Blue angels- a throwback post

I just realized I loaded a few posts on here from our winter beach trip but never posted them to the blog! I wanted to get this one up because this was such a fun day! 

On the Saturday of our trip, the Blue Angels were having their annual homecoming show at the Naval base in Pensacola. I watched the Blue Angels fly years ago but it's been a long time. Dad has always liked going to the shows and watching them practice. You can catch practice fly by's while you sit on the beach from time to time and it's thrilling to watch how fast they are flying!

Anyway, we (along with the entire state of Florida) visited the base to watch the last show of the year and it did not disappoint! Here's a blurb about how the demonstration shows got started...

In 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Chester Nimitz, had a vision to create a flight exhibition team in order to raise the public’s interest in naval aviation and boost Navy morale. In the 1940's, we thrilled audiences with our precision combat maneuvers in the F6 Hellcat, the F8 Bearcat and the F9 Panther. During the 1950's, we refined our demonstration with aerobatic maneuvers in the F9 Cougar and F-11 Tiger and introduced the first six-plane delta formation, still flown to this day. 

The show started with London's favorite member of the team, Fat Albert. Fat Albert carries team members and equipment as the team tours, from what I understand. He is famous for his ability to take off in a short distance due to his jet assisted take off but really it's just amazing to see such a mammoth machine fly through the middle of the clear blue sky. It feels like your watching the titanic zoom past and makes no sense that something so heavy could fly. Insert Dad's interest in physics...

Fat Albert

There are no words for the Blue Angels. It is the coolest thing to watch them fly so fast and barely skirt by each other. The formations are truly beautiful. How on earth anyone has the courage to pilot a plane in this show is beyond me. I wanted to scream from terror at every pass. You're SURE they are about to hit each other then they both spin the opposite direction and slide by with seeming inches between them! TERRIFYING! 

HOLY COW MAN!!!

Upside down flying nose to nose. NO SIR. 

Dad took this one! Great shot!

London was displeased with the noise as the planes would break the sound barrier but otherwise had a great time wearing her momma's shoulders slap out! :)

Goodness gracious. Dear grandparents, hold your grandkids hands. It slays every mommas heart to see their momma and daddy leading the way for their babies. It kills me every time! 

Testing out a glider :)

The Budweiser Clydesdale Horses were there for viewing as well. We were amazed with how beautiful and enormous they were! The tallest horse measured 6'2"... but a horse is measured from his feet to the bottom of his mane, so from feet to shoulders, he was that tall! Holy moly! 

If you ever read about a Blue Angels show coming to an air base near you, do not miss it! It is the biggest adrenaline rush and is a day well spent revitalizing your patriotism to the good ole US of A! 

(Bring your earmuffs! They are LOUD!)

Zoo Trip

**I wrote this post a month ago but forgot that I saved it in my drafts! I'm still thinking a lot about motherhood and want every momma out there to know that I simply adore you. We are an incredible group of strong, selfless, fighters-for-the-small-people and I love you so much. 

**Also, I'm posting so much because we think my precious momma has the flu and I want to cheer her up! Prayers for the Boopster, please and thank you!

I've been thinking a lot about motherhood this week. I caught up with a friend that I haven't visited with in far too long. We ended up at the zoo on a Friday mid-afternoon. It. was. incredible. All other kids were still in school so we had the place to ourselves. It was a ghost town. The kids ran and played and were perfectly fine. We chatted NON STOP for a good two hours. 

Our lives look a lot different. She stays home with her 4 kids and home-schools the 3 oldest. She works in her 'spare time' for our church. (Spare time. What a laughable phrase! :) ) She is an incredibly refreshing friend to me because her conversation isn't gussied up in anyway. She speaks of life frankly. She talks about the challenges just as easily as she talks about the victories. There's never an air of 'having it all together' and for that, I adore her. Her kids are amazing. They are the most well behaved clan of folks I've ever seen. She is gorgeous and seriously has it going on. If I were her, I would be tempted to be like, 'look how beautiful and amazing we all are!'... but she wouldn't act that way in a million years. She's legit and I love her. 

**At this point, I deleted the over worded post of what I see in the lives of momma's around me. Let's just say that I think being a momma is joyfully hard as hell. I have such a heart to encourage women and it's hard for me when sometimes it seems like we're making this big hard thing that we're doing harder for each other. Then I read THIS post and mentally highlighted every word. So, I'll let Glennon speak (in her infinite wisdom) and I'll get on with the pictures! 

Inadvertent monkey faces while watching the monkeys :)

More of THIS GUY PLEASE!! Isn't he so cute!

"No pictures.. not now." :)

He looked like he was practicing a belly flop but sitting still! 

This was so hilarious. London really wanted to follow along with where we were walking on the zoo map. I looked up and look what was walking down the sidewalk! London wasn't paying a lick of attention and I was scared to scream because I didn't want it to run off!  Lu was ON IT when I pointed her out and decided they would be co-navigators, so off we went! 

Nancy Navigators :)

A Beautiful Girl's Birthday

We are 5 years old. She is SO TALL and SO smart and so all the things that come with being a 'big girl'. It's okay if you need to take a moment to sob-it-out because that's how I felt about this milestone of a birthday. Just 1 minute ago, she was making her first silly faces and throwing everything I knew about love for a loop. Just a minute before that, she was in my belly re-defining JOY for me. Oh my. How have we gotten here so quickly??

Now, past the bittersweetness of birthdays and on to celebrating the wonderful, amazing, sweet, encouraging child that I adore growing up with! I've joined a parenting small group and we discuss what we're learning and how to have a 'game plan' for this parenting gig. Each week I sit there quiet while inside my head, I repeat over and over and over, 'thank you God for knowing I needed London. Thank you for making her exactly as she is.' 

She is kind, loving, obedient (most all of the time), helpful, hilarious, and always wants to make me happy. She's currently really into washing the dishes and sweeping! We finally painted a tea set that we got for Christmas so all drinks are served tea party style. :) Her favorite food is candy. Lord help. She loves to feel beautiful and special! She tells me she loves me 1,000 times per day and has special faces that she'll flash me that either mean 1. I need a hug or 2. I need a kiss. I am A-OK with this system. 

We're learning hard lessons about choosing kindness when you may not want to at first and she is doing a remarkable job of overcoming her (our) natural instincts to walk away when things get tough. Learning life lessons is hard work and humbling. I am delighted that she has such a teachable spirit, at least during this current phase of life. I don't think I was so easily taught.... I apologize, Mom and Dad! 

Everyday with her feels like.... like the way Christmas lights make me feel. She is a twinkling little beacon of joy and the ultimate good timer and I am evermore grateful that we're doing this thing together. 

What. A. Great. Life.

Our tradition of birthday breakfast at The Original Pancake House. I might need to reconsider this because the only food group London ate on birthday day was... sugar. 

I won these adorable cake pops in a blog giveaway! London LOVES gum so I asked if she'd make gum ball machine pops. Aren't they the cutest thing you've ever seen?? 

She didn't like the lips lollipop that I bought her but I thought it was funny!

We had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I was not really looking forward to it because The Cheese always feels like a germ pit. I was wrong to doubt them though! The party was AWESOME. All of the kids had a blast and they let us stay and play for hours! The workers were so patient and nice and made it a wonderful night for London! My pictures didn't turn out very well but I wanted to share a few of them!

Caden shooting hoops

{video- click into blog to watch!}
The birthday kids get to go into this 'catch the tickets' wind machine. She didn't catch many but they give them a bunch after it stops. This was hilarious and she loved it! 

We bought a number 5 sparkler candle for the cake. It was cool! 

My favorite part of the party was watching Lu open the cards that her friends had written for her! They are all doing great at writing words and drawing hearts and it MELTED ME. So sweet to see their scribbly little attempts at communicating! I love it! 

This is the card from Elizabeth and it shall be saved for all of time. I can't even handle it. 

Lala knows ALL of Lulu's favorite things! :) She's the greatest aunt alive!

Knox's card! That's London with the long hair and they are holding hands inside of a heart. Yup. I died too. He loves her to infinity. 

Sweetest bunch of kids you've ever met. I'm so grateful that we've cultivated friendships with these great kids. What a blessing. 

He's the best! :)

Happy Birthday to my baby. What a fun, magical day! :)