Long promised pictures

Ray and Gabbi came in at about noon on Friday afternoon. Since JB was still in the hospital, I was in charge of meeting them at the visitor's center and getting them passes to get on base. (I can do this because I am now "official" with my new military cards.)

I went and got them checked in to their really nice two room little hotel room (for just $35 a night!) and by then, JB was off, and blessed to be done for the day thanks to a captain who thought he should spent the afternoon with his family. We took them to the little restaurant we really liked on the water, "Boatyard Cafe" or something like that. We are having difficulty remembering the name of the restaurants because they are all named some combination "boat" or "harbor" or "wharf" or "crab". It gets very confusing.

We spent the rest of the evening talking and hanging out around base. We also went and got some groceries at the Commissary (on base grocery store) (VERY cheap), and JB made some cheesy chicken marinara, bread, and veggies in their room for dinner.

Here are some photos from Friday evening.





Saturday, we decided to head out on another boat ride. Here is Grace helping her Uncle JB load up the van.


Here is a photo of my one and only niece. When she asked if she could wear my glasses to "look like me", I agreed, and even said "Sure" the way Gracie says "Shure" everytime you ask her somthing that she thinks is a good idea. (Example: "Do you want to get some ice cream Gracie?" ... "Shuuure!")


Here are a few pictures before we left on our pontoon boat. It was a gorgeous Saturday. Nate looks happy in his life preserver. That lasted all of about five seconds before he realized "this thing is a pain in my neck" -- literally.


Okay, so we had to take our family back to Crab Island and show them the beautiful blue water. Here are some photos. This is NOT a pool folks. This is the ocean. Oh, and there is a reason Gabbi isn't in any of these photos. She didn't come in the water. So she is sitting on the boat being the official photo-taker person.

Saturday afternoon after our boat ride, we went to Destin Commons -- a really nice outdoor shoppping area in the heart of Destin. It was gorgeous. When we got there, we realized they had a little outdoor waterpark for kids to play in/on so Ray & Gabbi found a cheap little t-shirt and shorts for Grace so she could play while we all took turns shopping and watching Nate sleep in his stroller. Very fun and a very cool area to hang out for the afternoon.




After we went shopping, we drove to "Seaside". Seaside is the town used to shoot the movie "The Truman Show". We just drove through it, but I would like to go back and watch the movie again so I can see it after seeing it if you know what I mean.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant recommended by our new friends Tim and Jenny called Big City American Bistro in Fort Walton Beach. It was a great recommendation, and we really enjoyed our meal despite two kids that were pretty over-tired.

It is now Sunday morning and my last full day here with JB. Ray and Gabbi and the kids just left. We are going to hang out together -- go to the beach, run some errands, do some laundry etc. I am really sad to be leaving. I have had SUCH a wonderful time and do not want to go back to Rochester without JB. My only little pit of sunshine is that Kelsey will be there to keep me company. It will be two weeks before JB returns to the Polar North with me.