First stop: Outer Space -- then The Fountain of Youth

Our Fourth of July weekend was memorable. The Fourth of July is my favorite day and this was first one we spent away from home (last year we went back for the holiday). It was fun to do something different, but there was definitely a part of me that felt like I should be sitting outside Bryan's parents trailer in Island Park, Idaho, eating delicious camp food, sitting in the shade chatting with my mom-in-law while watching the guys fish and listening to my father-in-law and his friend discuss how they can solve the world's problems (or at least fix something with an engine). We were definitely homesick for some Buckley family fun this weekend.

To keep ourselves from feeling too sad, we headed to the east coast of Florida to conquer some new territory. Our first stop was Kennedy Space Center. We met up with our brother and sister Rob and Catherine and their kids and spent the day touring the Center. It was a lot of fun and really quite interesting. I especially enjoyed a 3D movie they have about the Space Station they are building right now...pretty amazing! Since living here we've seen two shuttle launches. That kind of stuff really makes me proud to be an American (not to be cheesy...but it really does).

Apparently, both Bryan and Eleanore thought it was pretty neat to meet a real astronaut.

That's a big engine!

Touching the moon (or at least a rock from the moon)!

Next we headed to the nation's oldest city, St. Augustine. We arrived at about 9 p.m., just in time for the awesome fireworks show! We stayed at a sweet golf resort, home of the World Golf Hall of Fame (Bryan said it is a famous golf course, I think it was called TCP Sawgrass). We got the room off Hotwire, and were happy it was such a nice place. Anyway, the fireworks were cool...we watched them right in a parking lot so we could leave Eleanore in the car. She slept until it got loud, then I joined her in the car. :)

The next morning we got up and headed to the historic old city. First, we saw the lighthouse, which was especially neat for me because lighthouses were one of my Dad's favorite things. In fact, after he passed away we each took a lighthouse from his collection to remember him. The one I took for Eleanore was the St. Augustine lighthouse, so we were glad to see it in person.

Then, we headed to historic St. George Street and ate lunch at a Colombian restaurant and browsed the market. We spent the afternoon visiting the sites including the Castillo de San Marcos (now a national monument, it took 23 years to build - complete in 1695 - and has served as refuge for several armies including the Spaniards, the Union and the Confederates). While we were there they blasted a "cannon ball" (bread) into the bay. We also saw the statue of the treasure hunter Ponce de Leon, Flagler College, the oldest wooden schoolhouse, a couple of Cathedrals, the Fountain of Youth and toured Ripley's Believe It or Not.

The city gate on historic St. George Street

Castillo de San Marcos

The next morning we stopped in Daytona and met my sister Shay and her kids for lunch before making the drive home. What a great weekend: great activies, great weather, great company, great memories!

What would a long post be without a photo of an Eleanore trick? Here is her new favorite...drinking water (from a straw, from my cup, from a bottle, from a sippy...anything we'll let her try!).