Pensacola

We had the most WONDERFUL vacation in Pensacola, Florida last weekend.  Shortly after we decided we were coming to Alabama, Jeremy's parents thought it would be fun to meet at the beach for Memorial Day weekend.  We are only 2.5 hours away from some of the most gorgeous beaches!  Jeremy got Friday AND Monday off so we had a nice long time to get outta town. :)

We left Thursday night and came back Monday afternoon.  It was seriously so wonderful.  It was relaxing and beautiful and just what we all needed - especially after a certain horrifying giant-cockroach-running-around-the-kitchen episode I had the day before, but whatever.  It was fun to have so much one on one time with Jeremy's parents.  They are such wonderful people and I'm so grateful to have such awesome in-laws!  The kids just had a blast and it was really great for them to have some time with their grandparents.  Most of the time Jeremy's dad goes on vacation he ends up working to repair someone's house, or put up a fence (who made him do that? oops), or what not, so it was nice to see both of them enjoying some relaxation.  We got to soak up lots of sun and it felt so good!  It was super hot and humid, but it was perfect for the beach.

Here's a little map of Pensacola.  It's on the west end of the Florida panhandle.  We stayed near the A, then drove across the 2 long bridges (one was over 3 miles long!) down to that beautiful strip of beach down at the bottom.  We went to 3 different spots - one each day - and found great beaches that were free from the crowds.  It was amazing!

Here are a ton of pictures from our fun.  On Saturday night, Jeremy's parents stayed with the kids and we went to a movie!  It was so fun to have a little date (no pictures though).  Oh, and after church on Sunday we went to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  It was so cool!  Not only was it free (yea!), but it had a ton of airplanes and helicopters from the last 100 years.  Very neat.  We were especially excited to see the Sea Hawk: the helicopter that they make at the Sikorsky factory here in Troy where Jeremy is working!  That was a treat.  Enjoy the pictures...

FYI, The first day of pictures is from our dying camera - pretty terrible - then next 3 days are from Grammy and Papa's. (if you're on facebook, these are repeats, sorry)

 Relaxation at its best!  These rafts were perfect.

 The boys had a great time playing in the sand.

 At the hotel pool.

 Ahhh!  I want to go back.  The sand was like sugar.

 Cutie!

 Papa found lots of beautiful shells.

 Best seat in the house.

 Eli's favorite thing was to "float in the boat".

 Breakfast in the hotel.

 In front of the Sea Hawk!

 They had several you could sit in.  Lots of buttons to push and knobs to turn!

 Sea Hawk again.

 Eli thought this was very cool. :)

 This was Connor's favorite thing.  He was so adorable.  He loved the water!

 Love these pictures:

 View from the ocean (or Gulf, I should say) looking out at our set-up.  On the other side of the road we were on is the bay.  And Jeremy's changing Connor's wet, poopy, sandy diaper. He deserved an award for that one!

 Ahhh, I told my mom-in-law, this will be my "happy place" I think of when I'm dealing with a tantrum or the next time I'm in labor or something.  Just think of the rolling waves, white sand, and beautiful water...

It was so beautiful. I'm so glad Jeremy's parents made all that effort to come out!  There isn't a very close airport, so they had to drive quite awhile to get there, and we're very glad they did.  As for us, we are definitely planning on going back to the beach.  I know there are lots of great beaches down along the panhandle, so we are excited to try some more out!  Especially since they're only 2.5 hours away.  It also so happens that my sister Wendy is moving to Sarasota, FL in a few weeks (8 hours from us) so we're planning a trip for the 4th of July.  My parents finally decided they're going to come too!  Yea!  More grandparent time!  Jeremy gets 3 days off of work (rough life, I know), so we get a great 5-day vacation out of it.  Woohoo!

Alabama-bama-fo-fama-fama-bo-bama-bama

Alrighty y'all, we are here in lovely Alabama.  It's somewhat how I expected it, and yet not at all.  I envisioned dusty dirt roads and Jeremy envisioned swamps, and it's really nothing like either of those.  We're still getting to know our way around (although it's pretty easy in this small town) and are getting used to everything.

Before I share our thoughts about everything, I wanted to say how welcomed we have been by the church members here.  We attended our branch of about 50 people on Sunday, and everyone was so sweet.  Our landlady is in the branch and knew we didn't have any furniture, so she told her husband, who announced it in Priesthood, and by Tuesday we had a couch, a bed, a dresser, 2 end-tables, computer chair, lamp, and crib.  Wow!  We were so overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.  These are on loan, so we will be giving everything back of course.  We had originally hoped that between Craigslist, garage sales, and the church members, we would be able to find a few basics, but they just took over and helped with everything we needed - and then some.  We also bought a kitchen table/chairs at a garage sale the day before from a nice neighbor who, when I told her our situation, said she'll buy it back from me at the end of the summer for the same price!  What a sweetie!

Let me say, having a bed and a couch has made a world of difference this week!  We have all hardwood floors, and it was hard not having anywhere to sit but the floor.  We are feeling very blessed.

I'll write more about our other impressions of the south later, but here are a few pictures to get started.  This is an end-table we got from my friend Megan who lives here (who I knew as a kid).  We used it as our kitchen table the first day or so:

It worked perfectly for the boys.  One level for each of them!

 Then with our new table (with dinner dishes still on it, oops)

The house we're in was built in the 60s so it has this lovely wood paneling in the dining room.  It also has a room painted pink and a bathroom with pink tile and a pink tub.  What were they thinking?!? Haha.  We actually really love the house though.  The kitchen is ginormous compared to our Pittsburgh one, and it's really a nice place to live.

And here are some pictures of the boys playing outside.  I love the big mature trees in the yard - the yard! It's so fun to have a big yard to run around in.

 I have to keep reminding myself that we 're just here for 3 months and it's not my job to fix everything up.  It's against my nature and is very hard, but I'm trying!  I really want to take a large power tool to those bushes in front of that nice bay window, but again...not my job (nor in my budget to purchase all the tools necessary to get this place lookin' awesome). :)

A look at part of our neighborhood...

 Oooh!  A leaf!

 Chalk art.  Do you see his eyes, smile, arms, legs, and hair? This kid's an artist. :)

 Oh!  And we planted some plants!  There were a lot of pots left here, so we decided to fill a few.  We figured we'd be here long enough to harvest something, so we planted 2 tomato plants, basil, mint, and parsley.  I hope they survive!

That's all for now. More to come later!

Our Journey through Pictures

We're alive!!!  We made it to Alabama.  We don't have internet yet, but we managed to get on long enough to post a few pictures (okay, a lot of pictures and it's taken me 2 days).  We drove through 7 beautiful states to get here.  It was wonderful!  More to come later.

Leaving Pittsburgh...

West Virginia - green, hilly, and beautiful

 Entering Virginia...

 Forgot to get a picture of Tennessee, but here's North Carolina - GORGEOUS!

 The Great Smoky Mountains!!!  Breathtaking!

 

Entering Cherokee, NC.  Jeremy has Cherokee ancestors that lived here, so that was really neat, and we actually stayed here that night!

 Our KOA in Cherokee.  We didn't have space to bring the gear necessary to really camp, so this was a nice in-between.

 Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the next day:

 

 

 Love these faces!

 Driving through Atlanta...

 Alabama the Beautiful!!!  Dang pole, it's hard to snap a picture when you're speeding down the freeway.

 And beautiful it is...

 One of the many mansions we passed on the way from Montgomery to Troy...

 Almost there!

 Hooray!
Woohoo!  I have so much to say about the amazing generosity people have already shown us and the sweet people we have already met, but I want to get this posted before I lose my connection again!  In short, we are very grateful to be here, we're settling in as quickly as we can, and are looking forward to getting to know Alabama more!