4th of July weekend

My cousin Katey came to spend this past week with us before she heads off to Ozark Christian College. After waiting for Dalton to get well during the first part of the week, we were finally able to get out and do a few things other than doctor appointments and speech work. On Thursday, Kerry took us to JSC and was able to give us a tour of some of the buildings. He wanted to show Katey some of the mock ups and the mission control rooms. It was kind of neat to be sitting in some of the areas looking up at the tour groups who were looking down at us wondering how we were able to get in the actual rooms. Best thing...we didn't have to pay 20 bucks!
On Friday, the kids and I took Katey to Orange to see mom and dad for the 4th of July. Kerry stayed home to get some work done. We arrived in time for a quick lunch then off to the water park. Unfortunately it started raining some, which since they were wet any way, you'd think it would not have mattered, but the boys were not thrilled and we ended up playing in huge wooden playground area next to the water park. It is a huge maze of stairs, so Dalton was thrilled. Xander had missed a nap, so he was pretty much in a daze and since his little legs were too short, he was carried most of the time. The play area had a huge tube slide that Dalton at first wanted to try until he got a good look at it. It was a very long slide. Katey decided to go down it. She said it went dark after the first turn. There about 4 turns to the entire thing. She wasn't sure she'd ever find the end. We didn't blame Dalton for not wanting to try it after her experience.

That night, we drove into Orange a little ways and saw a very good fireworks display. We were actually pretty close to where they were setting them off. I was quite surprised at how close we were. There was a small field and a parking lot between us and the fireworks area. I don't think I had ever been that close when watching fireworks. The video does not do it justice. Dalton was worried things would be loud and kept trying to get into the van to hide. After we convinced him they were just loud pops, he decided to sit and watch. He kept his ears plugged the entire time, but would ooh and aah, with the rest of the audience and holler out about colors and shapes he saw. He really liked it after realizing the sounds would not hurt him, even though they did set off every car alarm in the area. Xander, who usually squeals like crazy when he gets excited was in awe! He hardly moved for 1/2 of the show and did not make a sound. Slowly though, the missed nap and constant running and playing began to wear on him and he crashed in the middle. He was so out, he did not even wake up for the finale, which was very bright and loud.



The next morning, we decided to take Katey to Louisiana and hunt some gators. We had looked a few places the day before, but did not see any. Dalton told his Daddy that we had gone gator hunting but they were all hiding. We were lucky this time, however. We were about to walk away from an area along a dock when we spotted a young gator. He was right next to the dock and I was able to get some good closeups. A man fishing on the dock tossed a fishing line at him and the gator grabbed on. When the man started pulling the gator up, the gator thrashed a little causing us to squeal and start backing up quickly. Mom was heading out quickly with Xander in tow. Right about the time I stopped backing up and thought about snapping a picture, the gator let go and slid back into the water. I don't think I'd want to be on a dock with a bunch of squealing girls either. Dalton just sat there on the dock as if having a gator plopped on the dock next to you is an everyday thing.

Later we walked down the shore to get a closer look at a larger gator we had seen swimming around. He had been watching some fisherman along the other side of the shore line. He turned toward us for a short time I guess hoping we were going to toss a line. He looked rather creepy staring up at us as we took pictures. Hence the reason for the sign the boys are posing with. :)

Katey, the boys and I headed home shortly after that. It was fun, but we are a little pooped out. Fireworks, alligators, and more stairs than I care to recall makes for quite an exciting few days!