A little more happily ever after...

"I will cherish our friendship and love you today. tomorrow. and forever..."

This blog post is SO bittersweet. I am so excited to share with everyone about my big trip to Florida to see James, but I am oh so sad I am not still there! Uploading the pictures this afternoon has been so much fun, I already can't wait to print some and send them to Mr. Green! The quote above is my most favorite line from our vows and I thought it was fitting for the blog about our anniversary.

Last Friday, September 23 I got in the car to once again cross many states so that we could be together on our anniversary. I don't know what I am going to do in 2012 if we are in the same state, it won't be such an adventure! I got to Pensacola around 6pm and was SO SO excited. James was waiting outside for me with the biggest hug and kiss and soon followed that with "Can we go eat Mexican?" So off to Mexican we went!

The next day we woke up and decided to head downtown for the Pensacola Seafood Festival and we had the best time. I had a very spicy Bloody Mary and James of course had a rum punch as we walked around and took in all the sights and smells. There were so many vendors selling things and there was a band playing - it was quite a setup. It didn't take us long though before we couldn't take the smells anymore and walked over to the food area to decide what we wanted to feast on. We both agreed we are very spoiled and get seafood all the time in NC, so we wanted to try something different, not just the usual fried or grilled. So, what we decided on  a "Captain's Feast" which was crab, snapper, shrimp, and a couple of other things I can't remember - but it had this spicy almost gumbo like sauce over it, and there was rice. It was SO good! We split a plate, it was huge, and so delicious.

 

After we left the Seafood Festival we drove back to base, and James was showing me around and we stumbled upon the National Naval Aviation Museum. We knew it was on base and had planned on going, but not that particular day - but when we saw it we decided to go on inside and take a peek around. It was incredible. They had every sort of plane inside you can imagine. We saw a plane that literally looked like a boat with wings, we saw the world's first operational jet fighter, we saw the Blue Angel planes, and we even got to climb around inside. They had all kinds of cool displays on Aircraft Carriers which was cool for us to see since James will actually be working on one very soon! 

The next day we spent lounging on the beach which was much needed for James. He has been working so hard in school, so it was nice for him to unwind and drink a cold beer in the sun! The beach was beautiful, minus the million jelly fish swimming around in the water. GROSS. But there was white sand, blue skies, and green water so we were pretty happy. Not a bad way to celebrate your 2nd wedding anniversary! Monday night on our actual anniversary James was in charge and it was a beautiful evening. He took me to dinner at Atlas, which overlooked the Pensacola Bay and we had oysters, shrimp, and mahi and it was an amazing dinner. We sat there chatting about everything that had happened over the past two years and then I got surprised again with a watch I have been wanting for a long time! He is so good to me! He did an amazing job planning our date and I will always remember it :) I'd like to take a moment to revisit our first wedding anniversary blog post.

"And of course, the big trip back to Great Lakes to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. I drove through 5 states and 14 hours to get to my husband. Now, those of you that know me know that I despise being in the car for long periods of time (James says I'm like a toddler and we have to pack "toys" for long trips to keep me occupied) and despise driving so this was a big deal for me." 

I wish driving that far was a big deal now. How many times did I drive to and from Illinois? And then 11 hours for our second anniversary. I like to go back and read old blog posts for that very reason. Hilarious.

The rest of the week in Florida was just as wonderful, James had to leave me occasionally to go to this thing called class (lame) and I did some shopping and wandering around. The evenings were spent trying to find a better meal than we had the night before and we had AMAZING food. You might all have to come visit us in Pensacola one day because I really fell in love.The second weekend we fished, had an amazing crab dinner on the beach, and even found a bar playing the ECU/UNC game. It didn't quite turn out the way James wanted it to, but the texts between he and Warren were almost as entertaining as watching football. I think James at one point said the Tarheels looked like smurfs on the field, to which Warren replied the Pirates weren't much better looking like Welch's grapes. Ahh brotherly love. 

For a look at all of our pictures from Florida, the link is posted below.You have to actually copy it and paste it into your browser, for some reason it won't let you just click on it. 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=598986547408%3A2034095980

I am such a lucky lady. The Navy has given us two amazing anniversary adventures. We got to spend our first one on the river in Chicago, and our second anniversary was spent on the bay in Pensacola, Florida. It really doesn't get much better than that. And since most of you were there to watch us actually say I Do! Thanks for being there with us on that day, and for following our adventures on this handy blog. I know I say this all the time but we have the greatest support system. You are all truly the BEST. 

James graduates on November 10 and I don't think I will get to see him again before then, so everyone send him mail and cards and tell him how much you love and miss him, he gets lonely! 

Lots of love,

A very tan and happy Navy wife...