#TheKerrieShow in #Houston Day 11: Whataburger, Armand Bayou Nature Center & My Book in Print!

Today was TONS OF CHILLING IN THE MORNING until I could not stand it anymore and we headed out for some fun. First stop: WHATABURGER! Look for the orange and white roof!

It's good to try new things and have new experiences in fun places.

Armand Bayou Nature Center in Pasadena, TX

No traffic to get here or back, no crowds at all, and lots of time in gorgeous nature in Texas. Yes, a recharging time for all. The kids are checking out an alligator in the water across the way.

Back at the hotel, my 2 proofs of my book came from Amazon and I immediately started marking one up. I've done 6 editions of the ebook version of this but holding it in my hands ... surreal.

UPDATE 2018: You can get the 7th edition of my book here, over at The Published Parent!

Mr. McLoughlin got in on the action and he has found so many things I would have missed. So grateful to have a supportive husband. He was all into the proofing that night in the room. Get this boy a red pen!

#Houston Day 10: Houston Zoo, Meeting Family(!), Weight Watchers and New German Friends

Day 10 in Houston found us heading Downtown again and getting familiar with the 45 to the 610 (love that highway for reals) and the 288. So many highways! I'm getting the hang of it here though! What I was not prepared for was the time it would take to find a parking spot at the zoo. INSANITY! We drove around for one full hour, including getting gas because we ran out, and finally snagged a spot. I conquered the lot!

I felt so bad leaving my 2nd cousin's wife and 3 babies in the zoo to wait on us, though, but she was so sweet about the whole thing. As for trying to chat with 8 kids around, that's another story. We plan to meet up this weekend instead for the conversation end of things and so I can meet my 2nd cousin in person. SO EXCITED because I am already in love with his wife and kids and he has my genes so he must be AWESOME.

Anyway, I had nothing to complain about on the parking situation because my kids were pretty much angels in the van the whole time. If they had been tiny babies that would have been a different story, but now that they are older life is lulling me into the notion that things are "easier" ... I'm enjoying this "easy" before they all hit the teen years. I'm storing up all my energy. Here we go with the day in pics!

#Houston Day 9: Trophies, Fish Nets, Walter Mitty

Today was a chill day. 

Callie showed off her creative side by making an M&M and jelly and ?? concoction.

Sam had seen a trophy store on the way home from the space center and wanted to check it out. I am standing in front of my ...

World's Best Parker award!

The trophy Sam wanted me to get him at NASA One Trophies (and don't pay attention to Google Maps when you try to find it because they put them on the entire wrong corner ... crazy-making!).

The trophy Sam actually got. It was for being World's Best 5th Kid.

Then we went to Sports Authority, but apparently fishing is not a sport, so we went to Starbuck's for coffee and cookies and then Academy for big fish nets for our next trip to Galveston. Oh, and sand toys. Later we did pool time, had grilled cheese and soup for dinner in the room and ended up watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty all snuggled up in bed and staying up way too late. Such a great day!

Click here to see Day 10.

#Houston Day 8: Mass, Galveston Island and Gaido's

Sunday was gorgeous so we went to church, went back to the hotel for lunch, then drove down to Galveston Island, and it took less than half an hour to get there! The day can only be described as MAGICAL.

My parents have taught me an appreciation for cool old houses that started in Manitou Springs, CO.

Daddy and the kids did a lot of wave-jumping but it was WAY too cold for me!

They even gave Joel rock-hard abs made out of sand!

Michael smokes a BBQ veggie stick.

Joel's legs are buried! See Pleasure Pier behind him in the distance?

Gaido's! My parents ate here and also my husband many years ago. Now it's our turn!

Right on the beach!

Thank goodness they are okay with people going to the restaurant to spend so much money with beach hair!

They have different preparations or toppings for meals and Michael's was truly named Michael!

The Overland Park Hillbillies at a fancy place. Yep, it really happened.

Don't ask. There is another blog post to come about this topic.

Another cool house on the way back to the hotel. I texted back and forth with my dad for a while, and it was really nice to be able to do so!

Click here for Day 9.

Why Do We Need a Space Program???

As usual, I am talking out of my butt here, so bear with me. I just think things up like a normal society member and said things come out of my mouth. Then you tell me I'm wrong and point me to some great sites with great information to prove me wrong and there we go. On this space program thing, I feel both ways, though and am flip-floppy about it so help me out here!

Okay, so we spend bazillions of dollars on this Going to Space thing. We have hungry people and uninsured people in our country. We are a nation in debt, have been for a long time and yet WE KEEP SPENDING MONEY. So, like, what I'm saying is that if the United States of America was my HOUSEHOLD, the good ole USA would have been foreclosed on and we all would have been kicked out a long time ago. And had our car repossessed. We would all (not just some of us) be living in a homeless shelter and on the streets.

My kidlets in front of some massively cool rocketship.

And yet ... space. Wow. The going there and the space station building there and the whole NASA complex ... It's like when I know we don't have any money but I whip out the CREDIT CARD and get something like a $107 trip to the Johnson Space Center ANYWAY. I know I shouldn't do it but it's just so COOL.

Eva McLoughlin goes to the moon

Mr. Kerrie and I were discussing this. I said I hate that we spend all that money, yes, and he also hates it and doesn't see the point. But when you see this junk up close it's like ... are you kidding me? A bunch of HUMANS did this? They made something with all the wires and situations so people can live in space? Pee in space? Eat in space? They had to think of EVERYTHING. The second we get home I am making my kids watch The Right Stuff, that's for sure.

Anyway, you know how when you work with someone at a job and they eff up everything and you are surprised they can even live a normal life because they can barely work their job without blowing up the place accidentally? Okay, so now think of all the engineers, etc. it takes to NOT MESS IT UP with the going to space. The MAGIC that happens to make it all come together. Yes, we have blown up some humans in space, but statistically speaking we have done an amazing job of getting them there and keeping them alive.

International Space Station mock-up and practice facility. I do love that we are working together with other countries on this project but how much does it cost?

And I also think about the future. My friend Christine Shuck is working on a book and I'm going to mess it all up here but basically it's like we have gotten a virus or something on Earth and we have to get the heck off of here. Where can we go? Another planet? Space in general? Living in space in a space vehicle like in Star Wars?

So back to those people we know who eff up everything, kinda like Spongebob Squarepants. Do you think it's possible that someday we might need off of here? Is it worth it to spend zillions of bucks to explore Mars on this Orion mission? Should we just stay here on Earth and take better care of it and spend our bucks on that instead?

Opinions welcome!