Family in Florida

These past 9 days have been the best I've had in a long time!  (Nothing against my husband or my friends here).

My mother, sister Leah, Aunt Janet, and cousin Melissa came to visit!!!
The trip was planned around Kyle's WOC School graduation (which you can read about HERE).  Mom and Leah had planned to come down to Ft. Rucker for the graduation and seeing as it's only 2 hours from me, Mom decided to take an entire week off work and make it a vacation (my father could not come because he does not have any vacation days and my brother wasn't able to get off work).  Janet and Melissa decided they wanted to tag along to get in some beach time with me as well as see Kyle graduate.

My family arrived Wednesday evening.  We just hung out, catching up, drinking some tasty adult beverages, and enjoying being together.
My awesome Aunt and Uncle bought some a few cases of alcohol for us!  My wine fridge is stocked with white wine (with a few in my regular fridge that wouldn't fit) along with my wine rack for red wines.  They also brought all kinds of liquor!!!!  (My uncle works for a major grocery store back home.)  Best gift ever!!!

(just some of the liquors)

Thursday we woke up, ate breakfast, packed the cooler with adult beverages and lunch, put on our swimming suits, and headed to Navarre Beach.  (Nick had to work and was not able to come with us).  The waves were pretty huge, but it made it fun.  It was a workout to jump up with the 7 foot waves and ride them.  The best workout though was the ab workout we cousins got from laughing at my mother and aunt.  Being Rogles (maiden name), they are both prone to clumsiness and lack of balance. This meant that standing in just knee deep water, with strong waves, knocked them over.  And not just knocked them over, but rolled them over and all around in the sand.  Funniest.Thing.Ever.

Navarre Beach

Mom with her daughters

cousins

That night, we enjoyed some chocolate martinis while playing Hand and Foot (a card game).

Friday we again, woke up, packed up drinks and food, and headed to Navarre Beach again.  (It's my favorite beach here).  [Nick had to work this day too so he didn't come with us.]  Again, the waves were huge and we had a blast.   While swimming, we noticed out by the pier, dolphins were swimming and playing!  You could see them jumping out of the water and see their backs rolling across the top of the water.  It was so neat!  Of course my camera wasn't good enough or quick enough to capture any of them =(  It was a GREAT beach day!
And of course, on the way home, we hit up the sno cone place Nick and I love so much.

sisters

That evening we hung out and enjoyed time on the patio with some wine.
And of course Vino got some cuddles in.

Lissa loved Vino (who doesn't?!) and Vino loves any open lap

Saturday Nick finally had the day off so we all headed to Pensacola Beach.  We made our way there pretty early to avoid traffic.  The waves this day were out of control!!  The biggest yet.  It definitely made for a fun day.  This day, I couldn't even stand against some of the waves.  I got knocked down, rolled around, and pulled back out!  We also came across some Marines walking the beach in American Flag speedo-thongs...and of course we had to get a photo with them (as did the entire beach)

with my mother and sister

all of us!

My Husband

Sisters...my aunt and mother

Aunt, cousin, and I with the Marines

 Nicholas and I again

We headed back from the beach early in the afternoon to shower and get ready for the evening.  Nick took us to NAS Whiting Field to show us the plane he's currently training on and flying, the T-6B Texan II.  We also stopped by the static Blue Angel on base and snapped a few photos.

walking on the flight line

Nick and his plane

So proud of my husband

My mother and her son-in-law

Nick with my aunt and cousin

my family in front of the Blue Angel

After showing them around our tiny, tiny base, we headed to McGuire's Irish Pub, one of the most popular restaurants here.  It has good food, their signature mason jar drink (the Irish Wake), and a fun atmosphere.  This bar/restaurant has over one million dollars in just $1 bills stuck to the walls and ceiling.  It's insane!  We invited some of closest friends here to join us.  We wanted our family to meet the people I'm constantly talking/blogging about and the people we have doggie play dates with every weekend.  We also wanted our friends to meet our awesome family!!!

all of us at McGuire's

On Sunday it was raining which worked out perfectly because we were all a little burnt from the day before (even though we applied and reapplied sunscreen, multiple times!).  Leah decided to head to Ft. Rucker to spend the day with Kyle because he was granted liberty all day.  The rest of us took off for NAS Pensacola base. We stopped off at the NEX for family to pick up some Navy gear (my adorable mother bought a Navy Mom shirt.  It made me all warm inside that my aunt and cousin also wanted to sport some Navy clothes!)  Afterwards, we headed to The Museum of Naval Aviation on base.

Mom in front of an F-14 Tomcat (Top Gun jet)

Liss and I in a cockpit

Husband and I

After we got home, the weather had cleared up enough and Melissa had been wanting to take a ride on Nick's bike since she got here.  So she put my helmet on and Nick took her for a ride on the backroads by our house.  She loved it!!!  While she was gone, I convinced my mom to take a ride.  She didn't want to leave the neighborhood because my helmet wouldn't fit her (it's a child's small).  When Melissa returned, Nick and my mother took a bike around the neighborhood.  Then they came back and I got on.  Nick has been wanting some photos of us riding together, but obviously we can't take those ourselves.

Melissa with Nick

Mom with Nick

Me with Nick

coming back from our ride

That evening, Leah returned from Ft. Rucker and we drank some more wine (we're winos) while playing Phase 10.  I love playing games with the family!

Monday was Melissa and Janet's last day with us here in Florida.  We all agreed to head back to Navarre Beach since it was our favorite (Nick, again was not with us due to work.)  The waves were still large but not as big as they had been.  We spent a good majority of the day collecting sea shells and sand dollars.  Leah also found a star fish!!  (Melissa snatched it for her after the waves took it out of Leah's hands when she lunged for it.)  And we made one last stop for sno cones with Janet and Liss.

me and Melissa

Leah and Liss and their starfish, Patrick

That evening I (with some help from Janet and Mom) cooked us a well rounded meal!  I made Italian Herb boneless chicken breasts, honey garlic roasted potatoes, cheesy veggies (carrots, broccoli, and caulifower), parmesan bread, and salad!  And family and close friends, get this....I ATE THE VEGGIES!  The only thing I did not eat was the salad.  That is right folks, you're little Melzie is growing up!  After dinner we watched Bridesmaids....I know some don't like it but OMG I love it and find it freaking hilarious!  We also enjoyed more wine (chocolate wine this night) with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake!

Tuesday we all just hung out in the morning and my wonderful Mommy made me her DELICIOUS biscuits and gravy that I love and miss so much!  Then they all packed up their stuff and headed to Ft. Rucker.  That night they attended a dinner with Kyle.

The next morning (Wednesday), we woke up early, fed the dogs, and hopped in the car and drove up to Ft. Rucker.  We met the family at their hotel, changed clothes, and headed to Ft. Rucker for Kyle's graduation.  [To read more about that, click HERE.]

Handsome Hubs!

Leah and Kyle!

After the graduation, we headed to the PX (Post Exchange, what we call the Navy Exchange, consists of food establishments, a giant store with toiletries, clothes, accessories, etc and a barber, etc.).  We ate lunch and mingled with Kyle's family.  Kyle then had to go a brief so we all left.  We said a sad goodbye to Janet and Melissa since they were leaving from here to go back home to St. Louis.  Then Nick, Mom, and I headed back to Florida.  Leah and Kyle stayed in Alabama for another night because they were not able to take care of their lease or all their move paperwork.


On Thursday Nick, Mom, and I headed to Navarre for our last beach day together  =(  We laid out some, collected some sea shells, and enjoyed the (finally) calm water and waves.

love my mother!

love my husband!

Mom and I in the water

Nick and I in the water

That evening, Leah and Kyle made their way back to our house.  We all just hung out, enjoying our last night.  As I always do on my last night with my mother, we shared a bed =)  We laid there, talking about how great of a time we had these past 9 days, and of course, cried.  My heart was hurting so badly and she hadn't even left yet.

The next morning, we packed up our car and headed to the airport for their rental car.  (Leah is leaving her car here so it's one less car to drive down in a week and they can ride together in the U-Haul.)  We loaded up their rental car and said our tearful goodbyes.
I cried the entire way home.  Once I got home, I climbed back in bed and cried until I fell asleep.  I spent the rest of the day moping around, with 90% of it spent in my bed.

I am so incredibly fortunate my family was able to visit.  I am so thankful to have a family willing to take time off work and spend the money to come visit.  Not only that, but offer to pay for things while here even though THEY are OUR guests!  But I loved entertaining and cannot wait for them to come back!
It was nice to have my family here to see what my life is like.  I feel like I live two separate lives.  I have my "family life" and my "military life".  It was good to let them in to what this part of my life is like.  For them to see my home.  See where we spend our weekends.  Meet our friends.  See a little of what Nick does.

I love my family dearly and miss them more than words could ever describe.  I know not everyone has a family they are so close with, and some don't even have family at all.  I do not take this for granted.  I'm beyond lucky to have family like this that I miss so incredibly much....  A family that makes this military lifestyle so difficult.

I know in a few days I'll be okay.  But right now, my heart literally aches and I feel sick to my stomach.  I'm in one of those "when can we get out of the Navy?" moods.  One of those "When can we move back home to St. Louis?" moods.  I just miss them so much.

Mom, Leah, Janet, and Melissa....thank you SO much for visiting.  You have absolutely no idea how amazingly wonderful it was to have you all here.  To sacrifice time away from your jobs and husbands and other kids.  I miss "home" more than you can ever imagine.  It was nice to have a little bit of "home" in my current home.  I felt at ease, less stressed, happy, and for the first time in a long time, I slept so well for a week straight!
I love you all so much and cannot wait to see you all again in August (and Leah in just a week)

To see all the photos from this weekend, click HERE (even if you do not have Facebook, you can still access this link and few the photos)