Floridays: Blue Skies and Ultra Violet Rays

I feel like I need another one of those two-part updates, because a blog is long overdue. When I allow too much time go by, I become so overwhelmed by catching up and documenting every single moment, so as not to lose these precious memories to the black abyss of the ever-expanding and ever-aging mind, that I just can't figure out a way to fluidly document my thoughts and our numerous experiences into an interesting and coherent blog post. So instead, I just quit. This allows more time to go by, until once again I feel as if I have mustered the energy and the creativity to step up to the task of finishing the draft, only to realize its has become exponentially harder than when I last left off. Thus, the cycle repeats itself once again. So after months of starting and stopping these drafts, I have just decided to skip over this bump in the road that is holding me up, so I can move along to my present mindset. So I am cheating, and  am going to do a mostly photo-recap of the last three months of Floridays, which like the Jimmy Buffett tune, has consisted of lots of "blue skies and ultra-violet rays."


May:

Jordan and I are still loving the outdoor, active lifestyle of Pensacola. After being house-bound practically the entire summer last year due to the miserable and incapacitating heat, we greatly enjoy living life outside here in Florida. (Disclaimer for any visitors coming next month: it is still extremely hot and humid by California standards, but our tolerance has just increased exponentially after Texas, so Florida has been heaven-sent). So in the outdoor, active-living spirit, some of my girlfriends and I decided to partake in the "Happiest Run on the Planet," the 5k Color Run. A group of 6 of us decided to head to Orange Beach, Al to run a 3.2 miles race, where at every Kilometer, we were doused in color. The race culminated in a giant color party, with live music. The husbands were there at the finish line to cheer on their color-drenched partners...



Ashley and I decided to go all out, with tu-tus and crazy sunglasses, for the Color Run

Before (Clean) and After (Colorful)

My awesome flip glasses! When I ran through the color bombs, I simply closed my second set of shades. After the color bomb, I would flip them back up and be able to see clearly for the rest of the run!

 

The color party at the end of the race! There is a live band on the stage, hidden behind all of the color bombs!

 

After the run, we found a little beach-side café in Orange Beach where we enjoyed amazing seafood, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the sun and sand!

Jordan and I made a trip to nearby Destin to celebrate Memorial day weekend. While I thought Pensacola was beautiful, Destin managed to even outshine Pensacola with its sugar sand beaches and emerald green waters. After a wonderful day in the sun, we were even treated to a full-fledge, 4th of July -style, fireworks show that evening. We enjoyed the view, side-by-side on the deck of the harbor, at the edge of the wooden dock, feet dangling over the water, listening to good ol' southern, patriotic country music.

Driving over the bridge to Destin, how beautiful are those waters!

 

Sharing a delicious margarita on the water in Destin, and taking in the sight of people with hydro-powered jet packs in the water! This is some futuristic stuff!!!!!

The boardwalk at Destin

 

 

 June:

The beginning of June marked the annual Pensacola tradition of the Fiesta of Five Flags, where the town celebrates the 5 different flags of the countries that have occupied Pensacola, and that fly over the city, with a week long celebration. All of our military friends are so jealous that we "are in" with the locals and were able to experience this Pensacola tradition first hand.


Due to Randy's connections, we were given VIP Gold Sponsor treatment, which included a ride on a boat from Pensacola Yacht Club to Hemingways on Pensacola Beach.

Jordan and I on the upper level of the yacht, Pensacola Beach is in the background

Randy and I on the pier at Pensacola Beach, where all the boats docked for the day!

Ninalyn and I at Hemingways on Pensacola Beach, where we were treated to the most amazing feast!




Jordan and I also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on June 13th. It really seems like just yesterday, after the festivities had come to an end and the last sparkler had died out, Jordan and I sat side-by-side on the edge of the bathtub soaking our exhausted, dance-worn feet, with giant grins plastered across our faces, reflecting back on every single magical moment of our wedding day. People always ask, what was the one thing that went wrong on your wedding day? And I can honestly say, not one single thing. June 13th 2009 was the most perfect, most magical day of my entire life. Our theme that day was "in life, let love be your guide" and so far, over the past 4 years, love has guided us on some pretty amazing and beautiful adventures. And to continue the tradition of adventure, we traveled to Miami to celebrate our  4th anniversary!

Miami had Caribbean weather, it would be beautiful sunshine one minute, and torrential rain (as you can see coming in on the right ) the next minute!

The water was CRYSTAL CLEAR!



Exploring South Beach, Miami by bike





We absolutely LOVED the Miami Cuban Cuisine!!

You can't go to Miami without getting a Mojito! Although when you order a regular Mojito at a restaurant, be prepared to get a large glass like this and a check for $32!!!!!!!



Nespresso Boutique Coffee Bar in South Beach, where we enjoyed MORE coffee!





We took a sunset catamaran cruise while in Miami, even got to see celebrity homes on Star Island.

The morning we left, we decided to get up at 5am to see the sunrise on the beach.




 

Jordan decided he wanted a fresh coconut...So, man climbs tree...

Man gets Coconut

Man hammers coconut with a rock



 

Man inserts straw, and drinks coconut!

 

Cortaditos (Cuban coffees, think espressos x10) and Coconuts, breakfast of Champions!

 

Jordan in the hotel lobby before leaving for the aiport
 

Myself in the hotel lobby, not ready to head back to "real life!"

 

And although most days, Jordan finds his schedule jam-packed, I am so thankful for my military family, and the wonderful women I am blessed to share my life with.

 

My girlfriend Ashley and I attended a Painting with a Twist class, where we learn to paint a scene (our class being Pensacola beach),while enjoying an adult beverage of your choice!

 

 

 

Tuesday nights have become Girl's nights, as we have started a summer tradition of attending half-price sushi at "Atlas" @ the Fish House, followed by Bands on the Beach on Pensacola Beach, where each week a different band performs, and we spread out a blanket and enjoy the live music

 

Although Jordan's schedule consists of a consuming and never-ending cycle of: study, fly, nap, eat, study, fly, nap, eat... Every free moment he finds, we make the most of by visiting Pensacola Beach.

 



Yo Ho! It's a Pilot's Life for Me!

 

Beautiful Man O' War Jellyfish on Pensacola Beach

Enjoying the beautiful warm water together

July: 

July was filled with more sun and sand. We celebrated the 4th of July at Pensacola Beach (where else?) with Amy's family who was visiting for the week. We were treated to a beautiful fireworks display shot off over Gulf Breeze. We situated ourselves on a patchwork of blankets and towels on the bay side of Pensacola Beach, and took in the show, with the water of the bay beautifully reflecting the colors of the sky.

 

Although it was a pretty cloudy day, the sunset still managed to be beautiful

 

 



After the fireworks were finished, Jordan and I took in some live music at Flounders, in order to avoid the bumper to bumper traffic on the two-lane bridge back into town.

 

 

 My good friend and college roommate, Emily, made July extra special, with a trip out to visit us. We managed to pack so much in to the time she was here, from stand-up paddleboarding out to a private island, biking around Pensacola Beach, attending a "winging" party, taking in an air-show, and of course who can forget, floating down the treacherous Blackwater River. Emily and I expected the experience to be a relaxing 3-hour float down a beautiful river, we even packed a floating cooler with mimosas! Well goodness gracious, we might as well have been white water river-rafting. And white water river-rafting is not an experience I ever wanted to relive after being traumatized as a 10 year old in Colorado! Okay, I am exaggerating, there weren't exactly rapids, but there were other life-threatening elements ready to inflict serious bodily harm and mental aguish!

There were all kinds of fallen trees, with dangerous wooden spears from the broken away limbs that tried to impale or blind us at every turn. The water ping-ponged us back and forth to either side of the river, right into these treacherous limbs, "beaver dams," and low hanging branches-which proved to also be littered with bird poop that transferred itself in to Emily's hair .Once we felt like we had the hang of navigating around these obstacles, we started to let down our guard, and unfortunately we did so too soon, as the river propelled us in to a monster of a dam. The current, along with our lack of ability to move through the road-block and our tied together tubes, knocked over our floating cooler (with the car keys inside!). I could see it all happening in slow-motion as I scrambled unsuccessfully (with an embarrassing lack of coordination and the combing forces of the slippery plastic tube and my wet skin fighting against me), to get myself out of the tube in time to stop it. Thankfully Emily's super vision spotted the bag with the car keys almost instantly, and they were saved (although we still had to get back to the car and see if they managed to stay dry enough to still work). In all the confusion of trying to get ourselves unstuck from the tangle of branches and debris, finding the car keys, and picking up all of our champagne remnants, we completely forgot that Emily's COACH sunglasses were also in the flipped cooler. By the time we realized it, it was too late. We made a sacrifice to the river gods that day, an expensive one at that! So you would think that after Emily's expensive sacrifice to the river gods, we would have been spared from any more excitement or bad luck for the rest of the trip, but we were not so lucky. The large stumps in the river provided violent and sudden bumps from below, the water turtles scared the beegeezus out of us when mostly submerged and only their snake-like heads popping above the water's surface mere inches from us, and how can I forget the giant soft-ball size spiders! 

After our cooler-tipping incident, Emily and I decided to untie our tubes, so that each one of us would be able to navigate the obstacles easier. Well Emily apparently was much better at it than I, as I found myself trapped in another 3-sided dam, with low hanging branches closing in from above. As I tried to grab one of the larger branches to pull myself around the blockage that was trapping me inside, I nearly grabbed this monster of a spider. I screamed so loud and so long, that I am sure people in Alabama heard me over their "roll tide roll" sea of chanting. Not only was I impossibly stuck, I now could foresee that at any minute that giant spider was going to drop down the 6 inches from that branch on to me. I was in full-panic-mode without any idea of how to get myself un-stuck. Emily was obviously of no help to me, because she could not stop hysterically laughing long enough to give me any sound advice, that and the current of the river kept pulling her further from me by the second, leaving me alone with my sure and impending death by monster soft-ball spider. We were so thankful (and exhausted) once we finally made it back to shore in one piece! Never again... Fortunately I did not bring my camera on the river, otherwise it too would probably be gone forever, so I don't have any pictures of that experience, but here are some others from Emily's time in Florida.

 

Riding bikes around Pensacola Beach brought back memories of living in SD together in college, where we would ride our beach cruisers everywhere.

The weather was quite threatening, but they still managed to have an airshow (although without the Blue Angels).



Dinner at the Fish House where we tasted the AMAZING Grits a Ya Ya. These grits were absolutely to die for!

Emily, Amy and I at the Winging Party at the Oar House in Pensacola. We were treated to buckets of refreshments and games of Ping-Pong and corn-hole before another torrential storm rolled in.

Emily was treated to a beautiful rainbow on her last evening in Pensacola, the pay-off for enduring the on and off rain all week!

 

So remember that river trip I swore off for the rest of my existence, well little did I know that Jordan's squadron was having their annual company picnic the next week, where we would again be floating the river! Well smarty pants me decided that the only reason that Emily lost her sunglasses that day was because they were in the cooler that flipped and as long as I kept mine securely on my person, I would be fine. False! A branch swept them off my face. The Blackwater river now has a pair of Ray-Bans to keep Emilys Coach sunglasses company. Oh well, serves these California yuppie girls right. We had a great time floating the river the second time with Jordan's co-workers and superiors. We tied up with a large group of people, and I made sure to secure myself in the middle rather than the outside, in order to avoid getting trapped by any of those pesky, spider-ridden dams! Once we reached the end of the float, we had a large picnic and lots of games of corn-hole. Not sure what it is about the military or the south, but these people love their corn-hole! (It's pretty much a bean bag toss! You know, like the type you played in preschool??? That's basically it folks!)

At the beginning of the float, before the sunglasses were once again sacrificed to the river gods.

 

There were water stations set up at a few of the various sand bars along the river. The guy in the hat holding up the sign is Jordan's commanding officer of his squadron, HT-8.

 



We even had dogs floating the river with us! Guess we should have brought Gunnar!



 

 

 



Our group seemed to keep growing at every sandbar, as more and more people tied up with us. I think at the end we had 3 dogs, 4 coolers, 2 footballs, 1 boom box and too many people to fit in the picture!

 

 

 

Unfortunately, life is not all fun and games, and for Jordan, there is much more work than play. But who wants to see pictures of that? So in short: Jordan is about 75% done with advanced flight school, and has completed both of his cross country flights. Despite the long-flying days where they log 8-12 hour/day, the cross-country flights have allowed him to spend the weekends bonding with instructors and fellow flight students while visiting and exploring two new fun cities (Austin, TX and Tampa, FL).  Okay, a few pictures...

Jordan's preparation for one of his cross-country flights



Jordan and his flying partner visited the stadium at UT. Jordan is giving the "gig-em" Aggies sign of Texas A&M, which is the rival of the UT Longhorns,  for our friend Branson, who is a Texas A&M Alum

 

Jordan and his partner explored Austin like a couple, side-by-side in the back  of rickshaw, with neon-lit wheels, driven by a crazy Jamaican guy. Austin's theme is "Stay Weird, Austin" and Jordan said it definitely lived up to its "weird" reputation.



Ybor City in Tampa, or Little Cuba where the guys went for Mojitos and Cigars

Some of the students and instructors in Ybor City

Yo Ho, It's a Pilot's Life..

 

At airport pit-stop in Gainsville, FL before flying over the Gator's Stadium of the University of Florida, aka The Swamp. They "caravanned" with another helicopter crew for this cross-country flight, and enjoyed spending the weekend in Tampa together.

Jordan is currently now in the instrument phase of advanced, where basically he is earning the qualifications for a civilian world commercial license. He is projected to "wing" in less than two months, on September 27th. So keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he finishes these last flights and moves on to another selection process, where his duty station and specific helicopter will be designated!

I can hardly believe how fast this second time here in Florida is flying by! Now that I am caught up on the last few months, I need to make a better effort at documenting our last weeks and experiences here, as I know they will be gone before we know it!
Hope this blog finds all of you back at home well! Please forgive all the spelling and grammatical errors that are probably littered throughout! I am so exhausted from trying to catch up that I confess I did not take the time to read it back over. Talk to you SOON!