Life's a Beach!

Our July started and ended with the beach.

Not a bad way to go, for us

who are normally land locked.

Cam and I decided last minute

to head south and have a

little mini vacation in our new state.

First on the agenda was

 Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.  

Now don't be surprised

if you end up finding Cam and I living

there some day.

We fell in love with that
quaint historical town.

Next throw in there some outlet shopping,

2 days at Virginia Beach and

dare I say it....

you have got yourself a vacation folks!

We did it!

 We actually got to do something

besides move this summer.

YAY for us!

my batteries died in my camera early on at Busch Gardens.
So not too many photos.
Just know it was probably the hottest day of the year
great for crowd control not so great for comfort.

the boys all had a great time.
Mack decided this was the year to do some
of the big roller coasters, even if they
went upside down.

The usual thing happened with this guy as it does with most new experiences.
There was nothing I could do except drag him into the water in the beginning,
but by the end I was having to drag him out. He turned into a total beach bum!

The boys immediately wanted to try out the boogey boards and they had a blast!

The first night there we saw probably 4 or 5 different pods of dolphins swim by relatively close to
shore. It was so cool.
The next day we  saw large blue crabs, sand rays, jelly fish and lots of little fish swimming around.

Chesapeake

I love having friends.

And lucky me I have been extremely blessed

to have met some pretty great ones

over the years.

This friend in particular 

was incredibly thoughtful and had impeccable timing.

The first week we arrived in VA

 she also just happened to be

in the area visiting her family in Maryland

and  invited my fun deprived/just moved across

country/been couped up too long in hotel rooms

and cars; kids and myself

(Cam was invited too, he just wasn't able to come)

to her parents vacation home on

the Chesapeake bay for a day of

swimming and boating and delicious food.

Thank you  Ashleigh and your family for

sharing your little slice of heaven with us!

Macks first time ever tubing. He was cautiously enthusiastic about the whole thing. But ended up
loosening up after a little while and had a lot of fun.

Callan spent the first half of the boat ride clinging to my chest, then the second half
begging to go faster and he even jumped in the water for a swim. The water
was perfect. Not too salty and not too cold.  A totally different experience from the
waters we were used to in central California.

THE STOP!

We made ONE stop.

Well, let me clarify ONE sightseeing stop

on our cross country moving adventure.

Not THREE or FOUR like we planned

Just ONE!
But we did still take 6 days to travel,
try to figure that one out. ;)

The reasons why our trip was NOTHING like

we wanted or planned is quite frankly too crazy and

too long and too disappointing to share at this time.

However, for now I will focus on the

the ONE thing we  really wanted to do and luckily we did.

NAUVOO, IL and Carthage Jail.

The Nauvoo Temple. It was breathtaking to see in person.

The Smith Family cemetery

The rocking horse that John Taylor built for his son.
And later risked his life to go retrieve for his heartbroken son
after the saints were forcedto leave Nauvoo and head west.
I have always loved this story and to see the real horse was quite moving for me.

Playing with pioneer toys and games was a real highlight for my kids.
Even though the temperature was incredibly hot and miserable.

I impressed quite a few, especially Cam with my balance and coordination in being able to
walk and stay upright on the stilts.

Took a moment to capture some great sunlight and rustic barns to get some photos of the boys.
Well, the two willing anyways.

Carthage jail:
The window Joseph Smith fell from after being shot multiple times.

Notice Cal's  blanky and plug...
he was starting to
 feel the effects of the move and it was
about to take its toll on him.
DON"T JUDGE! :)

The door leading into the cell that the mob shot through
and eventually broke into killing
Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

Outside the jail and under the window that Joseph Smith fell from.

Poor Kinga we about literally almost killed her this move with the heat.

Sister Wendel was one of our favorite Sister Missionaries who served in our
ward in Rapid City for 6 months and then returned to her Nauvoo Mission.
She was our tour guide at Carthage Jail. It was a real treat to witness once again her
amazing spirit and strong testimony.

Brothers Joseph and Hyrum
and Brothers Mack, Creed and Callan.

This is my goodbye to the Thunderbirds and good bye to the B-1 post.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of love

and support our squadron family showed us throughout our

3 years there.

Cam and I developed deep lifelong friendships with

many amazing people that we will always treasure.

And there was no shortage of love shown to us

 at our fabulous going away party.

They pulled out all the stops  to make sure

we had a proper send off!

Like: 

Preparing the squadron Tbird for us so we

could arrive to the party in style,

and the awesomely(yes, that is the word I am using)

humorous albeit embarrassing slide show of us.

And we can't leave out the delicious food

but most importantly all of our friends who came to the event

and left Cam and I humbled beyond words. 

THANK YOU!

Cam's last day in his office.
He obviously never let me come in and jazz up the place for him.  MEN!  ;)

Saying goodbye to his flight locker

The THUNDERBIRD! Sweet ride huh! Thanks Loaner.

My Mandy girl!

Mandy and all her "sister wives" aka Mormon friends....long story.

Friends like Susan are one in a million!

some of my pink lady comrades!

great friends the Stephens and the Sauleys

of the many nice gifts given to Cam

and Susan saying obviously untrue nice things about me and forcing me to cry hysterically.  And I can't
leave out the gracious fact that they gave me nice gifts too.


See....
Being a 34th thunderbird is pretty awesome!

Fini Flight

It is tradition that when you leave a flying squadron you get a "fini flight"

or final flight.  To add more onto an already full flight

I was able to do a spouse taxi. 

Which meant I got to get up at 5:30  to be to the base by 6:30

to get my life support gear and participate in all

the "excitement" that goes on before the jet actually takes flight.

 I had the privilege to sit around and wait for a couple of hours for our

first jet which ended up being broken for a second

jet which ended up getting stolen from another poor crew.

During all this pre-flight and waiting I got to sit on the potty.

It was a wonderful aroma filled experience. :)

When we were finally ready it was my turn to climb into the pilots seat

and taxi the plane to the edge of the runway so the qualified

crew could take off and do their mission.

my flight suit may be just a tad big.

After I ejected the jet I went home and got the boys from a wonderful babysitter who

had to start her job REALLY early to come back out and

do what all families look forward too.

Spraying down Cam with the fire hose and champagne.

In our case sparkling cider!

It is alot of fun the whole squadron comes out to the '

runway to welcome him back and participate in a

proper hose down.