Oklahoma or bust!!!!!

After seeing family in Texas, we moved on to Oklahoma to see a dear friend that is as close to a family as you can get without being blood. We visited with Aunt Carolyn. She is the Aunt of CSM Waddle, whom Daddy served with during his second tour in Iraq. She is a very patriotic woman who has supported a lot of troops with letters and care packages. Even after Iraq, Aunt Carolyn supported Daddy and Mommy in Afghanistan and a whole bunch of family like CSM Waddle, his son Charlie and his other son and then some more whose names Daddy could not remember. She had us over and fed us a great lunch and shared some time with us.

Aunt Carolyn, me and Daddy.

Aunt Carolyn, me and Mommy.

 

From Aunt Carolyn's we moved on to Oklahoma City.  

Me and Mommy waiting on a water taxi.

 

Me at Toby Keith's "I love this bar." We ate dinner there...

 

Me at the 45th Infantry Division Museum holding a Russian Blurp Gun.

Me and Mommy at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

A look across the memorial.

The Memorial where the Federal Building once stood. Each chair represents the people who died during the attack. The building to the rear is the museum dedicated to the memory of those who died.

Me leaving Oklahoma.

 

We had a nice visit to Oklahoma and we are off to New Mexico and points beyond.

Welcome to Texas Cousins

Along the way, we made a very important stop in Texas. Yes, everything is bigger in Texas. Anyway, Daddy found his second cousin Charlie on Ancestry and they arranged to meet. So Charlie was the first family on the trip. Charlie grew up very close to where Daddy's Great Grandfather settled and where his Grandfather grew up. It is some place Daddy always wanted to visit. Sadly, most of the people we visited had long since passed, but it was great learning about them.

Me and Mommy with my Great Great Grandfather's Model 1876 Rifle. It was a big gun for a big man. 

Me and Daddy with the Rifle.

A historical Marker from the State of Texas were Daddy's Great Grandfather and others donated land to build a School, Church and Cemetery.

One of the houses that used to belong to Newton Edgar Young.

Charlie, me and Daddy at the Grave of Great Grandpa and Grandma Young, Emily Carolyn and Newton Edgar Young.

Me and Daddy at the same grave.

 

Charlie was a great host. Of course he treated us like family and gave us a great tour of our ancestral home. It only took Daddy 44 years to get there and 3 for me, guess I was along for the ride and will appreciate more some day.

The beginning of a very long trip

Our first stop on our very long trip was Vicksburg, Mississippi. Of course Daddy can not drive past a battle field or a National Cemetery and not visit. Vicksburg had both. Our first day was spent on the road and we arrived late evening in Vicksburg, MS. The second day we began the tour.

Me and Mommy on a Cannon. It is a crew of three, but Daddy had to take the picture.

 

I found and even bigger cannon on my cannon tour.

The USS Cairo Museum. It has a Union Iron Clad they recovered from the bottom of the Mississippi River. 

Vicksburg National Cemetery, the small square stones are unknown soldiers, 13,000 of the 17,000 union soldiers buried there are unknown soldiers. 

Here I am in the Mississippi section of the Confederate Cemetery which is on the other side of Vicksburg. The Union and Confederate Soldiers are not buried together.  

A confederate historical grave.

The Vicksburg Mississippi splash pad. After a day of touring you have to cool off.

Post Civil War Vicksburg.

 

And after all that fun.... dinner in bed. I love vacations.

 

That is the first two days of our long vacation. From Florida to California and back!!!!

Our first family Canoe Trip

After we returned to Florida, we were missing the water. Since we do not have a big boat, we rented one powered by Mommy and Daddy. We went over to the Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park and canoed on the Choctawhatchee Bay and up the Rock Bayou creek.

 

Daddy took this picture. This is us under the bridge going up stream.

We drove over this bridge many time, but now I know what the bottom looks like.

Heading down stream. I was in charge of catching leaves floating in the water. That and not falling over board.

Coming out of the stream back to the bay.

I had to clean the oars at the end of the trip

and move them back to the car.

 

It was a great experience and a fun way to end the day. We will do it again, once all the rain stops. Been raining two days now.

 

Next week we will begin our long vacation, so we might show up on your door step. Most likely, we will surprise some of you. So you might end up in the next blog post, that might not happen for awhile since we are traveling. But, once we get access to a computer we will update. Until then, keep checking back and read some of the older posts.

Lake Lanier with Chris

After visiting the fish, we went further North to visit with Chris and to spend a day out on the lake. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. The water was a little cold, but me and Daddy had no issues with it.  

Mommy is a Captain so Chris let Mommy Captain the boat.

I am just a first mate, so I have to sit on a Captain's lap.

Mommy, a dog and me. The Doggie was from another boat, we both had life jackets.

Here is me touring a 1.1 million dollar boat. They would not let me drive this one.

I got to visit with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. They have a cool boat.

It has a water cannon! I have to get me one of these.

A few of us on the tube.

Daddy on the tube trying to survive the ride. He caught air here.

and then he crashed and burned.

 

Our trip to the lake was cool and I am not just talking about the water. We had a great day and even better company. It was a nice trip to Buford and we look forward to the next.

We visited the Fish

After Columbus we headed to Atlanta, GA. We stopped at the fish home. It is a huge place with a price tag to match. Daddy thought the visit should come with a fish fry, but the people there said no. It was all about looking at the fish and not eating them.

 

Me and Mommy with a lot of fish.

This is the big tank, it has three Whale Sharks, so it is just huge.

Me communicating with an Octopus

Me and Mommy, the fish would not hold still.

Here are some more not cooperating.

I am trying to hug the fish.

Playing with Ray. He is the guy under water.

Some more fish.

The end of the tour. It is a big production and you can not take pictures.

 

Visiting the fish was fun. But, I would not like to sleep with them. It would be kind of fun to swim with them, but sleeping would just be too wet and some one might think I wet the tank.

A visit to Columbus to see Family

Sine Mommy is on leave and we are planning on driving across the country on her next leave, we figured we would use her first leave to see those who live close. Makes sense, sort of a practice road trip.

 

So we went to the Army Museum at Fort Benning, my request. I got to dress up again.

Then we toured the falls at Flat Rock.

Me and Mommy at Flat Rock.

We had a big family dinner, it was Jeanette's Birthday.

Saw some cannons at the Confederate Naval Museum.

Tour a boat there too and....

saw another cannon.

Visited the river, which during the Civil War was a battle field.

I got to watch Zachary play baseball. He did really good hitting and throwing. I want to play base ball!

And I played.

 

We learned if your on vacation, it usually means no one else is.... So you have to find thing to do until everyone gets off work. We did get a chance to swim, but the water was cold. So I ate green beans, Daddy said they keep you warm in the pool. And we had a great visit with Aunt Coleen and Papa Ed and everyone else.