We didn't know how long it would take to return our car, or what type of traffic we would encounter on our 1.25 hour trip to the airport, or how long the car checkin would take or security. So we left at 8:30 for our 1:00 flight. It wasn't a rushed get out the door thing, but a "we're ready, so why not go now?". We got to the airport, checked in the car, which was extremely quick, found our checkin counter, and at 10:00 we got our boarding passes. We ate lunch, went through security, waited at our gate for about an hour, loaded the plane, and came home.

The flight was smooth and quick. The pressure bothered Anna's ears quite a lot, but the flight was uneventful. 

We met the Geragi's at the airport, grabbed our bags from baggage claim, and then went for dinner at Perkins with them and my Mom. We gave our gifts, shared our experiences, and stories. Came home, showed some photos, retrieved Anna's Rat from our friends the Monge's house, and tried to relax and go to bed early.

This has been the most relaxing vacation I've ever had. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed spending all this time with my beloved wife.

After packing and cleaning, we had one last visit to Max and Porky's. I really will miss Alan's stories, like the giraffe licking him from ear to ear. 

We had a wonderful time on the beach, where we got some last shots for the christmas video, and enjoyed the sun one last day.

After supper, we went to look for a series of GeoCaches that are on the river side of the island. We only found one, but we had fun looking for all four. I got a nice view of the sunset during this time. We were all tired, so we left for our beach house.

We spent the rest of the evening packing the remainders into bags and suitcases. We are ready to go home and see our dogs

I still wasn't quite ready to think about going home, so those conversations were avoided for the most part, although we did make a checklist of things that we needed to do, or wanted to do, either today or tomorrow.

We had Bizarro's pizza and Java Surf's shaved ice for dinner. It's the best combination. After dinner, we found a geocache just north of our beach house. its a fun pasttime, and all the kids enjoy it.

Anna has been getting a cough that is worse and worse, and started complaining of an earache, so today I took her to an urgent care clinic just up the road.

After much poking and prodding she has:

Swimmer's ear.

a sinus infection

bronchitis

So, Anna is all drugged up, and she took a nap while I joined Katie, Noah and Lexi on the beach.

After digging a huge hole on the beach we went for a tired supper at long doggers, which offered a relaxed atmosphere, and a great video of professional surfing competitions.

Afterwards we went back on the beach for a little bit to let Lexi and Noah burn off more energy, and as always we finish up the day at Java Surf. As  you can see, Anna did feel better enough to join us for a little while.

Tomorrow is Discovery Cove, so its off to bed early!

We then decided to go to the Bathtub Reef in Stuart Florida. It was a GREAT swimming area. The water near the shore is nearly HOT.  as you get a bit further out, it is cooler, but still warm.

We snorkeled around the reef for several hours while the tide came in. We found some great shells, and each of my kids learned how to use a snorkel. I swear that each of them would spend the entire day face down in the water if we gave them all snorkels.

Unfortunately a stormfront appeared from over land, and forced us to head towards home. The rain that tiny blip on the weather radar had was impressive. After a total downpour, my wife was outvoted and we went to iHop for dinner instead of crackerbarrel.

Now the kids are in bed after a long ride home, and we are settling in for a nice quiet evening and another moonlit walk on the beach.

It was almost low tide when we arrived, so we had to move our progressively up the beach as the tide came in. After about 25 feet, we decided to head home for dinner.

Tonight we are having baked potatoes, and shish-kabobs on the grill. (and of course shushies at java surf).

We will see what the evening holds!

The drive took an hour to get there, but the whole thing was so relaxing. The whole center has a very relaxed feel to it. The rocket garden doesn't have an 'order' to it, and the area isn't in arranged to funnel you from one attraction to another. 

We started out with the Future of space travel building. My sweetest moment was when Anna was viewing the next generation crew vehicle and said: "I'm gonna take that to Mars". She has it all planned out. when they start selecting astronaut candidates, she will be just the right age. That building was interesting but, not as cool as the rest of the day.

From there we visited the rocket garden where we all sat inside a mockup of an apollo capsule, and we saw each of the different rocket types that we strapped somebody on top of and launched down range. (the gemini rockets had ejection seats!).

From there we tried the Shuttle launch simulator, which was pretty cool. Especially how they simulate the G's on your body, by changing the 'squishyness' of your seat behind you.

From there we went to the early day's history building for lunch with Winston Scott. He flew two missions on the shuttle, both as a mission specialist. He got to do 3 EVA's and had some really exciting moments in space. Winston Scott was a real treat to meet and get to know. We did a photo op later, and I shook his hand. I didn't make it to the giftshop for an autographed copy of his book, but that's OK.

After lunch we finished the early years building, and then went on the bus tour, where we got to see Atlantis from about 30 feet away, while inside the vehicle assembly building. The Vehicle Assembly Building is HUGE. The statistics are staggering. It covers 8 acres, and is 528 feet tall. You can see it clearly from five miles away, and you think its only a mile or so. (Florida is that flat). 

I also got to meet Terry White, (the white guy on the left). Terry was extremely interesting, as he was in charge of all 3 orbiters that were being reprocessed at a time during the 80's and 90's. I cannot tell you how much I would love to have him come over for dinner and tell stories, and share his experiences.

From there we went around the two launch pads (up to the fences), and then they dropped us off at the Saturn V facility. We went through a launch room that has the same hardware as the first saturn V launch facilities, with a simulated launch that even shook the windows behind us. Inside there is an unflown Saturn V rocket on its side. it was amazing to see how long the rocket really is. it just kept going and going and going.

We ate dinner next to the rocket, and underneath an actual lunar lander that would have flown, if they hadn't decided to redesign it to include the rover.

I could have stayed all day, but my kids were REALLY tired, as was Katie, and I didn't want anyone to get crabby at the end of such a nice day. The tickets were worth every penny we spent.

I need to sleep now, but this was a *good* day.

so we waited 25 minutes. 

delayed again. 

We then drove up to dunkin donuts which was closer to the launch pad.

delayed again.

After much waiting, the rocket did launch at 9:15.

It was a bit anticlimactic. It was cool to see, but it was just a plume of smoke with an orange dot at the end. after about 90 seconds, we couldn't see it. We didn't hear it until about two minutes after launch, and didn't stop hearing it intill 6 minutes after launch, which means, we could hear it for much longer than we could see it. I wonder if I would feel differently if I had been closer to the launchpad.

During this time, though we did see the sun rise over the atlantic ocean. Not something us midwesterners can all say we've done. 

We enjoyed another day swimming, and had lunch with Alan Bunch at Max and Porky's. Afterwards we had a quiet afternoon around the house where we cleaned and relaxed. I cooked some steaks, chicken and fish for supper, and then the kids went swimming while I flew my kite on the beach.

We must be up early for the space center tomorrow, so not a lot here at this time.

"yes, but I can't get it". As a result, she climbed the tree, I signed the log, and Noah left one of the shark teeth he bought the day before at a small souvenir shell shop. We walked back to our neighborhood had lunch at Max and Porky's. What a unique little restaurant. We love the stories of his dog.

We also stopped at Java Surf where we have been getting slushies from. Let me tell you about their unique flavors. I try a different one every time, and only once didn't like what I had.

The rain was leaving today, and most of the day we had good patches of sunshine. however the surf was still very high and slightly dangerous. Both Noah and I got knocked around a bit, and I have the scars to prove it.

We lit the grill tonight had some burgers and had a quiet evening.

I expected the Brevard Zoo to be small and uninteresting to adults, and therefore, not hold the kid's attention for very long. Boy was I wrong. If the photo looks like I was four feet from the giraffe, its because I was.

We had the opportunity to feed the giraffes, as well as actually entering an exhibit with a number of non-dangerous animals. Via a train.

The train was fun, because half way through, we had to stop and wait for an ostrich to get out of our way, and she had to wait for the camel to move out of her way ... if it sounds complicated, it was. 

The train ride was enjoyable, however the best part of the day (in my opinion) was visiting the aviary. Now, the aviary has a warning, out front, that says that the birds may land on your, and my try to take your shining things etc... I figured someone sued the zoo, so they put up a sign. No, when you entere the aviary with the nectar cup for them to eat, the birds flock to you to land on you, fight for your nectar, screech in your ear, and in general, the birds get very personal. 

It was so much fun feeding the birds while they flew around us, and landed on us. I have video of the initial experience, including birds landing on my head. It is an experience that I will remember for a long time to come.

The zoo also had a small park area with an 18" deep wading pool and some other attractions oriented towards younger kids. It had been raining on and off all day (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off), but the rains were getting more intense as the afternoon went on. We saw the last bits of the zoo, but then we wanted to get home, so that if the weather got bad, we wouldn't be driving in the worst of it. As it turns out, the weather wasn't bad at all, we just had some rain to deal with, but otherwise it wasn't so bad.

Once we got home, the kids swam in the ocean yet again, and then after rinsing them off, we went into the hottub, and finally to bed after a long, but good day.

We spent a lot of time watching the weather radar looking for the best place to go to avoid Debbie's 'arms'.

Today we discovered a cute little place called max & porky's. Maximus was the owners beloved golden retriever who lived with him and his son for 9+ years before dying of lung cancer. There is an entire wall of photos dedicated to the dog, with some great photos. To hear him talk about his dog is heartbreaking.