Proud to be an American

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday. I really am not sure when this happened. Maybe it's because we have a huge celebration where I grew up and people camp out over night just to get good seats for the parade.  It was also all about the fireworks. We would have our own celebration, but nothing was as cool as climbing up on the roof to watch the big firework show put on by the city.  I've celebrated the 4th in lots of different places. A small no-where town in Montana, Wyoming--where fireworks are legal all year round, New York City--that was pretty fun, Paris--where homemade rootbeer was not well received and people took pictures of us playing baseball--like we were some sort of novelty (I guess we were), but this is the first time I've ever had the honor of celebrating it on a Military post.

I claim it is an honor because no where else is there the deep rooted celebrating that comes from those who really understand what it means to live in a free country. It's one thing to wear red-white and blue and cheer at the parade, or even just show up for the fireworks, but it's a whole other story when the celebration includes a slideshow of those local soldiers who have given their lives in the name of freedom.  It hits home in a whole new way.

Fort Rucker's celebration was no different than most any other celebration that I had been to, at first glance. It had the fairs and booths that I've seen in several places, however the vendors were mainly food. What I love going to little "street" fairs for are the boutique type stuff that aren't usually in stores. At this fair I didn't really see anything that caught my attention. The food, however, was another story.

Considering this was my first festival/fair/celebration type thing that I have been to since moving to the south, I was excited to see what they might have us. My husband and I both decided that we were going to eat at the festival and therefore planned ahead and brought cash. (Because we brought cash, I have no idea if any of the places accepted other forms of payment. We stopped at the alcohol store-bought a candy bar--and got cash back).  These are the types of foods we found.

I'm eating the deep fried oreo here. It was pretty good, except that it was really dry.  Still needs a glass of milk. ;) Hubby go the snickers and we both liked it better. Oreos were $2 and Snickers were $3

I think my favorite part of this was the fact that they clarified that it was on a stick. However, I'm sure you can see my feelings towards this one. Hubby's thoughts : "it taste like chicken, only more rubbery." Yeeeaah...cause that just sounds amazing.  Fried Alligator on a stick: $6

After the fair and "dinner" we went and looked at all the different aircrafts they have here at Fort Rucker. It was pretty cool, but lines were longer than we wanted to wait and I had already seen most of them up close. Here are a few of the helicopters that I captured.

Chinook

This one seems to be a Lakota.

This one here is the Apache.

It was pretty cool, they let you climb inside and everything. Since I had already done that at a Family Day when Hubs was in the National Guard, I didn't really feel the need to do it again.

Here are a couple pictures of myself in a Blackhawk durning the family day last summer.

The highlight of the night however, was the concert given right before the fireworks. It was a blast. Normally they just have the Army band play, but this year they brought in Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. They were actually pretty cool. Gary played the guitar and he had 3 or 4 different singers. They did a bunch of cover songs and did a good job at getting the audience to participate. We were sitting in the middle and I felt like we had pretty good seats. Because of all the people, the bugs weren't really a problem. My man and I had a really good time and the families we were with. After dark they had people selling glow sticks and such and I jumped on that band wagon real' quick.

Gary Sinise (in the white shirt in the back) and his Lt. Dan Band.



Since we had walked, we decided to leave the concert a little early (since we could still hear it from pretty much anywhere) to start walking back. Our plan was to walk until we heard the fireworks, and then we'd just plop ourselves down and watch the show wherever we were. As it turns out, our plan worked out perfectly and we ended up watching the show on the field in between the golf course and the concert. There were probably only 4 or 5 other groups watching where we were, so it was really easy to feel in your own little world.  Apparently Fort Rucker is supposed to have one of the better fireworks show in the area, and I think they did a really good job. Neither my husband or I are photographers and we just had our phones and cheap cameras for pictures, we didn't get any really good pictures of the fireworks. Here is the only one I have that turned out. 

Fireworks on Fort Rucker. 

All in all, I think that Fort Rucker did a great job at celebrating our Independence. Considering that it's a really small post in an area that is not much bigger, I think they pulled it off.  The festivities went from 4:00pm to around 10:00 or 11:00pm (1600-2300).  We got there around 5:30 or 6 and I kind of wished we had more time.  They also had a huge play area for kids with blow up toys and whatnot. We didn't make it over there at all. 

I was happy and proud to be a part of Fort Rucker's celebration and join in on the chorus; "I'm proud to be an American!"

Gone Camping!

I haven't posted for awhile because I was gone camping! Yep, I took off to Florida for a week leaving hubby to fend for himself and the poodle face. Truth be told I missed them both terribly!

Here is the lowdown on camping here in the southern part of Alabama. Apparently people here think it's too hot and too humid and there are far too many bugs to make it enjoyable. The only reason we went is because the church I belong to has a summer camp for young woman ages 12-18 every year. It's not really an option to NOT go. So we all packed up and off we went. 

I am from Utah where camping is as common as grocery shopping. And if you grew up in my family, you may just randomly go camping for no reason. We would stay in campgrounds instead of hotels, decide to eat breakfast up the canyon instead of at the dining table and my friends and I would just go camping for fun one weekend--sometimes in tents, sometimes under the stars. Sometimes we'd have bathrooms, sometimes we'd bring a shovel.  NEVER would we have showers.

So this being my experience, I was quite unsure when they asked me to go as a camp director for these young woman. I was positive that our campsite would be crawling with spiders and they wrap me up like a mummie in their super spidery web and carry me off to eat me. Yes, I go all out in my illogical-irrational frightmares.  However, I figured if God was asking me to go with them, then He was going to not let me get eaten alive by giant spiders---like in Harry Potter. 

Here's the deal. We didn't go camping. We were in the woods-10 mins from civilization-But we had showers, air conditioned cabins, home-cooked meals made in a kitchen-not over a campfire and a pool. Now I know why God thought I could do this. It was fun and relaxing and the young woman were adorable and seriously the future of American. Most of them were from Army families so we talked about all the different places they have lived and what they liked about being in the Army and what they didn't. Most said it was leaving the friends they had made in that area. It was hard to start all over again. It made me think. I chose this life for me. Hubby was in the Army before I met him. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I married that wonderful man. Our children don't get to choose. They just kind of have to follow suit. I hope our children can understand why we-as their parents-felt it was a good idea. I hope we can help them see the good that can come from growing up in the military. And I hope I can understand if my children choose the same path---because it's hard enough watching your husband fly away from you---I can only imagine  if it were my son or daughter. 

Anyway, I got lost on a tangent, but wanted to share my thoughts on children in the military. Here is my review of camping:

Camping here was any more or less miserable or fun than camping in other places. I saw just as many bugs here as I have camping in Utah, Wyoming and New York (upstate). However the spiders I saw were much bigger and they DID freak me out. I think I could easily go camping here--with all the trees and such if it weren't for the wretched spiders! 

Our campsite

Our Cabin

The view from our hike