EPCOT With Dad

The day the Discovery actually launched, Dad and I went to EPCOT. We went on the new Nemo ride at the Living Seas. They did a REALLY good job with it. Then we walked around, got a beer in United Kingdom, watched the acrobats in France, made our way to the exit, and left. We had dinner with Mom at Carrabbas then headed off to Cape Canaveral for the launch. On the way home, we stoppped at Wendy's for some food and of course, shared it with the kids.

Visiting At Grandma's House

While Dad was visiting, we went up to Grandma's to spend the day with her and Hap and Aunt Janice and Uncle Johnny. My kids were exhausted after a day at their Great Grammie's, as you can tell by the sleepy pictures at the end.

Discovery LAUNCH!

Finally...what we had all been waiting for...the Launch! Discovery successfully lifted off this planet on Saturday, December 9, 2006 for Outer Space and the International Space Station. It was without a doubt the single most incredible experience of my life! Dad was OVERJOYED! Words don't acurately describe Dad's jubiliation at actually seeing a Space Shuttle Launch. It was just incredible! It was SO worth the wait and the 90 mile an hour race to Kennedy Space Center. See, first thing in the morning, Dad and I turned on the news to see what was going on with the launch. The news said it had been scrubbed again. Instead of wasting the day sitting around, Dad and I decided to go to EPCOT. We also had dinner plans with Mom at 4:30. While we were at EPCOT, we overheard someone talking about the launch, saying it was back on. I checked the news on my cell phone and sure enough, it said they were going to make a try for it. We kept getting conflicting information all day. So we just brushed it off, Dad saying he had gotten close enough. We met Mom for dinner at Carrabbas and were talking about the launch. Mom said that even if it got scrubbed, we had the VIP passes, we might as well go. So she followed us home to take care of the kids and Dad and I changed our clothes, packed our stuff up, got our VIP passes and we were off for KSC. We made it there in record time! We ran to the buses and were some of the last people to get on the last bus before it took off. We were well rewarded as the Shuttle Lift Off was INCREDIBLE!