Happy 4th of July!

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Been a busy couple of weeks, and Lisa and I have been cleaning our butts off for our 4th of July party - we're ready!

I got ice!

We have an embarrassing amount of food. Food you're not supposed to eat! HOT DOGS.

Hey more ice!

Soda for the troops. Pies. A "fuckload" of alcohol. Water!

Margarita glasses and crazy straws!

Drink Station Alpha, and more!

Food Staging Area Gamma Gamma Seven, check!

Couches de-cat-haired!

Floors washed and vacuumed!

Back porch ready for lounging!

We. Are. READY! More tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July Pt. II

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

So everyone had a great time on Saturday. John was nice enough to show his cool scar, where the doctors opened him up to insert a titanium rod to stablilize his broken shin bones. Cool stuff - he's really healing quickly!

He's got everyone beat in the scar department!

Grilling a bunch of tasty meat.

I was two margaritas to the wind.

Here's the spread.

Lisa showed the garden to the gang.

Jonathan was awesome enough to get me smoke bombs, which I love.

Yellow, teal, and white.

Work that fire, Jonathan!

SO EXCITED.

We also played Boccé Ball. Tom made felt moustaches in honor of the Italian origins of the game itself.

Jane, very serious.

So every time you throw the ball, you have to wear your moustache and say an Italian word.

Something like "Venti Mocha!" or "Beefaroni!" will do.

Moustaches also double as a handy dandy measuring device to see who got closest to the white ball.

Oh hey, it's food time!

Now it's dark, and Jonathan shows the camera all ten of his digits, in case some go missing later.

Safety first!

FOOOooosh!

Tom lighting a cool fountain.

FWEEEEEEE!

EEEE POP PA POP POP POP!

Hooray for fireworks!

The next morning, I had a small amount of cleanup to do.

And later that evening, we shared our endless leftovers with the Wynns!

Houston, we have an awesome!

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Look what I made last week - two kinds of marinated steak!

So this weekend I am in The Woodlands Texas, visiting my brother and his family!

Flew out in a 737-300!

I loooove my Leica camera - it's photos are amazing! Look at that!

I was even lucky enough to capture another plane rocketing past in the sort-of-distance.

Cruising at 32,000 feet.

Even the zoom capability is miles better than I expected!

I have no idea where this was.

Here's Julius - Anthony and Crissy told me he is incredibly easygoing - boy he is!

Sleepin' in the guest room!

Maren and Blake performing for me!

Their car has a rear-facing camera that activates when backing up, with graphic sensor overlay!

Today we drove to Houston, to see Nasa!

Maren watched Backyardigans.

Blake struggled to stay awake.

"Make a silly face, Maren!"

WE'RE HERE!

Backing in!

General Grievous' Starfighter mockup!

Best slide of all time!

No matter how hard I try to escape it....

Awesomesauce!

Superawesomesauce!

Outfit from THX 1138!

I loved the gold visor on this fella.

The Tucker!

TOTALLY surprised to see the Raiders of the Lost Ark Flying Wing model!!!!

I adore this design.

Luke Speederbike miniature.

The "Shared Stunt" Obi-Wan/Luke lightsaber.

This was actually the lightsaber Alec Guinness held during Kenobi's death scene in ANH, and was then redressed for Luke in ROTJ.

The Colin Cantwell T-16 Skyhopper model, which actually makes an appearance in ANH.

A Cantwell study model/concept for the "Pirate Ship" which ultimately became the Millenium Falcon.

But this was back when it was slated to be the modelthat we know (repurposed) as the Blockade Runner.

Helmet head!

Maren in the shooting gallery thing.

We were Bravo team.

During the tram tour, we got to see Mission Control, and a Saturn V!

Mission Control itself - the actual freakin' place were all of the Apollo Missions were controlled from! Perfect timing for the 40th anniversary of the Moon Landing. Today an EVA was in progress. So much coolness I can't convey...

And it looks so 60s on the outside!

ENGINES!

Looking at the business end of a rocket.

This one.

Hey hey. It was HOT outside, heh.

Saturn V - I literally could have spent all day inside this building.

And I took waaaaaay too many photos.

And can you believe how cool Real Space stuff looks? When has a sci-fi model looked this amazing?!

Never, that's when!

I like this 3D iteration of the logo.

We then went to the Kemah Boardwalk.

Wooden Rollercoaster!

Did I mention it was hot? Going home tomorrowto my lovely wife (I miss her!!) - Thanks to Anthony, Crissy, Maren, and Blake for a great weekend!!!