Phillips family around the world in 68days

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Thanks Giving

November 25, 2022

Day 54 – 55 – Nov 23-24 Weather – Warm and muggy We spent a wonderful month over at New Smyrna Beach at our condo – Moontide. I think we were all a little sad to be leaving, it really was a great spot, with a wonderful view and an awesome pool up on the roof. It was great to be so close to Rusty, Chi and Wiley, just hanging out and spending time, getting to know Wiley a little better. It was also great just to have our own place to come back to. Sometime you just want to read a book or watch TV, and not plan some huge activity. I’m not sure we’ll be able to stay there though, in say 5 years from now - I worry about the beach– it has all but disappeared. I have a feeling that a few more hurricanes from now, Moontide and all the beach side condo’s will have been demolished to make way for the rising sea. On the plus side, that will mean that Rusty and Chi’s condo will be on the beach… But who knows? Maybe the government will build some huge sea walls and dikes like in Holland and t

A trip to the hospital...

November 22, 2022

Day 51 – 53 – Nov 20-22 Sorry for the lack of updates – it has been a very stressful couple of days. As many of you know, Katie had a health complaint that resulted in a trip to the ED at the local hospital in New Smyrna Beach – Advent health – and then admission and two nights in the hospital total. I have to say, it has not been the best hospital experience, and our local hospital is Box Hill, which is a pretty low bar – and I would say that my preference would be Box Hill back home!!! I won’t go into the details of the emergency – only to say that Katie is now fine and we are able to continue our trip. It was a bit of an ordeal and while the nurses were all wonderful, the level and standard of care was constrained by the resources they had at their disposal. There also seemed to be very few actual doctors – part of the delay in getting discharged was waiting on seeing a doctor. We did get to see a nurse practitioner who was great, but even she had to wait on the doctor as well. Th

Do we have a Go, No-Go for Launch? Artemis I - Moon Rocket

November 16, 2022

Day 44-46 – Nov 13-15 Weather – Cooling down, cloudy VEHICAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING I’m writing this after very little sleep last night – I think maybe 4hrs. We made the decision yesterday to head down the coast to see the Artemis 1 Launch live from across the water near Kennedy Space Centre in Titusville. I had found out that the 4 th attempt at the launch was happening in the early hours of Wednesday 16 th , so I had started scoping out some options to view the launch. Artemis is NASA’s moon rocket that it is planned will take astronauts back to the moon. It is currently the most powerful rocket in operation – although SpaceX’s spaceship will overtake that soon. I have seen two rocket launches from New Smyrna Beach – one night time and one day time launch. The Night time one was quite impressive, however the day time one wasn’t much of a show. It’s about 50kms – 60kms from our Condo to the Launch pads (Depending on which pad is used) – so I was looking at options for better viewing

Go Gators!

November 13, 2022

Day 42-43 – Nov 11-12 – Clean up, catching up with Friends and Gator Football Weather – All over the place There’s been quite a bit going on for the last few days. Clean up after the hurricane was actually pretty straightforward. The previous hurricane – Ian – had cleared out a lot of the weaker branches, so there wasn’t too much to worry about. We did have a couple of big branches that came down. Mac used the chain saw to cut those up, and Rusty and I clearer them out by loading them up onto the golf cart. The girls wondered around the driveway and cleaned up the debris there, and Mac mowed the lawns, and in no time at all the house was looking good. We had planned to catch up in downtown Deland with Katies Friends for dinner and drinks – our first night out in Deland for about 4 years. Deland has a pretty lively bar and restaurant scene. One of Katies good friends – Jessica, picked us up around 5 and we head into town to meet her husband Chris. Our first location was on the cor

Hurricane Nicole

November 10, 2022

Day 40-41 – Nov 9-10 Weather – Wet and windy We spent most of yesterday afternoon awaiting the hurricane. To be honest, there wasn’t much to do. Rusty and I decided to head down to Publix around Lunch time to pick up a few supplies for dinner – probably a mistake considering the car park was full and there were hoards of people picking up some last-minute items. They had closed the schools as they use them as refuge centres, and we bumped into Kristin and her kids as they were checking out. No one seemed to be concerned. I decided to quickly pick up some important necessities – you never know how long roads might shut down, we could be cut off for quite some time. It could be hard but if you have the basics you can get though. The necessary supplies for our charcuterie platter were selected, although I must point out that there were no good soft cheese options. Is Brie not a thing here??? I guess a soft Goats cheese will do, but I except some justifiable criticism. There seemed to

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