A Day at Holbrook

Last Saturday Ruby deemed it another day good for picnicking. The weather was perfect for it and after the heat and humidity we have been having over the past few months we needed to get out and enjoy the weather/outdoors.  People in the north get cabin fever in the winter, heck I've gotten it myself! No one ever warned me about cabin fever in the south though.  Cabin fever down here consists of summer time though, not winter.  The sun may be up and out but it is so hot you don't go outside, and when the sun does start to go down at the end of the day there are so many bugs out you have to wear armor protection just so you don't get carried off.  Might I add just because the sun went down it does not mean it has cooled off in the least.

So when the weather presented itself last Saturday and we figured we wouldn't melt we grabbed at the opportunity! We packed our basket and grabbed our blanket and sent a message to a neighbor to see if they wanted to join us out at Holbrook Pond.  Sometimes a picnic with just me and the kids is good, sometimes a body wants other adults to converse with.

We spent a good few hours there playing and chatting and snacking and after our friends left I laid in the sun and the kids ran and played and danced off all of their summer cabin fever.
It was a good day, it was a beautiful day, it's days like these that make me realize living here isn't as bad as it could be.  It isn't Wyoming, but for now it is home.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff's

We were lucky enough to be close to Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff this summer too.  We weren't there very long but we managed to pack as much fun stuff in as we could!
We spent the 4th of July there (when I think of the 4th I will forever think of Mary and Jeff and Lander, I can't help it, Mary and Jeff are part of what makes our 4th of July the 4th of July).
Uncle Jeff took the kids fishing where they both caught their very first fish, and 2nd and 3rd and 4th and ... the fish were apparently biting faster than Uncle Jeff could get the worms on the hooks!
We (or rather Ruby and Aunt Mary) made cupcakes.
We did some front porch sitting.
Played at the park where we saw that crazy moss growing in the river there and took a walk around the park on another day right about the time the sun was going down.
And of course there was lots of talking and coffee drank. What can I say? It's what we do, it's what we enjoy!

At the end of the summer we of course had to go home, but this summer was spent with people we love and enjoy being around.

Cheyenne

There is a park in Cheyenne where Scarlett and Aurelia live.  This park is full of things that other parks don't have like water you can get in, and a bridge that moves by the force of little hands pulling it back and forth, a cool fort with benches and tables in it, tipis with drums, a windmill that runs water from the pond up a hill and out spouts down the rocks and back into the pond...
We made it there once while we were there this summer.  We spent three weeks in Cheyenne playing, working, sewing, sweating, running, screaming, sleeping, reading, walking, dancing...

Cannot get over the cuteness of this picture!

Sorry for the 4 pictures of basically the same thing, but really I couldn't decide which one I liked the best (ignore the finger in the corner)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason I have spent the last 7 months without the Rooster here, the fact that we can fly this flag and walk (or ride horses) up and down the street flying this flag! 

This one is for Grandpa, 2 tractors! Yes, you saw that right, 2 tractors in 1

The pink shoes? Really? Who doesn't want to eat this little girl for lunch?!

This one basically sums it up! Cheyenne! In the state of Wyoming! The state The Rooster and I have fallen in love with and hope to get back to some day

...but mostly what we did was relax, drink coffee, and enjoy each other's company! 

Love ya Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Todd, Scarlett and Aurelia! 

Barquentine Peacemaker

This ship has been docked in Savannah since October sometime.  They offer free tours and we finally were able to catch them when they were open.
What a fun and amazing thing to experience.  The people who run the ship actually live on it as well.  The Peacemaker is their home and their money-maker.  You can check out their web-site to see their story and see all the places they have been and why they are doing what they are doing.
They are currently docked in Savannah for the winter I believe which means we will get to see this beauty whenever we head downtown.
This is another one of those things we would not be able to see or do without the Army having sent us here, one more reason to be thankful for this venture we are one at the moment.

Going with the flow...

We went to Jacksonville, Florida a couple weekends ago.  We didn't go to celebrate the holiday (which holiday was it again?)  We had a plan, we were going to go do this, then we wanted to do this, then we were going to eat there, and then we were going to see if we couldn't do this, and, and, and...

We learned a valuable lesson, sometimes it's better to just go with the flow, sometimes what we think we want or need to do isn't what is really in store for us at all, sometimes we need to step back and let the day just roll.

We ended up at this beautiful beach on Mayport Naval Base, and it was by shear chance.  Our day could not have been better or more fun.
(If you'll notice neither of the kids even have swimming suits)