Updating from Alabama!

Sorry I don't have any new pics to add today(I came back later and added them). I meant to post last night, but it got late as it often does. So, I'm using Scot's computer to post this. You remember Scot and Cathy don't you?

Our neighbors and close friends over the last 4 years who abandoned us and moved to Huntsville??!! Well we're visiting them and they seemed to have settled in here nicely. It truly is like no time has passed since they left us -at the restaurant tonight the waitress wanted to know if Scot and I were brothers the way we were bantering back and forth!! It was just like old times.

Anyway, what has been going on here? Well let's go back to the time frame of my last post on Saturday morning. We went over to John and Stacie's house around 1:30 and John had arranged for a friend of his to meet us at Oak Mountain State Park to do some mountain biking. Steph stayed to hang out with the girls, and John rode her bike. It was 95 degrees out with a heat index approaching 105 but we went anyway. It felt good to get back out on the bike! We rode for about 3 and a half miles (which was about 3 miles too far for Alex that day! He had a rough go of it and fell hard a couple of times. He's ok folks - I promise!!) We returned to John and Stacie's house and grilled burgers and then settled down to watch Miss Congeniality 2 on their BIG screen. The DVD died with 12 minutes left in the movie-- that part stunk! John sure has a nice home theater setup! OH yeah - I also made salsa. Steph agreed that this was the best batch I've ever made! Good stuff!!

Sunday we got up, checked out of the campground and went to church with our friends. It was good to be in church. Afterward, we went back to their house for more grilled food and a birthday cake for Zach.

He was VERY happy that we took the time for him and that he got cake and presents. We got him some LOTR figures that none of the boys had. It was good! We finished our laundry (THANKS guys!!!) and pointed the RV north towards Huntsville. We arrived at the campground close to 9:30 PM (after an interesting drive up the mountain that included switchbacks so tight that we disconnected the Jeep from behind and had Steph drive it up - as well as one that was so tight I STILL had to put it in reverse and try again to make the turn!!). The campground is Monte Sano State Park and it sits on top of a 1700 foot Mountain (for Alabama). It's a beautiful park that reminds me more of the camping that I did while growing up rather than the near parking lots that we have stayed at since getting the RV. Cathy and Dylan drove over to meet us and hang out for a few.

Monday we tried to sleep in (the boys decided to get up earlier than they normally do) and then headed over to Scot and Cathy's house. We hung out with them and Scot grilled up some pork chops for dinner. Cathy made salads and a vegetable stir fry that was very good despite being something that none of us would ever normally eat (zuchini, squash, mushrooms, peppers and onions). We then went out to drive around the city and learn about the area. I figure that's a responsible thing to do since it's a city we're considering moving to. It's a nice size city that is well laid out with a very efficient road system (something that I never figured would be an issue for me, but is actually quite important).

This morning, we got up at quarter to 7 and met Cathy at McDonalds at quarter to 8. We got breakfast to go and then drove over to the US Space and Rocket Center. There was no line (something that we anticipated there might be) so we ate our breakfast at a picnic table and killed time til the museum opened. We figured that if we couldn't be in Cocoa Beach for the shuttle launch, this was the next best thing! We watched the shuttle launch on a 67 foot tall IMAX screen (live feed from NASA) and then toured the museum for the day. We watched an IMAX film about the International Space Station that was VERY neat. We learned about the history of the space program and got to ride a few cool rides to simulate astronaut training.

They also had a 20 foot climbing wall that I (the only one NOT in sandals) climbed the second to most difficult route on!

Wow it's been a long time since I did any climbing!! My forarms were very strained and sore - still are!! We went to dinner at a local BBQ place called Gibsons. It was good - not as good as Jim and Nicks, but better than most places in the north!! We've returned to their home - where I'm writing this from!

Tomorrow Cathy has to work, so we'll sleep in and then probably meet Scot around lunch time to get us on base. He got authentic STS-114 Back to Space mission patches for us, and wanted to show us some other neat things, so we'll check it out! We'll be here in this area until Friday morning when we take off for Ohio. Zach's family birthday party is scheduled for Saturday.

That's it for now. More later!!