It has been over a month since I blogged, which is horrible of me! We had a very busy month, and I'm sure that there are many people who will agree with me when I ask "Where the heck did April go???"
First weekend: Easter.
We had a fun weekend in College Station this Easter. We were blessed to have Zac's grandparents, Ben and Nellie drive in from Temple, as well as Zac's parents, Steve and Kay, come down from Allen. Sat. we saw a few sights in College Station, and Sunday we had a delicious Easter dinner at our house. Our friends Kelsey and Mack also came over to celebrate with us. We all ate a lot and enjoyed one another's company. For pictures, CLICK HERE.
The next day Zac and I attended a corps event, Muster of the Regiment. We dressed up and went to the Hall of Fame for the evening with his outfit. Here is a picture of us there.
That weekend Beth and Kate Lynch stopped by on their way to a wedding in Houston. We had lunch at La Bodega, saw the huge ring at the Association of Former Students, tried the new yogurt place Red Mango and showed Kate our house. That afternoon we took bluebonnet pictures of all of the dogs and took them to the dog park. :)
The next week Zac and I passed out Aggie rings! Zac's boss was kind enough to ask if we were interested in taking part in this special Aggie tradition, and of course we jumped at the chance. We loved seeing all of the excited students, friends and families that were there for the festivities. And wow - Ring Day has really changed since we got our rings. I remember the Association was beginning to have a few extra activities going on outside, like the professional photos, Slovacek sausage being given away and friends would go get their rings all together. Now it seems like families are coming in from all over to be a part of ring day! There are professional photographers at several locations, free sausage (still), music playing, Benjamin Knox signing his art, you get your ring ticket ONLINE, a Yell Practice, refreshments everywhere and much, much more! Ha. It really is a big celebration now, and we were lucky to be able to participate in this semester's Ring Day.
That weekend was the K-2 Reunion. For those of you that don't know, Zac was in the corps of cadets at A&M, and K-2 was his outfit. He is now the military advisor for that outfit. One of Zac's buddies, Cameron, came to the reunion with his wife, Michelle and their cuuuuute baby, Nathan! One of Zac's other buddy's wife, Emily, also drove in with her baby, Rylie. So, I was thoroughly entertained at the bbq. It was fun to see all of them, as well as the current and older guys from K-2. Later that night we saw the Bellamy Brothers at the Hall of Fame. They were great live!
Later that week was one of my favorite Aggie traditions, Muster. I love that Aggies get together on the same day every year to honor all of the Aggies that have died that year. For more about Muster, read this. Days like that help me to remember why I still think that choosing to go to A&M was one of my best decisions.
That Friday I went with about 30 Aerospace students to Johnson Space Center in Houston. We got a (very) VIP behind-the-scenes tour of all 3 mission control rooms (including the historic moon landing one!), the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, robotics labs, a lunar electric rover (which the students got to drive!) and more. I had never been to NASA before, so I really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. Afterwards I had organized a reception for work for A&M aerospace majors that now work in that area. Fi even stopped by to see me there (since her flight to Ireland was cancelled due to the volcano)!! After the loooong day at NASA, I met Amy and her fiance, Austin, for dinner. It was great to finally get to spend some quality time with both of them. :) The next day Amy and I ran errands and did some shopping, before getting gussied up for her first wedding shower! Her friend Carla opened her beautiful home to the party crowd, and we had an amazingly fun evening! Here are those fun pics! It was so special to celebrate their upcoming wedding and make some fun memories to have forever.
That was also the Sat. of Zac's grandmother, Betty's, 80th birthday party! I was sad that I wasn't able to join Zac there, but they all said they had a wonderful time. Family flew in from MN and CA and of course drove in from around Texas.
Sunday I met my friends Jamie and Jennifer for lunch on my way back to College Station. It was so fun to catch up with them, and to meet Jamie's precious son, Garrett! He is about 7 or 8 months old right now and super cute!
Finally, this past weekend my friend Ellen drove down to visit! We had dinner with some mutual friends that live here on Fri. night, then Sat. we went to the quilt store, Wings 'n More for lunch and then just ran around CS shopping and talking. It was so great to be able to have her here for the night/day!
Zac has been so busy finishing projects, studying for finals and working! I know that he will be relieved when the semester is over, as will I! Work has been ridiculously busy lately!
Hope that all of you out there are doing well, staying healthy and making sure that you stop and smile from time to time.
Me ke aloha,
RAWE
