Our New Car in about 3 years

In California, they're making this car called the Aptera. It averages 300 miles per gallon. You heard me right. It's a hybrid & only takes 2 hours to charge & goes up to 85 miles per hour. It's selling for $30K right now. This picture is of the 2-seater. They're working on the 4-seater. We're going to wait a few years for them to work the kinks out of this thing, but it sounds awesome. Even though it looking totally ridiculous, I think I can handle it. It's design is so out there, I'd actually be ok driving it. I encourage everyone to look it up.

Astros vs. Rangers

Last night Lane & I went to see the Astros game. They were playing the Rangers, so I was really excited. I have to say the game was pretty uneventful. The Astros pretty much killed the Rangers, so it made for a boring game. And to top it all off, the beer guy was at the top of the stairs & I guess he accidentally knocked some over & they come tumbling down the stairs. I looked back & it was all in slow motion...the bottles flipping over and over, the top popping off of one & the liquid starting to come out, and eventually landing on my back. Yes that's right. Out of the entire crowd in our section, I was the only one who was hit. Nice.

Mini Rushmore

Last week Lane & I discovered this "mini Mt. Rushmore". We were so fascinated by it that we came back & took pictures. Now I know these aren't the presidents that are on Mt. Rushmore, but the idea is the same.
I think they're going to build all these shopping stores & restaurants with a waterway in front of these guys. Pretty cool.

And the Answer is...

a parachute! When I was told this riddle, the whole reason behind it was to show us how we as a people automatically assume things. In this case, we assume the guy started out in a desert. If the riddle had said a man was found dead in an alley, we'd probably assume he was shot, right? Anyway, I really like this!

Battleship Texas

Lane has been wanting to see the Battleship Texas since we moved to Houston & today was the day. We went on this great tour throughout the whole ship. I feel a lot smarter now. I had no idea it had been in both World Wars. We got to see where men slept, showered & went to the bathroom...funny story that goes along with that. Very interesting.

Lane on whatever you call these guns.

I wasn't able to fit the entire ship in.

Lane is the small speck in front of the door.
Across the street is the San Jacinto Monument. This stands 570 tall. It has the exact blue prints as the Washington Monument except they wanted it to be taller, so they added a star on top. Ha. Earlier this year I told my students that Texas won its independence at the Alamo, when in fact it was here! I know, I'm retarded. So I had to go back the next day & correct myself. That story probably doesn't surprise my family. For some reason I've always managed to say something stupid when it comes to history. Anyway, I watched a short video & learned this battle was won in 20 minutes! Now I bet you didn't know that!

Riddle Me This!

So I heard a riddle in my training that I liked & want to share with all of you. Now if you've heard this before, DON'T answer it & spoil the fun for everyone else! You're supposed to be able to ask yes or no questions to eventually come to your answer. Seeing as that won't be possible to do on a blog, pick your top 3 answers & number them. To make this fair, don't look at those who have already posted. I'll let you know the answer & what I learned from all of this in a few days. Here it is:

A man was found dead in the desert. Near him was a package. If he had opened the package he would not have died. What was in the package?

Good Luck!

Happy To Be Home

The past 3 days I've been in Austin for a new employee orientation. Everyone has gone through one of these & you know how it is. Long days of sitting down, lots of information and headaches. When Lane picked me up from the airport I saw 2 smiling faces: his & this balloon! He got it as a welcome home gift. It was much appreciated :)
We did manage to have a little fun. Jen & I work closely together. We both have the same position, but she's based in Ft. Worth. We went to the cute restaurant called Shady Grove and ate out on the patio. I loved it because there's 1 huge oak tree that covers the entire outside area & they've hung lights through it.

Austin

This weekend we had ourselves a little road trip. Lauren & Christian picked us up and we headed to the capital of Texas: AUSTIN! Although we've been a few times, I still love it. I think the building is so pretty.
Lane told us about Mt. Bonnell. He said he remembered it took like 20 minutes to hike when he was 5. We thought it would be kind of fun to take a quick hike. Here we are on our way up.
Turns out it only took us 1 minute to reach the top! It's funny how everything seems so much bigger & longer when you're a kid.
Although we didn't get the hike we intended, the view was beautiful! The houses that lined the river were so nice & their lawns looked like golf courses. Definitely a place I'd love to live.
We went to these gardens that had peacocks walking around. You could get so close to them & they wouldn't even budge. The above picture is of one of the many little ponds with these really pretty flowers.

This is a 10 second clip of Lane being a dork! We went on a trail and came across a huge piles of leaves & a large stick. The boys thought it would be a good idea to use the stick as a pole vault.

Polynesian Dance

Sunny Florida!

Let me just say that Florida was NO disappointment! Despite what those weathermen said, it was good weather 90% of the time. First stop when we got there was Red Reef Beach. We went here to snorkel. I made Lane put on every piece of his snorkel gear for this picture.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to snorkel because every time I went under, water immediately got into my goggles, which in turn burned my eyes because of the salt. The goggles were even tightened all the way. I was very upset because I was so excited to go! So Lane had to swim around solo for a while.
That night we walked around Las Olas Blvd & ate at this crepe place that was incredible! We each got our dinner crepes & ended with this amazing dessert crepe!
Seriously, the best ever! So good in fact that we stopped BACK by this place to get another one before we went back to the airport!
The next day we went to this Polynesian show. I think this was my favorite part of the trip. The food was great.
The dancers were so entertaining. I'll try to upload 2 video clips I took.
On our last day, we went on this tour boat that showed us all the huge houses & yachts. Whoever the owner of the Miami Dolphins is owns more than half of Ft. Lauderdale!
Check out this cool boat & million dollar house!

Our last stop of our trip was at the everglades. We went on an air boat tour to look for alligators. Before we got started, we went to this exhibit where Lane got to hold a baby alligator.
This was when we were on the boat. This guy came up to our boat. When I heard that alligators can jump 3/4 of their body length, I was starting to get worried! He was so close I could have touched him.
Add laying out a few times & renting a jet ski & you've got our vacation in a nutshell. It was so much fun & I'm so glad we were able to go.

Rain on my Parade

Lane & I just spent an hour planning out our trip complete with things to do and directions from one location to the next, etc. Well I check my email & see our hotel confirmation is there & they also included restaurants and the forecast. So I take a look only to see that every day we will be there it's supposed to thunderstorm! I'm so depressed right now. Almost to the point of not going. Those of you who know me, know that when I get upset, I really get more angry. So it's safe to say I'm not a happy camper.

1 Week!

One week from today, Lane and I will be soaking up the sun in Florida! I cannot wait! I'm dying for a break and want a chance to get tan. I try to layout here on the weekends, but it always seems to be overcast. This will be our little "vacation" before Lane starts his research program & I start my new job. Although it will be a quick trip, we're going to enjoy every second of it we can. Be prepared for pictures!

Playing Hookie

So I decided to take a day off from work because I can. I have several days saved up and since I won't be teaching next year, I will lose them. Therefore, I figured the only logical thing to do was to use as many as I possibly can before the year is over. Actually, I feel bad when I miss days, so I don't do it very often. But today was very relaxing. So much in fact that I'm going to do this next week and the week after that. Why not? I started off my day with waffles and kiwi. Then I watched one of my favorite movies that was on tv, "Someone Like You". Next I got ready for the day & since it was pouring, I was inspired to go out & buy rain boots. I've been wanting a pair for a year now and got a great deal. They're so cute!Later I got lunch with a friend of mine and then we went to see "Made of Honor". It was very cute. I just love Patrick Dempsy.
After that I found a pair of jean capris for only $10! It was indeed my lucky day. And to top it all off, we had a little Grey's Anatomy watching party complete with delicious cheese dip. I don't think I could have hand picked a better day.

It's Official

So I've been looking to change careers and have been sending out endless resumes with not much luck. I figured the earlier I start looking, the better chance I have. Well, I've been interviewing for this one job for the past month now & just found out that I got it! I think I will really enjoy it. They have fantastic benefits and the best thing about it is that I'm not going to have to take a pay cut! It's a little bit of sales and little bit of event planning. Right up my alley.

Beeville

Lane & I decided to take a spur of the moment road trip to visit his grandparents. They live in Beeville, which is about 3 hours South of Houston. It was nice to sit & visit with them. This was only my 2nd time to meet them. They are so sweet and made us feel at home. Smokey loves feeding his cats, which we found were in the 30s! And Helen takes care of him and makes sure he has all his meds. I think grandparents are so special and are always great examples to follow. Seeing them made me miss mine.