Growing up, my very best friend was Karla. Karla and I drifted apart in high school, and I hadn't talked to her in ~20+ years - until recently! Karla found me via Facebook! It's been really great catching up with her and seeing photos of her family. Well - her six year old son Joey is doing a 1st grade class project based on the book
Flat Stanley, about a boy who is made of paper. Joey, who lives in Michigan, needed to send "Flat Joey" to another state for a visit. Apparently Joey loves Texas, because Sandy on Spongebob is from here too (who knew??!). :-) So Flat Joey came for a little visit. He arrived like this:
Of course he needed to be dressed up in proper Texas attire, so I turned Flat Joey into a true Texan with a little cowboy outfit:
Today Carter and I took Flat Joey out to see some of our favorite things around Austin. A visit to Austin in the spring would not be complete without a photo in the bluebonnets!!
Next we took Flat Joey to the
Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum. It's a really nice museum, and best of all - it's FREE! :-) First Flat Joey posed with LBJ himself (in bronze):
Flat Joey got to see a replica of LBJ's desk in the Oval Office.
And he hung out in the Green Room of the White House for a bit.
There's currently a very cool space exhibit at the library called
To the Moon: The American Space Program in the 1960s. As both a Senator and then President, Mr. Johnson did more to facilitate the rapid progress of the space program than any other American leader. Flat Joey got to see the actual Mercury 7 space capsule:
He also went to the moon!
In addition to the museum, the building is also home to all of the documents Lyndon Johnson kept during his political life. And there are lots and lots of them! Carter's Aunt Laura works where researchers come to view the documents. She also helps when documents are being declassified and released to the public. She's even gotten calls from Brian Williams' staff - he happens to be quite an LBJ buff! (Laura correct me if I'm getting anything wrong here!) Here are some of the boxes you can look up at while you're down in the museum:
Thanks to our insider tourguide (Aunt Laura!), Flat Joey was lucky enough to see one of these boxes up close and personal - maybe he jotted down some notes for an LBJ memoir he's been working on?
(ETA: Since Flat Joey is *not* LBJ, I suppose memoir was a poor choice of word here, oops!)
After all of this touring at the library, Flat Joey was hungry! Carter took his new friend to lunch. He can't visit Austin without going out for some tex-mex, now can he??
We had fun spending our morning with Flat Joey - tomorrow he's headed back to Michigan so Real Joey can hear all about his adventure! Thanks for stopping by today!
Of course he needed to be dressed up in proper Texas attire, so I turned Flat Joey into a true Texan with a little cowboy outfit:
Today Carter and I took Flat Joey out to see some of our favorite things around Austin. A visit to Austin in the spring would not be complete without a photo in the bluebonnets!!
Next we took Flat Joey to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum. It's a really nice museum, and best of all - it's FREE! :-) First Flat Joey posed with LBJ himself (in bronze):
Flat Joey got to see a replica of LBJ's desk in the Oval Office.
And he hung out in the Green Room of the White House for a bit.
There's currently a very cool space exhibit at the library called To the Moon: The American Space Program in the 1960s. As both a Senator and then President, Mr. Johnson did more to facilitate the rapid progress of the space program than any other American leader. Flat Joey got to see the actual Mercury 7 space capsule:
He also went to the moon!
In addition to the museum, the building is also home to all of the documents Lyndon Johnson kept during his political life. And there are lots and lots of them! Carter's Aunt Laura works where researchers come to view the documents. She also helps when documents are being declassified and released to the public. She's even gotten calls from Brian Williams' staff - he happens to be quite an LBJ buff! (Laura correct me if I'm getting anything wrong here!) Here are some of the boxes you can look up at while you're down in the museum:
Thanks to our insider tourguide (Aunt Laura!), Flat Joey was lucky enough to see one of these boxes up close and personal - maybe he jotted down some notes for an LBJ memoir he's been working on? (ETA: Since Flat Joey is *not* LBJ, I suppose memoir was a poor choice of word here, oops!)
After all of this touring at the library, Flat Joey was hungry! Carter took his new friend to lunch. He can't visit Austin without going out for some tex-mex, now can he??
We had fun spending our morning with Flat Joey - tomorrow he's headed back to Michigan so Real Joey can hear all about his adventure! Thanks for stopping by today!
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Flat Joey sure had an adventure didn't he? Looks like a good time was had by all. ~chris
ReplyDeletereally fun and cute (both of the boys)!
ReplyDeleteDang -- if you do all that for a paper visitor... I'm booking my flight! I would LOVE a behind the scenes tour of the LBJ library!!! And I bet you're long lost friend will be delighted and amazed by Flat Joey's transformation into a rootin' tootin' Texan! BTW, Carter and those bluebonnets -- so completely precious!!!!!!!!! (<-- note the emphasis)
ReplyDeleteokay, that should be 'your' long lost friend... ugh!
ReplyDeleteHeehee, Joey sure had a fabulous outing!!! How totally cute and fun - he will be thrilled to get his cowboy buddy back! *STAMPIN HUGS* Alex
ReplyDeleteCarole, if you come to Texas, I promise you a full behind the scenes tour of the LBJ Library, not just the small one Flat Joey got!
ReplyDeleteHow cute is that tour. Real Joey will now be jealous of Flat Joey.
ReplyDeleteHow great that was of you to take him so many places.
OMG!! How fun is this!!! I totally LOVE your idea and I wish I was into this when my kiddos were this little...if I did that now, I think they would not like me anymore!! TEEHEE!!
ReplyDeleteOaky, I only have a few minutes to comment and then MUST go stamp. I am just getting home from a great week in Arizona and not sure I will get to play FCCC this week, but I so love your flat joey post...I think this is such a great kids project!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness this is hilarious Libby!! Thanks for taking us along on the adventure. :)
ReplyDeletePS. Going to the 12 hour crop on Saturday??
Oh, the adventures of Joey...how cute! Love how you dressed him up. Also, I especially love the bluebonnets with Carter and Joey nestled in their beautiful midst. Interesting bronze of LBJ. Looks like a fabulous day!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool, Libby. My son didn't do this project in school, but my daughter did -- she had several relatives that did neat things with "Flat Stanley" much to what you did -- but no one dressed him like you did. Real Joey is one lucky boy. My daughter is now 11 and still gets the stuff out that her favorite Aunt from Arizona sent and her favorite great-Aunt from Ohio sent. Talk about a memorable event for the kids.
ReplyDeleteHow fun. Now, can you send me some real burritos? I haven't had any good Mexican since my last business trip to CA!
ReplyDeleteAnd no worries about the scheduling. I went to bed at 7 last night, was up for three hours in the middle of the night (all three made an appearance for different reasons) and then was up at 6:30 (T peed the bed again!). I have not stopped going (and there goes Ave again...sigh!).
Libby: I love this and I know that Flat Joeys' "friend" in Michigan will enjoy the adventures y'all went on .
ReplyDeleteoh my word! how stinkin' FUN was that for Paper Joey? looks like Carter had just as much fun too! you're such a good mommy (love paper Joey's outfit too)
ReplyDelete