Tipnut

Since we have moved across the country and do not yet know many people, I have been motivated to find new crafts, recipes, ways to recycle, and creative ways to save money.  I found this great site called www.tipnut.com which has many ways to do at home crafts, homemade cleaners, garage sale tips and a ton of ways to reuse basic items! 

The most recent item I have been trying to reuse are newspapers.  Some ideas found from tipnut include:
1. Use as paper towels to wash mirrors, windows, and dirty jobs such as the oven
2. Pack newspapers in smelly places such as refrigerators, coolers, luggage etc.  They will absorb those nasty odors!
3. To ripen fruit, wrap with newspapers
4. Use the cartoon section for wrapping paper
5. Newspapers can also be used for seed starting plants http://tipnut.com/make-seed-starting-pots-from-newspaper/
6. And of course use newspapers as fire starters and packing material

U.S. Army Aviation Museum

The United States Army Aviation Museum, located in South-central Alabama, maintains a collection of over 160 military aircraft, including one of the largest collections of military helicopters in the world. Public galleries represent the Army's involvement in aviation from the beginning days of the Wright brothers and early combat aircraft from World War I, to the highly technological machines flown by Army Aviators today.

Jareth was able to choose which helicopter he wanted to specialize in so my favorite part of the Museum was learning about the Blackhawk. We also were able to view hundreds of hall of fame inductees, many helicopters throughout the years and history behind helicopter use in the military.

A Blackhawk in air

The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. The UH-60A entered service with the Army in 1979, to replace the UH-1 Iroquois as the Army's tactical transport helicopter.

The Black Hawk helicopter series can perform a wide array of missions, including the tactical transport of troops, electronic warfare, and aeromedical evacuation. A VIP version known as the VH-60N is used to transport important government officials with the helicopter's call sign of "Marine One" when transporting the President of the United States. In air assault operations it can move a squad of 11 combat troops or reposition a 105 mm M102 howitzer with thirty rounds ammunition, and a four-man crew in a single lift. The Black Hawk is equipped with advanced avionics and electronics for increased survivability and capability, such as the Global Positioning System.

The UH-60 entered service with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in June 1979.[20] The U.S. military first utilized the UH-60 in combat during the invasion of Grenada in 1983, and again in the invasion of Panama in 1989. During the Gulf War in 1991, the UH-60 participated in the largest air assault mission in U.S. Army history with over 300 helicopters involved. In 1993, Black Hawks featured prominently in the assault on Mogadishu in Somalia. Black Hawks also saw action in the Balkans and Haiti in the 1990s. UH-60s continue to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Destin-ation

When traveling to Enterprise, we wanted to see the coast while Jareth's family was here.  Jackie said many people travel to Destin, FL.  Since it was only two hours south of us, we decided to check it out.  We spent a night there and had a great time!  We ate at Joe's crab shack the first night which was DELICIOUS and visited some tourist shops down the strip just off the coast.  The next day we got to visit the white sandy beaches and checked out what the area had to offer.  Once it is warmer out we plan to go back to check out the parasailing, dolphin adventures, water sports, and fishing off the pier.  In the past, people have caught tuna, mackerel, sailfish, and even some types of sharks off the pier!  We also were fortunate to eat of Fudruckers where they had live alligators available for feeding and holding as well as a rare albino alligator for viewing.  Before leaving we picked up some fresh shrimp, crawfish, and swordfish steaks to cook for dinner- not bad for the first meal in our new home!

The pier

White sand beach in Destin, FL

Baby Bump

We are now 18 weeks along and doing great.  We expect to find out the sex in a couple weeks and are very excited to be nearly half way there!  Here is the latest 'baby bump' picture!

Sweet Home Alabama

We have made it!  After nearly 30 hours driving across the country with two full cars of family, we reached our house in Enterprise, AL.  Our house was what we were expecting and we are pleased with the neighborhood.  We are located only 10 minutes from Fort Rucker and a few minutes from the majority of town.  Enterprise has aabout 25,000 people and a few stores we recognize but there will be a lot of learning for us here. 

Front of our home

Kitchen

Livingroom- we desperately need furniture as you can tell :)

Porch and most of backyard

The pool!  It is currently winterized but will be ready for summer use in April/May

Bamboo and cactus landscape the backyard