Work and Pleasure Road Trip

The first week in August Ava and I joined Mark on a work trip to Ft. Campbell KY.  Since we were going to be so close to home the Sunday before his work trip we spent in Bowling Green visiting my family at my sisters house.  I couldn't believe how fast my niece Peyton had grown in the two months it had been since I saw her last.  I didn't get to hold her long before Mark snatched her up.  This was his first time meeting baby Peyton.

After a nice visit with the family, we headed down to Clarksville to check into our hotel.  We spent the week visiting with friends and driving around to see what all had changed in the two years we had been away.  I am sad that we didn't get as much visiting in as we had planned as Ava had a fever two of the days we were there.  Hopefully we will be up that way again soon to visit with those we missed.

Friday after Mark was done working we headed to Fontana, NC for Mark's last SERC race of the season.  It was a long 5 hours with the last hour being on the curviest road called the Dragon's tail.  Many motorcyclist and sports car riders come from all over to ride this stretch of road.  For someone who never gets car sick, this road made me almost sick. 

We spent the weekend in a cabin with no cell phone, land phone or internet.  It's amazing how much we rely on our cell phones!!!  This year Mark is part of a racing team so we had fun getting together with the team and their family while there.

 Ava was the trophy girl for the day.

Mark had an amazing race coming in 3rd in the race and 4th place overall for the year.  Afterwards they had a nice dinner banquet where several of Mark's team mates won prizes for placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd for the year.  Team Northstar Rocks!!!!

Not Good Bye but See You Later!

As military spouses we learn to make friends quickly with each move and know that we will only be together a short time.  I have met some amazing women in our 11 years of moving and it never gets easy saying farewell.  However I have come to realize that as big as the Army might seem it is actually a very tight nit small community.  I have recently had to prepare myself for my friend Karen and her family to move away to TX.

 Karen and I met several years ago in 2003 both trying to survive our husbands being deployed for the first time.  I was thankful that Karen and her group of ladies welcomed me in with open arms.  At the time none of us had kids and most of us didn't have a job so we had sleep overs and dinners to pass the time.  We were all fortunate to follow each other to our next move so our husbands could go through training at Ft. Rucker in 2005.  It was nice to move with friends!  After the training we all went our separate ways again.

Two years ago, Mark, Ava and I moved back to Rucker so he could be an instructor.  After a year apart in Korea, and 3 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan we needed some much needed family time!  Luckily for me my friend Karen and her family had moved here the year prior.  She treated Ava as if she were one of her own.  Our kids looked as if they were brother and sisters and played so well together!  We took turns watching each others kids and reconnected as friends again.  I can't believe that we have been together through 3 Army moves!  Sadly this weekend they will be moving off to TX.  I hope that our paths will cross again soon.  I will surely miss my sweet friend Karen, her husband and her 3 wonderful children.  I am not going to say good bye but instead will say see you later!

 Karen and I

 Getting 4 kids to pose is hard work!

 such sweet kids

Meet Ben!

While Ava and I were in Savannah we got to meet up with my niece Megan, her husband TJ and their precious baby boy Ben.  It was so nice to catch up with Megan and meet her beautiful family.  Ben is such a little cutie and a great baby.  So glad we were able to visit!

Girls trip to Savannah

In Clarksville I formed some great friendships that I know will last a lifetime.  So far since I have moved from there two years ago we still manage to stay in touch and get together when we can.  This year several of us met up in Savannah where our friend Jenae moved a few months ago.  Erin, her daughter Claire, Me and Ava all loaded up in my SUV and made the 6 hour drive to Jenae's house.  Lisa was already in Hilton Head visiting her family so the girls trip was all falling into place.  I didn't take many pictures but thankfully Erin did.  I borrowed the pictures and some of the details from Jenae's blog.

 Al grilling up some amazing chicken!

 Claire looking for the alligators in the back yard. 

Wednesday night, Jenae's husband Steven volunteered to watch the kids so we could go have dinner and explore a little of Savannah.  We went downtown to City Market (a cute square that has a fountain, restaurants, and shops) and ate at Belfords.  It was amazing!  Afterwards, we walked to Wright Square where we met for our Haunted "Ghost" Tour.  Our guide was very good and we learned lots about the history of Savannah and the spirits that are said to still haunt it.  

 Me, Erin, Jenae, Lisa

 Pretty flowers in City Market Square

 Dining at Belfords

 Me and Erin

Jenae and Lisa

 Our Ghost Tour began with a full moon........ooooooohhhhh  spooky!

 Spanish moss grows on all of the Live Oaks down here, except this one pictured below.  All of the trees around it have moss, but this tree grows over the place where the gallows were originally located.  The tale is that a pregnant woman was sentenced to death for killing a man, and as soon as the baby was born she was hanged.  14 days later the baby died too, and the mother still lives in these trees, searching for her baby.  yes, be scared.  I'm a skeptic when it comes to ghosts, but it is extremely strange that there is no moss on this tree...I could possibly be convinced.  we'll see...

Below is the remodeled, but original structure for a children's hospital from back in the day .  Do you see any Orbs?  Ghosts?

 Below is a beautiful mansion made completely of cast iron.  Savannah burned down twice in the past, and to ensure against that, some built their homes completely out of iron.  crazy.  Extremely beautiful and supposedly haunted.

 Cemetery downtown.  haunted, too. 

What a fun trip with the girls it was!  Beach, great food, shopping, pool, late night talks and time with friends.  Thanks Jenae for hosting our fun week together.  We sure do miss you!!!

Twinkle Toes

This summer I signed up Ava for Ballet Class.  The class meets one day a week for 4 weeks so it is perfect to test the waters to see if this is something she could do on a regular basis.  The first class was not as I had hoped but they had put her in the baby class because they had her birthday wrong.  The second class went much better.  She is always dancing like a ballerina around the house, in stores, or wherever she feels the mood.  She is also a tip toe walker.  I guess she is building up the calves for her professional ballet career.

  I guess all of the concentrating on the pose made for an interesting smile!

Pictures for Natalie

While I was in KY my sister asked if I would take some pictures of Peyton for their baby announcement.  I was honored to take on this task as I am not a professional but with a model like Peyton is was easy!  We had hoped she would sleep through them all but she was wide awake the entire time.  Here are a few pictures that I captured.

Trip to Kentucky Continued

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since my visit to Kentucky!  Finding to time to blog lately has been hard and tempting to just stop all together sometimes.  However being away from family and dear friends I will keep it going.  Since my trip to Kentucky we have been to Huntsville Alabama for a race, visiting friends in Savannah Georgia and to Helen Georgia for another race.  It was fun traveling but it sure has been nice sleeping in my own bed this week.

Here are a few pictures taken when visiting my parents home in KY.  Ava had a blast playing with her cousins and her mamaw and papaw in the tree house and pool.