Our grandson Cole is not quite 3, but his imagination and his memory are both vast! When we visited earlier this year, he got all of his stuffed animals together in his play room and we had a pretend party for everyone. And, the last time Cole and his Mommy and Daddy visited us, he was absolutely fascinated with Grandma Bunny’s bunnies. She promised that we’d have a “Bunny Party” the next time we came to his house – and he held us to that promise!

We made it up in early September and had a GREAT time – here’s some of the fun:

Friday Night Lights – Bishop Lynch Style

We always try to make it up in the fall to see one of Andrew’s band performances. He’s been the Director of Bands at Bishop Lynch High School for the past 3 years, and it’s been fun to see their progression and improvements from when he started.

It was a HOT night (shocking for early September in Texas, I know) … but being in the shade with an occasional breeze made it tolerable.

As expected, the band improvement was noticeable. The student enthusiasm was definitely ramped up… and it was nice to hear some (more) positive things from parents about Andrew and the BL Band program!

We got to hear the early versions of their competition marching program.  It was really impressive to hear a HS band of *any* size tackling Mozart and 21 Pilots in the same program!  Andrew hooked us up with some sweet BL hats, too! 

The Perot Museum

Saturday was a fun day! We headed out in the morning for downtown Dallas and The Perot Museum of Nature and Science. None of us had been before, so it was a new adventure!  They do an amazing job with providing hands-on exhibits for the little ones in not only the Children’s Museum section but also providing “tactile” fun in the more grown-up sections of the museum.  

Cole had fun in the space section (Grandpa was happy!) and really liked all of the “shiny rocks” in the minerals and gemstones section!  One of the sections concentrated on the human body, with some really impressive interactive sections that showed an overlay of what your skeleton would look like onto a camera-capture of your body in motion! 

Cole, of course, was a massive ham.  🙂

…and of course, Grandpa had to make sure that Cole got his very first Space Shuttle toy!

He surprised the HECK out of me with a perfectly executed launch countdown and liftoff sequence!

Apparently he’s been playing with the toy rocket we got him last Christmas.

Grandpa’s little future Flight Dynamics Officer is off to a good start. 🙂

…and now, The Bunny Party

Of course, the title of this blog post centers around the Sunday morning Bunny Party! Grandma Bunny and Mommy had gone to get their nails done Saturday and picked up a few fun things for the party.  Everything was set up, and Cole got to enjoy all kinds of silliness, including lights, stick-on mustaches, and glitter poppers (sorry Mommy and Daddy!).

Bonus fun: SILLY STRING!

When Grandma Bunny was buying some Bunny Party supplies, she snuck in a three-pack of Silly String! This ended up being REALLY funny to watch Cole enjoy learning how to point-and-shoot a spray can of this sticky string across the yard. But, you can see the absolute joy on his face as he does it!

Being a grandparent is AWESOME.

Random Ramjet Ramblings

Various thoughts and musings that tumble from my brain onto Ye Olde Interwebbes.
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50 Years

50 Years

The Artemis I mission occurred 50 years after Apollo 17. What will it take to not have this happen again?

Becoming Santa

Becoming Santa

Santa Claus. Father Christmas. Kris Kringle. St. Nicholas. Papa Noel. Me.

13 Minutes – a podcast review

13 Minutes – a podcast review

“13 Minutes to the Moon” – an excellent BBC podcast focusing on the behind-the-scenes heroes of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13.

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-THE TRENCH-
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-THE TRENCH-

The space exploration advocacy website of Roger Balettie, former Flight Dynamics Officer in NASA’s Space Shuttle Mission Control Center.

Select a menu tab to the left for detailed links or one of the main sections below:

FLIGHT DYNAMICS OFFICER

The Flight Dynamics Officer (FDO, pronounced “fido”) is a Flight Controller in the Mission Control Center responsible for the overall trajectory, or flight path, of the Space Shuttle and all related payloads or other space-bound vehicles associated with the Shuttle.

Read about the:

MISSION CONTROL

"Houston… Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Since 1965, the Mission Control Center (MCC) has been the nerve center for America’s manned space program.

-THE TRENCH- blog

Space- and NASA-based blog entries.

Last 3 blog posts:
50 Years

50 Years

The Artemis I mission occurred 50 years after Apollo 17. What will it take to not have this happen again?

13 Minutes – a podcast review

13 Minutes – a podcast review

“13 Minutes to the Moon” – an excellent BBC podcast focusing on the behind-the-scenes heroes of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13.

Countdown

Countdown

It’s been 40 years since the launch of STS-1, and the excitement of that day never faded.