Perfomances!

The girls took a great class through our awesome recreation department. They practiced for six weeks singing a solo song, along with the recording artist. Mia sang Get Off of my Back.

Anna sang Edelweiss. And although I recorded it, I do not have a still picture of it.

They also sang Timber as a group with a little dance to accompany it. 

Two nights later Mia had a performance with her third grade class. She is in the far back towards the left.

We do not usually do much in the evenings on school days so this was a very busy week!

Girls in Science

We were fortunate to get tickets to Girls in Science at the science museum in March.

They learned about ecosystems.

They learned about the amounts of electricity needed for certain projects by using a balance. Less electricity needed at night!

Mia never gets tired of digging for fossils. 

Holding real pig hearts...blech.

Learning about lightning.

And doing the weather in front of a green screen!

Paper clip challenge! Mia and this other girl worked on it intently for twenty minutes with success! It involved two paper clips and a lifesaver and that's all I remember.

It was crowded so I think it will be a been there, done that kind of thing.

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The Rest of February 2018

It seems I take much fewer pictures these days since the girls are in school all day. In February Mia one best design for the Valentine box she made. It was an Enderdragon from Minecraft. The Valentines went in to his mouth and the box was his stomach.

She made sure all the details were perfect. 

Towards the end of February Dan and I had a little one night getaway to Austin for Marti's son's wedding. His name is Alex and so is his bride's. In order to not get mixed up during the vows they used their last names!

We spent most of the time with Karen and Joe.

The reception venue was beautiful.

Marti and Mike got to sit with us. We made fast friends with the other couples at our table since they were their friends.

It was worth the short visit!!

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Retirement!

Dan is retired...well almost. His last day is March 31. His original plan was to work until February 2 and then take paid time off until his official date ...but...they have not hired his replacement yet!!! So he is still going in two days a week. No travel though! Hip hip hooray!

His retirement party was February 8 and we had a good crowd. Denise, Dave and Darlene came out for the party on Thursday!

Several people from Dan's life/career spoke at the party.  Hi childhood friend, Greg Moseley, who also works at ULA was the first speaker to talk about Dan, the kid.

His boss from Huntington Beach, Gale Schluter came out. He gave him a hat that says "relax".

Here is his original ULA boss, Mike Gass.

Dan's deputy for many years, Mark Wilkins, was the emcee.

There were a few people from NASA who gave him some awards.

Retired General Sue Mashie.

And General Sam Greaves gave a speech.

Tory Bruno, Dan's current boss, gave the gift from ULA.

And Joey surprised his dad with the last speech of the night.

Except for Dan's of course!

Dan had a good crowd to send him off!

All of his brothers and sisters came.

There were many coworkers and friends.

All of our kids came out for the party as well. We hired a few babysitters to help us out with the little ones. Speeches are not their thing!

 

Unfortunately, the photographer missed getting a picture of Joey's family. :(

Everyone stayed the weekend, except for Darlene, Dave and Denise. So we just relaxed and had fun.

The three besties.  

Puzzles were the name of the game. 

Maureen loved helping with the two year old crowd.

It will be great to have him home full time now!