My 50th Birthday Cake

My wonderful wife Elyn and my incredible sister Desiree, threw me a surprise 50th birthday party at one of my favorite restaurants, the Hobbit.

10 of us got to sit in the wine cellar where you can get loud, unlike the rest of the place where you need to keep it down.

After dinner, they brought out this amazing cake that my wife had made for me. She drove all over LA to pickup the Apollo CSM & LM with the astronauts. When the cake maker asked if she wanted to put a space shuttle on the moon with 6 astronauts that came in the package, she said, "the space shuttle never went to the moon, there were never more than 2 men on the moon at one time and if this cake isn't historically correct, I'll never hear the end of it". The only mistake on the entire cake is that both astronauts have red stripes on their EVA suits, but regardless, it's the best cake I've ever had.

Abraham Lincoln 1900 Champlain Courthouse Stained Glass Window

This beautifully hand painted Lincoln stained glass window was made in 1900-1901 for the Champlain, Ill courthouse. 1/2 of the courthouse was destroyed by the fire in 1949 and this window was removed by a gentleman who was on the demolition crew.

Eventhough it's not space related, Lincoln is one of my hero's and I thought I'd share it.

Dylan with Bob Crippen at SETP

Here is the most beautiful boy in the world with one of the nicest guys I've ever met, Robert Crippen. Robert Crippen was 1 of the 2 astronauts that flew the first space shuttle mission in Columbia, with his crewmate John Young. Bob Crippen also commanded STS-7, 41C and 41G, traveling more than 9 million miles in space. He commanded missions that included the first American woman in space, flying the first MMU mission with Bruce McCandless being the first untethered person to fly in space, the first use of the Canadarm in space, the first satellite retrevial & repair in orbit and flying the first 7 man crew in space. He went on to become deputy director of shuttle operations, KSC director and other vice president positions with aerospace companies. He is truly a class act from start to finish, as most of the astronauts we've been lucky to meet.

I took Dylan to the 2007 Society of Experimental Test Pilots annual meeting at Disneyland. Dylan drew pictures, read and waited for 3.5 hours, while 7 white papers were presented by some of the most extraordinary men in aviation history. We were able to meet and speak with Neil Armstrong, Robert Crippen, Mike Melville, Dick Rutan, Bill Dana and a lot of long time test pilots.

After taking Dylan to meet Neil Armstrong, I noticed Robert Crippen in the room and was very excited to meet Crippen. As I was explaining to my son who Robert Crippen was, Crippen took Dylan over to a table and was reading to him, with Crippen spending about 5 minutes with my boy. When I asked Crippen if I could take a photo with Dylan & him, my son threw his arm over Crippen's shoulders like they were old friends and you can see the results. Robert Crippen was gracious enough to sign this photo for Dylan, when I had it printed and sent to him for an autograph.

SETP with Dylan and Neil Armstrong

Santa Poster

Santa Poster

Santa Poster