Lil Dragons - Yellow Belt

Bucky had another parent's day today for his Lil Dragons class. This was Buck's first time attending so it was extra special, especially since Bucky was getting tested for his yellow belt at this class. I took a lot of pictures but the videos allow the sounds to come through. The clicking noise you hear is my camera :). And, by the way, he GOT IT!! We are so very proud of how great he did during his testing :).

Strong Bonds

Every once in a while the military comes up with a good idea. The most recent that we were able to participate in was the Strong Bonds Retreat. This is the Army's version of marriage counseling. We have been to one before and it was ok but this one was much better. The chaplain was very informative and down to earth. This was actually a shocker for me because I was expecting a bunch of blah-blah and a little bit of free time. Instead we got about 3 hours of very informative lecture/session and a lot of free time (with all day childcare). We went and got the kiddo for a few minutes after lunch but then he was ready to go back and play with his new friends. There was even childcare until 9 PM so we could have a romantic dinner of tacos. Yep, tacos...that's it. I mentioned this as a negative on the After Action Report because, well, tacos aren't very romantic. We had a really good time (except the beds were horrible) and learned some very useful information that should help us communicate better. Here's a picture of "date night"...we thought it was good so wanted to share.

Last Trip to the Zoo

Since we will be heading out of Colorado Springs soon, we decided to take one more trip to the zoo since we have enjoyed many, many trips there.

Buying lettuce for the giraffes and feeding them

Meerkat

Bucky playing

Feeding the birds

Riding the train

Tiger

Bears fighting

Family Pic

The "Thinker"

Posing on the statue

Big Ol' Hippo

Rock Climbing and playing on the jungle gym at the top of the Sky Ride

Splash Park

Bucky's KKP class had a field trip to the Splash Park on the 6th of September. I was only able to stay for about 20 minutes of it but I did get some pictures. Jackie, one of the other boy's mom, took some more for me after I left. He had a great time!

Anxiously awaiting the opening

Playing at the Splash Park

Playing at the park beside the Splash Park

I let him roll down the hill on the way to the car

35th Balloon Classic

I am not a morning person. In fact, there are very few things I will get out of my bed for when the sun has not even risen. Apparently one of them is to see hot air balloons. Last year I saw a bunch of balloons in the air as Bucky and I were travelling around town but I had no idea where they came from or what they were doing up there. It peaked my curiosity. Fast forward a year and I heard through the grapevine about the Balloon Classic. To get a good seat you have to be there around 615 AM. Yes, I said AM!! B & I discussed it and decided that this would be a good thing to check out. So at 0515 on Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed, drank some coffee, got the little guy up and dressed, finished getting ready, and headed to Memorial Park. It was chilly but we were determined to see some balloons. So we arrived along with many other people, paid our $5 for parking and got out of the car. Then I overheard someone saying, "sorry." I asked our car neighbors what was going on and they said it had apparently been cancelled because of wind. So here we were at 0630 in the morning...awake. I called our friends who were on their way to the park and we all diverted to IHOP for breakfast instead. That night B & I discussed our plans again. We again decided to get up at the a$$ crack of dawn to see some balloons. So we did. We were more careful about checking the weather before we woke the boy up and it was actually not windy at all. We found free parking when we got there (bonus) and we had our chairs and an extra blanket this time. We walked to the park, set up our chairs and looked around in absolute amazement at what we thought were "just" balloons.

Then we had a truck pull up in front of us and we quickly realized we were going to have a front row seat to the inner workings of a hot air balloon.

It was obvious the excitement the day brought with it when the pathfinder balloon started to rise. There was yelling and cheering and we knew at that point that we were in for quite a show.

I believe there were a total of 64 balloons registered for this year's classic and it was wonderful to watch all of them blow up and take off into the beautiful clear blue sky.

These are pictures of the process of getting a balloon inflated.

And one final picture of the entrance to Memorial Park.

Overall, we were more than pleased after we saw all the beautiful colors and balloons. Even Bucky said "I'm so glad we saw all the balloons."

Block Leave

At the end of July, we went on yet another cross country road trip. You'd think we would've learned our lesson the first time, but when you have several places to visit and are on an Army budget, driving is the most economical choice. We left and headed toward Georgia first to visit B's grandmother and some very good friends of ours. We also got to visit with his cousin while we were there so that was a bonus. We were there for a few days and then went to Crawfordville, FL for B to recertify for his SCUBA Instructor card. We met up with Gregg Stanton at Wakulla Diving Center to catch up with him and his family and so B could complete his in-pool and open water training. From there we headed to PC for the open water portion. This is where I became involved in the training because I got to do some diving also. We saw our friend Trey and were able to catch up with him . That was awesome because we haven't seen or heard from him in quite a long time. He was the captain for the dives in the gulf. After the diving was completed we headed back in and stopped in a bay to see some dolphins. If I had not been behind the camera, I would've jumped in with them just like the boys did. Still kinda upset I didn't but such is life. We stayed with my parents and it was nice spending some time chilling out with them and my bro's family. During this time, we trekked over to ValP to visit with B's aunt and uncle. B and I left the kiddo with my parents so we could take a cruise with just the two of us. It was nice to be able to stay up late and do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. We went diving in Cozumel and visited the Mayan Ruins from Calica. The water was so clear and our tour guide was so great. Wonderful excursions! We also met a couple at dinner that were great company during some of the shows and entertainment. We are now FB friends with them :). After we got back to PC, we headed home. The trip was long and hard at times but we were all glad to be back home.

Georgia

Diving

Cousins

Cruise

Bucky Swimming Underwater

Fishing

Playing with Grandaddy