mardi gras

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone! We took baby Cora to her first Mardi Gras parade on Saturday. It was just the family-friendly one here in Pensacola, but it was pretty fun!

Cora hung out in Daddy's arms for almost the whole parade

I had my hands up trying to catch beads and moon pies (my fave!).  Only got smacked in the head once (by beads, not moon pies).

Cora even got some of her own beads!

It was rainy and gross out and my ongoing physical recovery from the birth made it hard to stand up for so long, so we left about an hour into it.  Well, that, and the fact that Cora was screaming her head off.  I'm glad we got to go, though, since I don't know if we'll be living anywhere that does the Mardi Gras thing come next year.  The Gulf Coast doesn't have a ton of reasons to celebrate (hurricanes, oil spills, poverty, etc.), so I'm glad that Mardi Gras is such a big part of the culture down here.

I also had a nurse in the hospital use the term "Mardi Gras season" when referring to when we get cold weather around here.  It caught me a bit off-guard at first, but she's totally right!


 

our holiday stay-cation

Even though my protruding belly made it impossible to travel for Christmas this year, B still took two weeks off (the boy has too much leave I guess?) and I planned out a few fun things to do around the area. I even made an itinerary (albeit a very flexible one).

Here are some pictures of the fun things we did around Pensacola:

Museum Day at the Pensacola Museum of Art.  Tinier than I expected.

They had a beautiful exhibit of kimonos, and I loved this  one.

Across the street from the art museum is the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum.  Lots of interesting Pensacola history in here!

One night we went to a Christmas celebration at the Pensacola Lighthouse on base.  Free cocoa and cookies!

B climbed the lighthouse (free!) while I took pictures.

Haven't been to a zoo in a while!  At the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores.

B made lots of new friends at the zoo.

And after this, a pelican tried to attack him.  Not kidding.

We took a day trip to Mobile, AL, since we've never been.  This is the USS Alabama Battleship.

Next to the battleship was the USS DRUM pre-nuke submarine.  Haven't looked through a periscope in a while!

B didn't let anyone there know he was on subs.  He wasn't nostalgic at all.

We also walked down Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile.

Beautiful cathedral in Mobile.

Inside of beautiful cathedral.

We grabbed some friends and attended a minor league hockey game--Pensacola Ice Flyers.  Gotta love a fight.

I'm mad because I told B to get us a drink to share and he came back with Dr. Pepper.  You would think after 2 years of marriage he would know I hate that stuff!!

Have you ever taken a "stay-cation"?

CREDO retreat recap

I "dragged" B on a Marriage Enrichment Retreat this weekend, and I'm so glad I did!

I first heard about these retreats back when I took COMPASS in Norfolk, and I'd been wanting to go on one so badly! Now that B is on shore tour, it was much more feasible, but the CREDO website never had any listings of ones near us (most were in the Jacksonville FL area, which is too far of a hike). Apparently they don't list everything on their website, because I found out about this one from a friend and it was never listed until it was way past full. I also found out there was one in Mobile this coming weekend, which was never listed as well.  My suggestion: call your chaplain and ask! I wish I had done that when we moved here. Anyway, I'm just glad we're getting to do this before Baby W arrives.  It was very easy for us to get the call on Thursday and agree to go!

There were about 15 couples total, and most had kids of varying ages.  Some of them had not had a weekend together away from their kids since they were born!  There was maybe one other couple around our age, but the couples varied in length of marriage from under a year to 24 years.  And as I said before, they put us up--FREE OF CHARGE--at a resort on the beach on Alabama's Gulf Coast.  It did not disappoint!  I saw the room bill when we checked in, and the going rate for this place right now is $150/night.  We also got five meals for free.  Thank you, military!

Here are a few pictures of the place:

Yes, I dragged my body pillow there.  Pregnant girl has to sleep somehow!

View from our room's balcony: inlet from the Gulf

Also a view from our balcony: the parking lot

Hotel as seen from beach

Best pic I could get of the pool.  More pool on the opposite side of the bridge

As for the retreat itself, it was done pretty well.  Some of the stuff we had hashed out before and was a bit of a repeat from our pre-marital one-day class that the Catholic church made us take.  Also, since I studied Child and Family Development in college, including a few classes on relationships and family life, I knew a lot of it.  But I did learn a lot too!  If anything, it was nice to just re-connect with my husband.  We didn't turn on the TV all weekend (except to check football scores, but we did that together), we didn't have internet, and I didn't even bring a book with me.  We were given some free time on Saturday afternoon to just have fun together, so we hit the beach and the pool.  And took a nap :-)

Since the retreat is done by the chaplains, it was obviously religious in nature.  CREDO actually stands for Chaplain's Religious Enrichment Development Operation.  However, it was mostly just based on a belief in God.  The name of Jesus was never spoken, but the chaplain did read the "Love is patient" passage from Corinthians at one point.  That was about as religious as it got.  Most of it just focused on communication and personality types, with a few other topics thrown in.

Overall, I would definitely recommend any of my military friends to take advantage of this opportunity!  I know for some it may be hard because you never know when a schedule is going to change, but go ahead and sign up if you can.  Then, if you need to cancel, there will be a very happy couple ready to take your spot.  It doesn't cost anything, so it's not like you lose a deposit!  There are also other types of retreats that they do, listed on their website.  On their Facebook page, I even saw that they have done Family Retreats, where the kids come and you do it as a family.  How cool is that?!

baskets and balloons

I volunteer for the most random and interesting things sometimes!  I blame my years in Girl Scouts.  A bit after we moved here to Pensacola, I volunteered to help with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (read about it here if you haven't yet).  This past weekend, I volunteered with . . .

. . . the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival!

I was digging around online for prices on taking an actual balloon flight (um, super expensive!) and came across a festival that they do every year in Foley, Alabama.  Foley is actually pretty close to us since we live near the state line.  The festival's website had a callout for "balloon crew" volunteers, and I figured it was the closest I would get to riding in a balloon, so why not?

I signed up to do both Friday and Saturday evenings.  I was paired with the pilot for the RE/MAX balloon.  This guy is a full-time balloonist, and he basically just does PR with it for the company.  How cool is that?  So on that first night, he told me that half the pilots fly (before sunset) and the other half "glow."  We were set to glow on Friday and fly on Saturday.

I was so impressed that the whole balloon contraption fit in his van.  All in all, these are actually very simple machines.

The basket is pushed up against that back window.

Also, on that first night, I was the only one to show up for his crew.  Our pilot said that two people could set it up, but since we were out at the festival, among many other balloons, we just borrowed some people from the neighboring crew (which had like 15 people).  A high school-aged girl came over to help, and it was very obvious she knew what she was doing.  She actually is the daughter of a balloon pilot, and her grandfather had owned a balloon also.  Her stories about growing up in a ballooning family were pretty interesting (and funny, too).  She goes around to various festivals and events with her mom all summer, helping out.  That certainly beat out any summer jobs I ever had.

Setting up the balloon really wasn't that hard.  Basically, you just lay the basket on its side, attach the deflated balloon to it, and then fill it with cool air.  Once it's gotten really big on its side, the pilot turned on the burner and got some hot air into it to make it rise.  The basket was attached by a rope to the back of the van so the balloon couldn't go too far.

The entire balloon was contained in this rather small bag.

The balloon being stretched out, attached to the basket.

My task through all of this was to hold some ropes at the mouth so the cold air could blow into it.  The fan looked small, but was very powerful and very loud.  B came with me to help on the second night, so here he is on the opposite side of the mouth while it was being filled with air.

Speaking of that second night, our pilot was supposed to fly and take up a few passengers from the local RE/MAX office and then we were supposed to "chase" him in the van to his landing point.  We drove around a bit trying to find a good place for takeoff, but then the wind picked up too much.  Apparently, they can't fly if the wind is more than 10 knots--which is basically just a bit more than a gentle breeze.  Oh, and they can't fly after sunset since they can't be seen (no lights) and can't see power lines.  Hot air balloons don't have any precise steering, so it's all about catching updrafts and having a good starting place.  Also, to operate one,  you have to have a pilot's license, and yes, balloons are regulated by the FAA.

Adding the hot air to get it off the ground

 If I volunteer with this again next year, I'd probably choose the morning sessions (competition flights--for accuracy, not speed), since the wind is usually very gentle then and all the pilots get to fly.  Downside: have to be there at 5:30am.  So I chose the "glow" this year, and got to do it twice.

One balloon did make it in the air that second night, but he was definitely pushing it on the "sunset" thing.

On the first night I was there, once we got our balloon set up, the pilot invited me to get in the basket with him to give it more weight on the ground.  The basket was pretty small, and was crowded with three 15-gallon propane tanks, so you could only fit three people at most.  We had our other two crew members holding it on the sides.  After a bit, I told him if he let it go a few feet in the air, I could cross it off my bucket list.  He obliged.  Which means . . .

✔ 7. Ride in a hot air balloon

Check!  Okay, so it wasn't what I was expecting, but I can say that I went on a "tethered ride" and got about 6 feet in the air!  We went slightly over the heads of the crew members on the outside of the basket.  It was a pretty cool minute of my life, and now I really do want to go on a full-out balloon ride in the sky.

The second night, the wind was pretty rough, and our basket was definitely tipping back and forth with us in it.  Here's a video I took on my camera while inside the basket on the ground.




Yeah, we started tipping as I said the word "balloon."  Oh, and pardon my obnoxious laugh.

B and me in the basket with the pilot lighting it up behind us

It was really beautiful to see all the balloons lit up.  I actually never got to see ours lit up since I spent almost my whole time in the basket, but it probably looks like their logo.  One thing I learned is that almost all balloons have trading cards, so if you're ever at a festival with tethered balloons, go up to the pilots and ask for a card!

Have you ever been up in a hot air balloon?  Do you think my "tethered ride" should count?