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

Bucky's First Day at KKP

New haircut + new shoes + new backpack = First Day of KKP :)

Bucky was very excited to go back to school and we were both very excited for him! He really enjoyed this school last year so I am quite confident that he will enjoy it this year too. Even though Buck had to explain that he has a new room and new teacher, he just takes everything in stride. He's such a wonderful little boy who is very rapidly becoming a wonderful big boy and young man.