Monday I spent the morning relaxing while the rest of my class was back in Houston toiling away listening to lectures and working in the simulators. It was still cloudy from Hurricane Dennis, but the weather was definitely clearing. I went for a run and then read by the pool. It was a tough day. . . In the afternoon the crew had the traditional pre-flight BBQ at the NASA beach house. You may have heard of the beach house as it has been mentioned in the some of the movies that have been done about NASA going to the moon. It used to be a farm house way back when. When NASA took over the land, it became a place that astronauts could use as a retreat to spend some quiet time as a break from training or before their missions. These days, it has been redone so it is mostly a place for gatherings - various conference meetings or dinners with crew families, etc. The pre-flight BBQ is for the crew's parents, siblings, and close friends to spend some time with the crew before their flight. Everybody who goes to the BBQ has to be cleared by the flight doctors since the crew is still in quarantine. After the families left, we spouses were afforded another hour or so with the crew before they had to return to crew quarters and hit the sack.

In the afternoon, my family began arriving. Everybody - my mom, my siblings, my nieces and nephews - has been able to make the trip to Florida to see the launch. It is very exciting as this is the first time we have been all together in quite some time.

On Tuesday, while most of the family went to the beach or the pool, I did what is called the pad tour. The crew is able to give their spouses/significant others a tour of the launch pad where the Shuttle is waiting to go. Even though I have had such tours before, it is always exciting to see such a magnificent machine up close. We got to go all over the launch pad, from the bottom to the top. While we were doing our tour, the new NASA administrator was also taking a tour. I got to meet him briefly. He seems like a really nice person. The only drawback to the tour was that it was hot, hot, hot. I was a puddle in my shoes by the time it was over.

Following the tour, we drove over to the beach house for lunch. After eating most folks decided to take a walk on the beach. Both Andy and I had had enough sun, so we stayed inside. Evidently we both were pretty tired. We were propped up on a couch chatting and both of us decided to close our eyes for awhile. We had a short but good nap.

As soon as I got back to the hotel, it was time for the whole gang to load up for some of the pre-flight activities. First on the agenda was a short briefing at the visitor's center. A few astronauts told a large group of family and friends about the upcoming flight and crew. Following the briefing, we herded onto buses and had a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. The tour was just a driving tour, but it covered most of the highlights at KSC. The last activity of the tour was a stop where we got to see the crew. This is known as the "wave across the ditch. " The crew was out at grassy knoll near the launch pad. The folks on the bus were able to get close to the crew (but not too close) and wave hello. There is a small depression between the bus folks and the crew, hence the name "wave across the ditch."

After waving to the crew, we herded back onto the bus and headed back to the visitor's center. We had a little bit of time before the next activity, so we drove back to Cocoa Beach and had dinner. After sitting in an auditorium and being on a bus for so long, it was good for the kids to let off a little steam. Right after dinner, we left for what is called night viewing. We headed back out to the busses to see the Shuttle at night. You may wonder why we would go back out to see the Shuttle, since we just saw it by bus earlier in the day. Well, all I can say is that it is something else altogether to see it at night with the powerful xenon lights shining on it.

Once we got to the appointed location to board the busses, we found out that the night viewing had been delayed. Apparently a lightweight cover that was over one of the windows had fallen. The technicians needed to check and make sure that no damage had occurred and, if there were damage, they needed to fix it. Luckily, the bus had the capability to show video, so we just sat on the bus and watched a movie. They finally deemed the Shuttle ready for bus visitors and we headed back over to KSC.

We went out to the launch pad, basically to where we saw the crew earlier in the day. When we arrived, the rotating service structure was still in place. This is a huge piece of scaffolding that covers the Shuttle as the processing at the launch pad is performed. However, a few minutes after we got there, it slowly rotated away to reveal the Shuttle. It was awesome to see the Shuttle unencumbered by structure. They didn't turn on the xenon lights until about the time we were leaving. Still, it was quite impressive. We got back to the hotel about midnight.

At that point, the kids went to bed and the adults relaxed with a glass of wine. I stayed up until about 2:00 am with Mom, Robert, and Ginger (borther & sister-in-law). We kept flipping through TV channels, cycling back to the NASA channel every few minutes. They were showing a view of the pad, but didn't look like the bright xenon lights were on as we expected. It was very dark. We finally decided that the press people had gone home and left a screen saver on. . . We figured we needed to call it a day when we started giggling at the poker channel.

Wednesday was launch day. The way NASA works things is that the spouses and kids watch the launch from the roof of the launch control center. The rest of the designated family and friends are bussed to a particular launch viewing site. This site is separated from the general public, the media, the VIPs, etc. Just to throw out a fun fact, no matter where one watches a launch, you are roughly three miles away. So, if you ever get a chance to watch a launch, it doesn't really matter where you are at KSC, because everyone has about the same view.

My family left to go meet their bus about 10:30 in the morning. I had an hour or so to myself before the spouses and kids would be bussed to our destination. It turns out that we had a police escort - 4 cars to block intersections and let us run through red lights and stop signs. I think I thought that was much more exciting than any of the kids on the bus did. We went to the launch director's office in the launch control center to hang out until the appointed time for us to troop up to the roof. From this office we had a very good view of the launch pad. Plus, there were a couple of televisions set up so that we could watch the NASA TV feed.

Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed because of a sensor problem. We watched on TV as the crew unstrapped and got out of the Shuttle. Shortly thereafter I got a call on my cell phone. It was Andy calling from the top of the launch pad. Apparently there is a phone up there.

"Where are you?"

"At the launch control center."

"We scrubbed."

"Yes, I know, I can see you on TV. . ."

We were still in the launch control center when the crew left the launch pad. It was easy to tell when they left, since there was a security helicopter overhead following them. The crew headed back to the crew quarters and we went back to the hotel. After all the astronaut's kids had been dropped off the spouses went back to crew quarters for dinner. At this point, NASA had not decided when they will try to launch again. So, the crew stayed in quarantine in case the new launch date was within the next week. They still need to keep sleep shifting to follow the changing launch time.

Thursday, while NASA was mulling over the sensor problem and a new launch date, I had a semi-relaxing morning. I went running, but I about died in the heat. I do not understand why it seems so much harder to run in Florida than in Houston. The temperatures are about the same and, more important, the humidity levels are about the same. But, for whatever reason, I just do not have any running success in Florida. So, I did the next best thing; I gave up and spent morning by the pool reading. The rest of my family was either off at Disneyland or at the beach.

In the afternoon the spouses met crew at beach house. We had about two hours to have lunch and hang out at the beach. Maybe I got a little too much sun today. . . In the evening, I had dinner with Rosalyn, Valerie, and their kids (sisters & their children). I actually have not had much of a chance to spend that much time with them during this week with all the preflight activities. Unfortunately, I was completely exhausted; so, I did not feel too lively during dinner. No new launch date has been set yet, perhaps they will try for Saturday.

Friday morning we spouses had breakfast/lunch (our breakfast, their lunch) with crew. Following the meal, most of the crew's families went to Seaworld. Some of us, who opted to not go to Seaworld, stayed with the crew and toured some of the historic sights on Cape Canaveral. We went by the old Mercury launch pad and museum. We also visited a very old lighthouse that is on the Cape property. After the tour I went back to hotel. There was not much going on there, since my family was starting to scatter. NASA is now saying that the launch will be no earlier than Wednesday, and my family cannot stay in Florida that long. So, I poked around the great mall of Cocoa Beach. Then, I took myself out to eat seafood for dinner. How could I have been in Florida this long and not have had any seafood yet?

Saturday I had the option to return to Houston, so I took it. I went back to check on our houses and to try and catch up on the work that I missed this week. Today the word is that the launch will be no earlier than next Friday.

On Sunday NASA is still saying the launch will be no earlier than Friday, but maybe Saturday. Crew now has to go to bed at 5:30 pm. I think it is safe to say that being in quarantine and sleep shifting for this long is hard.