Mr. Ruckel Turns 23

Chris got in Friday the 23rd (his golden birthday) and picked me up from work. We stopped at the Florida mall for a little shopping and dinner and then headed out to Cocoa Beach for the night. Cocoa is a little more than an hour's drive away and Chris was comparable to a little kid (are we there yet?) with "how much longer does the GPS say it will be til we get there" We stayed right on the ocean and had a pretty good view from our room. In the morning we walked along the beach and even managed to spot a few sea creatures the had been washed up on the beach including a few jellyfish. After our walk it was time for the Kennedy Space Center!

The Space center is about 30 minutes from the beach and it is also a national wildlife reserve. Everyone that I had talked to suggested taking the bus tour so we did. It takes you out into the "cool" parts of the space center. We got to see the launching pad that actually has a spaceship on it right now that is set to launch next week. We also saw the vehicle assembly building (i think that is what it is called) which is the 3rd largest building in the world by volume...it takes 45 minutes for one of the garage doors to open. We also got to see movies about the Apollo missions and then see the actually Apollo 8 ship...It was huge!!! And we even got to touch a moon rock which was not as cool as it sounds and didn't really look any different from a earth rock. The last stop on the tour was where they are assembling stuff to go up to the international space center. We were there on a Saturday so there was no one actually working so if you ever go I suggest going on a week day. We were both pretty tired after our tour so we decided to head back to Orlando and get ready to meet up with my friends at my favorite restaurant "Earls of Sandwich" yummy!!!

Chris got to meet a bunch of my friends from work as we dined on delicious sandwiches. I think he was a little bit overwhelmed because it is hard to get a word in while all of us are together especially if it was a bad day at work which it had been because 14 people called in. Yikes!

We stayed with the Krause family Saturday night so we could get up early on Sunday and go boating. It was kind of an overcast day but it was still a ton of fun. We tubed on a four person tube which was an absolute riot. Mikey and Ashley wake boarded for a while. Ashley just started and she was pretty darn good for a beginner. Mike has been wake boarding for a few years but he is amazing for a 12 year old. He was getting a lot a air and landed several of his tricks. We boated around a bunch of lakes that all connect together. There were no gator spottings but we did see Shaq's house and Tiger's house from the lake view.

Monday Chris and I hit up the outlet mall and had lunch at a cute little sandwich shop. Then I gave him as much stuff as he could fit in his suitcase so hopefully I can fit all of my crap in my two suitcases to fly home.