Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Island Hopping

Sorry for the delay in posting recently! Between getting moved from Del Rio, moving into our new place in San Antonio, starting IFF, me heading home for 10 days, and a cruise, life's been a little hectic you could say! 

This past week I was blessed enough to be able to head home and go on a cruise with some of Mitchell's family. My husband was so sweet and let me abandon him for 10 days and was still genuinely excited that I was going on a mini vacation! We went on a Carnival cruise that left out of Jacksonville, Florida and went to a small private island owned by Carnival called Half Moon Cay and Nassau. It was an amazing trip and so much fun to get to spend some time with Mitchell's family. Each day I spent with them I was reminded how lucky I am to have joined such a wonderful family. 

While I was home I also got to meet up with some old high school friends whom I haven't seen in a long while. I always love when I get the opportunity to head back to Georgia and reconnect with people I don't get to see as often as I would like.

This trip also reminded me how much I love the south.  There's just something about it that will always have my heart. There is something to be said about the familiarity of going home to the south and reliving your childhood while driving down the country backroads that you still know like the back of your hand. With our two year anniversary coming up, it was so fun to be able to reminisce about our high school days and all the fun times we had in Georgia before college and while the hubs was at the Academy. The food, the people, and the scenery just take my breath away every time and make me miss it so much when I have to leave. When it was time to head home, as excited as I was to see my husband and spend some much needed time with him, I was genuinely sad to leave Georgia behind. I can say that I'm even more excited than I was before (if that's possible) about heading to FL here in a few weeks! The hubs and I can't stop talking about all the trips home we want to make in the next year and all the fun things we want to do while being close home again. Life is good and God has certainly blessed us in so many ways.

Loved spending time with this
sweet boy. We miss him bunches!

Right after embarkation! Ready to head to
the Bahamas!

The Crew


Half Moon Cay, Bahamas


Formal Night

Love these girls

Nassau, Bahamas with Atlantis in the background

Half Moon Cay

Running errands with Goob!

Had to get some Fresh Air as my last
meal in GA!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Moving On Out

This past week was very chaotic in the Etheridge household as we moved out of our home and out processed from Laughlin. The movers came and took everything that we won't need over these next few months to Florida for storage. Everything else that we will need was loaded up in the cars and boat and headed up to San Antonio with us before heading to our permanent station at the end of the summer! I'll be honest and say that I'm very excited to be back in a large city for a few months. It was certainly hard leaving Laughlin as we made some amazing friends there and are leaving some of them behind as they continue their adventures there, but the hubs and I are both excited to begin this next stage as we move one step closer to being in Florida and starting his training there! Next week he will start his last phase of training before we get to our next station, which means back to 12+ hour days, however I'm sure I'll find plenty of things to occupy my time up here in the big city :) I'm also heading home here soon for a cruise with some family so that's certainly something to look forward too. Here are some photos from the move...




Hanging out in the empty house watching the movers

Our super embarrassing amount of trash post-moveout 

Last view of our home before heading out! Can't say I'll
miss this house one bit. Adios 70's style box home.

See ya later Laughlin...
This week was certainly an emotional roller coaster for me. The stress of the move was mingled with feelings of excitement over getting into the next phase of training and sadness with realizing that we were leaving behind some awesome friends and a great base community. Luckily we were able to head out to breakfast and dinner with some friends before saying our final goodbyes, which helped ease the pain of saying farewell for a good while. We made some incredible friends while at Laughlin and I am certain that we will both miss the amazing community that comes along with such a small base and border town. As excited as we are to head to Florida in a few months, Laughlin will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Bayou Road Trip

A few weekends ago the hubs and I ventured to Southern Louisiana to drop off our furry children for a few months stay with my dad and in-laws. They were both very generous in helping us out in a tight spot, since we weren't able to bring the little ones to where we were staying in San Antonio, and allowed us to hand them over to them for safe keeping while we were TDY :) The trip was a total blast and took us about 12.5 hours each way. We had amazing food, got to meet some new people, and enjoyed the company of family even if it was only for less than 24 hours. Here are a few photos from the trip...

Road trip snacks. Obviously mine
are on the right ;)
Enjoying a last minute nap before
the long trip ahead.

12.5 hours in the car and still smiling..
road trip success!

Where we stayed. Right on the shrimp fishing river!


Not a happy camper
Dinner on the river.
Good eats