Oh NASA.

Our day in Houston was superb! IKEA, NASA Space Center, Houston Galleria and the Cheesecake Factory. (those of you from 701...I didn't eat any cheesecake, I've remained on task!)

My strongest thoughts from the day emerge from our hours spent at the Space Center. The Museum was very cool and interactive, the 1.5 hour tram tour left me unfulfilled and highly sarcastic. For being one of the most highly federally funded organizations, it has been left back in the early 80's, aesthetically speaking. Seriously, can't we get a little updating on that compound? Inside and out? Dreary and drab. The most visual stimulation we had on the tour were the random deer running through the streets.

Matt's favorite was the Flight Control center (go figure), Kilian and I opted towards the huge laboratory hangar where all the space "practice" takes place. Kilian turned to me and whispered during one of the less than energetic tour guide explanations, "Mom, this is so cool." So I responded as most aspiring parents would with, "Are you going to be an astronaut when you grow up." He turned around and whispered again, "No, I am going to be a veterinarian, remember?" Hmmm? Do they have astronaut veterinarians? I must continue to consider Iphones for Matt and I, as I believe the ability to instantly blog my sarcastic thoughts may stop me from saying things like- "Um, they didn't really land, they crashed!"- outloud, when the less than energetic tour guide mentioned something in the "space practice" room was used for the "recent satellites that just landed on moon yesterday". I am sorry. I will continue to work on controlling myself. But I must say...I am pretty sure the 80 million dollars that crashed into the moon could have made a bigger dent into the national debt than they did on the side of the moon. Just a thought.

We heard the NASA narrator use the term "newish" to describe a particular building...which Matt and I concluded meant that is was "relatively new", I guess? Or is that referring to a geographic influence, like Swedish or Irish? We also spent some time at one of the GREATEST malls ever (thanks for the referral Christine!).

The Houston Galleria has to be one of the best shopping experiences, while I didn't actualy buy anything (odd I know) the shiny floors, regular mall stores intermingled with Jimmy Choo and Zara (my FAV store from Germany) were all magical. (Sorry, my best shopping experiences as of late have alternated between the PX and Walmart, so you'll have to overlook my childish fascination.) We are planning our return before Christmas, devoted entirely to the Galleria! Signing out. The Eagle..is landing...in her bed of snuggly sheets and pillows and sweet Jimmy Choo dreams.