2005 Azalea Festival

Obviously our first date to the 2004 Azalea Festival at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens went really well.  So to commemorate the success of our first date, we went back to the 2005 Azalea Festival.  Although we really enjoy the effect of the "outreach" photos Russ takes by extending out his left arm, sometimes people around us feel compelled to offer to take our photo.  So we ended up with a photo where you can actually see our "first date" outfits.  (Yes, we are geeky enough to have worn the same outfits we wore last year!)

 

 

The tower in the background has some great memories for us.  We won't elaborate.

 

And this photo was taken in the same location as the photo that started this whole blog.

 

Although I'd had a photo similar from last year, I hadn't included this one.  But my ever-confident Russ wasn't worried about falling in the river either time.

 



Once again, we had another great time at the Azalea Festival.

Yard Work

 

Our next door neighbors, Don and Helma Coote, are a retired couple and have a lovely yard.  Don was never shy about coming over and telling us "yard improvement" tips.  For example, with our crepe myrtle tree out front, he let Russ know it was really time to prune it back before it started blooming.  (When it was just me last year, Don wasn't as vocal about yard improvements.)

So Russ hauled out the ladder and the tree pruning shears and went to work, big time!

 

 

Yes, all these branches came from our one crepe myrtle tree.  Thanks for all the hard work, Russ!  (And thanks Don for pointing this out to Russ.)

San Antonio Tourists

We had a really busy Monday morning.  We started off with a visit to the Air Force Personnel Center to review our official military records.  Each AF member is authorized permissive travel (meaning the individual incurs the expense for the travel) to make a personal review of his/her records.  After getting the "official business" portion of our visit taken care of, we decided to play tourists.

When we'd gone to the wedding, I noticed the new temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was near when Jenn and Brian were married.  Plus, there was an open house to the public.  As Russ had never been in an LDS temple, we made a stop there.  No pictures were allowed inside the temple, and for some reason, we didn't take any outdoor pictures either.  It was very lovely and peaceful inside.

What visit to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the River Walk?  We ate at a Mexican restaurant outdoors and were visited by some duck who thought the tortilla chips were pretty tasty.

 

 

After eating at the River Walk, we went to visit the remains of a former San Antonio mission.  This particular mission was run by friars and offered protection to local Native American tribes, mainly the Coahuiltecans.  In return for the protection, many of these Native Americans changed from a nomadic lifestyle to a farming community.  Obviously, the average person was much shorter a few hundred years ago.

 

To protect occupants from the hot weather and invaders, the walls were built extremely thick of rocks and adobe.  The hole below was used by canon or rifles.

This was part of a mill house using a water wheel for power to help grind the corn. 

 

After visiting the old mission, we stopped by Lackland Air Force Base and took a tour of the basic training graduation grounds.  It was a great visit to San Antonio!

San Antonio -- Sea World

After the wedding we took the opportunity to enjoy a few more activities around the San Antonio area.  As Sea World was offering free admission passes to military members, this was an obvious choice of how to spend our time.

 

Even though I don't really like handling raw fish, I overcame my aversion as the sea lions, whose bark reminds me a lot of dogs, were so cute in their begging for fish.



 

We also bought some fish at the "feed the dolphins" exhibit.  We both were able to feed and pet a dolphin.

 

And of course no visit is complete without feeding the ducks!

 

Since feeding the ducks reminded Russ of the day he decided to propose to me (because of the joy I found in simple pleasures, like feeding turtles and ducks at Noland Trail in Newport News, Va), he had to come over and give me a hug.

 

 

If only I could find the picture we'd bought at the "splash mountain" type of water ride, I'd add that as well.  We had a great time at Sea World and appreciate Anhauser Busch corporation honoring military members and their families.

Jennifer Bivens and Brian Stokes' Wedding



One of Russ' former Academy classmates, Jenn Bivens, was getting married in San Antonio, TX and sent us an invitation.  Obviously, we accepted.  The ceremony was beautiful and held in a lovely church, but I didn't include those photos since you're likely reading this blog for updates on Russ and/or me.

This photo below has six members from the Air Force Academy, Class of 1996.  Russ doesn't remember the name of the first lady on the left, who was in another cadet squadron.  The next five from left to right are:  Taylor, Jennifer Bivens, my handsome hubby Russ, Jack Floyd and Walter Jackim, all from Cadet Squdron 26.

It was much cooler than expected for April in San Antonio.  I hadn't brought a jacket or even a sweater to go with my outfit.  Fortunately for me, Russ is a chivalrous man.

Here's Jenn with her husband, Brian Stokes.

Poor Walt!  I'm sure he spent years enduring being the "most vertically challenged male" in his squadron.  Now he had to be shown up by Amy and Jenn picking him up at the wedding!

I'm glad Jenn and Russ were such good friends all these years because they would have made a very handsome couple otherwise (and I wouldn't be posting these blog updates!).

It was a lovely ceremony and beautiful reception.  I'm so glad we were able to go and I was able to meet more of Russ' friends.  (Several came to our wedding, but that was a pretty hectic weekend for me.  So I didn't really get to know his friends during our wedding.)

Chomper's Last Day

Russ has a 55-gallon fish tank that he brought to the marriage, along with several fish that kept growing and growing.  Sadly, as we'll be moving in June, we knew we'd need to start finding homes for the fish.  As Chompers and Poky are such large pacu fish, he called around to several aquarium stores to see if any of them would take them.  He found a store in Hampton that would take one at a time due to their size.  Since Chompers is the larger fish, he was the first one to go.

Russ divided the tank and netted Chompers, who was on the right side of the tank.  

He put him in our wheeled cooler and took him to the store.

 

 It was a rainy day, which matched our mood at having to part with a family member. Bye-bye, Chompers!