Cowgar Family Adventures

Monday, May 17, 2010

Vacation Sneak Peek

Here's a quick look at our Florida shuttle launch vacation. More details and pictures will come later!

Us on the beach!


STS-132: Atlantis Blasts Off!!!


Booster Separation at about 30 miles up (about 160,000 feet!)
Pay no mind to the tree that got in my way...


Here's a really tight crop where you can actually see the boosters separating


And here's a very short clip taken with our camcorder. It's really difficult to track a space shuttle and 3 kids at the same time!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Feeling Anxious

The weekend was fabulous! We went shopping Saturday afternoon up in Wadsworth. We said our final good-bye to K-Mart, there doors closed for customers on Sunday, but Chris still has a couple weeks of tearing down the store before he is out of a job. It is sad, but he is off to greener pastures...anything has got to be better than K-Mart/Wal-Mart retail! That evening was cousin Nick's 16th birthday party! He made out with some cash, some band t-shirts, and a new bass and bass case, so he was very happy. He hung out in his van before the party and started it up for everyone that pulled in. I believe he started his driver's ed courses today!

Sunday was Mother's Day, so we headed up to Luke's parents and the girls made salad and spaghetti and chocolate mayonnaise cake. I don't really think the mother's got much of a break though, since the guys were busy talking aviation as usual. Luke tried to help, but didn't know what to do, and his dad did cook a few mushrooms.

We started Avery on "solid" foods today. She had a few bites of sweet peas for lunch and dinner. I can't believe he is ready for real food already. I don't think we started Lexi or Lilly until 6-7 months, but I just can't eat anywhere near Avery without her staring and reaching and opening her mouth. She did pretty well with it. I also picked up some carrots and bananas to try with her, and I have applesauce. The farmer's market will start in June, the perfect time to start buying things and making my own babyfood.

So here I sit, tomorrow this time I will be getting the girls out of their bath and ready for bed while Luke is trying to nap before we leave for Florida. I have us half packed, and will finish tomorrow once the laundry is done. I have an entire dufflebag of just snacks. We are hoping to pack our lunch and only eat out breakfast on Wednesday morning (our first stop) and maybe go out to dinner as a family one evening in Florida sometime. Every other time we will be packing food. We have lots of snacks, and we are bringing bread and PB & J, and our hotel will have a fridge and a cooktop and microwave, so we should be set for being able to eat in and not spend money eating out! I better continue... it's about time for the girls to get to bed. Then maybe relax with a movie for a bit to take my mind of off being nervous about this trip.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

T-A Little Less Than 8 Days!

Today the FedEx man arrived at the door with our tickets and vehicle placard that will allow us into Kennedy Space Complex on the day of our launch! Pure Awesomeness!!! I must admit though, when they say vehicle placard, I think of some plastic/metal thing, but it's just a hot pink posterboard type paper with our arrival information and maps to the entrance gates. I would have thought NASA would have put more money into that. Oh well, I don't care, as long as it gets us in. So our basic itinerary is this:

Tuesday May 11th: Pick up minivan and pack...leave at midnight.

Wednesday May 12th: Drive, drive, drive, with multiple stops, making it to Daytona Beach by nightfall.

Thursday May 13th: I think we may hit the Brevard Zoo this day. We were going to try to get into the museum for a tour, but I don't think I want to risk something happening to our tickets if we use them before the launch date. We will hit Titusville in the evening for shots of the shuttle on the launchpad.

Friday May 14th: Launch Day and spending the day at the museum.

Saturday May 15th: Now our free day, we were going to do the zoo this day if we did the museum on Thursday, so right now I'm not sure what we are doing, but I know we will have some beach time here and there while we are there.

Sunday May 16th: Pack up and head towards home, we will drive as far as we can and get a hotel overnight, continuing our journey on Monday and hopefully be home in time to drop the rental off before they close at 6!

Now, we just need to make final preperations, and hopefully the dates don't change!

Monday, May 3, 2010

It's Been Awhile...

Lots of things going on. Luke photographed a wedding on April 24th. Lori, a friend from when I worked at Lowe's, was his second shooter, and his mom also took some pictures. Overall it went really well, and he has lots of editing to do.

His brother's wife's family had pictures taken last Friday, so he also has those to work on, so he is keeping plenty busy. To top it off, we had a wedding consultation for his sister's husband's sister on Saturday. She is getting married at a gorgeous restaurant in December, and that wedding should be a blast!

We had Lilly's party yesterday on her birthday. She is now a big 3!! She goes for her checkup on Wednesday, so we shall see how big she really is. She received lots of clothing and toys, and we had a lot of fun with family. Hopefully no one is stopped up today. We went through 4 pounds of cheese cubes!! Apparently both families love cheese.

We have a full weekend coming up with Nick's 16th birthday and Mother's Day, then it's time to start packing!!

Why you may be asking????

Because as long as the weather holds out, we will be witnessing Atlantis blasting off from Kennedy Space Center on May 14th!!! We bought tickets for viewing it from the Kennedy Space Complex, which is about 8 miles from the pad (with no clear view of the pad). The causeway was sold out by the time we were picked in the lottery to purchase tickets. Now the tickets are going for hundreds of dollars on eBay!! Anyways, we plan on renting a minivan Tuesday evening, and leaving about midnight. Hopefully the girls sleep decently and we can get in 8-9 hours of driving time before they wake up for breakfast. We will stop for breakfast and stretch, then continue for another 4-5 hours, since we know the girls can pull that off from our trips to West Virginia. We will then stop again for a bit, and hopefully be able to pull off another 4-5 hours and make it to Daytona Beach by Wednesday night. As long as the Kennedy Space Center is having its tours on Thursday (day before launch), we will use our ticket to get in and check out the museum and tour (the ticket is good for 2 days, and the tour takes you close to the launchpad). Then we will probably check out Titusville and Space View Park, and get some pictures of the shuttle on the pad from 12 miles out. Friday is launch day, so we will be at the museum again and hopefully the launch goes off without a problem. We also hope to hit the beach, since I have never been to the ocean before, and if all of that goes well, then Saturday will be a free day, and we may hit the Brevard Zoo or find something else to do, then we will start heading home Sunday morning. We'll drive as far as we can, and find a hotel to stop at overnight, and get home Monday evening to return the car and get back to life. That's the plan anyways...we will see how well we can stick to it. It all depends on the shuttle and the weather.