No cameras allowed!!!

Well, since they wouldn't let us bring cameras I have no pictures, but today was Young Minds at Work day for Lockheed. I got to take Emma to some events at the Cape and she got to see what kind of work Lockheed and ULA do for the space programs here. We signed Em up to participate in a Delta II virtual countdown, an Atlas V mock countdown, and a Build and Launch a Water Rocket event. We checked in at 6:45 this morning and they gave the kids a Lockheed backpack and some goodies and then some speakers talked about the days events and the rules... They did take a group picture and gave everyone a printout of it, so I'll scan that and post it (DONE!!! Em is in the front row, pink shirt on the far left...) . It looks like it was printed on a "work" printer so I'll e-mail the guy that took the pictures and see if I can get digital copies as well.

Delta was our first event, and it was basically a playback of the launch of the Dawn spacecraft. Em got to sit in one of the controller chairs and put on the headset, but since it was a playback there wasn't really any participation on her part.

After that we went to the Atlas countdown, and that was a bit more interesting for her. The Atlas crew provided a script and Em sat in the CEC seat. That's the person responsible for monitoring the Centaur (which is the upper stage of the Atlas V) Engine Cool Down. The Launch Controller was on the headsets with the kids and they were prompted for their status. They answered based on their lines in the script. She liked that one a lot.

Following that we had a demonstration of the K-9 dogs that they use on the base to search for explosives and other contraband. That was interesting to me but I think it was too much talking and not enough action for Emma. They talked about how the dogs are trained and what they are supposed to do and then did a really quick demo where the dog found a bag that smelled like drugs.

Next we had some time for lunch and went and ate in the car by the Air Force museum on the base. It has rockets from throughout the base's history like Atlas I and old Titan rockets. Emma and I walked around and so got to see how big some of the rockets are since she could stand right next to them.

Finally, we went to the water rocket thing. Em got hosed on this one a bit... We built her rocket out of a 2 liter bottle and some water fountain cups. They had this complex contraption that injects water and air as a pressurized propellant and then you yank a cord and it releases the rocket. Well, Em's rocket was on the pad and the launcher was starting to stick a bit, so by the time hers was cut loose, a lot of the pressure had already been expended. The EMMA VII rocket went about 20 feet and all the other ones went about 150! Oh, well. Em still said that was her favorite activity of the day. Hopefully Lockheed will do this again next year and Paige will be old enough to go as well. 6 was the cutoff age this year so she missed out.

Fun in the Sun (or Shade)

Today we started off with a nice non-sweating pilates class. I have started going to the gym with mom since she got me a month long gift cert. My goal is to introduce her to classes other than pilates and yoga, you know, something that will actually make her sweat instead of just stretching her muscles! We took a spinning class on Tues/Thurs and I think it was great fun, aside from my sore a**!!!! The instructor is very inventive and lead us thru a "route" that was "west of Orlando." Anyway, I have had a lot of fun working out with mom! After pilates we hung around the house watching Greatest American Dog. Then we headed over to the Dudley's house for an afternoon of splish splashing. They too bought a puppy in February so I got to play with that little cutie all afternoon, when the girls weren't terrorizing it!

Soph trying to get Maddie to shake.


Em, trying to take Maddie home with us.


Paige, in her super-fast Speedo.


Girls having fun. It has been shady and raining all week, although still smothering hot, but that didn't stop us from swimming in the freezing 87 degree water!

This Is Me, This is Real! I'm Exactly Who I'm Supposed to Be!

Here's my little rocker! The girls spent the night at Katie's on Sunday and they came home with some interesting hairstyles. I thought I had Em's on cam too but I guess not, she was done up like she was going to the prom/Cinderella's ball. Paige was very glamerous and very proud of her hair. Katie did some amazing work, so if nursing doesn't work out she can always fall back on hairstyling! Thanks for the great night Katie!

Dr. Horrible

If you like Neil Patrick Harris or Joss Whedon, you should check this out... Episode 1 is available now and all 3 eps are supposed to be posted by the 19th, and then they all get removed on the 20th so don't forget about it.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog!

Pretzels?

The other night the girls and I watched Alton Brown making soft pretzels. Since they love the pretzels we get them whenever we got to Sam's to buy dog food, they wanted to try making them at home as well. I mentioned it to the boys the next day and they said they were in! Then, Melissa decided the theme of the weekend was going to be "make Mike crawl around doing tile", which meant we didn't get to the Pretzel Party. So finally today I put the dough together and this evening the boys came over and all the kids got to make a soft pretzel...


Here Ethan and Emma share some pretzel shaping techniques.


Paige is ready to go straight to the part where she gets to eat.


Melissa is a dork. And apparently dorkiness is contagious.


Will rolling it out.


After the pretzels get rolled and shaped, they go into a baking soda bath for about 30 seconds and then into the oven. 15 minutes later everyone is enjoying the awesome pretzels!

Laundry Room Tile

Since I love to put down tile, this is what I spent too much of my weekend working on. The cats have developed an issues where they occasionally get a lil' sprinkle onto the floor outside of the litter box, so the carpet that was in there couldn't be tolerated any longer. Disgusting, right! I KNOW!!! So nasty, but Melissa won't let me throw the cats into the river so I got to put down tile instead. If you are offended by pictures of cat turds, please skip the first photo.

You can see on the far left that the carpet is still on the platform that the washer and dryer sit on. That will be a "Phase II" project since it's hard for us to disconnect the washer and dryer for a weekend with the amount of laundry that gets done up in here.


Melissa wouldn't let me buy a new set of cabinets for the laundry room, but she did recover the top of this one with some nice looking contact paper. We'll be painting the cabinet after I put the floor trim in this weekend. You can see that this is the same tile we put into the office room, so all we need to do now is the kitchen, dining room and front hallways with it and we'll be all set. Don't worry, if we decide to do that I'll be paying some other guy to install the tile. That crap is hard work!

Nice Little Sunday Planned....

This weekend we ripped out the carpet in the laundry room and Mike started putting tile down in it. So why do you have a pic of the workbench you ask? As many of you know, once home improvement projects start, I often get distracted cleaning/looking for lost items. I know that at one point I needed something from Mike's workbench. Good luck you say. I hear you! I guess I should have taken a before picture for those of you who don't know what his bench normally looks like. Either way, this pic is mostly for Greg. It didn't even take that long to organize and I feel much better now....

Back to My Old Ways

As most of you already know, in addition to getting Jazz, we also found a complete set of lizards on craigslist that we picked up the same weekend as Jazz. Thankfully, my camera has decided to start taking pics again, although horribly fuzzy! So here are the new lizards and I think our house is full now!

The girls are pretty good about getting them out of their cage everyday for some excercise. Paige is the only one who shrieks when the little guy gets too close to her face! With good reason though, hers is the only one that bites!


Here's Smiley. That's the lizard's name.


Sonny is the yellow one. We think he is a male. Hopefully we have at least one female so we can breed them. Paige's is Freddy, the pretty striped one at the bottom. It was a great surprise that they all had different patterns so we could tell them apart.


Jazz: Protecter of lizards!

Eat Mor Chikin!

Today is cow appreciation day at Chik-Fil-A and if you come dressed as a cow they give you free food! I love a bargain and the girls love dressing up! They even give you the outfit...some cut out spots, ears, snouts and a bill board thingie oh, and a tail!! The girls had a bunch of fun until they actually had to walk into Chik-Fil-A and all the construction workers there on break turned to stare. They looked really cute though, and they are far braver than I was at that age.


Em picked out white outfits for everyone this morning at the crack of dawn.


Paige and her rockin' cow pose.


These pics are for Morgan and Stephanie who were wondering about Jazz's tempermant with children after having spent most of his life with an older man. The dog is great! Sophi climbs and lays all over him all the time so I snapped some shots to prove how much this guy puts up with!


Here she is trying to arrange both her playdogs around her. Finley got fixed yesterday and he wasn't really in the mood to be arranged...


And laying on the butt is always a good sign!

Foxhill Park

Here's Jazz. He is doing great! For more Jazz see earlier post...



We took the girls to Foxhill Park and walked around a bit. Here is a great landscape pic from Mike.


Los Tres Goofballs.


Leading the pack.


The girls loved all the new playground equipment. I dont' have any pics, but there were these really odd geometric type structures that the girls enjoyed playing on. This pic is just of a regular see-saw!


Teeter totter!


One of the many poses of the Sophmeister.

Welcome to the Family!

Welcome back to our blog! June was a busy month for us, my apologies for not keeping you updated. Anyway, here we are on July 4th, my second fav holiday and I would like to introduce you to the newest Eagney....JAZZ. I came across Jazz on the Aussie Rescue site I often visit. He had been adopted back in March when I was still in the approval process and I couldn't get him fast enough. I guess he was just meant to be with us because his owner got a new job and had to get rid of all his dogs, including Jazz. Jazz went back up on the site and I saw him, coincidentally, right after his pic was posted. I called right away to find out about his personality. After a few weeks we finally met him in Orlando and took him home. He is so great I can't even begin to tell you how perfectly he fits into our grove. I love him so much already. I have already walked all 3 dogs at the same time and it is so wonderful to see them all getting along and walking proud together. Jazz is 5 years old and has spent most his life with an older man who purchased him as a puppy and then died. He spent the last 15mos or so in a couple of different homes before finding us. I was bummed back in March when I missed adopting him. When things are meant to be they have a way of working themselves out. Please don't tell me how crazy I am for having 3 dogs...I have heard it enough already! I am happy and Jazz is happy. Finley is happy. Bo is mostly happy. The girls are happy. Mike is happy...that I'm happy. That being said....feast your eyes on the awesome beast!



Already feeling at home, just 5 days after meeting us, laying out at Grandma's pool.


This friendship is just beginning.


Where ya going bud?


Finley has a sweet new charm on his collar....half a heart....the other half is with Abby.


Happy Fourth of July!!!!