We have sprouts

These are photos taken today of our veggie garden.


Tomato plants. We planted these from small plants not from seed but they're doing well and we see flowers blooming on them finally.


This is either a squash from last year growing or a pumpkin seed we planted. Not sure. Seems to have grown too quickly to be something we planted last week.


These are peas. They are popping out VERY fast and in mass quantities. Too bad I don't eat them. All the kids do though.


More peas.


These are tiny little lettuce sprouts. They too are coming up in huge numbers despite Blossom's attempts at sabotage!

Proof that you can have your cake and eat it too

I know this is a bit out of sequence but I finally got this video trimmed up small enough to post. He was the first of our kids to dig into the frosting without being prompted.

Souvenirs

Here are some pictures of the cool stuff we brought home from our trip. Some were purchased, some found. Orlando is a great vacation spot and you don't have to do Disney to enjoy it!


Kennedy Space Center fodder including a space blanket, Shuttle shaped drink bottles and three shuttle toys for Matt and Gabe.


Stuff from the World of Orchids and WonderWorks. Nana bought me a collector's thimble from World of Orchids and a book on how to grow Orchids. I got the kids some glow in the dark touch bubbles from Wonder works. This photo also shows our squished penny collector's book from Orlando.


Here is the gator load! We got everything gator from hats to stuffed toys. I forgot to mention in my Gator Land post that we tasted real gator meat there. They sell it on the property and it tastes like chicken!

This picture also shows the shells the girls and Matthew found in the Atlantic Ocean and a rock like thing that Kate thinks might be coral but we aren't sure really. It was pink when wet and has turned white as it dried.

On a side note, if anyone is traveling to Florida and happens upon a nice pair of dark brown sunglasses with white crystals on the side that look like they've washed up onto the beach, grab them for me. I lost them last Sunday and I really want them back! Stupid ocean swallowed up my digs!

Denver Layover

During our brief (haha) layover in Denver we had an opportunity to meet our pilots and they were so kind. They invited the kids to the cockpit and let us take pictures of them sitting at the controls. Of course Devi is too grown up for this kind of thing and we wouldn't dare let Gabriel near all t hose buttons so its just Lori, Kate and Matt. Here are some photos.

We Survived

So a mad woman I am not! We had a great time in Orlando, had a great flight experience coming and going. No luggage lost and no kids lost either!

We did experience a 1.5 hour weather delay at our layover in Denver. Apparently the weather became a problem and the airport had to switch runways. We were of course boarded by then and sat the entire hour and a half trying to keep Gabe happy and Matthew quiet! The cool part (for us grown ups) was seeing the rows and rows of planes lined up waiting for take off during the delay. We counted up to 16 at one point. Could get photos of it because camera was packed away but it was a site to see for sure!

Here are the final pictures Nana took of our Southwest Airlines plane taking off from the Orlando International Airport.

Cocoa Beach and the Atlantic Ocean

Yesterday we took the kids back out to Kenendy Space Center and then to Cocoa Beach. We had a great time at Kennedy and then headed out to Cocoa Beach for the evening. It was a little windy and the sun kept drifting into the clouds but they all had a blast playing in the waves and gathering sea shells. Here are some photos we took.

More photos from Cocoa Beach

Kennedy Space Center

Here are some fun facts about The Kennedy Space Center and its exhibits.



The crawler, which carries the MLP and Shuttle out to the launch pad moves along at a whopping 1 mile per hour. It gets approximately 35 feet to the gallon and has a 3,000 gallon diesel tank.



The VAB or Vehicle Assembly Building is 525 feet high and contains more space inside than the largest of Giza's pyramids.

The Flag on the front is 110' x 209' and takes 700 gallons of paint to repaint. One star is 6' from tip to tip and the blue area containing the stars is the size of an NBA court. The NASA logo is 110' in diameter. The flag was painted for NASA's 20th anniversary and the NASA logo for their 40th.



Kennedy Space Center is home to thousands of species of birds and other animals including alligator's and crocodiles and even manitees like the one you can see here floating in a water hole on the KSC grounds. He didn't poke his head out and say high but it was thrilling to see him anyway. You notice there is an alligator floating along right behind him. We were surprised to learn that the manitee is generally too large to be on the gator's menu so they are able to live together in peace.



This constellation orb is sitting in a stone bowl and weighs over 80,000 pounds. They pump water up from inside the bowl which lifts the orb just slightly so that we were able to rotate the ball.

WonderWorks

Today we went to WonderWorks. This is Florida's only upside down attraction. It is basically an interactive museum of brain teasers, optical illusions and mind benders. They have over 100 interactive exhibits and the kids went crazy there. Here are some photos.

Before


After, and he didn't even cry!


This is the water park area at Gatorland. They have water sprays and dumping buckets and the kids LOVED it!!!

Gatorland - My brave children

Here is a photo of the kids with some of the residents of Gatorland. Katlyn was so brave and actually asked us to let her do this. And by they way, yes they are real. Notice what's around Katy and Lori's necks.

Gatorland

Today we visited Gatorland. The facility is home to over 2,500 alligators and crocodiles. We didn't even see half that many but we saw tons of them. Here are some photos of our day.



This gator is a rescue gator. He is 13.5 feet long and was trapped in a neighborhood after eating several family pets. His trappers were going to put him down until Gatorland offered to rescue him.




This is one of three albino alligators at Gatorland.



This sign is in the middle of the main gator pond.



These are a few of the "big guys". There were so many gators.



Here is Katy holding a baby gator. The man said that this one is about 9 months old and will grow to be about 21 feet long as an adult. Yikes! These things get really big!

Kennedy Space Center

Another photo op just inside the entrance of KSC



This squirrel had the kids mesmorized. It was sitting on the sidewalk as we walked up to KSC and as we got close it jumped up and ran up this tree. It was still very close, no zoom on camera here. Just sitting there presumably waiting for us to feed it. We had to keep reminding the kids that it was just a squirrel and we had rockets and astronauts waiting just inside the gates!



Another photo op



This is an engine from a Space Shuttle. Compare this to the size of the engine bells on the Saturn V rocket. HUGE difference!



This is the VAB or Vehicle Assembly Building. It is the largest single story building in the world. This is the where the space shuttle is brought in and attached to the solid rocket boosters and external feul tank. They originally used this building to put the Saturn V rocket together which is why the building is so huge.

Kennedy Space Center

This is the sign out front. You can see behind it the solid rocket boosters from the space shuttle.



This is the crawler that carries the space shuttle out to the launch pad. This is the actual crawler that carried Space Shuttle Atlantis out on Moday for its launch to fix the hubble telescope. It was making the long journey back to the facility to go back to bed until its needed again. We learned that the crawler travels a whopping 1 mile per hour and the trek out to the launch pad while carrying the shuttle can take up to 8 hours. We also learned that it gets 35 FEET to the gallon. Not a fuel efficient vehicle to say the least.



At Kennedy Space center there are MANY photo opp's. This is one where they have a green screen and pose them on a block to look like they are in zero gravity. They pose them and then photo shop them into a background. They really had fun taking the shot and I think it turned out great too!



This is the business end of the Saturn V Rocket that was used in the Apollo program. There were 15 rockets built and only 12 went into space. This is one of the actual rockets that was not used in a space flight. That guy in the green shirt is 6' 2" Rudy standing WAY far away from me to give perspective on how HUGE this thing is. At the other end of this room there is a snack bar and tables. This is where we ate lunch.



This is launch pad 39-B. Currently sitting on this pad is the Space Shuttle Endeavor. As large as it looks, we were still more than 3 miles away and zoomed as far in as our camera would go. It was awe inspiring to see that shuttle sitting there waiting to launch. Att his point we hope that the Endeavor doesn't have to launch because taht would mean the Atlantis was in trouble but if she does launch we just might be here to see it.

Yesterday we went to Kennedy Space Center. We had such a great time. We did not get to see everything so we will probably go back on Sunday. We went to the Saturn V Rocket Center, saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor sitting on her launch pad and saw the Star Trek movie on the Imax screen. We also saw a 3-ft alligator sunbathing in a grated storm drain.

The Kenndy Space Center shares its land with the Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve. We actually saw several alligators swimming in roadside ditches on our way out to the launch pads. We also saw every species of crane alive I believe. Its was a beautiful day in Orlando and we can't way to see what these Floridians have to offer us today! Here are a few photos for you.