Time to say goodbye!

The unit is packed...... Getting to the airport with 3 bags and 2 boxes was a challenge! (and that was just my luggage!) Kent, Paul and I are now in LA for a week. On Monday the 5th we will all be flying to different parts of the world, Kent will fly to Houston at 5:30, Paul will be off to Chicago at 8:30 and I will be heading back to Sydney to arrive on the 7th of July. You will unfortunately have to wait a month before you get to see Kent again :( But it is very exciting for him because he is getting to see a very important test being conducted for the power station in Cincinnati!

Sending all our love and see you all very soon xoxo

Pauly arrives in the US of A!

We have spent the last few days showing Paul around H town! We will all need to go on BIG diets after the amount of food we have eaten......donuts, check.......hotdogs, check........fajitas, check.......sliders, check.........texan barbeque, check! Don't even ask what we ate for lunch and dinner ;)

New York New York!!!!

We had an absolute blast! One of the best places we have visited in the States to date! We filled our days with sight seeing in Manhattan and Brooklyn, wandering through Central Park, going to Broadway and exploring the many galleries.

Adventures through New England....!

Cape Cod

Go the Red Socks!

Cowboys!!!

Fort Worth and Dallas....

San Antonio in the Spring

As you know Kent and I headed to San Antonio when we first arrived in America.  It was such a fun and beautiful place that we decided that it would be a perfect place to take Mum and Dad when they visited, and to also celebrate Mother's Day.  We spent the weekend visiting the Alamo, the Missions, the Riverwalk and of course eating!  

While we were there we noticed that there were a number of people in airforce uniform.  We found out that there is a nearby base, and each week over 700 people graduate the airforce's basic training course.  OVER 700 per week!  They are then sent to bases all over the country where they train for a further 3 years.  Pretty amazing!

Take me out to the ball game.......!

Here are a few pics of Kent and I on our recent outing to the Minute Maid stadium to see the Houston Astros vs the Pittsburg Pirates.  The Astros won hands down!  We also officially had our first American hot dog.  Fingers crossed they are better in New York!

Howdy!

Sorry for the lack of updates on here!  We have been having MAJOR internet problems and have been relying on the wonderful free access at Borders!  But we are now back online so keep an eye out for more updates.  

Love y'all!  

J&K

......TWISTERS!!!!......

We have had some crazy weather over the last week.  Last night we had our first tornado watch.  I had images of Kent and I landing in Oz, whereas Kent was far more realistic about the situation!  In fact the states that were officially on tornado watch were Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.  Not Texas, but they are all States (except for Mississippi) that boarder our State, so that is close enough for me to freak out!!!  We were supposed to be heading to Oak Plantation Alley in Louisiana today, but because they are directly in the "watch" zone we thought that it was a better idea to chill out in Houston!!!

Hanging out in Houston

The last two weekends we have stayed in Houston.  We have discovered some great Southern bars and restaurants thanks to Steve, Anita and Craig!!! 

 Last week we went to the Icehouse, which had such a great relaxed vibe, people had their dogs, there was a live band and everyone was just having a good time!  On the Saturday we checked out the Museum of Natural Science.  There was an awesome exhibit on mining and also Native American culture.  Sunday we headed to Breakfast Klub with Steve, Anita and Craig.  We had waffles and deep fried chicken wings (the restaurant is known for this!) what a combination! 

The following weekend we met up with Steve and went to a jazz bar called the Red Cat and later ended up at The Big Easy a blues bar.  On Saturday Steve, Anita and Craig took us to a microbrewery, St Arnolds, where we drank beer and played jenga!

~Miami~

Kent and I took our first official set of holidays to explore Miami and Orlando.  Our first stop was Miami.  We stayed on Ocean Drive which was vibrant with Art Deco buildings, surfers and people looking for a good time.  We felt for the first time that we could relate to the relaxed and fun culture.  

We went to visit the Haitian, Italian and Cuban parts of the city which was brilliant!  We saw men rolling cigars, people playing dominoes, chess and cards, and visited the Latino walk of fame!  

We had our first celebrity spottings, Mario Lopez (from Saved by the bell) and Kourtney Kardashian.  Both sat right next to us in the same cafe on different days.  We had no idea until we realised that half the cafe was taking pictures in our direction and pointing and whispering!!  Then one of the ladies nearby said "you're sitting next Mario Lopez" we thought WHO?  Not A list but a sighting all the same!

We also HAD to do a boat tour of Star Island, where people like Elizabeth Taylor, Oprah, Tony Montana, Gwen Steffani etc etc own ridiculously HUGE mansions.  We could have stayed there ourselves while in Miami for a small price of $16,000/night!   It was actually just nice to be out on the water for an hour!!!

...Orlando...

The primary reason why we chose to visit Orlando was to see one of the Discovery's final launches.  We were picked up from our hotel at 11:30pm by bus.  After traveling for about an hour we arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre.  We had some time to look around the exhibits in the early hours of the morning.  The one that stood out was all about future space travel.  We saw Hubble 3D which was amazing (particularly for me because that was the mission that I had followed with my kids last year) it is really worth seeing it if you have the chance!  Finally we went on the launch simulator (we thought it would be really cheesy but it actually was well done!) 

We then got picked up at 3:30am by the bus and was dropped off at the causeway.  We sat amongst hundreds of others with binocular and cameras ready to catch what we could!  After waiting for a good 2 hours we were becoming restless, but then suddenly the countdown came on and it was liftoff!!!!  It was one of the most incredible things that we had ever seen.  It lit up the sky like the sun was exploding and it roared (the ground even shuddered!)

That day we slept.... 

The final day in Orlando we went to the Island on Adventure (part of Universal studios)  It was just a whole lot of fun!!!

Those blossoms are real!  How gorgeous are they?!

~Galveston~

On Sunday we did a day trip to Galveston to see the Gulf of Mexico.  We were really excited to see the beach!  It was really nice considering it is predominantly used for shipping (it is nothing like Australia though!)  We had our first thick shake and sundae (and felt really unwell after but it was SooooOOO worth it!!)  

....We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!....

Over the weekend we thought we'd go and check out the zoo.   We saw lots of lions and tigers and bears (Grizzly and Kodiak).  Their reptile collection was amazing, with albino alligators, snakes, geckos and lizards.  

Hello friend!

...Houston Rockets Vs LA Clippers....

We had fun at the Toyota Stadium last night seeing our first basketball game.  The Rockets fought hard but were beaten just in the last 5 minutes!!!

~New Orleans~

We had so much fun exploring the streets of New Orleans.  Music filled the streets and lots of good food filled our tummies!   We experienced our first gumbo, jambalaya and barbequed alligator!!!  

The beignets at Cafe du Monde were delicious!

Walking through Jackson Square.  Touches of colour everywhere!

We cruised down the Mississippi on the Nanchez Paddle Steamer.  It brought back memories of Lane Cove River Park.....ahhh the good ole days!!!  We also went to check out the engine room to see all the machinery behind the steamer, very impressive!

....FUN FACT!....

Did you know..... 

coat hangers in Houston are seasonal!  

(You can't find them anywhere in Spring according to our sources)

....Houston......we have a problem......

This past weekend we went to NASA.  It was mind blowing!  I think that the pictures speak louder than our words so here you go.....

Ready to explore the outer regions of the galaxy!

Touching a rock from the moon....!

That's a big engine!

Hello!

The Saturn 5, which was responsible for many of the early Apollo missions including Apollo 11, when man walked on the moon, and Apollo 13, when Tom Hanks saved the mission!!! :)  It actually is far bigger than the picture shows!

Under the flight deck

Checking out mission control.....