Pictures from our trip to Sandestin, Florida (March 14, 2010)

We enjoyed our day at the beach, though the wind was quite chilly.

We've determined that if we ever get stationed at Fort Rucker again, we'll be spending lots more time at Sandestin, than in Panama City Beach (which, in our opinion, is a bit rundown), and it's really not that much further of a drive.

Just in time for Easter...

Gabe lost another tooth while visiting Dad. Just in time for Easter; he can now join the other bunnies as they hop down the bunny trail.

(He was quite excited that Alabama Tooth Fairies give $5 bills and shouted with glee "I need to lose more teeth out here!")

How did YOU sleep last night?

Like this?

Sarah was so exhausted after a long day of exploring while we were at Fort Rucker.

I wish I could sleep like this. Completely OUT with not a worry in the world.

A Trip Back in Time...Life Changes.

The kids and I are here at Fort Rucker, Alabama right now and have been here since Saturday night. I must admit, though it's great to be able to spend time with Phillip for our Spring Break, it's really weird being here.

The last time we were here, it was back in 2001; right after September 11th. We'd only been married for two years, and had found out that we were expecting a baby the Friday before the day that changed America. We were young, and like all new marriages, we were struggling to keep our heads above water. We didn't know quite what to expect in this new military way of life, and we were a bit scared. At least, I was. But we had faith, and we were following a dream. And everything always works out in the end.

It's been AWESOME so far, and besides deployments, I wouldn't change a thing. But I don't deal easily with change, and the time that we spent here was all about that. So much was packed into the two years that we spent at Fort Rucker.

It seems like forever ago that we lived here. We are on a much different level in our lives now. And so much has happened since we left this area; both with US and the area in general.

So far this week, I've recognized some of the old and taken in some of the new. We've explored Sandestin, Florida and joke that we've found the place that we'll spend the rest of our lives (Baytowne Wharf). On Monday, we found ourselves in nearby Dothan, looking through travel trailer after travel trailer, dreaming of buying one to take with us on the trip up to Alaska. Yesterday, we went up to Montgomery to tour the Rosa Parks museum and had a fantastic Italian meal at a place called Saza (the entire day was planned by Gabe, we paid for it). Phillip just got off of school for the day, and so I'm not quite sure what today will hold for us, but I'm sure we'll have fun doing it.

We've come a long way from what we were to what we are now. We have so much more experience under our belts when it comes to living as an Active Duty family. For example, I'm not longer afraid of deployments; I just dread them, because I now know what to expect. I feel like an Old Timer being here; I see the young couples just starting out, and the young flight students and I think "WOW, that was us not very long ago!".

And, Ha Ha, we now have the monetary means to go and explore much of what we didn't back then.

See ya later....

Janet

Daddy's Little Lady

Okay, so I said something about maybe not posting until we got back from Alabama, but...

Last weekend, Phillip took a break from the Maintenance Test Pilot course; he flew in on Saturday to be here for Gabe's Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet and left on Sunday night.

I just had to post this picture of Sarah playing Wii Fit with her Dad. We took her mini-skirt off so that she could "run free" and she got into my closet...

She's a little firecracker, I tell ya!

Oh, and she's starting to make sentences:
"Gimme yours candy." to my friend Layne.
"Mom, Gabe eat popcorn."
"Cats sleeping!"
"Pa-Paw cut it." while touching her hair (she calls her Ya-Ya by the wrong name sometimes).

Road Trip

I'm in the process of cleaning the house right now, because I have to have it in perfect condition for if and when the house "shows" while we're gone.

The kids and I will be going to Fort Rucker, Alabama for Spring Break (which is next week), and although we are really excited about getting the chance to spend time with Phillip, I am not excited about packing for the trip.

I'll post when we get home, or maybe while we are there...

See ya then!

Janet

See ya later, Alligator!

We'll be saying "See ya later, Alligator!" to Texas in 66 days or less, and we'll be cruising the roads up to Fairbanks in Phillip's "new" truck. On March 1st, he bought this baby: a 2008 Ford F-150 Lariat 4x4. It was a Sa-Weet deal that he couldn't pass up, and we got 3x's more for the Taurus than we thought we would, so....we jumped on it.

He wasn't sure what he wanted, and so he's been spending the past few weekends test driving different vehicles. We've planned on this for a while, and we knew that we'd end getting something before we left for Alaska.

Congratulations, Baby! (I still think you should let me put our names on the back glass like Bud and Sissy did on Urban Cowboy...Yeeeeeehawwww!)



In other Lopez news:

• Gabe lost another tooth this past week.
• Phillip flew in from Ft. Rucker to spend this past weekend with us.
• We're still waiting for someone to buy our house!

Dallas!

This past weekend, Angie took care of the kids at her house in Mount Pleasant, TX while I took the time to explore Dallas. Though I miss the kids very much while they are with her, I know that they are in great hands, and this does give me the opportunity to go at my own pace...rest and explore.

I grew up watching "Dallas", the soap opera, and I knew that this would be the last time I'd be in Dallas by myself, so I went to tour Southfork Ranch, which is actually in Parker, Texas. The house is way smaller than what you'd think it is (just like Graceland in Memphis) judging by what you may have seen on t.v.; the tour guides will tell you all about the history of the house and how the film studio used many tricks to make things appear differently. I also learned that the original owner of the house only allowed filming to be done during the HOT Texas summer months, and so much of Dallas was filmed on a soundstage in California. Below are pictures that I took from a disposable (I forgot my digital) camera:

The kitchen - the window over the sink is the window that the maid used to serve breakfast to the Ewings as they sat on their patio.

As the tour guide gave her very informative speech, we were allowed to sit on the couches in Jock's living room.

Jock and Ellie's bedroom is downstairs...

Right next to Bobby's room...

Which is next to Lucy's room, that is across from the bar, right next to the living room.

The only bedroom that was upstairs is Sue Ellen and J.R.'s room, along with it's super luxurious bathroom (two toilet rooms, a sauna, walk-in shower, and the jacuzzi suite).

The bed actually sat on a platform smack-dab in the middle of the room.

And, this is the back yard, with it's little tiny pool.

Though I have pictures posted here, they really do no justice to actually seeing the house firsthand. If you're ever in the Dallas area, I suggest you take the tour. There's so much more than just seeing the house itself.

Later on that day, I went downtown to see the BODIES exhibit. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures. All I have to say is...AMAZING! After seeing that exhibit, you really want to start taking better care of yourself; especially after seeing things such as emphysema and pneumonia in a section of lung.