The Corpse Flower

Marshall and I went down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science today to check out Lois, the corpse flower, in hopes that she had bloomed, but she hadn't.  When I was in Tyler I heard on the local news that the flower was going to bloom and I was so excited because I remember seeing it in the greenhouse when I worked there and how cool it would be to see it bloom one day.  Unfortunately, it hasn't bloomed yet, but they are all still hopeful that it will soon and it was still pretty neat to see.  It's so hard to take Marshall in to see the butterflies because all he wants to do is climb in the flower beds and dig in the dirt, but he did so good today holding my hand and I think he was a bit distracted by splashing in the water puddles.   We also got to hand out with Erin for a bit in the containment room where Marshall tried to pick up a cockroach and he even helped Erin sweep the floor some.  After the museum we had a great lunch at Berryhill and now Marshall is sound asleep.  Enjoy the pics! and if you want to see the flower click HERE to see the webcam.

Us with Lois on the right

Marshall and Erin

Marshall climbing in the bee hive

Marshall picking up a cockroach

Marshall sweeping

Vegas Vacation

Nick and I joined our friends, Jerry and Sam, on a much needed vacation last Friday - Tuesday.  It was very hard to leave Marshall but I knew he was in good hands at my parents' house so I didn't worry too much since he always has so much fun there.  I worried more for them because I knew they would be so exhausted at the end of the stay and they sure were.  We flew out to Vegas on Friday night and had an early night because we were driving to the Grand Canyon the next day.  We got up early Saturday morning and drove out to a restaurant that was on the show "Diners, Drive-In's and Dives," called the Coffee Cup in Boulder City.  Nick had the same thing that Guy Fieri had, some egg omlette type dish with green chile sauce and I had an AWESOME bacon waffle.  I've been to Vegas a few times and it always seems that some of the best memories and highlights of the trips all revolve around food!  We then drove on to see the Hoover Dam, which was pretty amazing, but the new bridge they are building is just as cool.  After that we had about a 2 hour drive out to see the Sky Walk.  We drove through pretty desolate areas until we hit a dirt road and followed that for about 20 miles and finally ended up at our destination.  Little did we know that we were going to have to pay extra money to get on a bus to actually get to the sky walk plus pay money to get on the actual thing.  I was really close to not doing it but we drove so far and we all will read the fine print next time we are checking out something on a website.  So, the views were AMAZING and I absolutely loved seeing the Grand Canyon and will definitely make a trip to see it again, just not this particular one to.  It was pretty cool to look straight down to the bottom of the canyon from the sky walk but the views were just as good from everywhere else.  At the end of the day we were all pooped but we still ventured out, minus pregnant Sam, so I could finally see the Bellagio water show, which was breath taking and I could have stayed there for hours.

The rest of the trip we:   had a yummy champagnae brunch, had a nice dinner at a place called 9 at the Palms, hung out at the pool a few times, tried to sleep in, gambled too much (only Nick), Nick and Jerry shot machine guns, and ended the trip by seeing Carrot Top.  I'm not usually one for comedians, but he was pretty funny and definitely made me laugh!  We came home on Tuesday, Grammy picked us up at the airport, and Nick met my parent's half way to pick up Marshall.  It was so good to see him when he came home and I am glad to be back but definitely had an awesome time!  enjoy the pics.

Nick and me at the Hoover Dam

A huge dirt swirley thing on the way to the sky walk

Sam and me very close to the edge

A beautiful view

The Sky Walk

Another view

Me with the Vegas strip

Nick and me all dressed up for a nice dinner

Jerry and some gun

Nick and some gun

Our week in Tyler

It has been a super busy week up here in Tyler at my parent's house. We drove up here on Saturday for a 4th of July family reunion and saw so many family members we hadn't seen in so long. There were 50 people here and we had a great time playing washers and volleyball and enjoying each others company. Marshall and I stayed the week here and I am leaving tomorrow to go back home and fly off to Vegas for a short vacation while Marshall will be staying here.

On Tuesday Marshall and I met JaNan and Kingston in Grand Saline at the East Texas Alligator Farm where my nephew, Josh, works to check it out. The boys got to pet a baby alligator, a opossom, rabbits, deer, and a miniature bull. We also got to see the big alligators eat a yummy breakfast of raw chicken. It was lots of fun and we will definitely go back next time we are in town. Yesterday, we met up with JaNan and Kingston again to visit the Discovery Science Place close to downtown Tyler. It was a great place with stuff for kids of all ages to do. The coolest part for Marshall was all the stairs to go up, the ambulance, and the dig pit. We stayed for almost two hours then went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Today Kingston came over while JaNan had a day full of doctor's visits. We played outside, fed the ducks, fishes, and turtles, and had a grand ole time! I am leaving in the morning to go home, so wish me luck in Vegas!!

Volleyball

All the Grandkids

Marshall wasn't sure what to think of the opossom

Marshall and Kingston with Alligators

Josh showing Marshall the bull

Marshall looks kinda scared of Kingston's driving

Kingston and Marshall playing nicely today

After feeding the ducks

Kingston saying "cheese" for the camera