The Ambitious Odometer: January 2023

Saturday, January 7, 2023

{J-Term} Houston, TX - Part II

continued from {J-Term} Houston, TX - Part I...

Day 3 - Thursday, January 5

After breakfast at the hotel, the group made a change and instead of visiting the Lone Star Flight Museum, they went back to Space Center Houston to explore some more!

I was so excited to hear that they were back since they didn't get the chance to take any tram tours during the first visit...

and I really wanted to get a recreation of this sweet picture from B's last visit...

{July 2012 - Apollo Mission Control}

Thankfully, the group was able to get on all 3 of the various tram tours and got to experience a good bit!

B shared this photo of the flag flying, representing that an astronaut is currently in space...

First up, the BLUE TRAM TOUR took them to the Astronaut Training Facility where NASA astronauts are currently training for the new manned moon missions called Artemis...

Next, the RED TRAM TOUR took them to George W.S. Abbey Rocket Park where they were able to view the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever flown, Saturn V...

{July 2012 - hanging out with Saturn V}

Lastly, the WHITE TRAM TOUR took them to the much anticipated (maybe, just by me?!?!?) Apollo Mission Control from which NASA led both Gemini and Apollo missions, including the first lunar landing mission...

and, I got my recreation photo!

Again, they grabbed lunch at the space center before heading back to the hotel to rest up for a fun evening...

For dinner, they were given money to eat on their own at the Toyota Center...

ahead of the Houston Rockets game!

The Houston Rockets fell to the Utah Jazz, but B loved attending his first NBA game!

Day 4 - Friday, January 6

On their final day in Houston, they enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, and some down time...

before heading back to the airport to prepare for the return home...

What a wonderful experience for our B, but how happy my momma heart is now, having all my people back together again (post middle school dance, hence the girls' dressy attire for an airport pick up!) tonight...

Thursday, January 5, 2023

{J-Term} Houston, TX - Part I

B's high school offers a J-Term over Christmas break each year where students can take a weeklong class in anything ranging from playing a selection of disc golf courses to learning to draw caricatures, as well as shadowing in local internships and taking educational trips. For the last couple of years, B has been on the interest list to take a dream trip to Australia over J-Term, but it has not come to fruition due to various closures and travel bans. Maybe, just maybe, it will pan out next year when he is a senior ~ fingers crossed!

This year, he chose to travel a little closer to home and took a STEM trip to Houston, TX. Though he's been to Houston a couple of times before (2012, 2018), this was his first time flying without family. He had to meet up with his school group at our home airport at 4:15am for his 6:00am flight...

Day 1 - Tuesday, January 3

After a short layover in Atlanta, his group landed in Houston mid-morning and hit the ground running, grabbing lunch at Chick-fil-A.

After lunch, they walked the pier, checked out a sculpture made of found trash items from the gulf...

and visited the water for a foggy view...

before continuing on to the Ocean Star Museum & Education Center where they toured an offshore drilling rig that has since been decommissioned and turned into a museum.