! Hooray!!
Friday night we stayed up late so that the Latina girls could make shirts to surprise Sam because she just had a sweet little baby and we were going to celebrate on Saturday. In true Latina fashion, there was lots of bling to be had! Melissa and I got up on Saturday and ate some delicious Chick-Fil-A and then headed out to meet the girls and see Sam and Parker. It was so much fun!
SB and Sianneth
The Latina ladies minus Mami.
Apparently, I was super excited. He is so cute!
Precious. He is perfect!
I have the world's greatest friends! I am lovin' this picture!
He is a flippin' porcelain doll! Look at that face!
:-)
Are they having a moment? She should make some babies!
She is MY hero!!
One of my little sisters. We are too cute!
How cute are they?!
After hanging out with the girls and sweet little Parker for a while, Melissa and I headed back to her apartment. I started talking about food again... of course, but Melissa said no, so I decided I might be able to persuade her to get ice cream. It turned out that wasn't too hard. We went to Marble Slab and enjoyed some of that goodness and headed back to the apartment to relax before going out later. So, suddenly there was a knock at the door and who should it be? My family!! Hooray!! For whatever reason, I didn't think that they were going to be making the trip, they got me! It was really fun to see them, it had been since Christmas. I was very impressed that Melissa knew that they were coming and didn't give me a single hint! It will come as no shock to most of you that we went out to dinner. We couldn't think of any place to go and ended up with Firebirds. We had previously been there and not liked it, but we gave it a second chance two years later. They deserved that second chance! It was incredible!! YUUMMM!
I stinkin' love this girl!!!!!
My Brother, John Paul, and his lovely Wife, Sam.
"John Paul and Sam came? I don't believe it, this is great!!" hehe.
What do you think happened here?
My Mom and Dad are by far the greatest people on the planet! I love them times a million!
My parents and there other wonderful child.
Do not- I repeat: Do not put your hand near that plate! ha!
I am a happy girl!
This was so so good. I need another one of those: Pronto!
The only way to end any meal, I say!
We headed over to the hotel for a few minutes and then Melissa and I had to head back home. We had to get up around four to get to the airport on time. We made it and I barely remember much of the flight. I was so tired from the combination of fun and, the obvious, no sleep that I was passed out. Kasey, so very kindly, took me out to lunch when I got home. It was Zebbs and super yummy. I finished a bit of my paper and then I literally passed out for several hours. When Kasey woke me up for dinner, I didn't even know what was going on. I headed right back to sleep. Yesterday was James' birthday. It was really hard to be without him and be thinking about him (even more than usual) all day. I drove his car to work. It still smells like him, which I love. When I got home to find multiple emails from him I was FLOORED with excitement. It has been almost four weeks since I heard from him, so I have been tortured with that missing. Just a simple I love you completely made my week... my four weeks! I love that boy so much! Even better still, I had organized a little bit of birthday joy to send him, getting a collection of people to send cards that I could put in the box I sent with him, plus I reminded people to email him, plus some people probably just email him on their own, so he got tons of love going his way! He emailed me again today telling me how much mail he got and how he thought he was going to be reading forever. He was SO happy in the email. I could feel his excitement. I got a complete high off of his email. His happiness is everything to me. I can't thank everyone who helped out enough. I know you just did it because you love him too, but it still made my day as well, so thanks for that! Now, I am getting ready for a big presentation for the thesis tomorrow! You will have to wait until next week to get the story on that!!
Have the most fabulous rest of you week! I will keep spreading this smile that I can't get enough of!
Be safe, Sweet Sailor, and hurry home to me!
I love you.
always,
Jamie
Monday, April 13, 2009
Is Everything Cooked to Perfection?
Hello to all from League City, Texas!! This is pretty much going to be a picture blog because I have been so super busy and have lots of fun things to share! Last week was pretty much preparation for tons of fun with Jolyn followed by tons of fun with my friends in Charlotte!! I headed to the airport on Thursday after work. I was a little nervous because I only had about thirty minutes between flights and I was going to be in the Atlanta Airport (it's huge). My nerves were right, too. I got to ATL early, so I let out a sigh of relief... too bad we spent twenty five minutes sitting on the plane in the runway. I was talking to this group of teachers (all headed to spring break as well) and everyone was so nervous for me, too, hoping that I might make it. As soon as the plane got to the terminal (before the seatbelt light even went off) all five of them yelled "GO"! I jumped out of my seat and started making my way to the front with 5 minutes until my flight was leaving. It was too bad I was at the last gate in terminal C and I needed to be at the last gate in terminal D! I got off the plane to find that my next flight had been delayed 15 minutes and I was very excited. I started walking instead of running until I realized how far I had to go. I started sprinting... FULL ON! I ran all the way to the gate and was completely out of breath when my phone started ringing. It was Delta. They called to let me know that my connecting flight had been delayed as well... lol... they wanted to make sure that I made it. It was very nice, I thought, too bad I already did the hard work!! The plane was delayed due to mysterious mechanical difficulty that cleared up right as I got to the gate (literally within three minutes of my arrival). Thank the Lord that I made it!! After that it was smooth sailing into Houston Hobby around 11pm. We stopped at Jack in the Box for chicken strips and then came back to bed to get ready for fun all around!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Jolyn lives in a great little gated apartment complex. It was really beautiful.
You cannot argue with that view!! Amazing to see that every morning!!
Jolyn had to work in the morning, so I slept in a little bit and then got ready for a fun day at the Space Center.
We started getting some Tex Mex with some of Jolyn's friends from work. Mom Alone was very yummy!
I had enchiladas! Perfect!
Next, it was on to the Space Center where I would be very impressed by the work that Jolyn does! She is so brilliant!
The guy at the gate said that I looked suspicious and I couldn't get in, lol.
I was loving every minute of the sunshine!!
This is Jo's building. Isn't the moon cool?!
My first job was to land the space shuttle. I did pretty good. The first time I crashed it, but that was because Chuck was being a bad teacher. After Jolyn helped me a little more I landed pretty good the second time! Go me!
Next, I flew the concept space shuttle. This isn't even real yet, they are working on it to replace the shuttle one day. The big boss man told me that!
Jolyn took me into this room where she is engineering one of the tracks to move the simulators around!! How cool?!
This is one of Jo's good friends Chad. He has helped her out a lot settling in and all! He is a nice guy!
I better not get caught here! This looks dangerous!
This was another simulator. This time we docked the shuttle on the space station. It was pretty fun. I am practically an astronaut now!
This part was really cool! The guy in the blue shirt is a real instructor. We went into the dome and he gave us a lesson on docking the shuttle onto the space station. That is right! I was trained by an actual instructor that trains astronauts!! That is something to write home about!!
We walked around a little more and found Jolyn's boss who wanted to chat a little bit. He was very sweet. I asked him when he was going to fly to Syracuse and talk to my students. He ended up sending us back to the building where they gave me tons of stuff to bring back to my kids!! We got coloring sheets, coloring books, paper airplanes and rockets, posters, trading cards... all kinds of great stuff! Then, in the gift shop I was looking for stickers for the kids and the sales lady said they didn't have any, but she had a roll that she uses for giving to kids. She ended up just handing me the entire roll!! It was so sweet!! My kids are going to be SOO happy! They love stickers!
Since it was Good Friday we went out with Jessica and Chris to eat some seafood. It was delicious!
Jolyn and I both had crablegs!! Awesome! After that it was bed to get ready for a big shopping day!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Breakfast of champions.
Jolyn has become a lover of spicy things. She got the jalepeno, I just got the plain, but they were both delicious!
Yum.
Shopping doesn't really make for many pictures, but food does. You know I love the Chick-Fil-A!
We had fun in the mall. I am very excited to report that we got Jolyn some really awesome clothes! She looks hot! You might even see some on the rest of the pictures :-)
After fun shopping we headed home for a little break (nap!!) and then we went to dinner. You know I had to have some real Texas Bar-B-Que. It was yummy, too! The sauce was scrumptious!
I had the brisket just for James. I know how much he loves brisket and I think he would have been pleased!
After dinner we headed to church. It was an evening Vigil services and it was really moving. We started with candles outside. One candle started it and then we all spread it to each other. Then, we went inside and sat down. After some readings there were six baptisms. They were older kids (teens) and were actually baptised in a real font. They got down on their knees and the priest poured water over them in Baptism. It was really amazing. It actually made me want to wait to get my children Baptised when they are a little older and able to really understand. I got teared up during the service. I loved the priest. He was very genuine and happy. The entire service including several confirmations as well lasted over three hours! I didn't even notice until we were leaving though... it was that good! I think that something that really touched me during the service was when I realized that if James and I end up in Houston, this could actually be our church, where we bring our family! It gives me goosebumps to think about! I am so ready to be married to him and together! I miss him so much!
When we got home, it was practically Easter!! Jolyn made me a surprise Easter basket. Little did she know, I had one for her, too!! Yay!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter morning was all about the chocolate covered marshmallow eggs! I have been waiting months to eat these babies! SOO delicious!
Jolyn is looking so flippin' cute in her new clothes this Easter morning!! I am lovin' every minute!
After watching Madagascar II we headed out to meet Jessica and Chris for lunch.
There was a slightly crazy rainstorm that lasted about an hour. If you can see that guy out there under the umbrella... he was selling NEWSPAPERS! HA!
We ate at Perry's and I have to say that it was a good choice. Everything about it was great!
Jolyn ordered the ribeye, but they accidentally sent a NY Strip, so we took the strip! Look at it! How could we not? And... we got it for free because of the mistake!! How great is that?!?!
The freshest salad I have ever eaten!
Dessert was the money maker though! YUM! There was no resisting.
Banana's Foster is an Easter miracle!
That is all that I have to say about that.
This was the most delightful chocolate covered strawberry I ever ate!!
Of course, we cannot go without a shout-out to Ja! He was the best waiter. He really made sure we were taken care of!
After lunch we headed back to the apartment to take a break before dinner. We ended up walking around the complex. It turned out to be a beautiful day!
Sisters!
Finally, we took a 45 minute car ride to meet up with Jolyn's friend Jennifer and her husband Jerome. I have known Jen for years. I was glad to find out that she married and really great guy, too!
The sweet couple. We ate Korean. They knew just what they were doing. I actually cheated and had tempura, ha!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sadly, Jolyn had to work this morning and miss out on some perfect weather! I did some work on my paper and then brought myself to the pool and soaked up the sun!! It was so super nice. Jo got out early and we were able to hang out while it was still beautiful.
We got some pizza at Double Dave's which is great because it is right next to Jo's apartment. We walked right over.
Just me enjoying a Vanilla Coke. Yum.
You gotta love that Longhorns wall!! When are we moving to Texas?
Another mistake got us some free food! You have to be happy about that. They accidentally charged us for a large pizza and so the owner gave Jo a coupon for a free med. pepperoni pizza! That is her favorite!!
The pizza was SO good.
Jolyn: please do not miss out on a single pepperoni slice!! :-)
This is the life! I am not ready to leave tomorrow :-(
This was our last stop of the day. It was really cool. I will say that it was very very safe and controlled and I learned a lot in there. I have some great pictures, but I don't want to post them for the sake of internet surfing kids or parents of my kids. It was, for sure, and experience for the books though!
If there is one thing that can take the hard out of a hard situation it is family and friends. I am so blessed to have a great group of both! Being without James and not knowing what he is doing or where he is always takes a little bit of the hop out of my step... Jolyn and I have had nothing but a complete blast since the moment that I got here and I have to say that put some hop back into my step! I couldn't possibly thank her for everything that she did for me while I have been here. She made this trip and I am so happy that I have her as a sister and a best friend! I look forward to my spring break bringing me to another best friend on Wednesday!! ... it is too bad I have to leave here to do that! I will definitely be back here again! There is no doubt about that! Thanks a million Jolyn, I love you to pieces!!
As for the sailor, I miss you, Baby, and I cannot wait for you to get home. We are going to get back here to Texas ASAP. I actually might have a thing or two to show you on that trip, too!! I love you. Be safe and please hurry home!
I wish you each a bright and beautiful week! I hope that the Easter bunny was good to you!
always,
Jamie
Friday, April 10, 2009
Jolyn lives in a great little gated apartment complex. It was really beautiful.
You cannot argue with that view!! Amazing to see that every morning!!
Jolyn had to work in the morning, so I slept in a little bit and then got ready for a fun day at the Space Center.
We started getting some Tex Mex with some of Jolyn's friends from work. Mom Alone was very yummy!
I had enchiladas! Perfect!
Next, it was on to the Space Center where I would be very impressed by the work that Jolyn does! She is so brilliant!
The guy at the gate said that I looked suspicious and I couldn't get in, lol.
I was loving every minute of the sunshine!!
This is Jo's building. Isn't the moon cool?!
My first job was to land the space shuttle. I did pretty good. The first time I crashed it, but that was because Chuck was being a bad teacher. After Jolyn helped me a little more I landed pretty good the second time! Go me!
Next, I flew the concept space shuttle. This isn't even real yet, they are working on it to replace the shuttle one day. The big boss man told me that!
Jolyn took me into this room where she is engineering one of the tracks to move the simulators around!! How cool?!
This is one of Jo's good friends Chad. He has helped her out a lot settling in and all! He is a nice guy!
I better not get caught here! This looks dangerous!
This was another simulator. This time we docked the shuttle on the space station. It was pretty fun. I am practically an astronaut now!
This part was really cool! The guy in the blue shirt is a real instructor. We went into the dome and he gave us a lesson on docking the shuttle onto the space station. That is right! I was trained by an actual instructor that trains astronauts!! That is something to write home about!!
We walked around a little more and found Jolyn's boss who wanted to chat a little bit. He was very sweet. I asked him when he was going to fly to Syracuse and talk to my students. He ended up sending us back to the building where they gave me tons of stuff to bring back to my kids!! We got coloring sheets, coloring books, paper airplanes and rockets, posters, trading cards... all kinds of great stuff! Then, in the gift shop I was looking for stickers for the kids and the sales lady said they didn't have any, but she had a roll that she uses for giving to kids. She ended up just handing me the entire roll!! It was so sweet!! My kids are going to be SOO happy! They love stickers!
Since it was Good Friday we went out with Jessica and Chris to eat some seafood. It was delicious!
Jolyn and I both had crablegs!! Awesome! After that it was bed to get ready for a big shopping day!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Breakfast of champions.
Jolyn has become a lover of spicy things. She got the jalepeno, I just got the plain, but they were both delicious!
Yum.
Shopping doesn't really make for many pictures, but food does. You know I love the Chick-Fil-A!
We had fun in the mall. I am very excited to report that we got Jolyn some really awesome clothes! She looks hot! You might even see some on the rest of the pictures :-)
After fun shopping we headed home for a little break (nap!!) and then we went to dinner. You know I had to have some real Texas Bar-B-Que. It was yummy, too! The sauce was scrumptious!
I had the brisket just for James. I know how much he loves brisket and I think he would have been pleased!
After dinner we headed to church. It was an evening Vigil services and it was really moving. We started with candles outside. One candle started it and then we all spread it to each other. Then, we went inside and sat down. After some readings there were six baptisms. They were older kids (teens) and were actually baptised in a real font. They got down on their knees and the priest poured water over them in Baptism. It was really amazing. It actually made me want to wait to get my children Baptised when they are a little older and able to really understand. I got teared up during the service. I loved the priest. He was very genuine and happy. The entire service including several confirmations as well lasted over three hours! I didn't even notice until we were leaving though... it was that good! I think that something that really touched me during the service was when I realized that if James and I end up in Houston, this could actually be our church, where we bring our family! It gives me goosebumps to think about! I am so ready to be married to him and together! I miss him so much!
When we got home, it was practically Easter!! Jolyn made me a surprise Easter basket. Little did she know, I had one for her, too!! Yay!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter morning was all about the chocolate covered marshmallow eggs! I have been waiting months to eat these babies! SOO delicious!
Jolyn is looking so flippin' cute in her new clothes this Easter morning!! I am lovin' every minute!
After watching Madagascar II we headed out to meet Jessica and Chris for lunch.
There was a slightly crazy rainstorm that lasted about an hour. If you can see that guy out there under the umbrella... he was selling NEWSPAPERS! HA!
We ate at Perry's and I have to say that it was a good choice. Everything about it was great!
Jolyn ordered the ribeye, but they accidentally sent a NY Strip, so we took the strip! Look at it! How could we not? And... we got it for free because of the mistake!! How great is that?!?!
The freshest salad I have ever eaten!
Dessert was the money maker though! YUM! There was no resisting.
Banana's Foster is an Easter miracle!
That is all that I have to say about that.
This was the most delightful chocolate covered strawberry I ever ate!!
Of course, we cannot go without a shout-out to Ja! He was the best waiter. He really made sure we were taken care of!
After lunch we headed back to the apartment to take a break before dinner. We ended up walking around the complex. It turned out to be a beautiful day!
Sisters!
Finally, we took a 45 minute car ride to meet up with Jolyn's friend Jennifer and her husband Jerome. I have known Jen for years. I was glad to find out that she married and really great guy, too!
The sweet couple. We ate Korean. They knew just what they were doing. I actually cheated and had tempura, ha!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sadly, Jolyn had to work this morning and miss out on some perfect weather! I did some work on my paper and then brought myself to the pool and soaked up the sun!! It was so super nice. Jo got out early and we were able to hang out while it was still beautiful.
We got some pizza at Double Dave's which is great because it is right next to Jo's apartment. We walked right over.
Just me enjoying a Vanilla Coke. Yum.
You gotta love that Longhorns wall!! When are we moving to Texas?
Another mistake got us some free food! You have to be happy about that. They accidentally charged us for a large pizza and so the owner gave Jo a coupon for a free med. pepperoni pizza! That is her favorite!!
The pizza was SO good.
Jolyn: please do not miss out on a single pepperoni slice!! :-)
This is the life! I am not ready to leave tomorrow :-(
This was our last stop of the day. It was really cool. I will say that it was very very safe and controlled and I learned a lot in there. I have some great pictures, but I don't want to post them for the sake of internet surfing kids or parents of my kids. It was, for sure, and experience for the books though!
If there is one thing that can take the hard out of a hard situation it is family and friends. I am so blessed to have a great group of both! Being without James and not knowing what he is doing or where he is always takes a little bit of the hop out of my step... Jolyn and I have had nothing but a complete blast since the moment that I got here and I have to say that put some hop back into my step! I couldn't possibly thank her for everything that she did for me while I have been here. She made this trip and I am so happy that I have her as a sister and a best friend! I look forward to my spring break bringing me to another best friend on Wednesday!! ... it is too bad I have to leave here to do that! I will definitely be back here again! There is no doubt about that! Thanks a million Jolyn, I love you to pieces!!
As for the sailor, I miss you, Baby, and I cannot wait for you to get home. We are going to get back here to Texas ASAP. I actually might have a thing or two to show you on that trip, too!! I love you. Be safe and please hurry home!
I wish you each a bright and beautiful week! I hope that the Easter bunny was good to you!
always,
Jamie
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