One Saturday morning while Ryan was studying, we headed off with some of our new friends to visit the montgomery Zoo.

More exciting than the zoo itself, to Katy at least, was the fact that we rented a stroller. We haven't used a stroller in well over a year (she wouldn't stay in them when she was smaller - so I got rid of them) so this was a novelty beyond compare.


The crew of little girls.

Mobbing poor little Addison for a hug.



More hugs (Addison didn't feel well).

Laying down with Addison.


Even though it was about 90 degrees out, Katy *insisted* on having that blanket covering her. It's intended use of sitting on it was not acceptable....


A nice morning was had by all.

One of the *nice* things about being a military family is that you can almost guarantee that you'll have a friend wherever you go. Since we spent 3 years in Montgomery and most of our friends were civilians, some of them are still in the area.

Gina is one of my dearest friends and I have never been able to see her youngest (who turned 2 a few weeks ago) in person. She had only seen Katy once, when she was a few months old. So, katy and I packed up once again and headed to Auburn to hang with the Zenks.

Katy and Mason took right to each other.


We headed off to a bouncy castle place and let the kids run wild (Gina has two older kids, as well).

Katy and Madison.

We headed back and settled in for the night. And settle right in, Katy did.

Right down to licking Gina (her new favorite way to show affection - we've nipped that one in the bud - yuck!).



The hugs were plentiful. It was good to be back!

Many days we were left to our own devices. On one such day we loaded up with our friends and walked over to watch the Dads play "flickerball." Flickerball is a game that the Air Force made up and has ridiculous rules, too numerous to mention. But, no matter how ridiculous, practice had to be held and it was all taken very seriously....



Unless you were on the sidelines, then you got to be silly and run laps around the bleachers with Mommy...

The afternoons were hot (the the air conditioning was undergoing maintenance and was not being turned on while we were there) so we made our own fun. Sprinklers were bought and kids were set loose....





Katy wasn't as big of a fan of the sprinkler as I would have thought, but it was still fun.

The class Ryan was attending tried fairly hard to be be "family friendly." We were all placed together in housing that was situated around a huge playground and open area. [We'll try not to remember how substandard, filthy and awful the housing itself actually was] Katy *loved* it. She actually more than loved it, but I can't think of a better word describing how she felt. There was a playground right outside and a steady supply of playmates all within her age range.

When we weren't outside just plain playing with our new friends, we were invited to attend various family activities on base. The first was a tour of the base fire department.

We were allowed to climb in a fire engine. Katy wasn't 100% sure about it at first so I climbed in with her.


Of course, soon she was off in her own seat and had buckled herself in.



One of the nice things, and something I had never thought of before, was that they had a firefighter slowly get dressed into his gear so the kids could watch the transformation from normal guy, to one in the big, sometimes scary, firefighter equipment. They said that one of the biggest challenges in an emergency is that kids become afraid when they see the firefighters and run and hide. So, the kids were encouraged to play with the firefighter in gear and touch him. Katy played a nice game of "high-five."

Of course, all she really wanted was her very own fire hat....

The next morning (our last full day in Gulfport) we awoke to some not-so-beachy weather; the wind was blowing about 25 miles per hour.... So, some quick Mommy thinking later and we were off to the Children's Museum in Gulfport to enjoy our day.

A train, complete with dress up clothes.






A model airplane. Katy insisted that I both sit AND buckle up.






Playing dress up.






We had to head outside of the museum to find some lunch, much to the kids' chagrin. NO ONE wanted to leave, but we knew that we were a chicken nugget away from impending doom...


So, after a quick bite, we came back to play for the rest of the afternoon. Katy and Zoe had quite the tea party. When I was caught taking pictures I was pushed away like some sort of scoundrel paparazzi.





Once again, we had to drag the kids away. They spent the evening playing together and having the best time, ever.

It was wonderful having a chance to reconnect with friends. Military life is very hard in that we are all constantly moving away from each other. It's fun to get back together and be able to pick up right where we left off (of course, tht makes the goodbyes painful again, too). The next morning we packed up and headed our seperate ways. Katy and I back to join Ryan in Montgomery and Kim, Zoe and Zach back to their (now permanent) home in Houston.

Success, At Last!!!







A great shot (or 4) of my girls!

The Beach!!!

Luckily Kim thought to bring a stroller. It's one thing for me to foolishly try to carry enough gear for Katy half a mile, another thing entirely when the adults are outnumbered. We loaded everyone up and off we went.



The excitement was palpable....

After a tought start (Zoe wasn't a fan of the sand touching her feet at first) we settled in and had a fabulous time. Everyone quickly realized that the water was *cold* so Mommies were employed as slave labor to bring buckets of water up to where the kids wanted to make sand castles.


Eventually the aversion to the cold water went away and in they all went.












It was VERY difficult to peel our crew away from the beach for dinner. We all had a fantastic time.