Mardi Gras

 Mardi Gras is a BIG deal down here. Justin didn't have to work, and Jack got the whole week off of school. We thought it was a little strange, but we were excited to have the break. We experienced our first Mardi Gras parade. It was quite the experience. We set up camp and waited for the parade. We waited, and waited, and waited. It was supposed to start at one but we didn't actually see any glimpse of it until about 2:30. But it was great weather and we ended up finding a couple more families that we knew, which kept the kids entertained.

 Justin decided if there was one word that he could choose as the theme for Mardi Gras, it would be redneck. :) This flag was flying in the back of a pick-up truck across the street from us. They were quite the crowd. But I would have to agree with Justin.....redneck pretty much sums it up! My friend Krista turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm at the zoo!"

 Finally we saw the floats coming around the corner, and then the beads started flying! There were beads coming at you left and right. You seriously had to be on the look out because as soon as you weren't paying attention, you would get pelted by a necklace flying through the air. 

 The start of their "collection" of beads.

 You love the guy behind Justin with the perm and purple headband?

 The parade went on, and on, and on. We thought we were never going to get home. There were so many people, and no way you could ever leave before it was over. So we kept gathering and collecting the loot.

 Anderson eventually fell asleep amongst the chaos. Not sure how he could sleep with all the loud music and loud people. I'm glad he did though.

 Jack decided that was the "coolest parade we have ever been to".

When we got home, we weighed our bag of beads...20 lbs!!! If every family went home with 20 lbs. of beads, I can't imagine how many beads they start with for that parade. It was crazy. We had a fun time though, so I would call our first Mardi Gras experience a success. Not sure I would go again, but since we are only here for a year, we figured we better live it up. :)

New Orleans Aquarium

 Over President's Day weekend, we went to the aquarium in New Orleans. We got there right as it opened, hoping to beat the crowds that were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras weekend. We were so glad that we did. When we came, there wasn't a single person in line to get in. When we left, it was around the block! The boys had a great time. As soon as we got there, they were both running from one thing to the next shouting, "Wow! Cool! Awesome! Look at this one!" They were making us laugh. There is something special about seeing your kids so excited with pure joy across their faces.

 We thought the lion fish was cool.

 There was also an outdoor bird exhibit. Anderson was patiently waiting for a bird to land on his little stick.

 One of the birds started to crawl up Anderson's hand and he felt it's sharp little claws. He quickly pulled his hand away and said in an angry voice, "You stinky bird!" That is his new saying for anyone or anything that makes him mad. "You stinky Dad." or "You stinky Jack." (Emphasis on the stinky)

 Nice, right? I guess there are worse things he could say.

 We went and saw "Born to be Wild" in 3D at the imax theater. Anderson would rip his glasses off and give out a little squeal when something looked like it was coming for him. He didn't quite understand the whole 3D concept. Jack on the other hand, loved it. It was his first 3D experience and he thought it was awesome. He is getting so big, and I think it's fun.

B-Day/V-Day

 We had a really great Valentine's Day this year.  The older the boys get, the more excited they are about little holidays and Valentine's was no exception. Jack had a fun party at preschool, although I feel like they eat so much junk at their school. Jack will tell me what they have for snack some days (like cake and ice cream) and it kind of bothers me. I asked Jack if it was someone's birthday since they had cake and ice cream for snack and he told me no, that's just what we had. Awesome. Plus, when you sign up to bring something, it has to be prepackaged and store bought. So you can't bring fruit or make muffins, or something like that might actually be healthy. I mean, what comes prepackaged that is good for you? Almost nothing. (am I complaining too much?) Anyways, my plans of suckers and super hero capes quickly changed as we tried to come up with a "non-candy" valentine. Jack picked out the slinkies, so I found a cute printable valentine to match. And yes, I wrote his name on them. I did these the night before and knew that it would take him forever to write on all of them in the morning, so I wrote it for him. Lame, right? Oh well...next year.

 He was all smiles after I let him wear something besides his "pink" shirt. :)

Justin brought me these balloons. They make for great entertainment for the boys.

 The weather was so great that day. I think it was 72 and sunny. I have never had a birthday with that kind of weather. Justin got home early (bonus!) so we decided to take a walk to the park and enjoy the sun. Then we headed back for dinner. The boys thought these mail boxes were so awesome. I got them in the dollar section from Target. Jack has been wanting to plant some seeds to watch them grow, and I found these little pots (also in the dollar section) that comes with the dirt and seeds, so I thought they would be perfect. We planted them the next day and they check on them every morning to see how they have grown. I've been taking pictures to show their progress on a later post. :)

 Justin and the boys made me a pink cake. They were dying to help me blow out the candles. Anderson had been asking me for a couple weeks before my birthday, "Do you want to blow out the candles with me mom? That'd be fun!" They had a fun time, although Jack thought it was a little lame that I didn't have any friends come or presents to open. I was totally spoiled with presents from friends, family and Justin, but I had either already opened them, or they didn't come wrapped. Obviously not Jack's kind of party!

 Am I really 28? 

That just doesn't seem right. This year is my high school ten year reunion. That is crazy to me! Only one more birthday in my 20's. That is so not cool. I feel like I'm looking older too. Not sure what it is, but I don't think I like it.

Mmmm.....cake.

I am NOT wearing that!

I bought this shirt the other day for Jack at Old Navy. I thought it would be cute for him to wear it on Valentine's Day. So this morning, I pulled it out of his closet and he got a terrified look on his face. This is how our conversation went down...

Jack: Uggh! I am not wearing that. It is pink and people at school will make fun of me!

Me: It's not pink. Why would someone make fun of you? You will look so handsome.

Jack: No, I am not wearing it.

Me: Why?

Jack: Because people will make fun of me!!

Me: Jack, I showed this to you at the store and you said that was the color you wanted.

Jack: I just wanted you to hold it, I didn't want you to bring it home!

Me: So you want  me to take it back and trade it for a different color?

Jack: Yes.

The kid is in preschool! Isn't this not supposed to be an issue yet? I didn't have the heart to make him wear it. I guess it just wasn't manly enough for him. This kid is so picky about his clothes! And the second he gets home, he changes into "comfy clothes" and then looks like an orphan. Oh well. I guess I just have to get over the fact that I can't control what he wears ALL the time...although I still try.

I {heart} you

 In the spirit of Valentine's Day, Jack decided to cover our back patio with hearts.

 I sure love this little boy. He has grown up so much in the past little while. He has come out of the terrible two's, which for him, seemed to last two years. We have some good conversations. He is always curious about things and asking heart felt questions. He is doing great at school and hasn't been having the listening/transitioning problems that he had last year. We are quite proud of him. It is fun to see him grow and change so much.

We had our stake conference for our church a couple weeks ago, and Elder Gonzales of the Seventy (a general authority over our region) was coming. I was explaining to Jack that he was going to speak to us and how it was really special for us to see him and hear him in Stake Conference. We got there early (I do not like sitting in the back), and while we were waiting, Jack turned to me and said, "Mom, when is Speedy Gonzales going to get here?" Oh man, I was laughing so hard! It was too cute.

Biloxi Lighthouse

We have started a Mississippi bucket list. We only have about six months left to be here and we want don't want to move without seeing as much as we can. We started with the Biloxi lighthouse and visitor's center. The picture above is not from my camera. I didn't get a good shot of the visitors center, so here is one from the trusty Google. We drive by this lighthouse almost every day. It is just down the road from the AF base.

 As you can see, it was a cloudy day. I'm thinking we might need to do it again when it's clear, just so we have a little better view from the top.

 Jack was SO excited to finally get to go inside the lighthouse. The boys say, "There's the lighthouse!!" every time we drive by it...without fail.

(Can you tell he needs a haircut? A little bushy on top!)

 Right inside the door, there are markings representing the level the water came to with each of the severe hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina is the very top. It is crazy to see how high the water was.

 Ready to climb to the top! Anderson was much more excited than he looks in this picture.

 Hey Mom!!

 The light inside was one of my favorite parts. It was so cool!

 The view to the left. The big building is a fancy casino, with a few more down the road. I never knew how many tourists came to see Biloxi. I had never even heard of Biloxi until we were assigned here. The people who came on our tour with us were from Spokane, Wa.

 The view to the right. Keesler AFB is just down this road a few blocks.

 The lighthouse used to be right on the water, but they moved all this sand in to create a little more of a barrier from the water. After they extended the shore line, they also made the road bigger. It's the only lighthouse in the country that is right on a main highway.

 Inside the visitors center was decorated for Mardi Gras, which is a huge deal down here. They had some interesting information on the history of Biloxi. It has such a sad story. The hurricanes have made them literally start over from scratch more than once. The images from Katrina were unreal. Most of the historical buildings and houses in Biloxi have been destroyed. They talk about how the history of Biloxi lives in the paintings, photographs, and memories.

The building itself was beautiful, which was obviously rebuilt after Katrina. It had some really cool paintings. This one was my favorite.

I never in a million years thought I would live in Mississippi. And even though its only for a short time, it has been fun to see this part of the country. Hopefully over the next six months, we will get to see a lot more of it!

And yes...Jack can now spell Mississippi! :)