What have I done?

Ok, so I heard back from the people in Huntsville today and they agreed to my counteroffer and have sent another offer package to me. It will be here tomorrow and I have until Friday to respond. Uh oh! Now what do I do? Did I ever mention what a big decision this is?

I'm just trying to ignore all that for now so hopefully I can sleep tonight and not dream about it like I have been.

Moving on... You may or may not be aware that Space Shuttle Atlantis was supposed to launch in the next few days to service the Hubble telescope. Endeavor was standing by on the second launch pad in case a rescue mission was needed. Well, Hubble broke more parts so that launch is off until next year. Did I ever mention that I was on both of those orbiters? I don't recall. Anyway, for every launch, NASA makes a t-shirt that we can buy. I've been patiently waiting for these 2 shirts to come out so I can buy about 30 of each. The designs are shown below along with my proposed modification. I'm still waiting to hear back from the t-shirt printing place as to whether they'll accept that change or not. I don't see any reason why they won't do it.

I also finally figured out how to add music to our blog. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get it to play in random order. I think we did a nice job of balancing the music selection, don't you? Dana kept insisting on adding ACDC and the like while I wanted Steven Curtis Chapman. The boys also made some suggestions to round it out.

Stay tuned for an update on the inevitable, potentially life changing decision.

Fall

Fall is here and our lives have become quite busy again. The soccer season started weekend before last so that pretty much dominates our weekends nowadays.

Kevin has another good team this year with only 4 returning players. They play well together and have a lot of talent. However, they did blow a 2-0 lead with ~8 minutes left in their first game to tie at 2-2. Doh! They shutout the next team they played on their way to a win. Kevin no longer plays goalie (he had mixed emotions about that) and he rotates between defender and striker. He's had a few good shots at the goal but no goals... yet.



Kevin's team got new uniforms. Pretty snazzy, huh?



Obligatory action shot.


Cameron has the same team again this year. Although their record is 1-2, they've shown more than flashes of brilliance this year. The team they beat started out with 4 kids on the field and with our coach's permission added another player when they started falling way behind - after about 3 minutes. A few minutes later they added a 6th player! I didn't keep score in that game, but the other team had no goals by halftime and finally scored 3 by the end of the game. Our guys had about 15 or so. I'm not sure what caused it, but they played well that game and actually worked together. Imagine that! They lost their last game but only by 2 to some hot rod team out of Mexico. The score was going back and forth until the 4th quarter when our guys fell apart for about 5 minutes and let the other team go up by 4. They pulled it back together though to finish the game. There were still a few instances of one teammate literally running into another and costing the team a goal because they were so intent on kicking the ball regardless of who had it. Ugh.



Cameron is getting fancy here.



I like this shot.


A couple of months ago, Cade drug our smallest bicycle out of the storage room and was always pushing it around the yard. Occasionally, he would ask one of us to push him while he rode on it. He sure looked cute pushing his bike around. I finally put the training wheels on so he could ride it by himself. And ride it, he does. He's always asking if he can go ride his "special bike."



Always wear a helmet!



Still learning to pedal.



On only his second day of riding the bike, he was already standing up.


My company had their annual picnic at the local maize maze last Friday. We had a great time.


Kevin and Cameron on one of the slides.



When Cade first got on this pedal car, he had trouble pedaling. I pushed him down one side and he pedaled back. Then he kept pedaling and pedaling and pedaling. He must have done 30 laps nonstop! Cameron is giving chase here but he eventually quit and went on to the big pedal cars with Kevin and me and we still finished before Cade.




Every year we get the boys' pictures here. It was dark before we remembered this time and the dang batteries died after this one shot. I'll have to take Cameron and Kevin back. For comparison, here is the shot we took last year.






Some miscellaneous pictures:


Cade growling at Pa. Look at that fierce expression!






The pictures never look as impressive as actually being there, but I think these still came out pretty nice. Taken from our upstairs porch.



This picture was taken Spring of 2007 before my grandparents passed away but I just got a copy of it. Here's Cameron with his great grandparents.

I also recently got a copy of some really cool, old photos. I'll post some of those soon.



C'mon! You didn't think I could go a whole post without at least one motorcycle picture, did you? Kevin and me tandem jumping over a small berm. Sort of. I was either late or early every time. But Kevin sure thought it was fun.

Labor Day Weekend

The Labor Day weekend was a great one in the Reynolds' household. We started things off Friday night by going out to dinner with our life group and having a wonderful time. I think we were "those people" who make too much noise a few times during the course of the evening.

The ladies got together again on Saturday morning for a baby shower for one of the moms who is getting ready to have twins. And then we all got together again Saturday evening to have a going away party for one of the dads. He's headed to Georgia (Pronounced Jawja - since I'm now an expert in speaking Suthern) for 5 months (!) to train to become a US Marshall. Once again, we all had a great time along with a few heartstring-tugging moments.

A while back, Cade drug our smallest bicycle out of the storage room and has been pushing it around the yard. Every once in a while, he asks one of us to push him while he rides on it. On Sunday, I finally got around to putting the training wheels on and lowering the seat. We slapped a helmet on his head, wished him luck and pushed him down the driveway hoping he would turn before he got into the street. Just kidding, we didn't wish him luck. Anyway, he hopped on and started pedaling around the driveway almost like he knew what he was doing. Every now and then he would accidently hit the brake and come to an abrupt halt but for the most part, he did fine. I don't have any pictures yet but he sure looked cute. By Monday, he was already hollering for me to watch him stand up while he rides. I'll get some pictures soon.

Now, on to dirt bike news:
We rode twice in one weekend! That's a new record for the last few years, I think. I'm really sore.

Ever since Kevin moved to the KX, Cameron has been dying to ditch his Pee Wee and jump on "his" KTM. After sorting through a clutch and an electrical gremlin, I finally got the orange machine ready to ride on Sunday. Cameron was jumping around the garage singing, "I'm going to ride the KTM!" Monday morning found Cameron not only on a "new" dirt bike but also with "new" riding gear. Kevin gave Cam his old riding gear (again) and Cameron thought he had died and gone to heaven with all the new stuff. Some day Cameron won't think that's so cool - but not today. Here's my little buddy on his new scoot.



Cameron says, "This is the only view those punks at the track are going to see of me!"



It's hard to tell in this photo but I'm sure Cameron is going, like Mach 5.


Here's another feel good story! Dana was inspired enough to try riding Kevin's bike! It's hard to tell in this photo but I'm sure Dana is going, like Mach 5 (x10-3) Woo hoo! That's my wifey! Hey, where's her helmet?



Kevin waiting for his bike to come back.


As always, even the long weekends are always too short and ours was over in a hurry. Fortunately, for me, this is only a 3 day week followed by another 3 day weekend! I love my job!


Happy belated Labor Day!

Huntsville, AL

What does Huntsville have to do with the following picture? Nothing. But I can't let a school year start without posting a picture of da boys on their first day.

Kevin is in 5th, Cameron is in 2nd, and apparently Cade skipped the rest of his part-time daycare and jumped headfirst into 5th grade with Kevin.

Now, on to Huntsville. Dana and I took a weekend trip to the area to check things out and see if it's a place we'd like to live. I also happened to have an interview at Marshall Space Flight Center. What a coincidence.

If you haven't been there Huntsville, (pronounced Huntsvl) is a lot like Las Cruces in that it's very green, lots of trees and water and high humidity. You know, just like Las Cruces was in the Paleozoic Era. The weather was actually beautiful the first two days we were there (upper 80's with humidity around 35%). I don't know what those whiners are talking about when they say it's hot and stuffy. Piece of cake!

A piddly little pond between Decatur and Huntsvl. Pfft! I've seen bigger bodies of water collecting at the end of my street.

The historic district is really cool. This building is almost as old as our country. If you're ever in the area, you have to go see Harrison Hardware store. It's cool!

Some hot chick I snapped a picture of when Dana wasn't looking.

Me and the hottie! Too bad I didn't use the flash. This was on my birthday too. Happy birthday to me.

Um, yeah. I really don't think I can add anything to this.

Rocket Park at MSFC. The tall one is a Saturn 1B, I believe. At something like 162 feet it's about 1/2 the height of the mighty Saturn V. It's still no Atlantis though. And, I would know that, because, like, I might have kicked the tires and left a noseprint on the window in Atlantis' airlock or something.

Dana had a nice view of the sunset on the way home.

Thanks to Mom & Dad for watching the boys while we were gone. Rest assured, they came home spoiled rotten and wired with sugar.

Summer's End

Doggone it. Summer vacation is officially over. School starts tomorrow. As always, we didn't do half of what we wanted to do this year but we've been cramming trying to get just a little more in right at the end.



I don't have any pictures as cool as what I posted last time (did I mention I sat in the Commander's seat of Atlantis?) so you'll have to bear with me as we slog through our latest update.




Rain is a rare occurrence around here. The boys try to take advantage of it when they can.





Speaking of taking advantage of... Shouldn't the little brother be getting a ride from the big brother?






We borrowed my parents' boat and hit the lake this weekend (Friday actually). The weather was terrific, there was little boat traffic and the lake was calm. Cade started to cry when I started swerving back and forth in the boat until I let him sit in my lap and steer. Then he was giggling like Elmo as we swerved our way up and down the lake.







My boys and me.





Building a sand castle.






The boys and I spent all afternoon on Sunday riding. And goofing around with the camera.


Like Cameron's helmet? He broke the visor a week or two ago and now he has that goon look.

Kevin is slowly getting better and better on his KX. I found a little jump that he likes to do over and over.






Check these out! Kevin took them. He's a natural with a camera.






He even got the crash-in-progress shot.





The rain does wonders for the desert.





Honey, I shrunk our kid.



"I'm gonna pound him!"






Poor Cameron had a rough weekend. He asked me to take this photo to show his wounds. Here's a quick rundown: 1) Chest wound (wound sounds more dramatic than scratch) due to falling on the boat trailer 2) Elbow wound due to eating dirt while out riding 3) Side wound due to little brother playing with and throwing a motorcycle.

Best Week Ever

Everyone watch for a story about me on the E! channel because I had "The Best Week Ever!"

But before I get to that, let's back up another week. Kevin & Cameron had VBS all last week. And, much like the pain of childbirth, Dana forgot all about the agonies of teaching a class last year and signed up to teach again this year. Poor sap. She had something like 423 boys and 2 girls in her class. Maybe it was more like 17 and 2, but either way she was way outnumbered by "sweaty, rowdy, stinky soon-to-be 5th grade boys". She persevered though and made it through. I did notice, however, that she kept a low profile during the performance on Friday night. The pictures didn't come out very good, but here are some videos.

Watch for Cameron giving high 5 to the kids on either side of him. Throughout the whole song he kept getting snubbed. He'd turn to the girl on his left and she would turn away from him. Then, he'd turn to his right to be ignored there too. He usually gave an "air five" to no one in particular. As luck would have it, as soon as I tried to catch it with my camera, they sort of got it right. It was hilarious.

Kevin goofing off and lip synching or whispering at best.

And finally, I wish I'd kept the camera running on this one. You can see the kids starting to sit down at the end of the song. Eventually, all but one of them sat down. Can you guess who wasn't paying attention and was left standing alone on stage? Yep. My son.

We started the weekend off by celebrating Kevin's 10th birthday. Did you get that? He's TEN! My boy very proudly claims to now be an official "tween". The Samps came down for the weekend as well as Larry and Galena. Pa and Tootie, the Morenos and the Archuletas were also on hand for the festivities. We kicked things off by taking Kevin and his friends (Kevin, Ryan & Taylor) to see Wall-E. If you haven't seen it yet, go now. It's good!

After the movie, he opened his presents, failed to blow out more than one candle on the first try and scarfed down the cake. Here are some pictures:

Opening presets with helpful bystanders

Ready to huff and puff and blow out one measly candle. And they weren't trick candles either! This from the boy who likes to play soccer. I'd say he needs to start running again before the season starts.

Dana bought a very good ice cream cake.

The next day, I finished putting Kevin's motorcycle together - finally. Remember when I said it would be ready to go a long time ago? That darn thing fought us every step of the way. But that's in the past now. Here's the moment of truth. Kevin moved from his 50 to an 85 and had to learn a clutch and how to shift while doing it. That's what he gets for growing so stinking fast.

He fits just right.

My artistic shot. I call it "Le View from the Front Tire"

On this day, I told him to keep it in 1st gear and just worry about learning how to start and stop. He started off very slowly but it wasn't long before he was wide open in first sliding around the turns. We rode again yesterday and he started shifting.

Another artistic shot - "El viewo from la fronto fenderito"

You didn't know I spoke Spanish, did you?

You can't get any closer to crashing without actually crashing than this.

Cameroon

Kevy

Cader

Dirt bikes for everyone!

Then, on Monday, I flew out to Florida to watch a test at Kennedy Space Center. They want us to repeat the test in a couple of weeks so I needed to see how they did things so the results will be comparable. Darn the luck, but I got a beachfront condo to stay in at Cocoa Beach. (for the government rate!) Anyway, the test was finished the first day so the second day I was given a wonderful tour of KSC. Now, keep in mind, my dream job for literally as long as I can remember is to be an astronaut. That's why I enjoy doing what I do because I get to contribute in my own small way to the space program. I was like a kid in a candy store where they're giving away all the free candy you'll need for a lifetime and stuffing video games in your pockets at the same time and it happens to be your birthday and Christmas. Probably even more excited than that. First we toured the Launch Control Complex. That's where all the important people monitor the health of the shuttle before launch. I didn't see a big red button that says "launch" though. I probably just looked at the wrong consoles.

From there we went over to the Vehicle Assembly Building. It's even more impressive in person than you'd ever guess.

VAB

In the VAB, they were assembling two sets of Solid Rocket Boosters in preparation for the next 2 launches. The next launch is to service Hubble, so they have to have a second shuttle ready in case any problems arise. The boosters are impressive.

This is one of the more fully assembled boosters.

Next up, we walked over to the external tank. Notice, everything is covered in work platforms.

This thing is huge. I was close enough to touch it but I didn't dare do it. With my luck, foam would have fallen off one whole side. Not really, but I made sure to keep my distance.

Launch Pad 39A. Unfortunately, for me, we didn't have hard hats. Otherwise, we could have gone up.

One of my favorite sites of the day. That's the belly of Endeavor. The nose cone is at the top. It's beautiful. I almost passed out with excitement by the time we got here. Let me tell you, the orbiters are big vehicles. Like I mentioned earlier, everything is covered with platforms so you can't really see the orbiter. Just parts and pieces.

It keeps getting better. This is looking into the aft end of Endeavor. Those two silver balls are the auxiliary power unit tanks. They hold about 50 gallons of hydrazine. Those are what I've spent the last 2 years working with.

Crawling past the APU tanks and up a short ladder, all the while ducking and contorting your body to avoid all the plumbing and hardware, you can turn to see the top of one of the main engines. Needless to say, it's crowded in there.

After reluctantly climbing out, we walked up on a service platform and peered into the Endeavor's payload bay. In this shot, I'm standing over the left wing looking forward.

It just keeps getting better. This is looking out the windows of Atlantis' flight deck into the payload bay! I was on Cloud 9 by now.

Turn around and you'll see the Commander's seat (left) and the Pilot's seat (right). Am I dreaming? Is this really happening?

I've died and gone to heaven!

Some observations or things I think I think: The flight deck is way smaller than you probably think it is. The middeck (below) is larger but they hadn't installed the lockers yet. Install those, 3 more seats and gear and you have a very cramped area for 7 people to live in. Sign me up!

I also crawled in the airlock and looked (and dreamed) out the window there too. I can't imagine it's much fun in there trying to get dressed with the suits hanging on the walls.

The crawler is huge!

I was given a tour on and around the mobile operations platform (it's what the shuttle sits on and the crawler transports to the pad). That thing is even huger. I imagine it feels similar to a submarine when you're walking through the passages and ducking under all the plumbing. Very impressive.

The VAB is also huge. I would LOVE to be present when they're picking up an orbiter or ET and hoisting it up and over the gantry to the high bay.

I have a picture of me in front of the launch pad and one of the space shuttle main engines. I won't show them though because I look like a moron.

I really regret taking my cheapo camera instead of the nice one. I didn't know I would be able to take pictures everywhere. As it was, my memory card was full so I had to keep deleting pictures to get better ones - like those from inside the orbiters.

I have now dipped my toes in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

I hate the formatting issues on this blog site. Like right now, it refuses to allow me to add a space between the previous thought about dipping my toes in the water and this one. Maybe it's because I say I hate it. It drives me crazy, so please excuse any weird spacings or other unintended features. Also, my computer is getting slower and slower by the day. I hate that too.

The best part of the trip was returning home to 4 smiling faces.

This isn't what they looked like when I got home but Dana took this while I was away.