Kennedy Space Center today, very nice day as far as weather is concerned. Sunny warm a little humid-- perfect if you ask me. We saw the Saturn program rockets and the Shuttle programs as well as what it took to get men on the moon--In fact there has only been 12 people to walk on the moon, quite an exclusive club. Now growing up with the space program the "astronauts", as well as the start of the Shuttle Program, these guys actually walked on the moon, Natalie and I found it very interesting and amazing... the kids so-so. However it got me thinking-- here something so technologically daunting and extraordinary as putting men on the moon was treated as more common place thing by those growing up with it. Our kids are no different than any other kids who see this and really have no idea of what it took. Maybe they see it toda, like "Oh just another space shuttle going up."

Rub a dub tub three men in a tub, there are three guys who fit into this Saturn space capsule. Saturn 5 capsule, again this thing is coming from outer space thru the atmosphere and if it came in too shallow it would bounce off the atmosphere and keep on going thru space. Too deep of an angle, it goes too fast and burns up over the atmosphere. All I can say is WOW.

Saturn Space rocket, these guys were sitting on a bomb basically. One of the bus drivers on the tour who took us around was a funny guy, he kept on addressing us "ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls and girls and boys".. it was a bit much. But the funniest thing was he kept on saying the "alligators clam fences" we kept on saying, "what?, is that a new clam species???, but what he was really trying to say was that "alligators CLIMB fences" when he was saying CLAM....a very thick accent.

These are three actual astronauts, leaving their space ships. One of the more interesting talks we had with one of the hosts was at the international space center area. He never specifically said that Obama is at fault-- because as a NASA government employee he was to refrain from opinion but instead told us to address our Senators and Congressmen about the latest budget proposal concerning the Space program budget. Basically he told us when the last shuttle goes up then the current space program will be disbanded, meaning around 7000-10000 jobs will be lost and any of the technical advancements that NASA comes up or the brain power will be lost as well, then the domino effect that happens due to the loss of the core jobs will kick up the loss to possibley 20-35k eventually--so if you have plans to go to Kennedy Space Center you might want to get there soon. Go Obama, I guess NASA will get a proper "change", just as he promised....

Gatorland

After an interesting flight and the loss of two of our bags we made it to Orlando, always an interesting thing losing you bags.
The next day we got up and went to Gatorland, there are a lot of alligators and a lot of fun birds and fun animals.

Nice fruit loop birds--they most definitely did not want a cracker because we kept on asking them!

This is a very disturbed albino alligator, he did not like me getting too close to it because his eyes got mean and wanted to probably eat me.

This is Chester.  He is reported to eat dogs off their leashes.  He doesnt like other alligators so he has is own bachelor pad.  One of the workers was going along the fence to clean his tank and Chester started hissing and growling... I was hoping that guy could move faster than Chester could-- but then maybe it would have been great sports entertainment to see the chase..

Travis's 16th Birthday

Travis had his Birthday yesterday, Sweet 16, how nice, only problem was he kept on telling dear ol Dad that he was going to "take me on" when he turned 16. Well we kept it a secret about just how he was going to take me on.

We sang Happy Birthday just after Mutual, my cousin, Robert Dowdle's, wife Tia made this very creative cake, she really pulled out the stops on the design

Now the Beat Down
commenced,
he didnt
know anything
about the big pillow gloves.
He has been sweating
bullets for months
And as you can
see Dad prevails..
There is a full album on the web album

Teachers Q. food night

Natalie and her friend Karol ran the Teacher's thru a missionary basics cooking class.
Simple foods and what to do with them when they go out. Hamburger, chicken, rice, potatoes and some soups.



Then they ate the product of their labors
Meatloaf, at some point you have to get your hands dirty!








Fried potatoes, the hit of the skillet.

1st Contact

New Foray into uncharted territory. With a little help maybe you will see what we are up too from time to time