Hi World!

I'm still here - but haven't felt much like blogging recently.  Everything is fine, but last week we took an unwelcomed trip to Crap-ville and I finally feel like things are on the up-swing again.

I had three different work struggles, all of which I don't want to make public on this blog.  As for Matt, he had his past come back and haunt involving his previous business he sold in Cali.  On top of all of that, we had some neighbor trouble.  Like I said, it was a crappy week.  So, I promise the blog will remain a "Happy Place," but I also feel that sometimes I should explain why I go MIA from time to time.

However, like I said above, things have a way of working themselves out.  Everything is fine now, and we are in much better spirits.  Now back to happy blogging - back to our regular scheduled program!

Two weeks ago (back when we were blissfully unaware of the week that was about to unfold) we had an excellent time at a very unique event.  We attended an interactive play called Apollo 13: Mission Control.  Whereas I'll let the pictures do the explaining, I will say that we had the option to sit in the Press Box, where the part of the audience observed, and in Mission Control, where the other half of the audience sat and actually participated in the lines/activity.  Like I said, let's let the pictures explain.

The audience started in a debriefing room and "Walter Cronkite" introduced us to the Apollo 13 astronauts.

Walter with James Lovell and Fred Haise.

Then we were invited to go inside Mission Control.

Here is Kelli and I.  We work together and she is Chico's mother-in-law.  ;-)  I'm not next to Matt because he sat in the Press Area.  At the last minute, I was upgraded to the Mission Control section.

Here's my vantage point, listening intently to Walter Kronkite.  The actor did a pretty good impression of him!

This was my station.  I was in part of the guidance team which meant we had to solve a lengthy math problem.  Good thing this wasn't the real mission, otherwise they would NOT have made it home!  Thankfully they simplified the math problem and even I got it right.  ;-)

Blast Off!

We had monitors so we could watch the astronauts taking off into space.  Since their special effects were low-tech, they had to shake their bodies to show the turbulent take off.  Ha!

Some of us got lines - this one was mine.

Afterwards we were able to get a behind-the-scenes tour.  It was amazing to see how much they could do with such a small area.  What a fun adventure!