Visit from Mr. and Mrs. K

Okay, back to the catch up game. Now we are going to rewind to July 4th when Garin's parents came to visit us! They came in on Saturday, just in time to help us celebrate the 4th! We grilled out and then watched an AMAZING fireworks show off of our back deck. We had some people in the neighborhood that had to have spend a thousand dollars on fireworks, no lie. And since our house sits on a hill it was absolutely prime location for viewing everything. And we didn't have to fight traffic to boot!

While they were here, our coffee maker stopped working :( So, Mr. K decided that he would take a shot at "fixing" it. Well, 500 pieces later he determined that it was unfixable ;) hehe. But it was great fun to see what all is involved in a coffee maker!!



Garin's mom went to visit her sister's in New Orleans during the week while Garin's dad went to a work conference in Alabama. And then on Saturday it was Blue Angels weekend at Pensacola Beach and we experienced it first hand right on the beach with the other 10,000 people there. It was pretty cool...well it was hot as all get out, but a cool experience ;) I'm glad that Mr. and Mrs. K got to see it, because it really is a neat air show.

Mr. and Mrs. K enjoying the Air Show (we may or may not have been sitting on a sand dune...shhhh)

Thanks for coming to visit us Mr. and Mrs. K, we LOVED having you here!!

Next stop...Cape Cod

Well, Garin and I just recently got the news that we will be spending our next 4 years in Cape Cod, MA!!! We were VERY excited, as this was our second choice on our "dream" sheet (our first was Elizabeth City, NC...but I had kinda convinced myself against that, so the Cape had become my real first choice). This also means that Garin will be flying the HH-60...which is what he wanted.

Garin's training is going well. He is currently scheduled to Wing October 22nd (in non military speak that basically means graduate flight school...at that point he gets to wear the gold wings). So that means that we will probably be moving at the beginning of November...just in time for winter. Its the whole cold winter thing that I'm not really looking forward to...but I've heard that the Summer and Fall totally make up for it. And after living for the past 2 years on the Gulf coast, it might be time for a change.


So, here are a couple of pictures so you have any idea of our future:

The Coast Guard base is on the "Upper Cape", which is the part that is connected to the mainland (Its in between Sandwich, Barnstable, and Falmouth on the map). We will be about an hour away from Boston, which I'm very excited about! We are thinking about living a little closer to the Plymouth area so that we would be closer to the city and closer to any jobs that I might find (there isn't too much other than tourism going on on the Cape).

Oh, so beautiful!!!

One of the lighthouses on the Cape. Garin and I actually went and visited this one while we were up there for his OCS Graduation (so yes, we have "been" to Cape Cod...but it was only a short day trip, so we don't remember too much). My dream Cape Cod house...except in my dream it is on the beach...

This is what I'm not looking forward to. But it is beautiful!

Well, get your snow gear ready...we are looking forward to visitors!! Oh and if you by any chance have any info about the Cape Cod info...particularly housing, please let me know!!

FIVE Years!

This past weekend (July 23rd), Garin and I celebrated our FIVE year anniversary! It's hard to believe that it has actually been five years. Time flies! Well to celebrate this milestone we decided to take a quick trip. We were somewhat limited by Garin's flight schedule and travel restrictions (he can only go so far from the area), so we decided on a weekend trip to Panama City Beach, FL. We left on Friday after Garin got done with his flights and then came back on Sunday so Garin could dive back into flight studies. However, in between we had a blast hanging out with each other and enjoying some away time.

Self portrait

Garin playing around with his anniversary gift...an ocean kayak (made to "surf" the waves). I actually pulled off a surprise on this one too. I was so excited that he was surprised!

He might need a little more practice ;)

I tried out the kayak too, and LOVED it...I'm wondering why we waited until now to get one, I'm seeing lots of fun beach ventures in the future!

Sunset view of the PCB strip (f0r those of you from NC, think Myrtle Beach strip) from our room

And finally...not sure if you can see this in the picture...the lighting was bad. BUT if you can make it out, will see a tarp in the back of a pick up truck filled with water and a few folks hanging out in the "swimming pool". Garin and I thought this was a VERY apt appearance on our anniversary! For those of you that were not at our wedding, this was how Garin's groomsmen "decorated" his truck. By far the best car decorating I've seen at any wedding (wish I still had a picture of it on my computer so I could show the similarity...I've had to move all those pictures onto a disk). This sighting TOTALLY completed a great day of celebration :)

Here's to Five wonderful, amazing, great, awesome years! Love ya Hubs!

Mason comes to see me! (Oh yeah, and MW and Alex too :)

Well I know you can't believe it, but I have more pictures of my nephew Mason :) He and his parents came to visit Garin and I the week after Memorial Day (see, I told you I was WAY behind!). Of course he was adorable as usual. At that point he was just barely starting to take a couple of steps on his own...now he is running around like a wild man. We had a blast and I miss him terribly (oh and I miss MW and Alex too :)!

Hanging with Uncle Garin in "his" helo.

Aunt Heaven

Mason really did enjoy the water. At first he was a little timid, but then he really got into it.

Same thing with the sand. At first he wasn't so sure about the texture, but it didn't take long for him to dig in.

Mason's wheels. Before he was walking this was how he got everywhere. You should have seen that kid whip that thing around my house strutting his stuff! It was so hilarious!

Look at that face!! HAHA! Don't think he was very excited to be hanging with Uncle G

I was amazed at his ability to eat a WHOLE apple...what a health nut!

My protege

I taught him how to smoke a pipe...don't tell his mom.

Love my adorable muffin!

Way Behind

Well I have quite a few posts to catch up on. I had them all planned out and everything...I just lacked the execution! So I'll try to be a little more diligent in posting.

As for Garin and I, everything is going well. Garin is rolling right along in his Helo training. He left for a cross country this weekend. He was supposed to go to Louisville, KY, but got stuck in Nashville, TN due to weather. During the summer my work is doing an "abbreviated" work week. So I am working longer days M-Th and get Fridays off. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but I must admit, that Friday off is TOTALLY worth the longer days! We'll go back to a regular work week in August though :(

Okay, well now on to my post updates...

Pensacola Beach, Takes a Lickin'

Well this past Saturday P-cola Beach was still kickin', but yesterday (Wednesday) it took quite a lickin'. A BUNCH of oil washed ashore Wednesday morning. Crews have been out cleaning it up, but it looks like our white sand beaches might be a thing of yesterday :( Its disheartening.

No, my friends, that is NOT Stingrays this time (see post below)...that is OIL! :(

Pensacola Beach, Still Kickin'

Yesterday we went out to the beach. Each time we go we try to live it up because we aren't sure if it is gonna be "beachable" (like that word?! I made it up in case you couldn't tell! Ha!) for much longer. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful so I had to break the camera out to capture the scene. I couple of weeks ago we went and saw some tar balls on the beach, but it could not have been more clean or beautiful yesterday. The water was calm and clear...so much so that EVEN I got in and enjoyed it (that doesn't happen too too often). So, so far, P-cola Beach is still alive and kickin'!

The Beach Scene (at an area between P-Cola Beach and Navarre, its our special secret spot because it is not as crowded and still has a bathroom for Garin)

The love of my life. Being a nerd and getting his study on. Man, I love the Beach!

No, those are not tar balls floating in the water. They are STINGRAYS! Groups of about 10 of them kept swimming by where we were sitting and I followed them up the beach and found a BIG OL group of them...there had to be like 100 or so. And they were soooo close, as you can see. I was standing right on the shore line taking these pictures. Garin tried to go swim with them when they came by us one time...but they just veered around him (we paid good money to swim with the stingrays when we were in the Grand Caymans, so we were excited to get the adventure for free! Except these didn't want to play like the ones in the Caymans did...guess we should bring some fishes with us next time!). Garin also saw a sea turtle (and I "saw" it too...well I saw a moving black spot...but I couldn't get over to it fast enough to see what it was...I'll trust Garin that it was a sea turtle).

Tried to get a close up...but it was so bright I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of. You can kind of see that its a stingray down there.