Hi djberna,
I finally started playing with my board tonight. Loading firmware onto it is fairly simple, BUT finding enough information to get me to that point took a couple of hours.
The best tool for flashing the firmware on there is Arduino. Once you've installed it, download the arduplaneNG or arducopterNG or whatever firmware you want, and put the 'Library' and 'ArduplaneNG' folders into it. Then, in Arduino, go to the file menu and hover over the Sketchbook option. It'll have ArduplaneNG in there as an option. You can then upload it, and you'll get magic LED lights telling you it's doing something. You can then run the Ardupilot Mission Planner software - just make sure you set the baud rate correctly. Clear as mud? I've got a few issues I need to iron out before I write an article that'll have better instructions and pics etc. Hopefully I've at least pointed you in the right direction.