Anniversary Weekend

Yes, we've made it a whole year. Though Tim and I feel like it's been 5 years...

Tim went to an Order of the Arrow Boy Scout campout on Friday night and Saturday. He was a mess hall helper, apparently nothing gets the multitude of sticky breakfast syrup off those tables.
He came home on Saturday night, and then on Sunday we went to Seaworld with Robert and Chale. We had fun, though it was really hot. We saw the clidesdales hitched to the buggy. The dalmation was cute sitting up in the wagon. Robert told us that was the replacement dalmation. The old one was run over by a security officer at the Daytona Speedway during the races in February.
Tim and I had Sonny's BBQ for dinner. We're thinking of starting a tradition of having BBQ every year on our anniversary. (If you don't remember, we had it at the after-reception party.)
We had a great weekend and certainly did not miss eating a thawed year-old wedding cake. (If you get married and people say you're supposed to freeze the top layer of your cake so you can eat it on your 1st anniversary, smile and nod at them. Then eat your cake. DO NOT save it. I've heard from several people that it tastes nasty after a year.)

Week and a Half in Review

So I haven't posted in a while. To get caught up, here is what happened since the last time I wrote:

Our Yuri's Night party at the Space Walk of Fame Museum was a success. We helped to raise almost $1800 for the museum!
Easter weekend we drove to Georgia to see Tim's family. We painted Easter eggs with Magen & Jaden and had Easter dinner at Tommie & Michelle's house. Sunday night we went to a movie with Robbie & Lindsey--Lucky Number Slevin. It was actually pretty good.

We drove back home on Monday, I had to get right back into the swing of things with ZERO-G. We're doing a mini-tour the first weekend in May out in California. There's a lot to plan when you have 9 flights in 4 days!
On Tuesday Tim went with me to the SWE meeting at Fishlips in Port Canaveral.
On Thursday we went to the YMCA. It was Tim's first visit. We've had a membership since January. Hopefully we can make a habit of going together. I go to pilates class twice a week, but I need to add some cardio.

Happy Flight Day!

The weekend started great. Tim and I manned a booth at the KSC Visitor's Center mid-day on Friday. Robert and Fred were there with a couple other NSS volunteers. We gave away Ad Astra magazines and spacey posters and had a blast. I even got to talk to the Spaceman (the guy dressed in the EVA suit).
John Young and Bob Crippen were there for a short time talking to the crowd. It was cool to see them. I realized that I had never seen a moon-walker before. Very cool. We had Dippin' Dots in little space helmet bowls during their presentation.
That evening we attended the "Gala Opening" of the NASA art exhibit at the BCC Planetarium. We learned that, though normally Norman Rockwell painting are very realistic, he should not have attempted to portray a moon landing. Buzz's head was sticking out of the top of the LEM and Neil looked like he was wearing a baggy sweatsuit. We headed upstairs to the observatory and saw the Moon and Saturn through their big telescopes.
Saturday was Flight Day! Everything went extremely well. Both Tim and I got to fly. I got to do another superman--very fun! We had a grand ole time in row 5 during take-off and landing. Though, we did take it down to only 2 stars.
Here's me on the SLF ramp next to a T-38. The picture's a little grainy because it was taken with Matt's phone.

Sad Tree Day

Jack's oak tree is coming down today. Though I will be glad that it's gone, I'm always sad when a tree is downed.

On a happier note, Jack's favorite climbing tree, our bottle brush tree, is blooming. It's such a Seuss-like tree, it's weird. I've never had a cool red blooming tree before!

As you can see, Jack can't wait to get outside and play again.

Azriel will just be glad when all the noise and commotion is over with.

Sailing

Tim took Friday afternoon off work, and we went sailing on Art's boat. Art is one of ZERO-G's Flight Directors, plus he's an engineer for Boeing at KSC. He has a 23 foot sail boat. We took it out onto the Banana River. Tim had the tiller, Art manned the sails, and I supervised. :-) We sailed up to the NASA Causeway and back. The white dot on the horizon just to the left of Tim is the VAB. We came back to the dock long enough for a potty break, then headed out again for a sunset cruise with Art's family--his wife Cordelia, his son Alex, and his daugher Anaka. Oh, and one of their cats, Tigger. They wanted him to get his sea legs. I think Jack would really enjoy sailing. He would make a great pirate.

Tim and I were invited to stay for dinner afterwards. It was a great day!

The next morning, Tim left early to go to Pittsburgh. He was a member on the Space Tourism panel at the NSBE conference. Tim saw some of his friends there and had a good time on the panel. He flew back Saturday night.

Sunday I did our taxes with TurboTax. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. In the afternoon I went up to Daytona to Maryann's Partylite candle party. I always enjoy a candle party. I won a dozen tealights in a little game we played. I got Limoncello scented tealights--just like the liquor. I bought a few other scents of votives and a candle holder for the guest bathroom. Tim and I are booked to have a candle party at our house on April 24. Watch for your invitation!

Switchfoot Concert

We went to the Switchfoot concert last night with Tim-ber and Sniper. We had a blast! The House of Blues is really nice--no smoking inside. We had to remind ourselves that Switchfoot is really a Christian rock band. There were so many young'ns around it was a little weird.
I thought the bass player looked like Daniel V. from Project Runway; Tim thought he looked like PeeWee Herman. Whatever, Tim enjoyed his birthday present.

On a completely different note, Jack helped me do laundry yesterday. He loves socks!

Weekend Adventures

Laura, Kaare & Elizabeth stayed with us over the weekend, Thursday through Tuesday! We had a great time. On Sunday we went to SeaWorld with Brian & Leona and Sniper. We all took turns holding the baby. It was cute to see Robert pushing the baby buggy.

We had dinner with Rob, Karen & Anna that evening. The next day I went with L, K & E to KSC. Tim got Laura & Kaare badges, so we all met at NASA HQ for lunch. Bad idea. We almost got arrested because Elizabeth didn't have a badge! But it turned out they were more upset with the security guards at the gate for letting her pass. Elizabeth is going down in history as the first and only baby to visit NASA HQ at the Cape.

After lunch we went on the bus tour out to the launch gantry and Saturn V Center. We had a bus driver with a political score to settle. He's on a rampage about how our grandchildren are going to pay for the New Horizons spacecraft. Apparently it's going to start an interplanetary war with the people that live in the "undiscovered galaxy just past Pluto." No joke, this guy went on about it for more than 5 minutes!

So we had a nice and very eventful visit with our friends from Oklahoma.

Weekend Workout

Whew! This past weekend we really did a lot of stuff around the house.

Friday night we had Teresa and Robertover for pizza and to watch the new Doctor Who show on SciFi. It was cheezy and fun (both the pizza and the show). Hooray for nearby friends!

Saturday Robert came back over with his bike and we cleaned and prepped bicycles together in the garage. Mine is 8 years old and still using the same tires and tubes from freshman year at college. His is a fancy-pants new bike with shiny parts and no rust. We had a good time! Jen worked in the yard moving stepping stones and planting more flowery things.

Sunday we spent the entire day stripping the paint off of the front door! It was not 100% successful, but we learned a lot about how to remove & replace doors, deadbolts, and door handles. I am nt sure how we intend to get the rest of the paint off, but it will happen! Until then, the door is going to look a little "rugged". Maybe this will deter would-be criminals?

Cool Picture

I wanted to share with you this really cool picture of the ISS passing in front of the Moon. Video and more info is available on the Planetary Society's blog.

Bikeweek

Mom and Tom were in town this week for Bikeweek. We had a great time. Some of the highlights were

--Mom and I went to Animal Kingdom and rode the new Everest ride. Very cool!! Watch out for the Yeti, though.
--We bought azeleas and planted them by the fence to replace the yicky asparagus ferns.
--I rode my Buell from Port Orange to Titusville! It had been a while since I rode, but it all came back to me and I can't wait to ride again.
--Tim went to Atlanta for the weekend to start his Introduction Leader Program for Landmark. And then from there he flew to Washington, DC for a meeting about the Centennial Challenges. He'll be back on Tuesday.
--Mom and I went to Jungle Adventures park in Christmas, FL. It is a very run down looking place, but it was fun. We got to hold a baby alligator and pet a boa constrictor.
--And we went to the Daytona Flea Market--always a treat!

Espana Recap

So we've been back from Spain for a week, and I'm just now updating the blog. Sorry everyone!

The meetings and site visit that we went over there for were successful. Everything is looking good for the SGC meeting in September. Most likely, the conference will be held at the Museum. Isn't it gorgeous?!

On Friday we visited some hotels to scope them out for the conference as well. But the most exciting part of the trip was on Saturday. We met with 3 students from the Polytechnic University. They are interested in helping with the conference. Yay! They also showed us around the city. What awesome tour guides! We learned so much about the city just from a few hours with them. Here is a picture of Tim with the students in front of a weird pastry shop. It only sells this milk-like drink that doesn't taste like anything we've ever tasted and the pastries that you dunk into the milk-like drink. Tim is holding up one of the pastries.

The most exciting part about the visit for me was knowing that we would be coming back to this beautiful city. I can't wait! I'll leave you with an adorable shot of me and Tim.

"Hola" from Valencia

Just a quick post before Tim & I head to dinner with the IAC Valencia organizing committee. We arrived safely today in Valencia, Spain. We got checked into the correct hotel after the second try. We met up with our group at the museum Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias--what a gorgeous place. The IAC will be held there in October.
The drivers here are scarier than in Miami. But otherwise, it's a great city. We hope to see more of it over the next few days.

Neighbor Dan to the Rescue

Jack is never allowed outside unsupervised again!
Yesterday evening I went outside to look for Jack. It had been a while since I had seen him. I heard mewing. I got a flashlight and pointed it towards the mewing--in the boughs of our yard's biggest tree. Sure enough, it was Jack. He had climbed straight up the truck of the tree and couldn't get down. In the picture, Jack is the white spot on the branch to the right.


The only ladder we have is not tall enough to reach where he was, so Tim got up on the roof. One of the branches reaches out over the roof. But then the trick was to get Jack to climb out on that specific branch. Jack wasn't going for that.
Meanwhile, our neighbor Dan had come out to see what the ruckus was about. He happened to have a ladder that would reach the crook of the tree, so he leaned it right up there and grabbed the Jack-a-roo. Woo-hoo! Thanks again Neighbor Dan for saving the day!

What a Weekend!

We had a fantastic weekend! Jim and Scarlett arrived Friday evening. Tim was still not back from DC, but we had a great dinner at El Leoncito. After dinner Jim helped me put up our glass shelves. Tim arrived late in the evening.
The next morning we couldn't sleep in--there was too much to do to get ready for the housewarming party. We debued our chocolate fountain! It was a hit. Though it was a lot of work to cut all the fruit for it.

Tom & Amy Fulmer, our mortage guy and his wife, brought BBQ from Sonny's. We had a good crowd for our first party at the new house. Shannon even came from DC!!

Jack had a great time, too. First he got to play with Anna--a person the same size as him! He didn't even wince when she pulled at his ears. Then Jack got to play in the yard. Jim taught him how to climb trees. But he figured out how to climb down, so it's okay.

Then Sunday, we took Shannon to the Super Flea in Melbourne. It's actually smaller than the Daytona flea market, but there was live entertainment--cloggers! You can't beat that. We had dinner at Carabbas in Altamonte Springs with Maryann & JT and Robert.

Liftoff

We got up early again today. Tim headed to DC for an FAA Commercial Space Transportation conference. I headed out to the SLF again to see the Global Flyer take-off. It was COLD and breezy yet again.
After a long wait, the chase plane took over. It circled for 10-15 minutes before we saw Global Flyer start to roll down the runway. It didn't look like he was going to make it--Fossett was nearing the end of the runway. But he finally pulled up and rose slowly in altitude. The chase plane followed him out over the Atlantic. Very cool!


Photo courtesy of Tim Nuhfer.

Scrubbed

The alarm went off at 3:30 this morning. Tim, I, and Tim-ber! met the buses at the KSC Visitor's Center at 4:45 to go out to the Shuttle Landing Facility to see the take-off of the Global Flyer. We were driven out to the mid-field site where the control tower is. It was cold and windy, but we got to see Richard Branson! The take-off was scrubbed at the last minute due to a small fuel leak. We still had fun and maybe we'll do it all again tomorrow.

Fireside Chat

Tim has asked that I take over the blogging for awhile since I have more time on my hands. I'm still in the market for a new job. But I'm getting leads almost everyday, so hopefully soon I'll have a real job with benefits. Until then, I'm working from home.
We are settling in here in Titusville. We've been to 2 local NSS meetings and a Young Professionals networking evening. Last week I went to an event held at the Florida Space Authority. Our congressman, Tom Feeney, had the opportunity in December to be in the first delegation from the US to visit China's space center. He showed us some pictures (their assembly building looks just like our VAB). And he told us about their plans for a space station and moon exploration.
Yesterday I took Azriel to the vet for her yearly check-up. Our cats visit the doctor more than we do!
Also, yesterday, we had our first fire in the fireplace!

update: Housewarming Moved!

Updates?! Who has time for updates?? Jen and I are still busy with ZERO-G flights and unpacking boxes! This past weekend, Jen planed flowers and got the yard looking good while I went to Miami for our annual Flight Attendant refresher course. We both had fun!

We have moved our Housewarming to February 11 in the late afternoon. Don't wait for an invitation to come your way--just put it on the calendar and let us know you'll be here!

the Remodeling begins...

"I noticed the wallpaper in the guest bathroom was starting to peel in one corner."

And so begins our first round of home improvements! We've already ripped out the ugly shower doors, one of the medicine cabinets, the mirror, and about half of the wall paper*. Not bad for our first night!

* Does anyone know how to get off the other half of the wall paper that wasn't so easy??

Bonus Episode: Disneyland

And you thought Christmas was over! Alice and Tom gave us a uniqe present this year: a trip to Disneyland in California - WOW!!! We spent three nights at the Disneyland Hotel and four *magical* days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.


Big thrills were on the remodeled Space Mountain and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (I'd never been on it!), and The Matterhorn (the world's first steel-tube coaster). It's A Small World was closed (no one cried) while they removed the holiday decorations. In California Adventure, the California Screamin' roller coaster looked like a large wooden coaster, but was realy a steel coaster with a loop! The Sun Wheel was a ferris wheel derivation with cabs that moved around as it spun--an experience you have to feel to understand.

Points of difference between Disneyland and the Walt Disney World parks:

• "land" is in California and was built first.
  
• "World" is in Florida and is waaaay bigger.
  
• The Haunted Mansion in CA was decorated in "the Nightmare Before Christmas" motif--never seen the movie, but it was much more interesting!
• The CA Tower of Terror was much shorter and didn't give the background story as much.
• While on the Pirates of the Carribean in Disnyeland, you float by an actual restaurant, the Blue Bayou, where we had dinner one night!

Big thanks to Alice and Tom for the most relaxing and "vacation" vacation we've had since our honeymoon! Of course, we have no more vacation time for the year, but it was worth it!