Random again

2 of Elijah, aaron playing croquet, Samuels drawing of a man juggling.

Random

Tummy time

Tummy time is hard.

Post dinner

And so tired.

4th day

Starting to stay awake for (slightly) longer periods.

The Boys

Going home.

Passed the test.

Car seat test

90 minutes like this to prove he can tolerate it.

Elijah Daniel

Initial pics from yesterday.

Pics from launch

Took these without looking at my phone, so they're a bit askew.

Traffic

Oh yea, and it launched. YouTube it. It was cool.

Traffic was better than expected, we expect to be back in Orlando by 10:30am. But what to do with the rest of the day...

Pics from this morning

Waiting

About 4-6 miles further than we'd like, but with a good view nonetheless, and a good parking spot to beat the traffic. All the word is good for the launch. Starting to warm up some out here. We're right on the water.

Almost there

Almost to Titusville, where the prime viewing locations shown up as a yellow and red line on google maps when you add the traffic indicator.

First post of mom AM

Back to the gate. They put too much fuel in and need to take some off. Apparently that's more complicated than it sounds. He said he didn't think they were going to have us get off the plane....

Last post of the PM

On the plane. At last minute cliff and I were given 1st class seats. Our plus1 stuck with the rest.

Watching The Office. To sleep.

Sun night

2157- estimated departure is 11:09pm now. Sitting with our plus one (a resident from MSU with connections to both Cliff and I), eating ice cream from McDonalds. Making jokes about how if they keep delaying, we'll be running to make his flight tomorrow.
It's funnier when you're in Newark.

Anyhoo.

Running

Remember when we ran full tilt to this gate? That was awesome.

Second try

For those of you not in the know, Cliff and I are making the trip to see the launch. I'll be blogging it here.
1:20pm - on our way to the airport. So far flight is on time and traffic is good. We don't have a lot of room for delay if we're going to make our bus in Orlando in time.
2:40 pm- security went smoothly. Mcdonalds for lunch and now waiting to board our plane.
3pm - boarding delayed due to a back up in Newark, will put us in there about 10 min late but with with enough time to make our connection.
3:09 pm- delayed again, they will call us up as our connecting flight is now 10 min after our arrival
345pm - supposedly boarding at 4 now. If our next flight delays were might make it, otherwise we're on standby for a flight that gets to Orlando at 11pm. If they run behind at the buses, we might still make it then.
350pm - a kindred spirit with us here also going to the launch. His envelope from Florida Dolphin Tours has written on it "DO NOT throw away. I keel
you".
352pm- this friend has confirmed with FDT that we can't show up a Kennedy space center with our passes, because we don't have the parking pass.
404p- cliff and I first on the plane with our friend close behind. Stewardess knows we're going to Orlando. We hope that since there are 3 of us affected, and they know we'll be running, they might wait for us.
I feel like I've had about 6 cups of coffee right now. Jitteriness, not bladder fullness.
1810-here in Newark and gates are full so waiting to get to a gait. Hoping they hold things for us....So drat it looks like the flight to Orlando is still on time.
1824-I keep refreshing flight status. No changes. Moving to gate now. Standby flight leaves after 8pm and gets in at 11:07.
1836-our flight left the gate 10 min ago according to the Internet. Pulling into our gate now.
1843-shuttle to terminal C. Then run.
1906- standby. Haven't talked to anyone yet.
2004- went and got dinner. As no meal on this flight. Shortly after last post, they delayed the flight by about an hour. Going to drive to Titusville after checking the bus pickup.
2039-our 'plus one' is now going to share a car with us since we're all in the same boat now(actually his pickup was at port canaveral). He has a flight home tomorrow at 330pm.
2050- so apparently our plane just left Cleveland. So that puts us in Orlando sometime next Thursday.

I was waiting to post as Hannah didn't want the suspense of hearing about possible delays. So the suspense is over and at this point we're gonna be viewing from Titusville.

Dinner

A bit chilly really, but a pretty nice day for dinner outside.

Samuel's first roller coaster.

Sun late morning

Got to Disney about an hour ago. Magic kingdom. Here until 5 pm them flight home at 9pm.

Saturday Noon

At the Orlando Science Center.

Sat AM pics

Playing in the balcony.

Sat AM

So far taking it easy this morning. Of course its not even 9am.

We both woke not wanting to do or go anywhere. Last night we were thinking about the beach, but weather report is saying lots of rip currents today. So I think we'll go to the Orlando Science Center today. We also considering Medieval Times or Arabian Nights at some point for dinner, tonight or tomorrow night if we're still here.

It sounds like we will know firmer details about the launch as soon as this afternoon and as late as Sunday afternoon. If they tell us today, it's probably good news, if we don't hear until tomorrow, more likely the launch will be later than Monday.

The boys are running between our 3 balcony doors in and out of the rooms, yelling and screaming. Closing doors and yelling " we're trapped". Good morning Orlando!

Fri afternoon

Launch has slipped to Monday now. We are pretty much of the opinion that this is what we're here to do, so we will probably still go. I haven't bought tickets for anything yet. If they make us repurchase the entire tour package, we may reconsider. In that case we would be home Sunday night. If we stay, prob Tuesday afternoon to Detroit and a taxi/rental car to flint (significantly cheaper than direct to flint as prices go up on Tuesday).

Thankfully aaron just woke up (it's 2:30) and had a 2 hr or so nap. Samuel fell asleep 30min ago. Traffic is better, we're about halfway home already. So home in time to swim.

We'll Things out better tonight. And there is some sort of press conference at 4pm.

The plan so far

Well the launch has been scrubbed until Sunday. They're telling us that our tickets will still be valid (apart from a transportation fee), so we're going to stay until Monday.

That's how we roll people. We just go with the flow. Whatever, man.

Actually flights home on Monday are priced well. And the resort looks underbooked, so we shouldn't have a problem extending our stay.

We won't stay past Monday. I'll buy return tickets tonight. Now, what to do tomorrow. I know! Spend money!

But on what....

Scrub

Announced 15 min ago, just before we arrived on the causeway. Bus now returning to Orlando. Next launch not before Sunday

Friday early morning

700- 20 mi from space center. Spent 1 hr on bus before we left. Practice for tonight. Boys kinda crazy. Samuel now knows were going to the "space center". Cloudy outside. I wish aaron would sleep, but it's too late now.
1015- in the longest line I've ever seen to get back on buses to go to causeway for viewing.
1108- aaron: "why aren't we moving?". Just got onto the bus to go to the viewing area.

Thursday evening pics

Walking back from the pool.

Thursday evening

1600- back from the pool. The resort we're at had a 15 seat movie theatre so we're watching Monsters, Inc on the big screen while Hannah takes a nap. It was painful to watch the staff get it set up, but apart from the volume being pretty loud, not a bad setup.
1800- dominos for dinner. Hopefully we'll get the boys(and us) to bed earlier tonight as we had and have an early start.
1920- getting bags packed for tomorrow. Storms currently moving through cape canaveral, but not by us. Hannah and I think if there is a scrub tomorrow, it's gonna be last minute. So we're praying for clear skies. The boys have been asleep for almost a half hour already thanks to Hannah sitting in the doorway putting a stop to any talking. We'll be there soon enough.

Thursday afternoon pics

Thursday afternoon

1000 plane on the ground. Boys are restless.
1200- at applebees for lunch. Aaron napped in the car. It's in the 80s. Gonna go to Target and hopefully to the hotel and the pool.
1420- checked into the hotel and getting ready to go down to the pool. Target was awesome.

Thur AM pics

Thursday- Early Morning

445 - alarm. Time to get up. Finish packing.
515 - wake up the boys. Samuel: excited. "i'm usually afraid of riding in an airplane where are we going?". Aaron: tired. Not terribly happy to have to get up.
5:30- on the way to the airport. Aaron's mood quickly improves with milk.
630-through security and waiting at the gait with Aaron for Hannah and Samuel to return with food.
800- everybody did well during takeoff, we're now enjoying our mid-flight snack of water and animal crackers. Samuel is watching wall-e and aaron is watching Cars, so all is well. Even Hannah looks relaxed- the flight has been pretty smooth so far. Kid behind us announced after takeoff that he was "happy his ears didn't pop off". Me too kid.

Packing

How to pack, how to pack. Well the trip could take 3 days or up to a week. We've been told that due to the traffic situation after a launch, the 1 hr bus ride back to Orlando might take 6-7 hours. Aaron is learning to poop on the potty. Hannah is pregnant. The space center is more strict about what can be brought in than the airport.
Hmmmm. We'll think about that tomorrow.

The family trip

I say "The" family trip because our upcoming vacation represents one of the most largest financial and emotional investments in a vacation that our family has ever made. On this Friday, we, the four (five) of us, hope to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch. To the space station. From Florida. First, a little background.

This launch was originally scheduled for last July, was delayed until last November, then delayed until February, then delayed again until April 19, and finally was pushed back to April 29, where the launch date has firmly held for about the last month.

Feeling pretty good about April 19th (there are websites that keep track of the launches so people like me know when to feel good), we bought plane tickets, and reserved a car and hotel. Knowing that these launches have the potential to scrub and launch 24 hours later, we got one-way tickets and only reserved 2 nights in a hotel. Since our main goal is to see the launch, and we don't consider the boys old enough to enjoy everything else that Orlando offers, we were willing to trade off the premium to buy return tickets at last minute for the chance to get home quicker and quit spending money in Florida. Every extra night means a hotel and car reservation, 3 meals at restaurants, and finding something to do. I know we sound like loser parents, but whatever.

So then they announced the delaying if the launch another 10 days. The hotel and car reservations rescheduled easily enough, but it took a $75/ticket rebooking fee to reschedule. And now instead of leaving on a cheap Monday, we're leaving on a more sought-after Thursday. Let me rephrase that: our tickets went from "hey that's cheap" to "hey that's twice what it was". I also had to reschedule the coverage at my office. There were lots of swears that day.