Travel log and evidence.

There is no place I'd rather be than with family. Last week O and I visited LT in Pensacola, FL. He's been there for a couple of weeks and will be for a few more before he returns. It was a mini vacation for us. LT didn't study all weekend and we had family time. It always amazes me how much more enjoyable time together outside the home is compared to when we just stay home. At home, we get distracted by all of our projects and we end up doing our own things instead of focusing on making memories with O. (She's going to be 5 in less than 2 weeks. I can hardly believe it.) She is in a stage where it is a lot of fun to hang out with her. We tease each other non stop. I LOVE that she's a teaser, she fits right in with us. Anyway, I plan to dedicate an entire post about her on her BIG birthday.

Back to the story at hand, we were in Pensacola for 6 days. The "funny" thing about this trip is I got a ridiculously good deal on flights to Panama City, FL. So, I flew into there. But it turns out the drive is 2.5 hours to Pensacola. Oops. I guess just looking on a map and guessing the distance is a poor substitute for actually looking it up. No worries though. O was a fabulous little traveler. It helped to have our portable DVD player and it helped that we had 2 flights to break things up a bit.

The Friday we were there LT had class so us girls went out to explore on our own. The first stop was at the Pensacola Lighthouse. It's a haunted lighthouse and has been featured on "Ghost Hunters". I think that's pretty cool. It is 177 stairs to the top of the lighthouse and we made the climb. O was such a trooper, the higher we got on the stairs, the more nervous she became. The walk down was even worse for her. When you look at the picture, you can understand why. The spiral stairs are pretty tight and they are see through. I was so proud of her for making it up and down. I told her she did something hard that she was afraid of and she made it. And the next time she has something scary and hard to do, she can think about the stairs and remember that she's done hard things before. I think it was a cool experience for her. She beamed at her success. Who would have thought the lighthouse would provide a little teaching moment like that.

After the lighthouse, we headed over to the Naval Air Museum. Yay. I'd been there before and I knew they had a play place. I wanted to let her run since she'd been cooped up traveling the day before. That evening we went to a movie on the lawn in downtown Pensacola. The weather was perfect, the venue was perfect and the movie "Rio" was a lot of fun.

Saturday, we hit the Pensacola Beach and had a great time. The water was clear enough to snorkel!! We saw tons o' fish and caught crabs. O was a little freaked out that there were fish by her feet.

I learned the painful lesson that water resistant and waterproof are two entirely different types of protection when it comes to sunscreen. OUCH!!! I do have a lot of freckles to prove that I spent time at the beach. I don't think I've been this freckled for over a decade.

On a side note: I've been seriously spoiled with my recent beach experiences. I don't think there are better beaches than in Can Cun, Mexico, Phuket, Thailand and Nassau, Bahamas. I've heard others complain about east coast beaches and now I understand why. There is a huge difference between east coast, west coast and the gulf beaches. We went to a beach in Delaware the week before we left for FL. There was a lot of turbidity in the water and you couldn't see your feet. I've heard that is how most beaches are out here. Boo!

Since this post is getting long and many of you may be dozing of by now, I'll wrap it up with highlights.

After the beach, we had lunch at McGuires. The uniqueness of McGuires is in their decor. There are over 1 million dollar bills stapled and hanging in the restaurant. We signed our names and left one too.

We teased O about what she wanted on her birthday cake. She had told me she wants the Millennium Falcon and we pretended we couldn't remember the name. "Was it the Century Eagle? Or the Millennium Ferret?"

Sunday we went to church at the military branch on base. They have Krispy Kreme doughnuts every week. O was delighted that after sacrament we ate doughnuts. Afterwards, we went to lunch at the senior missionaries place with the rest of the branch members. I love that anywhere you go, you have a "home" with church members.

During Sunday School, O was coloring with the other little girl at the branch. They sang disney princess songs, loudly. I'm sure it was a distraction to others and we told them to sing quietly, but secretly, I loved it.

Sunday night, we enjoyed a stroll on the beach. We watched jellyfish wash up on the sand. We watched big crabs in the water and watched sand crabs scurry into their little holes. We even captured one. As strange at this sounds, crab eyes make me laugh and they creep me out at the same time.

Monday my room key didn't work, so once we left the room, we were out for the day. We went back to the Naval Air Museum and I let O play at the play place for about 2 hours. There was another mom there who was killing time just like me. O played with her 2 kids the entire time. When it was time to go and O said goodbye to them, the boy hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. I thought that was sweet, but she sure didn't. She folded her arms and gave me her grumpy face. She said, "He got his germs all over me. He kissed me like a married person." I tried not to laugh.

Once LT got home we piled into the car for our drive to Panama City. We played games and had FHE. We taught O "I spy, with my little eye" and she really got into it. She did a great job on the long drive. A whole new world has opened up for us, people. We may be able to do some road trips now that O is older.

We checked into our hotel and watched "American Ninja Warrior". Loved it!!

At 4 o'crap in the morning we headed to the airport, kissed LT good bye and made it home in time for the GREAT EAST COAST EARTHQUAKE OF 2011!!!

Now we are hunkering down for the hurricane.

The haunted Pensacola lighthouse.

Looking up from the bottom.

O checking out the climb. No flip flops were allowed, so she went barefoot.

Looking down.

At the top. It was a VERY humid day so we look especially sweaty after our climb.

O wanted to go down as soon as we were up there. She wasn't happy I wanted to take pictures and you can tell by her expressions. Here is her fake smile.

Looking into the light.

View of the beach.

Self explanatory

NAM on Monday. We took turns being in both seats. My favorite question from O. "Are you ready to BAM it?" I thought she said dammit, but before I could say anything, she started with, "bam, bam, bam." That's how she fires guns.

A walk on the beach with daddy.

Our attempt at a family photo.

The end.

Highlights from July

Here is July in a nutshell.

For the 4th of July I headed to Annapolis in the morning to check out the old school revelers. I knew the secret password, so I didn't get shot. They are a grizzly pair of soldiers, aren't they?

I love that this guy is checking his cell phone. He, obviously, represents the very progressive colonists.

In the afternoon we went to a party on base, where ran into some friends from our ward. O was thrilled since S is one of her BFFs. Aren't they just cute little bugs, holding hands n' all.

In the evening we went to the W house to blow things up and roast a few marshmallows. O had to change after her escapade with the fire hoses on base. I LOVE those pants and so does she. They are so loud, just like her.

In the middle of the month, LTs gma passed away so he headed to CA to celebrate her life. The poor guy had, I think, a 3 hour flight delay so he arrived in CA really late and hardly had anytime to sleep. Then he only had a couple of hours to see family before he had to head back to MD. He had a training that started the next day and it had cost a bazillion dollars, so he couldn't miss it without being in LOTS of trouble.

Side Note:

LT requested I remove this part... sigh!

We'd been planning, as a family, to attend Super Hero night at the Baysox baseball game. We even had superman shirts for the occasion. However, the weekend of the game was the same weekend LT went to CA. We missed him, but the girls went to the game without him. We had a great time with two of our other favorite families. Here is O with her latest favorite buddy L. The other pic is of the W family. What a bunch of goofballs.

Other happenings in July that were not photographed included a Princess Dance Camp for O. I would like to get her into dance soon. She LOVES it and she is the stinking cutest kid on the entire stage. Then again, I'm totally biased.

I got to go rock climbing with K. AHHHHHH, man, it felt good to put on my harness and pull some plastic at the gym. K is a beautiful climber and amazing to watch. I wish I had pictures to share.

LT celebrated his birthday, but then again, if you frequent my blog, you already knew that.

O and I toured a recycling center with our weekly field trip friends. I think her highlight was riding in her buddy L's car for a while.

I started acupuncture for migraine abatement. I'm optimistic.

O went to the dentist. 4 cavities! Drat, all due to lack of flossing. Never underestimate the power of floss my friends.

I took my MD Jurisprudence exam and passed!!

LT and I went on 4 dates!!! Wooo-hoo. That's a record for us. Then again, we were trying to cram in as many as we could before he took off.

O had her hearing checked. All clear!

So, there you have it, July in a nutshell. Well, a large nutshell.

National Night Out!!

How do you make a 4 year olds wildest dreams come true??? Give her a snow cone AND cotton candy!!

We went to National Night Out on base this evening to check out the sights, take in a bouncy house or two and watch a demonstration of a swat team. The highlight for me was seeing O in sugary delight at the end of the evening. Her snow cone started to leak and it ran down her chin, her arm, and her chest. She was a sticky mess. It was so much fun. Notice the clean shirt in the picture below and the sticky shirt in the picture above.

Where's Olivia?

The swat team. O said this was her favorite part. Go figure

I get this look, oh, a bazillion times a day. "Show me your grumpy face."

Happy Birthday Smarty Pants

There are many things I love about LT. Here are just a few.

He knows how to have fun!

He's nice to chicks.

He has a fun sense of humor.

He looks great with a mustache.

He likes being outdoors.

He does a great Gomez Adams.

He's a geek who likes to solve puzzles.

He really knows how to sweep a girl off her feet.

He's a good daddy.

He looks hot in his sunglasses!

He likes to make things grow.

He wears a pink tie.

He serves his country.

He makes silly faces when pictures are being taken.

2011

AND.....

He wore the same shirt this year that he did last year for his Birthday.

2010

Thoughtful

I'm holding out for good news.

These past two weeks have been so very heavy. People we love are carrying heavy loads and because we love them, we share some of that weight.

Relationships are crumbling all around us.

Some of our friends from when we were newlyweds are getting a divorce. We've watched them have 3 children and now, they will have to work out the dance of custody and state lines. LT and I were in shock for days when we found out. "Those guys? But, they were so rock solid. How did it happen?"

We hugged.

Another friend confided in me her marriage is not going so well. She'd be happy to stay or go.

My heart sank.

I'm involved with another set of friends while they sort out their relationship. The emails, phone calls and personal encounters are heavy. They are good people, maybe just not good together.

AND, on the other side of the crumbling relationships is a story of a friend who is so dear to me. The relationship with her husband is fine, and, he may have cancer, for the third time. The last I heard she was in a waiting room, waiting.

In the middle of all of the shifts going on around me, I am so grateful I can crawl into the shelter of my relationship with LT and grieve for my friends, in safety.

Folk Life

I love living in Maryland. I love that I don't feel like I'm in a BIG CITY. I love that I see fields and farms around. AND I love that I can hop on the metro and in less than an hour, be in DC to attend the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

I'm such a culture, folklife geek. I think my parents did a good job of exposing me to other cultures and the arts. In Pocatello, it's not very easy to do. I mean, c'mon, it's Idaho. It's not known for it's cultural diversity. It's known for potatoes and for the Neo Nazis in the panhandle. (Who, I might add, don't appreciate cultural diversity). My point is, if you wanted to learn about other cultures and countries, you had to make an effort. You had to travel to a larger city with museums or something.

I remember going to the Greek festival one year. The food was awesome.

Anyway, the first year we lived in Texas, I dragged LT to the Texas Folklife Festival to see the dancing and taste the foods. At the time, I was preparing to travel to Brazil with Clog America and I wanted to get a taste of what I was in for on my trip. I loved it!!

Now that O is old enough, I can introduce HER to the coolness of folklife festivals.

So, today, we ventured out of our little world in Odenton and explored other cultures.

It started out pretty hot and poor O was melting and grumpy. Fortunately for us, a storm was on it's way to the Mall and the cool air blowing in made it more comfortable as time went on. Upon our arrival we caught the tail end of a performance of clowns in the Columbian area. That seemed to be our luck for the day. We caught the tail end of almost everything. We made it to the last dance in a rhythm and blues dance workshop. We ran to another tent and made it to the end of a dance in the Columbian section.

I really, REALLY wanted to dance, so we went to our final tent of the day and made it in time for some good dancing. The performance was cut short because the storm had arrived and everyone had to get out of the tents and off of the Mall. It turns out the Mall + Tents = Lightening Alley.

(I'm so glad O was with me because getting out on the dance floor is something LT would NEVER do. Well, he did dance with me once, when we were dating. Anyway, O loves to dance so we had fun with all of the other people on the floor).

It was okay, by then, we were both ready to head home. We ran through the rain to the Metro and sloshed onto the train. When we hit New Carrolton the storm was in a fine fury. We ate popcorn and waited inside for a break in the weather. We'd parked a bit of a walk away so we got kind of wet on our trip. Once we got in the car, the rain picked up again. We drove through a torrential downpour and pulled into our driveway at the tail end of the storm. A perfect way to end our "tail end of luck" day.

On the metro headed to our adventure.

O painted a square on a world map that the Peace Corps will use in one of it's international "classrooms". The volunteer congratulated O on being an official Smithsonian Cartographer.

O gave me the, "are you seriously taking another picture" look.

Proof that we were there.

O looks so tall in this picture. Wow!

I had to bribe O with ice cream to get her to pose with this lady from Kenya.

The beadwork on her head and neck were stunning.

The picture does NOT do it justice.

I also like that you can see Os razzle dazzle shoes in this picture.

O showing off her red tongue.

I had to document the joy of

being easily pleased by the color of your own tongue.

Just another dose of Star Wars

Hightlights from Star Wars night at the Baysox game.

O met R2D2.

O met Princess Leia

While O was hanging out with R2, I chatted with a friend of the Jedi Knights. After one of their battles between innings two knights came over to our seats to meet O.

Can you guess what she did? Do you think she got all wide eyed and giddy? Do you think she talked and talked their ears off?

Nope!!! She buried her head in my arm and was shy. SHY???

Just so you know, the ENTIRE ride to the stadium, O went on and on about all of the Star Wars characters.

O and J got to "run the bases" at the end of the game.

The fireworks were pretty cool. O said they kept popping her eyes out and she had to put them back in several times.

Our friends at the game.