Mobile Bay

We decided to take off with friends last weekend since it was a 3 day. The kids and Ryan were both off. We headed to Mobile Bay. Our mission....tour the U.S.S. Alabama battleship. We also took a little walk around part of the Delta area in the bay. What a beautiful place!

Our first stop when we arrived in the area was a state park where 5 rivers merge into Mobile Bay..This is where the Delta is...well part of it..it is HUGE, it is actually about 20,000 acres of water, including, rivers, streams, bayous, swamps, forests, and more....

We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed hiking around. It was a little cooler, so most of the wildlife was hiding away staying warm somewhere... we saw a ton of different birds though, including a pretty big bald eagle. A nice older couple were bird watching and wanted to let the kids take a peek through their telescope, but of course, the eagle decided it was time for lunch and with a turtle in his beak, he took off for somewhere more private ;) We saw plenty of shells... if it were warmer and we felt like venturing into the shallow water, I bet we would have found some big ones in there!

From there we headed to our hotel in downtown Mobile. It is hard not to laugh a little when we look at these pictures of "the big city". When your used to driving into cities like Boston, where you come up over the edge of the hill on the highway and the city comes up out of nowhere and is filled with tons, of huge skyscrapers...and we look up on our drive and see this...

Three building! Haha. It really is a pretty town... but as far as a city goes to me, not quite. There are lots of smaller buildings (you know, like 2 stories high) ;) Very pretty, and some really neat little pubs, and taverns. Actually if you look it up, you will find that Mobile is where Mardi Gras originated! Interesting fact right? If you are ever in the area, just look up at all the tress lining the down town streets... they are filled with hundreds of beads! 

We checked into our hotel, (which actually had 4 floors! haha) it was one street over from Dauphin St. Which is"The Street" In downtown Mobile. It's really pretty, we walked it a few times, to get to dinner. There are a few really nice parks around too. With big fountains, and huge checker boards on the ground, which the kids thought was pretty cool. The checkers were bigger than their heads, but nice and light ;)  

OK...finally onto the battleship! Sunday we spent at least 3 hours ON the ship itself. The thing is HUGE! There are self guided tours, you follow the arrows and they are each numbered so you don't get lost. Trust me, you WOULD get lost if you didn't follow. There were a few times we lost the dads. Actually I think they purposely went slower as we were following the kids through....... They always caught up though....us moms made sure of that! ;) Here are a few pictures from inside and on the ship, and the kids in front of it before we "boarded". 

Hanging out in the bunks...which were surprisingly quite comfy! 

"locked" in the Brig. 

Ignore the "photo bomber" behind the kids...would have been a perfect picture...

view from the top...(well, the highest you could go anyway)

There were also a few planes, helicopters and a submarine there. We toured the Sub too, however that was a much quicker tour. It was a small sub. This flag was on top of it and I just thought the view behind it was really pretty. :)

 Gators and snakes....Pshhhh who cares! it's a nice view, let's sit for a bit 

After 2 nights in the hotel, it was time to pack up and head out......

We decided we would be adventurous and try out a place called "The Biscuit King". The couple we went with had found it when looking on line. It looks like a "hole in the wall" kinda place... it is literally an aluminum building on a side road. It is on the trip advisor website and has all kinds of awards hanging in it. Kind of reminded me of something I would see on the Food network ;) Let me tell you, if you are ever headed down Route 98 from Mobile to the Gulf coast, you MUST stop here fro breakfast. They are called the Biscuit king for a reason...They were sooooo yummy and big! 

We took a more scenic route home along the coast line. We have been to the Florida gulf beaches so many times, but it was time to check out the Alabama coast. Man is it beautiful! The water was a bit chilly (It is January and all...)  That doesn't stop our kids....they rolled their pants and put their feet in, then decided to jump the waves, and one by one....fall in....fully clothed. Good thing we had a suitcase full of clothes ;) 

 She was the first to fall in....at first she was mad....

Then she decided to embrace it and go back for more.

he was next...

And so on and so forth.........

Another weekend of exploring down.... Can't wait for our next adventure! 

It is hard to believe we have been here at Fort Rucker for almost one year! This time last year my head was spinning...my house was being torn apart...all my pictures were off the walls, clothes were being packed.....everything was slowly being boxed up. I was hoarding everything we could possibly stuff into two vehicles in my back room so the movers would not touch it when they arrived to pack up and load the rest into a truck to be driven off into the deep south. Our family had a great party for us filled with so much love from our family and friends...... and then, a few days later, we hooked up Ryan's car to the back of our Expedition in the frigid -5* temps and awful, awful wind up on the hill at his parents house.....and we were off! Arriving at our new (temporary) home here in Alabama on January 27th.

This year has been Amazing. Of course my husband would have different words for some of it ;) with some pretty heavy study loads going on through out different parts of his courses. He is here to learn how to fly a black hawk after all! However, through it all, we have had some great, Great family time. We have seen him more this past year than we have in quite some time with his busy schedule back in NH. 

He continues to both amaze and impress me, setting aside times for studying and knowing his limits....Doing so great in all of his classes and yet still having time for making some great memories with his family here. For me, this has been one of the Best things we have done..ever! Both for his career and for our family! I am so thankful for this opportunity and so blessed to have a husband who is so dedicated to making everything as great as he can for his family! 

You learn so many things when you decide to make such a huge, life changing decision. You learn, you really are ok with living so far from home....adventures are fun and exciting. You get to see and do things you never would other wise. Your children become friends with people from all over, and even though it's hard to say goodbye to them when the time comes, they are still keeping in touch with the ones they spent so much time with here. That puts a smile on my face, they will always have these memories and now have these friends for life....as will I ;) All because we, as a family, took a leap of faith! 

You find out who your friends are....when you move so far away that you can not actually See each other and get together, yet you watch your relationships grow even closer and stronger than ever. When friends reach out and take the time to write you a sweet message, be it 2 words or 20...they still thought of you and truly care...when they take the time to call you and catch up at least once a week. When no matter what, they have your back through it all.....no matter how far away you might be, they have nothing but sweet words to say about you and they really make you feel loved. You find out, those are the people who really matter, the ones who are Truly & Honestly your friends. 

You discover just how strong of relationship you have with your spouse. We are blessed to have always had such a great, loving, strong bond.... but when you are so far away and you really only have each other....you realize you will NEVER break. When you have each other, faith and love, your relationship truly shines! Thanks Ryan <3 together....we ROCK! 

So there it is... my new years post. 2013 has been an eye opening, life changing, amazingly fun, exciting year! 2014 will be just as great, with a flight school graduation on the horizon and a great reunion with the ones we love, and who love us! Bring it on 2014! 

Florida family time

So I told you I would post about our family visit in Florida in a separate post because my last one was long enough as it was ;) So here ya go.....

Actually we had some of our own quality time at the pool when we first got there. Crazy kids (and husband...) It wasn't warm enough outside for me. The pool was heated, but not enough ;) I rolled up my pants and stood in the hot tub for a bit!

As you can see, I'm not the only one who ended up in the hot tub ;)

My Grandfather, Aunt and cousins live in Florida... all within "about" an hour and 15 or so from where we were, so they all came to visit us for a day. It was a fun little reunion! We haven't seen them in a while.... years! So it was over due. We enjoyed homemade lasagnas and salad thanks to my cousin's wife Julie. (Delish by the way....Great job Julie!) It's nice to enjoy good food with family! 

My Grampa enjoyed having his two daughters together and some of his grandkids and great grandkids. It was cute to see him playing with my babies :) 

 A Dad & his Daughters

  Grandkids & Great grandkids 

Miss getting her giggle on with her great Grampa

My kids requested that we take my cousins Jen and Abby home with us..... If I had my way, I would! They are so good with the kids, and they love them! I'm not sure who was having more fun?

 Of course lil Mr. Greyson was a big hit with the ladies too ;)

I guess the kids wore her out! ;) 

Bryn was Greyson's buddy that day. I think she just felt like such a big girl "helping" out with him ;) 

We celebrated Travis's birthday after dinner. Any excuse to have cake & ice cream!! It really was his birthday that day though, thanks Trav ;) It was a yummy dessert, and you can't have cake without getting it smeared all over your face....

Photo Opp. much!?!?! 

Of course we played with our, I mean....the kids light toys! Ryan's dad was having too much fun taking pictures of us playing with them....

We ended our fun family visit with none other than a group photo! First we had to get the lighting right... should we all stand on the balcony? Let's have Ryan take a picture and see if we will all fit in the right lighting....

Eh' too many doors in the back round and too much shadow... let's go down stairs.... BUT... WHO!?!?! Is going to take this group shot? No worries, Julie put in a phone call to the the front desk, and Pedro (Who happened to be from Boston...HA, small world!) Came right up to our room and took a nice family photo of us all. He took a couple...here are a few :) 

We really enjoyed our time.....between parks and family.....it was well worth it! 

Feeling Blessed!