Birthday Cake

My niece, Caroline, eating her first birthday cake. She was a bit hesitant at first, but once she figured out that nobody was going to take the cake away, she got into it! In this photo, she's starting to OD on the sugar a bit. Just after this she got some milk and then was pretty much tuckered out.

Caroline is One

Isn't this the cutest 1-year-old you've ever seen in your life? I may be a bit biased, I know. Caroline was fascinated with the balloons her Grandma and Grandpa Weiss brought her. It made for some very cute pictures. Unfortunately, this one came out a bit darker than I would have liked.

Natural Bridge

It's not Yosemite, but Natural Bridge Park in Wyoming is a pretty little canyon less than an hour's drive from Casper. This is where we went for my niece's first birthday party this weekend.

FDO

I obviously didn't take this one myself. This is the first official NASA photo of me working as a FDO (Flight Dynamics Officer). It's actually a bit disappointing - very grainy. The lighting is really low in the front of the room, and the photographer probably doesn't want to use the flash because it would be distracting. Although he parked right in front of my face and snapped this, so I'm not sure the flash would have been that much more distracting.

Sunset over Kilauea

As we waited for darkness to fall, we began to see the breakout flowing down the side of the ridge. It was like this glowing worm of lava winding its way down the hill.

Green Sand Beach

After seeing South Point, we hiked out to the Green Sand Beach. We actually thought the sand looked more gold than green, but it was a unique color. The hike is about two miles each way. At 8am, it was not unpleasant, but the wind and heat would have made it a bit uncomfortable later in the day. The beach is surrounded by cliffs that contain olivine crystals (the source of the green sand). This makes it a pretty spectacular location. We were glad that we found time to get there.