Brooke's been doing such a great job keeping everyone in our lives up to date on what's new with us that I thought I'd give it a try. Believe it or not you are all witnessing history... this is my first blog EVER!

Last week I was able to go TDY to Vandenberg AFB in California to witness a Minuteman III missile launch. For anyone who isn't familiar, the Minuteman III is our nation's current long range Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM, which can carry up to three nuclear warheads. I definitely consider it a privilege that I was able to go.

Vandenberg is well known for the fog that will roll in, so a lot of us were concernced that we wouldn't be able to see anything. I was there for the last launch back in August when I was attending Space 100, and the fog was so thick that we couldn't see a thing. This time we ended up having perfect conditions. It was a crystal clear night. We were able to see all three stages of the missile separate, even thrust termination. It was really neat to see the weapon system that I work on in action; however, it was a little scary at the same time. When you realize what that missile would be carrying in the event of a real world missile launch, it's a little frightening to know what the beginning of the end of the world might look like.



I had a great time out in California, but I definitely missed Brooke while I was gone. The best part was coming back home to her.

November Ultra Sounds

One day our son will LOVE that I posted these pictures. Maybe I will show them to his future wife.
Quote from the ultrasound nurse -- "Look! He's making his own arrow!"
The face ultra sound looks a lot like an alien again. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately, the ultrasound printer ate it before it came out. I guess the baby was in a bad position for the full body pic.

The 19 Week Bump

Well, I am showing. It's the first thing out of people's mouths each day now. Thank heaven for stretch jeans and skirts with elastic waists.

Tribute

Thank you late 80s early 90s.
Next week I am going to see New Kids on the Block in concert. I know you are jealous. I've only waited 17 years for this moment. My 11th birthday party was New Kids themed - we wore the t-shirts, the buttons on our stone-washed tight-rolled jeans, and while the music video (which we rented for the occasion) was playing, we would pause it on our favorite boy and kiss the screen.

Tonight Justin and I were reminiscing about the great music of that time and we realized that these totally righteous bands rocked our worlds and helped make us who we are today. (For clarity, Justin is not going to the concert with me. He wanted that to be made perfectly clear.)

A tribute to the music of our pubescent years:

New Kids on the Block

Vanilla ICE

MC Hammer -- We all loved the pants at one time. Don't deny it.

Milli Vanilli -- So they faked it. They didn't fake the moves.

Tag Team --

Kriss Kross

The Fresh Prince -- I had no idea who he was till I watched the TV show later.

And last but definitely not least, Pearl Jam. Justin just got their fan club magazine in the mail. Rock on. I didn't know who these guys were till about five years after Justin knew them. If Justin gets his way, Eddie Vedder's name will show up somewhere in our posterity.

Do yall have any others that come to mind?

Grandpappy Pumpkinhead

Halloween was fun! We had kids show up at our door at 6:00. Holy moly they come early nowadays. We went to a party with some of Justin's friends and left a bucket of candy on our front porch. Justin went back for it because Daniela was running out of candy at her house. One girl showed up trick-or-treating on her cell phone. Wow. Justin and I didn't decide on a costume until the night before, which meant we opened my trunk and dug out what I already had. We thought having Justin dress up as Doogie might be fun, but the halo and horns made it out the door with us. Doogie may show up next year.
I love my pumpkin. Yes, I made the one with the grill. I strayed from my triangles and ventured into new pastures. I was trying for Nightmare Before Christmas, and today it looks like Grandpa With No Dentures. It cracks me up, I think I like it more now than when I first made it.

Attack the Pumpkin!

We officially have Halloween decorations! Guess which one I made and which one Justin made. . . Justin actually did most of the dirty work for both of them, after a few handfuls of goo I found I didn't scrape the insides effectively. We still have no idea what we are going to dress up as for our Halloween party.

Czech on an 8-Track

When you are a local from South Dakota, you call it SoDak. Justin and I spent the weekend in the rockin town of Yankton, South Dakota. We flew into Omaha airport; it was my first time there, and I was overwhelmed with how HUGE that airport was! I think it took about four minutes to walk from our terminal to baggage claim. We even stopped first in the souvenir shop. Then we drove with Justin's two brothers to Yankton. In case you don't know where that is, it's in the SE corner of South Dakota, almost in Nebraska, and almost in Iowa, but not quite. They just built a new bridge, and let me tell you, it is the talk of the town. We drove over it twice, once at night and once during the day, to get the full effect. Justin's parents threw a very lovely wedding party for us and I FINALLY met Justin's extended family. They are hilarious, I love being in this family. I also met the doctor who delivered Justin, he was Justin's neighbor. One of the highlights for sure was visiting Justin's grandpa Podzimek (most of Justin's relatives have crazy last names. Hochstein is relatively calm.) His grandpa is 93 and his mind is as sharp as a whip. I'd bet he knows the capitol of Djibouti. He told us stories of growing up speaking Czech (his grandparents were immigrants), and my favorite story took place in a department store in the early 40s. There was a monkey in a cage in the store who was making faces at him. Grandpa didn't like that so much, so he walked up to the monkey and spit in his eye. He then got out of that store as quickly as possible. I like Justin's grandpa. We rocked out to Czech music on an 8-track player. All in all, Yankton was beautiful, the weather was great, and being with Justin's family was priceless.