But of course the real star is always Dad's amazing steak.
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Memorial Meal
We couldn't do the official Memorial Day so we decided to honor it a little late with an Upper Greer BBQ, and what a spread Dad put out for us!
Friday, May 29, 2026
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Daycare Debutant
We've never taken our dogs to daycare before, and we don't know about what Bear was like in the three years before we got him. But we think it's important he keeps flexible and socialized. Especially since he's an only dog and will be for the foreseeable future. So this was a new experience for us all, taking him to the Hound Heelton. He proved as adaptable as ever, and came home exhausted having played his little heart out and gotten on fine with the other pups there. So this'll become a regular thing!
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Explorer
I was feeding the birds this evening and came back to the storage box to find it occupied. He's an ever curious, fearless little guy. We put the various types of feed in metal bins because critters were sneaking into the box at night and having themselves a midnight snack.
Monday, May 25, 2026
Regardening Growth
I completely redid the flower garden this year, and the new plants seem to be thriving. I only did three rows instead of four since the butterfly bush tends to spread out. I particularly like the purple ones.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Post Grad Picture
We're back home after a whirlwind two weeks between the trip to Ohio and the trip to Georgia. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it. Lonnie sent us this picture, which is the official snap the school took after Payton walked off the stage at his graduation. We're excited to see what comes next for him at Mercer!
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Grad Crew
Megan took this picture so unfortunately she's not in it. But otherwise from left to right. Amanda, Payton, Lonnie, Lonnie Sr, Amanda's husband Tye, Mari and me!
The Diploma Stroll II
Then the person who gave the commencement speech, who's name has unfortunately escaped me. And with that Payton officially graduated from High School and set his sights on Mercer University.
The Diploma Stroll
Speeches were made, mostly decent, and then the walk began. And as you can imagine with so many students, it took a minute to get there, but finally it was our turn to cheer for Payton as he gathered his diploma and shook the hand of the principal.
Sea of Red
Then the traditional music started (which is called "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" by Sir Edward Elgar for those curious) and man did they have to play through it a few times as the 800ish graduating students filed into the arena and filled up all the chairs.
Jumbotron Preview
As we waited for things to fill up they were showing pictures of the graduating class on the big screens. I snagged Payton's as it flashed by.
Big Ol Graduation
I guess I hadn't thought about it and was internally referencing my small graduation from Bellarmine many moons ago, so I wasn't expecting how massive this event was going to be. Set in a full size arena with three lines of people trying to get in wrapped around the place. Wow.
Big Ol Mall
We had some time to kill this morning, and no museum to do it in, so we went across from our hotel to the massive Mall of Georgia. At least as big if not bigger than Opry Mills, it had a little bit of everything. Impressive. If we lived in the area I could see this being a frequent visit.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Right Back On The Road Again
After one day of rest, it was back on the road. First Dayton, Ohio and now Buford, Georgia to spend time with Payton and see him graduate from high school. We got in late but met up with the fam and had an amazing meal at a place called Seasons 52. We wish there was one in Nashville.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Commemorative Coin II
This is the back of the coin, showing the different aspects of the program.
Starting at the bottom and going clockwise around the edge, that square building was the Air Force Satellite Control Building, which everyone in the program called "the Blue Cube." The next represents the launch facilities (like where Dad worked.) Next is a Corona satellite. Then a SIGNIT satellite. Then the Hexagon satellite. And finally the recovery program where they caught the falling film.
In the middle top is a Gambit satellite. And the middle bottom represents the satellite tracking stations they had across the globe.
Commemorative Coin
Home and relaxing for a day before the next adventure. We each got one of these coins at Dad's event. I thought they were pretty cool.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Trending A Buck
On the way home from Dayton, the festivities complete. Neither Dad nor I had ever been to a Buc-ee's before so we decided to stop. It was...fine. Maybe because it was super crowded, or we were tired and in a bit of a hurry to get back on the road, or maybe I'd built it up too much in my head, but I didn't really see what the fuss was about.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Space Speeches
It was a great dinner, Dad and Tom got to talk a lot, there were several speeches by interesting people. All in all a really nice event.
Hexagon Then
This is a picture of Dad and Tom taken when they were both working on Hexagon back in the day. Not the best since it's a side view of both, but you can kind of pick out that they've changed a bit in the last 50 years or so.
Hexagon Now
As I mentioned previously Tom invited us to sit at his table during the dinner so he and Dad could spend time catching up.
Rocket Quilt
Dad made a special quilt with pictures of the various projects and launches he was a part of and showed it off.
Time To Dine
They had quite the layout prepared with a place to check in, a large open area with all the tables and a stage with a big screen behind it. The greeting crew were quite the characters.
The King
Of course you knew I couldn't go to a museum with a SR-71 or two in it and not take pictures. Still my favorite plane of all time.
The Belle Of The Building
May 17th, 1943 was the Memphis Belle's last combat mission. The 17th being tomorrow they were gearing up for a special presentation on it, and had some people there to answer questions about the plane and it's history.
A Plane Feeling
Much of the museum was the same but these boards for the blind were new. Not only did it have a braille section explaining what the plane was, there was a little 3d model of the plane so a blind visitor could get a sense of what they were reading bout. Pretty cool.
Killing Air Time
Today we didn't have much on, as the dinner didn't start until 5:30 and there isn't much to do in Dayton. So we decided to have a stroll through the Air Force Museum and see what's changed since our first visit.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Hexavu
A little more grey, we've both lost weight, and one of us grew a beard, but I think we're still going strong.
Back To The Flighture
And so we returned to the museum, there was a luncheon for the memorial attendees in the hangar where they display the Hexagon satellite.
The One
It took a bit to find since there were so many of them, but we finally spotted Dad's plaque on this one.
Wall of Walls
The honor plaques were set inside mounting plates and there were quite a few of them down the walk leading to the museum front entrance.
Air Force Museum Wall Of Honor
A while back we bought dad a plaque on the museum's wall of honor. They sent us confirmation but we'd never seen it in person. So after the ceremony we walked down to the museum proper and looked for it.
Second Contact
As we sat down, in another nice coincidence, it turned out the person in front of us was Ronald Kendig another member of Dad's unit and they knew each other. So it was time for more shop talk. It was really cool to see Dad talking to his peers, I don't know that I've experience that before and I enjoyed it.
SAFSP Memorial VIII
Around the memorial were several benches. This one with the various rockets that took their satellites to space.
SAFSP Memorial VI
This monument stands on the opposite side and is dedicated specifically to Hexagon.
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