Barberville Pioneer Settlement

For a little culture fix we headed northwest for a some Country Jamboree at the Barberville Pioneer Settlement.

Cool trivia for the day was the telegram was pretty much done away with by the 70's and the last commercial telegraph was sent in 1983.

The apprentice printer (Mason) was urged to produce 1500 flyers or else no lunch, he was pedaling as fast as his little legs could go!

On the way home we stopped in at Barberville Produce where I fell in love with this unique outdoor seating collection, alas we didn't have the $3500 required to bring it on home...so it's still sitting there.

USS Ponce (LPD 15) amphibious transport dock ship

The USS Ponce was in Port Canaveral and open for public tours this week before beginning decommissioning after 41 years of service.

Thursday Adventures

The Cruger-dePeyster Sugar Mill ruins in New Smyrna Beach.

Even in the early 1800's sugar was a risky buisness.

Cumberland Island GA, September 14 2011

Ferry leaving St Marys GA enroute to Cumberland Island

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Miller/Greene Cemetery

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Dungeness Ruins

Jekyll Island GA, September 12 2011

The boy and I tagged along on a business trip with Jon and while hubby was working hard we spent the day in Jekyll Island GA.

This was Driftwood Beach, located on the north end of Jekyll Island, one of the most eerily beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

Shedding of the old...

This 56 inch baby was right outside the front door...As long as he/she stays a minimum of a foot outside that door, we are good.

Bow NH

Our NH vacation is over and as we were making our way south back to CT, we stopped in here for a hike and LB in Bow NH. The view and lake were a rather pleasant surprise but ended up being practical as well...The temps had topped over 100 degrees and after our hike we were hot! New England in summer, is simply paradise.

DIANA'S BATHS

Since marriage to Jon have been thumbing through Jill's photo albums admiring her families summer vacations for years. Mason and I both have been the most intrigued with Diana's Bath and this summer we experienced the thrill ourselves!

We had the most perfect and HOT day to enjoy a half a mile of cascading falls, waterspouts and granite basins. Now we are spoiled and perhaps ruined for future water fun? This was way better than any nasty ole water park.

Mount Washington NH 2011

This was taken on the Alpine Garden Trail up on Mt Washington, famously known for it's crazy and unpredictable weather. Today was so warm, almost but not quite hot and airless maybe?
Then all of a sudden the wind picked up, unpredictable is an understatement.

The Fat Floridian vs Eagle Mountain

Per the Eagle Mountain Letterbox clues: Not recommended for fat Floridians! Now this particular Floridian who is slightly overweight and more than a little out of shape was a bit hesitant...This was some hike, approx 2 miles round trip, 1300 ft plus in elevation. But an edict was issued and I just had to take the challenge. Happy to report mission was accomplished in 1.5 hours and I won the match!.

Crawford Notch

Once we crossed into NH from VT we pretty much LB'ed 302 all the way into Jackson. There was this was a fab series (5) that took us through many of the highlights of Crawford Notch State Park.
Saco Lake, across from the AMC Highland Center.

On our way down to the "Dismal Pool".
Across the street from the Willey House is Saco River and a pleasant 10 minute hike.

Two Rivers

One of our favorite places to cool off when we lived here and the 1st place the boy wanted to visit was Salmon River. Mason was hoping the rock dam he and his buddies built last summer was still standing...Poor disappointed kid, he didn't recognize any of those stones.
After dipping our toes it was time for a (what turned out to be a 3 mile) hike in the Salmon River State Forest.
FL does not have a corner on the hot & humid market and it was downright steamy in CT today...so into the Blackledge River we went. Two refreshing rivers in one day; only in CT!

Museum of Natural History

Status stone from South Pacific somewhere, was like money...So how'd you like to carry this thing around in your pocket?

Watauga Lake; worth moving to Tennessee for...

Already planning next years escape to the Appalachian Mountains...

Handsome feller, ain't he?

OV-104 (Atlantis) on it's final rollout from the OPF to the VAB.

It's Cool In The Furnace

Kids Klub (KK) presents "It's Cool In The Furnace", a musical production of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Or for all you VeggieTale fans; Rack, Shack and Benny....Mason plays the fictional character, General Camelot who is the head of King Nebuchadnezzar's Calvary. This 30 second video clip is of Mason singing his Tra La La solo.

Tonight was the last show...Feeling melancholy because we will miss our friends and the camaraderie of our KK family but what a show it was!

Rain Barrel Workshop

Putting gutters on the back of the house and instead of purchasing rain barrels we signed up for a clinic with Brevard Park & Rec and "made" a rain barrel for half the cost of store bought. Another plus...kept some plastic out of the landfill.



Mason got the job done!

Volusia County Trifecta

Jon is on 2rd shift this week for the launch and Mason and I had the whole day free. Soooo off we went for some mom/son/letterboxing adventures!
First stop was the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach. The center was a surprise artist colony smack in the middle of some Florida scrub and home to one of the best LB's we have ever found!
DeLeon Springs has been on the to-do list for 2 years now, yay, we finally made it! Trivia, back in the 50's Sunshine was a big draw....No not sunshine in the sky, but Sunshine the water skiing elephant? Skiing pachyderms are no longer an attraction, thank goodness...The big draw now is a restaurant, the Old Spanish Sugar Mill where you cook your pancakes on the griddle right in the middle of the table. Mason and I interviewed one of the waitresses and turns out they do have a GF batter available, double yay!DeLeon Spring temps are 72 year round and even though this is April, we had a 93 degree day which made for a perfect combo!Last stop was Lake George SF in Astor and an excellent example of why we love LBing so. This park was way off the beaten path...On this particular afternoon, after driving down a 2.5 mile piece of it, we ended up on a peninsula jutting out into the St Johns River.
A perfect day except for the time where I was crying at the gas pump...

Fort Christmas

Saturday a much anticipated family day was set into motion and off to Fort Christmas we went. The place was really hoppin and we were surprised by how different the encampment was from last year? Like where are the re-enactors? A few questions later finally landed us a person in the know and we found out that because of the late Easter this year, the camp was scheduled 2 weeks ago and yes they were very sorry but no the website had not been updated. Yuh, well we were bummed for all of about 2 seconds...Turns out there was a HUGE 4-H Agricultural Festival going on and we were welcome to join in the fun!

Before electricity all sheep shearing was done the old fashioned way, with manual shears. This antique pair was almost but not quite up to the task, they were kind of rusty... Washing raw cotton... Sure it was a tedious and mindless job so they made the children do it. After a thorough 30 minute instructional on how to properly use a bow and arrow the 3 of us got the opportunity to shoot. Not to brag or anything but my first slung arrow was a bulls eye! The boys did pretty well themselves with plenty of bulls eye between us all. This could be a new family hobby?
We weren't all that impressed when the Fire Dept called the kids over and at first thought sure another fire truck demo...No, it was way cooler than that. This was a demo on how controlled fires are started and controlled, complete with actual visuals, they totally burnt up some grass! After the demos the kids had an opportunity to hold and use the fire hoses and make sure those fires were out!

One of the days surprises...There was this pen with gators in it and they encouraged folks to just lean on into it and pick one up! Jon grabbed the smallest fella, an approx 1 year old baby, he was too chicken to go for one of the toddlers!

Family Ties

Faith and Jill, 1st cousins...Morgan and Mason 3rd cousins. Now if you look in the left corner of pic, the dude wearing the red shirt, that's Jon, a 2nd cousin.

Battle at Narcoossee Hill

Nah, no real battle here, just Mason and his pop pop listening to and watching a presentation on fiber/fabric production during the Civil War.


This was our second year visiting Battle at Narcoossee Hill Educators Day in Chisholm Park which is held the 4th weekend every March. The biggest difference between 2010 & 2011? Was dry this year, which made playing with friends afterwards a whole lot less messy.

Birds Eye View

A few months back our church hosted a silent auction for the youth where Jon bid on and won a one hour plane ride with Fred Mahan...
Jon, Mason and Fred, The Pilot.
Mason riding shotgun.
South end of Merritt Island
Birds eye view!

OV-103 Discovery - Final Mission

20 minutes before launch... big problem:

- NTD this is SRO on 212
- Go SRO
- Range says NO GO at this time

A few minutes later:

- Discovery, launch director. We're going to take this one on down to the wire. We'll go through our polls here and uh, take you on down to 5 minutes and see if we can't get a great flight today.
- This is shuttle launch control. 5 minutes remaining in our hold at T minus 9 minutes.
- This is the NTD conducting the launch status check. All stations verify ready to resume count and go for launch.
- OTC? OTC go.
- TDC? TDC go.
- TTC? TTC is go.
- LTS. LTS is go.
- Houston flight. Houston flight is go.
- MILA. MILA is go.
- STM. STM is go.
- Safety console. Safety console is go.
- STD. STD is go.
- LRD. LRD is go.
- SRO. SRO is NO GO.
- Copy are you good to go to 5 minutes and hold? Yes. We are good to go to 5 minutes and hold. Copy.
- And CDR. Discovery is go.

At the 5 minute hold, it still doesn't look good, and the launch window is closing:

- Holding at T-5 minutes.
- Our only issue is a red condition from the eastern range. Their central command system display is not operating properly.
- 2 minutes and 48 seconds of hold time remain in today's launch window.
- Today's launch window expires in 2 minutes 28 seconds.
- All systems are go with the exception of the eastern range.
- SRO standby.
- 2 minutes remaining in the hold today. 2 minutes remaining in our launch window.
- SRO NTD final recommendation please.
- Stand by one.
- 1 minute 30 seconds remaining in our window.

21 agonizing seconds later....

- Ops manager NTD. Ops manager on 212. Go ahead. I got verbal confirmation from the 45th wing commander... we are GO. I would like you to proceed. Copy that. NTD with that uh verification that the range will support today's launch we need to press on. Pick up the count on your mark.
- Copy that. And SRO NTD? Need to put this uh, your hold switch to proceed position.
- 40 seconds remaining in our launch window.
- Range is go.
- GLS has the SRO hold been removed?
- Negative sir.

- SRO NTD.
- NTD I can remove the hold here...
- SRO on 212.
- We need you to put your hold switch in proceed position.
- in proceed.
- GLS can you verify?
- GLS verifies.
- 15 seconds remaining in our hold.
- Copy. We'll pick up momentarily. CGLS pick up the clock on your mark. GLS copies. 3..2..1.. mark. T-5 minutes and counting. TLT OTC perform AT start. TLT in work. CDR OTC reconfigure heaters. Copy in work.
- Reconfig complete.
- All systems are go and weather is green.
- Flight director NTD.
- Flight NTD?
- NTD Houston flight.... I have 2 seconds of trade back hold remaining. Two seconds.
- NTD SRO is go for launch. And what is your status? We are go. Copy.

Go for main engine start...



Credit for this lovely photo goes to Chris Swindal, he is an amazing photographer!