Rocket Nerds

For his birthday in May, Emily gave Parker a rocket set (for lack of a better word!!). He was super excited about it and one look at it told me it was probably going to be best for his good friend, former teacher, and fellow rocket nerd, Ms. Estes, to help his build, paint, and launch his rocket.

Now it took the better part of the summer to actually find the time to methodically complete each step of the rocket. I must admit, it was much more involved than I thought!

Here's the beginning . . . lots of pieces!!

Here's the rocket after everything is glued together . . . lots of drying time!!

And here she is painted, and ready for launch!!


The following pic is what is an incredibly important part of the process, I'm sure!! Though I'm not entirely certain, I think it is where Emily connected the little tiny jumper cable-like-things to the part where it would blast the rocket off!! (See now why Emily should help him with this??)

The future NASA engineer with the controls and ready for blast-off!!

The head engineer gives the ok

I wish I had a picture of the crowd, mostly children, hiding in the playground equipment at Blue Haze!! We were all a little nervous about what was actually going to happen and we didn't want to lose any body parts or faculties by an erratic rocket!!

The countdown began and . . . watch for yourself!!

School Days 2010

The first Six Weeks period is just about wrapped up, but here's how we looked on the first day of school, 2010!!

Red seems to be a popular color!!

Cute littles!!


Luke . . . the big 2nd grader!!!

How is Landry already in Kindergarten???


Here they were just 3 short years ago!!!

It's gonna be a great year!!!

Chicago #2

Ryan and I decided to drive back to the city on Saturday because the traffic would be a lot less, but the day was a little on the dreary side. By the time we got there, the rain had pretty much stopped and the city was, as always, busy and active!

We headed to the Navy Pier to take in the sights and get a really cool view of the skyline. It was a pretty awesome sight, one that is even better on a clear day.

This was a really cool sight . . . 7 stories (I think) of the downtown Macy's store. This store was massive . . . took up a whole city block. This was a picture I took while standing on the first floor looking up at all the floors above.

And this is a picture from the 7th floor looking down below. Soooo cool!!

On the top floor, the ceiling was done in this amazing design of Tiffany glass. It was really pretty . . . just a picture-perfect store!!

The days spent in the city were amazing!! So many interesting people, lots of unbelievably loud ambulances, TONS of honking drivers with serious anger issues, too many steps taken to count, some really great food, and just a hugely diverse population.

To wrap up a great weekend, here's some randomness . . .

the man with his dog . . .

Me with my teenager niece . . .

And what you see more of than anything when driving in Ryan's little neck of the woods . . . corn, corn, and way more corn than I've ever seen!!

All in all . . . a perfectly great trip!!

Weekend in the Windy City

Last weekend, I had the BEST weekend!!! I went up to Chicago to spend some time with Ryan and we had an AWESOME time!!! It was soooo fun ... I just can't say it enough!!!

This may be way too many details for you but here's how it went . . . Thursday afternoon/evening, I flew up and the second I stepped off of the plane, I could tell a huge difference in the temperature!! It was so great ... mid-60's to low-70's all weekend!!!

Friday morning, Ryan had to work for a bit so I was on my own!! I slept in, then showered and walked down the street to a local diner and had some breakfast!! Again ... perfect weather!! I had some things to mail so I walked over to the post office and got that done. I saw a salon/nail place and stopped in to see if I could get a pedi. Could I come back at noon?? Of course I could!! I had a little time to kill, so I walked over to the Library and worked/played on the computer. Then it was time for my pedi!! As I just casually walked around the town square in the nice cool air, I thought more than once . . . who am I and how did I get here?? It was like an out-of-body experience!!!

Ryan got back with the girls and we got on the train and headed to the big city!!

Random buildings!

John Hancock Building

Lights at night

Lex and Meg on the street

Eating at Gino's . . .. soooo incredible!!!

The pizza that was totally worth waiting an hour for!!! Can you say hungry???


We went and saw "the bean" . . . don't think that's the real name for it but it's a really cool piece of art that is in the shape of a bean and it's huge!! I realize now that I should have gotten a picture of the whole thing but we were too busy taking pictures of ourselves in the reflection of it!!


Here we all are with part of the city in the reflection!! Really cool thingy, it was!!

After an afternoon/evening of fun, we had to head back home. We boarded the train and here's what Ryan promptly did . . . .

After a power nap, he was good to go again!!

I have more pics to post but it will have to be later!!!

A little football

Over the weekend, Parker, Luke, Landry, Ms. Estes and I traveled south to watch the Baylor Bears take on the University of Buffalo!!
BU vs UB!! :)

Alex got to go to the A&M game so we all enjoyed a little Big 12 football that day!!

It was, as always, a super fun time as Emily tries her best to persuade a little Bagg boy to plan his future at Baylor!! We stopped by the bookstore on the way to the game and the boys were excited to find a "wid" as Landry calls it!!

I just had my phone so the pictures aren't all that great, but you get the idea!!

The game was a good time and a win for the Bears!!

Before we headed home, we stopped at a favorite of Uncle Ryan's so we had to send him a pic and rub it in just a bit that we were eating at Whataburger!!

Good times with the Bears and good friends!! Thanks Emily!!

Summer 2010 ... it was a good one!!

Summer 2010 was a really good one!! Now that it is over, I wish I had blogged a little more faithfully!! Here's a little glimpse of some of the things that kept us busy. Some of them I will give a little more detail about later!!

A fun night at the Ballpark . . . have you ever sat on the very top row behind home plate??? You should try it!! Good seats!!!


We got to spend a couple of weeks with these ladies . . . and had tons of fun!!



Landry decided to "be friends" with dogs . . . well, sometimes!! Here he is shooting water at our neighbor's dog, Elijah!!


We visited some places we hadn't been before . . .


And climbed to new heights . . .


We had a little fun with a rocket . . . maybe we have a future astronaut in our midst?? (Not sure why this pic is so small!!?)



And, we enjoyed a few snow cones this summer!!! Have you ever had a scoop of ice cream in your snow cone??? You should try it!!! Pretty good!!

All in all, it was a good summer with lots of down time, staying up late and sleeping in, swimming, and all around good fun!!

Was I ready for school to start?? Like never before!!! The predictable routine of life . . . it is my friend!!