I have been trying to post an entry on my forgotten blog for at least two weeks now. Everything thing that I write is boring or disconnected or just plain terrible. I am sitting here with little Boo next to me typing away, but nothing comes out. Remember the episode of “Friends” where Ross is flirting with his cousin and he can’t say anything. He shouts at himself, “SAY SOMETHING, ANYTHING!” I have felt like Ross with my blog recently.
I haven’t paid any attention to my blog; I am sure the blog police will take my blogging license away. To catch up with my blogging, I have listed my top five blogs I didn’t post but should have. Maybe this will help me get back on track with posting more often.
Prepping for the Space Camp Hall of Fame – In 2007 Space Camp started a Hall of Fame to recognize their brightest stars in conjunction with their 25th Anniversary. The HOF dinner was emceed by William Shatner. To me, this seemed like an over kill, but the HOF was a success and has continued. This year, it is the event that all space geeks and Space Camp alumni have dreamed of. This year, we have an awesome event lined up. Our emcee will be Stephanie Abrams, Space Camp alumnus and Weather Channel Meteorologist. Our after dinner entertainment will be 
Max-Q, the all astronaut band. The inductees are a great group of chaperones, former staff members, and campers. “It’s shake’n bake and I helped!”
Hanging with the Teachers – This summer I started my tenure as the Director of Education for Space Camp & Aviation Challenge. During the summer months I get to hang with some of the world’s coolest teachers and most of them are staff! Teacher camp staff members come from all around the U.S. My long time buddy Rhonda comes down to help. On top of the teachers and staff, we have special guests who visit and speak with the teachers. Grace Corrigan, Christa McAuliffe’s mom, visits each year during International Space Camp. She is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. She is kind and loves inspiring educators. The week she visited, International Space Camp week, I felt déjà vu, but it really wasn’t déjà vu because I had been through lots of ISC camps. My life seems to have come full circle.
12 Day Camp – Aviation Challenge is a very special place to me. I spent six summers there on the management team. Getting to work with some of the best campers was a great privilege. The special thing about both 12 Day Camp (Space & AC) is the way the kids grow during a seemingly short period of time. The guys and gals that attend 12 Day are either super space geeks or supersonic nerds but they learn leadership, communication, and how to work as a team/family. I trained them in incident command structure which they used in their final event, a table top simulation of a mass casualty disaster. Seeing them grow from the first day to the table top event is amazing. I miss those little kiddies!
Canoeing Trip – The Second Annual AC Family Canoe Trip was better than last year. Fireball, Mr. Fireball, Baywatch, Cornbread, Nemo, Snapper and Chris traveled down the Elk River in Tennessee. Because of our experience and the smaller group, it should have been a piece of cake getting down the river. WRONG! The first adventure for me was the red headed canoe. I shared a canoe with none other than Fireball and Snapper. What was I thinking? I was thinking it would be tons of fun! Fireball and Snapper kept me rolling with all the stories and giggles. What happens when you have three redheads in a boat, it gets flipped twice. The second adventure was the rain! A summer thunderstorm hit us in the middle of the afternoon. My survival skills kicked in as we made a small shelter out of our canoe and kayak. No matter what, it was a great day of bonding and relaxation? It was a stress free zone on the river!
4th of July – For the first time in many years I was at home in Mississippi for 4th of July. This was so special to me. Growing up, the 4th of July was the best day of the year next to Thanksgiving. My family always grills, barbeques, or smokes something. Food and family have always been very special to me. The thing which made this summer’s 4th of July so special was my niece and nephews. Seeing the kids grow up and have fun almost, but not quite, makes me want to have kids of my own. The whole trip was a needed break from Huntsville, Alabama at the best possible time. All in all this was the best part of the summer.
So now you know what I didn’t blog about this summer. If you would like to hear more about one of these topics, please shoot me a comment on graphitefree or Facebook. I will write about that topic. If you don’t want to hear anything else about these topics, that is fine as well. Stay tuned for my vacation to New York City and the Space Camp Hall of Fame. I am sure there will be a flaming hooker or something exciting in the next few weeks.