Day 213 ~ perfect way to start Monday morning...

After a long day of driving the day before :)

As you can see by the clock... I've been getting up before 7 lately thanks to the cats!  After Nate leaves, they make it their priority to make sure I'm up as well!  I got this Grumpy mug last minute in Disney World :) 

Day 212 (Sunday February 27th) ~ Going Home

We made the drive home in 14 hours and 15 minutes flat today... and that includes several stops for food, gas, and bathroom :)  W're good!  I hate leaving behind my palm trees and beaches that are much better than ours!  Daytona is my favorite still, though I'm glad we tried St. Pete's :)  I wasn't able to get my camera out in time for this picture in November so I had it ready this time!  It was foggy p[robably until we were almost in South Carolina and then suddenly it was like going into an alternate universe with clear skies!  Until we meet again southern skies! <3

Day 211 (Saturday Febraury 26th) ~ St.Pete's Beach

Last time we were here in Florida we went to Daytona beach.... we decided since it was Bike Week that it might be a little busy there!  So we found St. Pete's Beach in St. Petersburg.  Ok so our beaches here in Maryland have a lot of rocks, Daytona is all sand, here is all....

 Shells!!!!  All the sand is covered in them, and at the water line all your walking on is this!  They were gorgeous though!  And most of them had perfect little holes in them so I colected a bunch to bring back and make necklaces out of to give to my friends and sister!

We spent a few hours on the beach until we were hungry and hot and decided to go, until then I was reading this book and trying to hold it up, I realized the sky was amazingly blue!  I was determined to finish that book too, and I did :) Beaches make me happy!


After we left the beach, we went to see a movie as we always do on our trips.... we saw I am Number 4... it was really good!

Day 210 (Friday Febraury 25th) ~ Magical Memories

My mom had extra park hopper passes from when we went to Disney when I was 16... and they don't expire, so we decided to do a day there since Nate had never been and he showed me Universal Studios last time we were here!  We hit Magic Kingdom, did lunch at Epcot, and ended with Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM) I think the pictures will be mostly self explanitory and since I'm still a little shook up from talking about the launch I will let them speak for themselves unless otherwise needed lol

 Can't go to Disney World without riding this!  Surprisingly it was only a 5 minute wait, I guess we got there early enough!



Monorail to Epcot!

Our Japanese lunch :)

This was our "ticket" for Mission space :)

I love the movie Apollo 13 and he plays Ken Maddingly in it so I had to take a picture of our flight trainer!

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Walt Disney's school desk!

Still didn't get to see this!  So for the second time in a row, I just took a picture instead, maybe next time lol



Day 209 ~ The Final Countdown!!! Thursday February 24th

There should have been a shirt made saying "we finally did it!" Because that's how we all felt today as we all waited patiently for the last launch of the space shuttle Discovery!

Ok here we go.... it's going to be tough for me to narrate this because I still get shivers thinking of it and I still tear up when looking at the pictures, that's how important this was to us and how "once in a lifetime" it felt!  But here it goes anyways :)

This is the Rocket Garden at Kenedy Space Center... we didn't go in last time since all we wanted to was get out we were so diappointed!

When the busses took us over to Cape Canaveral... this is how much time was on the clock, but it was actually still 3:13:42 since they do several holds on the clock towards the end so they can do their sustem checks early!

 We were 6 miles away, that's how far away we have to be just in case something happens, and this was the best our cameras could get :)  I stared at that for the whole 3hours we were there, I couldn't get enough of it!

Playing cards I found at the gift shop, good thing too cause it was crazy trying to sit out there all that time with nothing to do!  We played Crazy 8's a lot!

Ok so it was at this point that they did their final hold on the clock.... 45 minutes from the t-9 minutes mark.  Which meant after that 45 minute wait they would resume the final countdown. Somewhere through that, they started the system checks.  It was incredible to be able to hear all the "go/no go for launch" reports over the PA!  During the time we were there, we also got to hear interviews with the astronauts before they got into the shuttle, everything as they were getting in!  Somewhere I think around 20 minutes into the hold the hold, they ran into a problem... the Range Safety system wasn't working.  The only system to report no go for launch.  Everyone was in a panic at this point out there waiting because we had gotten so close and the shuttle was perfect and the weather was perfect!  They decided to give it to t-5 minutes to resolve it.  At that point if it wasn't resolved, they would have an extra 5 minutes before the launch window would be closed.  Talk about being on the edge of my seat.  I think I was standing pacing at that point because I thought "there is no way on this green earth that that shuttle isn't going to go up this time!"  With only a few seconds left in the extension, they did a final poll of Range Safety and there was a second of silence followed by "Range safety is go for launch" and at that point I was starting to tear up, like I am now recalling everything and everyone waiting errupted in cheering!  Finally after months of waiting and anxiety wondering if it would happen for us to be able to see it....

One of the best days of my life! 

Day 208 (Wednesday February 23rd) ~ On the road again...

Today was just the boring long drive back down to Florida!  It was so much easier the second time around!

So I'm driving and of course 95 is just one semi truck after another, but for about 45 minutes I had been noticing this one up ahead in particular.  I couldn't really see it too well but all I noted was that it had an unusual amount of color for a semi!  Eventually I got close enough to see what it was and it turned out it was Brad Paisley's tour truck!  I nearly scared Nate to death waking him up to take a picture for me! :)  Life is random and good when these things happen!

We stayed in the same hotel as we did in November, for a better price too!  I always take my troll with me on long trips, but this was bumbee (as Kateri calls it) and Perry's first vacation :)



Day 207 ~ What happened to early spring??

We had a few really gorgeous days, and then last night it dumped snow on us again!  Since I had left this season's coat in the car, I had to put on last season's to go out to clear off my car.... when I put it on I realized I missed it!  So I decided I will wear it when we come back from FLORIDA!!!  I'm fullfilling my goal as of tomorrow of ditching the cold and snow of winter for the warmer temperatures of the south!  We're packing tonight and leaving in the morning to try again for the shuttle launch that is supposed to be on Thursday!

Last year's coat and suitcases!!!!

Ramona says she wants to go with me :)  And Oklahoma is sitting there because on the way home from buying snacks for the trip, we saw an Oklahoma license plate and Nate started singing the song but said the main part was all he knew and only because I sang it.  Apparently he has never seen the movie or musical before so when we went to drop off the key for my parents to feed our cats, I grabbed my all time favorite version with Mr. Hugh Jackman for us to watch tonight after we're done packing!



Day 206 ~ Solved Case of the missing Strawberry Shortcake juice bottle!

Erin knew she left Alyssa's just bottle here from Friday.... but we couldn't find it anywhere!  Well today I found it!  In between the sliding glass door and the screen door lol.... it must have gotten in there when we opened the door cause the apartmemt was getting hot when we were playing Just dance and when we closed it, it got trapped!  I'm so glad it's found because I've been looking for it everywhere!

Day 205 ~ Chicken Socks and A Letter from Lyndsay :)

Apparently when my grandfather was in the hospital last week, he off handedly mentioned that both his granddaughters have ice cold feet all the time.... the nurse said she could fix that and came back and handed him these and told him to give them to me and Suzanne... 

 He gave them to us when we all got together for dinner tonight and my mom also got the 10th anniversary Dr. Pepper, which just means the cans looked cool!

Then on our way home from dinner I checked the mailbox and there was a letter from Lyndsay from boot camp!!! Yay!  It's probably been in there a while, but I was so excited!  I used to get letters from my friend Jamie when she was in, so this reminds me of that time!  Lyndsay is doing well, but I know it's tough for her!  She says it's rewarding though!  I immediately sat down to right her back again!



Day 204 ~ $1.30

For the most awesome nail polish ever at Walmart  :)

Day 203 ~ Hurricane Alyssa (Friday, February 18th)

Erin and Alyssa came over tonight to play Just Dance with me and this is what Aly likes to do with my un usable coupons and practically with my whole apartment!!

And this is what Steve likes to do when people are in the bathroom.... it's irresistably cute when you come out and see his little face waiting for you!

Day 202 ~ 70 Degrees = Day at the park with Kateri :)

The weather was so beautiful today that we couldn't help but get outside!  I took Kateri to the park nearby her house and she went up the stairs and down the slide and then up the climbing thing and down the other slide about a million times, I'm not even kidding!  And she wanted to do it all by herself, no help :)  She's such a big girl now!  We also spent quite a bit of time on the swings before coming home..... she says all her "sw" sounds as "fw" so we were "fwinging" :)  Her little voice is so cute!

Day201 ~ New Thermostat!!! (Wednesday, February 16th)

We've been having problems with our thermostat all winter.... after two attempts to fix the old one, they must have decided we could have a new one :)  I came home to this and was excited!

Day 200 ~ David...

Has this cool hat! :)  Enough said!

Day 199 ~ "Let's Open Our Eyes, to a Brand New Day" Valentine's Day, February 14th!

That line in my title is from the theme song to the show Lie To Me and I absolutely love it, the whole song is so inspiring to looking at life in a whole new way.  I've been waiting for an excuse to use it as a blog post title.... and today, was not only Valentine's day, but a beautiful day outside and it was the kind of day that makes you open your eyes and see life brand new!  Suzanne and I babysat for the Pontzer family and we went to the park which was a great walk and lots of fun!  Then I had handbell practice and when I came home Nate had flowers and a cake waiting for me!  We were pretty tired though so we saved the cake for later!

Lucy, Suzanne, Gianna, and Jude!