On Monday Brooke had a birthday party to attend. Since I was leaving on a work trip I knew hours wouldn't be an issue, so I told Monica I could come home and watch Winry (especially since it was her nap time) while she took Brooke to the party. It was at a huge sandbox place, and Brooke had a pretty good time, though she didn't really play with anyone else. Turns out it only takes one to bury someone in sand.
On Tuesday morning I headed to the airport to fly back to Texas. We were going to Texas A&M to use the cyclotron. Just my typical work trip. Everything went smoothly with travel, and we stopped at the Roadhouse in Bastrop on the way out to the facility. I wish I had gotten a picture, as it's a radiation trip tradition, and I don't have a picture of being there... Good burgers for sure!
The week was pretty full of good weather, so Brooke and Winry played in the back yard. Winry spent some time in the swing, and Brooke just loves to push her! Also, while swinging Winry was saying "wheeeeee!"
Brooke had a great time at her swim lesson on Tuesday night. They even got to use kick boards!! Color me jealous. She's doing great with swimming, and is much more happy about getting her face wet now! We just need to make sure we keep up the bubble blowing in the bath tub after her swim lessons end.
Back in Texas we got everything unpacked and set up on Tuesday night. The AC in the facility can be a little cold, so when we leave for the night we cover everything with blankets (since it isn't running) to ensure it doesn't get too cold. Just kidding! First, that's not even how a blanket works! Those are actually ESD blankets, so that nothing gets shocked randomly. Don't want your experiment to spontaneously break overnight right before testing!
I also called home to talk with the family many times over the trip. I tried to call twice a day. I think it was really good for the kids, and helped them handle me being gone better. I tried to call each morning and night, and for sure we at least had a call every day, but I'm pretty sure if not every day we only had one day without two calls. Multiple calls was also good because Brooke would be really excited to call, and then say "how's your day going?" five times and then not have anything else she wanted to talk about. So we shot for more, shorter calls.
My calls home definitely didn't go unnoticed to those around me as sometimes I'd step over to the side of the action in a down moment to call for a few minutes. I think touched would be an appropriate word to describe how people felt about my interactions with my family, and the general consensus seemed to be that I was a good dad. I may be the only one with children, but I'd say that was still pretty high praise!
Jelly continues to find new places to nap. This past week she found Brooke's toy pack n play only half occupied and jumped right in. It even has a pillow for her to use now! Luxury!
On Wednesday the frozen yogurt place near by had buy one get one free, so everyone headed over. Brooke got to pick all her own ice cream. I don't know what flavor that is, but I do know it has to be pink! :) While there, some hot beats came on and Winry boogied down!
And I headed to a crepe place for dinner. Isaak got a bottle of champagne to share which instantly elevated our dinner to extraordinary. But I must say, water tastes the same in a champagne glass.
Also this past week, the dry wallers have been working in our basement, because why wouldn't everything be the same week!? We passed our drywall inspection so the mudders and tapers have started doing their work. I think everything is basically done, just needs a final sanding, and then they'll come texture all the walls and ceilings! It's crazy how different the basement feels now that drywall is up!
Friday morning was my first shift in the beam. We had a few new parts that we were doing preliminary testing on. Preliminary radiation testing involves checking for destructive effects caused by radiation. If radiation can cause the chip to blow up, you don't want to fly that chip in space. One of the chips we took to test lasted approximately 2 seconds in the beam before this happened... Yeah, that's a hole all the way through the chip... Let's just say it's not looking promising.
Saturday the ward did an Easter activity with an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Brooke had a great time!
And Winry even got some eggs too! "It was good." - Monica.
All in all I had a pretty great time on my trip. I feel everyone in the radiation group is pretty good friends, and so we have a lot of fun out together. I actually really hit it off with one of the new guys Barron. We got along really well and had a lot of fun together. I think we'll have to invite him over sometime. I'm not exactly sure what it is about him, but in our interactions I couldn't help but think that Brooke would think he was really funny. One night after Brooke asked me about her scripture story on the phone he even asked me about church and said he'd be interested in coming sometime. Really cool guy.
I headed back home on Saturday afternoon, and stopped at Buc-ee's for gas on the way back. I wanted to stop here because I think it's the biggest gas station I've ever seen. First, the pumps that I parked at were probably already the biggest set I've seen at a gas station, and it was one of at least 5 sets that I saw. There's also a huge convenience store in the middle of it all. I'll have to actually head in sometime.
Everything went well on my flight and I got back home safely. Monica needed to head to the store to get a few groceries for today, and as she pulled out of the driveway she caught the Easter bunny stopping by our house!!! Brooke was so excited to see the Easter bunny this morning! Good camera work Monica!
The Easter bunny also visited my coworkers who were still down at TAMU. SEAKR drew the short straw and got a 40 hour shift starting Saturday at 4pm until Monday at 8am... so all day Easter. However, that didn't stop our manager from bringing Easter cheer to all! Kind of sad I missed this, but I also got to sleep normal hours and spend Easter with my family, so as great as it would have been to be there, I'm happy with the way things worked out.
This morning for breakfast we had bunny shaped pancakes! They were a huge hit.
And then we had our own Easter egg hunt. We started inside, and then headed out into the front yard to find the rest. Monica said she hid 56 eggs, and so far we've found 50... :) Hopefully the candy will last until next year and we'll just find them then!
Winry was so silly with the egg hunting. The first few eggs she grabbed she put in her basket, then she wouldn't pick up more but instead just held some and shook them. Brooke didn't mind because it was just more eggs for her. Also, Brooke was an all star, because we asked her to let Winry get eggs and she just left a bunch sitting there until it was clear Winry had no interest. Eventually we told Brooke to round 'em all up.
And here they are with their haul! We always share all of the candy, so it doesn't really matter how many eggs you find. Dad will still eat the most, mom and Brooke will have about the same, and Winry probably wont get any. Sorry Winry, I was the youngest in my family too!
Jelly, being the opportunist she is, as well as bed hungry, wasted no time in curling up in the coziest empty basket. How do I know it was the coziest?.. Erm... because it was the emptiest.
Church today was extraordinary! I definitely think it was in part to spending the week studying about the Atonement and resurrection of Christ. I definitely had my testimony of the atonement deepened, and had a really great spiritual experience at church while the ward choir sang "I Believe in Christ." I know that through the atonement we can be forgiven of our sins. I know that Christ suffered for all of us so that we can be freed from the pains and guilt of sin. I know that by turning to Christ we can be forgiven and be perfected through Him, and return to live with our Heavenly Father again.
After church we had our usual crepes for lunch, and then we dyed Easter eggs! Brooke loved it, and did a pretty great job of getting the eggs in and out all on her own! We only had a few egg drops, and we only had a lot of dye on the counter when all was said and done, so good job Brooke!!
I think that's everything for our week. Hopefully everything is going well for my coworkers down in TAMU and the rest of the testing finishes without any major hiccups. Especially with my test team, because I don't want to get any calls at 2 in the morning!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!
No comments:
Post a Comment