LEGOs, World Domination, and Beach Boys

Yes, I'm still catching up on holiday posts. One day I'll be on top of blogging but, as you and I both know, today is not that day. Tim & I headed out to see his parents for New Years at the beginning of the month! We arrived on New Year's Eve just a couple hours before the ball dropped. Our trip was filled with LEGOs (legi?), world domination games, and a Beach Boys concert... talk about starting the New Year out on the right foot!

If you ever wondered where Tim gets his knack for organization, rest assured he comes by it naturally. Before assembly started the LEGOs were sorted according to color. :o)

The piles didn't last very long however, we put together the entire Winter Toy Shop before breakfast the next morning.

Tim & I laughing at the LEGO-boy, it's a bit of an inside joke from our apartment-living days.

The next day Tim and his dad pulled out their old Axis & Allies game and the quest for world domination commenced.

I actually got several *very humorous* videos of their global conquests. They stayed up well into the wee hours of the morning battling over territories.

The next day I wore the shirt seen above. Upon seeing me that morning, Tim immediately requested that he be allowed to take a picture of me sitting in this chair. He quote was, "Where'd you go? I can't see you anymore." He's a funny guy that husband of mine.

The plan was to go see The Beach Boys play that day. Tim's parents went to see them perform a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. The concert may or may not have prompted me to edit my Freebie List to include John Stamos, who is known to periodically play with The Beach Boys. It was an edit that sadly went unfulfilled as he wasn't there on this particular night. Despite the lack of Uncle Jesse, it was still a great show!!

The Belated Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Partly for the simplicity of it. Sandwiched between Halloween & Christmas, it's refreshing to just get together with family and eat. Seriously, what's better than that? No glutton-fueled children begging for candy while running around in costumes that either have ten inches of fake muscle or way too much skin showing; no pressure to get just the right gift for everyone on your list. Just people you love and seriously delicious food. Sign me up!!

Tim & I went to visit his parents for Thanksgiving this year. We left all of our work behind, loaded the car and made the drive with surprisingly little traffic to compete with. Tim's dad is now working in Pennsylvania so the opportunities to get together with his parents have slimmed down a bit compared to the past few years. When we arrived we were pleasantly met with the aroma of Thanksgiving dinner in the air. We had a great time catching up and enjoyed more belly-laughs than we've had in a while.
The day after thanksgiving, we ventured down the the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. Tim was in HEAVEN! The museum is almost 300,000 square feet and there are airplanes in every direction... he literally didn't know which way to turn!

The family shot :o)
This plane, an A-7 Corsair II, is the plane Tim's dad wanted to fly in the Navy and is also the namesake of Tim's favorite plane, the F4U Corsair.

Checking out the exhibit on the USS Enterprise.

That's a Corsair in the background, Tim's absolute favorite airplane.

There was also one the floor... that he could touch!

We have about 15 variations of photos with Tim and this plane.
He talks about its curves like it's a woman.

Tim & his dad in front of a F-4 Phantom II,
another one of Tim's all-time favorite aircraft.

It may have been at this point in the day when Tim turned to me and said, "You must really love me to put up with airplanes all day." He then promised that I could pick out the next five Netflix movies. Score!

Tim's dad standing with a T-34, the same kind of plane that
he flew while he was in flight school in Pensacola.

Tim with his mom :o)

I crawled into the cockpit of this A-7 and it's a
wonder that I ever got out! They're tiny!!

This picture was taken in the Cubi Bar Cafe. It was originally from an Officer's Club located in the Philippines and was the actual bar on a base that Tim's dad visited with his Navy buddies. When the base closed down they tore it apart, shipped all the memorabilia to the US, and rebuilt it in the museum. They have a ton of squadron plaques that have pilots names and call-signs, including a pilot whose last name was Swift with a call-sign of "Not So".

Tim with a F4F Wildcat, the museum has three of them.
Tim really loves these classic WWII warbirds.

I jumped into the shot too!

Tim & his dad standing in front of the A-4 Skyhawk Blue Angels. There's one of these at a rest stop on I-10 that we pass all the time and Tim has told me the name so many times that I've memorized it.

For this photo, I was instructed to get the apple, the tiger, and the sharks mouth nose art in the frame. Tim tells me this is from one of the most famous and recognizable airplanes in the world, it's a P-40 that flew in the AVG Flying Tigers' Adam and Eves squadron in China.

This is us on what Tim calls the "business end" of the F-4. Tim tells me he could have spent the whole visit touching it. He insists on going back as soon as possible!

Shell Point Beach

Sunday was a little cloudy, but was a great day for gallivanting around on the golf cart. We rode all around Shell Point for the usual tour and stopped by the beach for a little while.

Spring Break Adventures

The last weekend of my Spring Break, Tim & I slipped over to Shell Point to visit my parents (it also happened to be my mom's birthday!). Since the previous week was full of overcast skies and stormy weather, we were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful weather on Saturday. We, of course, took advantage of that and spent some time out on the boat! The boat just gotten it's annual check-up (it's cared for it as well as us kids), so we had to go to the ramp to drop it in the water before heading out. The ramp was a bit crowded when we arrived (for those who may find themselves in a situation like this in the future and don't know yet, boat etiquette dictates that you launch/load your boat and then get out of the way... apparently not everyone got this important lesson before being allowed to purchase a boat. Its pretty lame to sit waiting on others who are all loaded up but continue to lallygag around in front of the ramp... that's my opinion anyway). Once we got in the water, it was a great afternoon! We came home quite hungry (being on the boat for the afternoon will do that to you) and enjoyed dinner at one of the few restaurants around Shell Point that cater to vegetarians. As usual I came home with well over 200 pictures. I tried to choose a few to post, but it was too hard... so I'm posting a bunch!

Traveling Kooks

Tim & I made the trip to Mobile the weekend before last. Often when we travel it's a little stressful because we're dealing with working on the road, but not this time. We finished most of our work before we left and were able to enjoy some down time with his parents. We did a little puzzle-building, ate some great home-cooked meals, and just generally got away from the daily grind for the weekend! We also got to see Tim's dad's new office space (I think it's funny because if you hear Tim tell the story of moving furniture from the house to the office, the "big heavy credenza" might as well have been a mountain but it was no big deal to his dad). We also drove to New Orleans for a day-trip on Sunday with Tim's dad (his mom wasn't feeling well and stayed home to rest up). Driving into NOLA is an eye-full and we're always amazed at how many reminders of Katrina still remain. Upon arriving Holly & Paul treated us to an awesome breakfast and a tour of the on-going renovations to their 100 year old house (the addition looks amazing!). We were also introduced to the Wii (and were promptly put in our place when we both got whooped by Will)! Kate was talking up a storm and went through her school notebook, telling about her paintings and pictures of her class. It was super cute!!!

Our trip happened to correlate with two things (both equally awesome): Mardi Gras & a visit from Tim's childhood best friend and his girlfriend (more on that later). This was the first Mardi Gras experience for both of us. The parade route is literally just a couple blocks from Holly & Paul's house so we had a home base & a bathroom (which we learned are both very important things to have access to). Since we were lucky enough to be with locals, we were given a brief run-down of Mardi Gras etiquette before leaving - the eye contact, the nod, the throw and the thumbs up. Finally we got bundled up (it was cold!) and headed out for the parade. We were especially amazed to watch Paul's catching skills, all while he was balanced on the ladder-seat-thingy. Tim & I were not so brave, we stayed planted on the ground & caught our throws from there. The picture above shows Will's most coveted catch... a sword! He was very proud of it and literally wore it for the rest of the day. We spent much of the afternoon resting up and looking forward to meeting up with Matt and Sarah later in the day.