Category Archives: Family Life

We took a day trip to Cape Canaveral to watch NASA launch an Atlas V rocket with a NOAA Weather Satellite payload. We looked into watching the launch from within the Kennedy Space Center, but it was going to cost $50 per person to visit. If we wanted to watch from the observatory we were going to have to pay another $50 per person.

The internet came to the rescue and I found a beach on Merritt Island that is directly north of the launch pads. It cost us $10 for a carload to go to the beach. The beach had a big berm you have to cross to get from the parking lot to the beach. There are some bridges that go over the berm and that is where everyone was 10 minutes before the launch. But the beach was pretty empty and I would highly recommend Playalinda Beach as a viewing point to see a launch.

The launch itself was amazing. The acceleration is hard to describe. Stephanie had the binoculars and could see the first stage coming off the rocket.

Here is a video I shot of the rocket launch.

Since we were going to be on vacation for two weeks we were looking for some things to explore that weren’t going to cost a lot of money while we were there. I did some searching on the internet and found ways to get around Disney using the free transportation they offer.

One day we headed towards the Magic Kingdom park and found our way to Disney’s Polynesian Resort. We told the guard we were interested in touring the Polynesian for a possible future stay at the resort. They let us in and we parked the car in their free lot.

We went into the resort and looked around the main building for a bit through their shops. We then went upstairs and headed to the monorail and hopped on. The first stop was the Grand Floridian Resort, then the Magic Kingdom. Next was the Contemporary Resort. The last stop was the Transportation and ticket center. We stayed on the monorail for a first complete loop then on the second loop we got off as the Grand Floridian Resort. It’s Victorian theme was indeed grand. We toured the main building and walked through it’s many shops on multiple floors.

We hopped back on the monorail and got off at the Transportation and ticket Center stop. We hopped on another monorail that took us on a ride to Epcot. The monorail actually travels around the big Epcot sphere and through the park where we got to see some of the beautiful flower beds in the park from up above.

The monorail stops just outside the gates, but we stayed on and made our way back to the transportation and ticket center, were we again got off and back on the Magic Kingdom and resort loop. The ride was a short 1/4 mile trip over to the Polynesian Resort and we disembarked. Stephanie and I both bought some mementos from one of the resort shops and we left the resort for the day. In all it killed about a 1/2 day and we could have probably spent more time if we wanted to eat at the resort or take a walk out on the beaches of the Polynesian or Grand Floridian Resort.

A couple of days later we decided to take the boat taxi tours that originate from Disney Springs, which used to be called Downtown Disney. We parked in the garrage about 10 minutes before the shops opened and got a great parking spot from the Lime Garage to the entrance to Disney Springs. We walked straight back and hopped on the water taxi that transports you from the ceter, which is where we were to the East end of Disney Springs, the next stop is the West End of Disney Springs and then back to the center.

We disembarked on the East End and hopped on another boat taxi that took us to Port Orleans, which is another Disney resort. While we changed boats a Bald Eagle landed on a nearby tree.

On our way up the river we passed other resorts and golf courses and an amazing looking tree house colony that guests can rent. They can sleep up to 9 people and there are 60 of them to rent. Later we looked up the price to rent those and the price was $1375 a night for the most prized weekends and prime time. I think they were still $900 for the cheapest nights. The first stop at the Port Orleans Resort was the French Quarters District, where we got off the boat and walked past a little water park and into a food court that offered Beignets and got a plate full that we shared with my parents. Evidently two of those were just appetizers for Stephanie who went back and ordered a Po Boy Shrimp Sandwich. She said it was good, but not quite New Orleans good!

We hopped back on the boat and the took us to Port Orleans Riverside, but we didn’t get off there. We went back to Disney Springs and hopped on the water taxi to the West End and then the Central port again. From there we hooped on another water taxi and made our way to Old Key West Resort which was another 15 minute boat ride up river. It was the original resort at Disney and had a small water park and what looked like condo’s. We didn’t get off there as it didn’t look like there was enough to do while we waited 40 minutes for another taxi. We got off at Central Port at Disney Springs and then walked over to the Ghiradelli Chocolate shop and got a free chocolate. At that point it was after 2:00PM and we got there just before 10:00AM. We were planning on going out for dinner as it was also my 50th birthday.

We spent the entire day with my aunts and uncles on my Dad’s side. It was a great day. At the end of the day Stephanie and went back up to the 17th floor and watched Fireworks and heard some live music below us, so we went to the bar and wathced the last hour and a half of the dueling piano show, which was a lot of fun. If you are ever at Bonnet Creek Resort and they have that show going on, I would highly recommend it. Stephanie bought me a drink for my birthday and ended up drinking most of hers as well.

Stephanie and I enjoyed our vacation in Florida.  During the 2 weeks we were there, we enjoyed high temps from 83 to 90 degrees and sunny to partly cloudy each day.  My parents were in a condo in tower 6, which was the newest tower and tallest on site at 19 stories.  They were on the 5th floor, but because they have so many points with Wyndham, they had access to presidential reserve amenities, which includes access to the 17th floor club suite.

From the 17th floor at night you can see the fireworks shows from Disney’s Magic Kingdom,  Universal Studios and Epcot.

Click here for the Universal Studio Fireworks Display on YouTube. 

We enjoyed a number of things to do that were offered at the resort.  We say a comedy magic show that was funny and amazing, Gatorland came and brought several of their animals.  Stephanie got to hold a 3 year old alligator.

We also attended a Luau with dancing, music and even fire dancing.  We watched a show of dueling pianos that was fun and entertaining and audience participation was encouraged and sometimes required.

There were several pools, water slides and lazy rivers to keep us cooled down.  Here is a link of the resort property from the Presidential Club Suite Balcony on the 17th floor.

 

I am to a point where I either need to use vacation or lose it.  I have to burn up 3 weeks before May.  My parents normally head somewhere warm for a few months after the New Year and this time they were in Central Florida at Wyndham’s Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando.  The location of the resort is surrounded by Disney Property.  To the north is Epcot, to the south is the Waldorf Astoria Golf Course, to the east is Disney Springs and to the west is Universal Studios.  I decided I was going to take two week and enjoy the warmer weather and visit them.  Stephanie wanted to come along and Nikki had to cover at work and was unable to go.  She ended up in Michigan helping her parents out as her Dad was hospitalized with an infection that caused swelling in his legs and joints that made it too painful to get around, so she was being a good daughter and helping out.

I left at 4:00 am on Saturday morning the 17th of February and was down in Cincinnati around 6:00 to pick up Stephanie.  We drove until almost noon and stopped in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a break and to get out and walk.  We visited Ruby Falls as it was overcast and rainy and wouldn’t be able to see anything from Lookout Mountain.  We paid for the tour and took the elevator down 1120 feet into the cavern.  We walked the 1/2 mile to the cavern while stopping along the way to hear interesting facts and formations from the tour guide.

 

Since there is only one way and one way out, we had to stop several times to let other tour parties by us as we headed in.  The falls themselves were amazing and they have it lit up with lights that change colors.  We took a few pictures and some video but were only allowed about 5 minutes at the falls to make way for other tours behind us.

Here is a short video I took while at the falls that I posted on YouTube.

We made our way back out and got back in the car just before 3:00 and continued on our way to Central Florida.  We arrived at the resort just after 10:00 pm.

I have an appointment to see my neurosurgeons PA on Monday, but the pain was so severe and relentless yesterday that I requested Nikki take me to the ER at OSU. I was admitted for observation overnight and scheduled for an MRI overnight. I will get the results later this morning and I should be discharged tomorrow morning as well.

This Christmas I didn’t get to see Nikki or the kids. It seems everyone is busy with their own lives and the only time they could schedule a gathering was the only time of the year I get to see my cousins and Aunts and Uncles and I had already planned on seeing them several month before. I hope this isn’t going to be a new trend.

My back started causing me problems again when I woke up on the 17th of December with severe pain in my back and my sciatica. It appears to be the same type of pain I was experiencing from two years ago that lead to me having surgery at the end of April in 2016. Let’s hope this time it doesn’t require surgery

This Thanksgiving was different than most.  We traveled down to Cincinnati the Sunday before Thanksgiving to visit with them.  Ashley came along as well and we brought our dogs for the first time to visit Braxton at his home.   I was scheduled 2 months ago to work on an upgrade to production that day and my tasks were running late and I ended up driving myself later.  As soon as I finished my migration tasks, I left and wasn’t 20 minutes on the road when the team I was helping out was reporting an error and asking for my help determining the cause.  I ended spending most of my time at Stephanie’s and Marcus’ on my laptop trying to figure out their issue, which later turned out to be a missed task on their end which prevented their system from talking to our system.

We had beef that Nikki cooked up before we left and it was delicious.  I then was able to enjoy a little time socializing with the family and watching the dogs play.  Braxton has so much energy he wears our girls out!  I was the first one to head out as we were still trying to figure the production issue and I had to get to bed as I worked at 6:00 am the following morning.  Almost the entire time traveling down and back, I was on support calls.  I had originally told the family the only day I couldn’t go was the 19th.  But it was determined that was the only day they could do Thanksgiving and it was miserable for me as I was unable to participate much and made it easy for everyone on the team to point fingers at me at the time, even though the issue was unrelated to our team.

Jonny came home Tuesday night and he ran in the Annual Granville Turkey Trot race.  There were almost 2689 runners in the race and Jonny got to see a lot of his old High School team mates.  He took 2nd place behind Tyler Otterstead who was Jonny’s team mate in high school when he was a freshman and Tyler was a senior.  Tyler runs for Columbia University now.

Jonny then went over to Alyssa’s for Thanksgiving dinner and Nikki and I were home alone for the rest of Thanksgiving day with the dogs.

It’s the end of the season for Jonny as he ran in the Mid American Conference Cross Country Championships held at Miami University in Oxford, Oh.  This time in Oxford was very different than when we were there earlier in the season.  Earlier is so hot they ran early to try to avoid the 90 degree heat.  This time it was windy wet and low 40’s.  Parts of the course had standing water from the rain the had gotten leading up to race time.  At least it didn’t rain during the race.

Jonny completed the 8K course in 27:11.7 and placed 74th out of 81 participants. The official results can be found here at TFRRS.

This completes Jonny’s career as a cross country runner as his coach is going to take the mid distance track runners out of competing in the fall in cross country in the upcoming years.  We are going to miss watching and cheering him on in races in the fall.  He has always been fun to watch run.

Here is the video I took of his final race.

Jonny ran at the Penn State Nation Open today in State College, PA at Penn State. The campus was very nice and beautiful and the event was held on the Blue and White Gold Course.

This race was a 5.2 mile race instead of an 8K race which is 4.97 miles, so this would be Jonny’s longest race yet.  He was racing against schools all across the country including Penn State, Oklahoma State, Villanova, Cornell, North Carolina, University of California Davis, Akron, Bucknell, Lehigh, Duquesne, Loyola, William and Mary, and Kent State.

Jonny ended up 113 out of 131 runners with a time of 27:57. At the 5K mark he was 119, so he passed 6 more runners in the final 3+ Kilometers of the race.  The official results can be found here on Athletic.net.

After the race he said he wasn’t feeling well and thought he may have been sick.

Here is the video I took of the race.