The Real Military Wives of Blogland

Today I'm joining Mal and Samantha (a little late in the day!) for their new link-up called The Real Military Wives of Blogland.  It's basically a chance to get to know real military wives and to squash those nasty stereotypes that are out there about military spouses.

I'm Rachel, I'm married to Brian who is an Air Force pilot.  We first met back in junior high and started dating in the 9th grade.  I had no clue that Brian was interested in joining the military at all so in 11th grade when he said that he applied to the Air Force Academy I was really taken aback.  Not thinking there was even a chance that he'd be accepted (his words, not mine!), I completely took it off of my radar.  But as luck would have it, Brian did get accepted and so began our journey into military life.

I stayed in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota while he went off to Colorado to begin the Academy. 

Ring Dance at USAFA May '07

We were long distance for 4 looong years and I'll admit that it was hard but it was an excellent introduction into what life in the military would be like.  

We married shortly after his graduation from the Air Force Academy and after 60 days of leave moved to Columbus, Mississippi for Brian to begin pilot training.  It was an interesting first year of marriage We started off neither one of us having a job and spending literally almost every minute together. We did so many fun things and just had time to finally be together. It was one of the best times of my life. But then pilot training started and I got a job and we started our new normal. 12 hour workdays followed by 5/6 hours of homework, it wasn't easy but we made it through and in January of 2010, Brian earned his wings.

I was also 24 weeks pregnant with our first child. Shortly after that we made the move to Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska where Brian learned to fly the RC-135 and we settled into life in the Midwest again.  We had our first couple real separations, TDY's, deployments, and it was an adjustment.

We had our second child, our daughter in May of 2012 and 3 months after she was born, Brian left on another deployment.  The ops-tempo of a flier is hard. He would be home some, gone some, and you always knew that the next separation was just looming in the near distance.

 We're currently at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL while Brian is going to squadron officer school and shortly after we return to Omaha we'll be making the move to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO where Brian will teach gliders.  

This life is a wild ride.  Most of the time it's great and exciting and we're offered opportunities we wouldn't have in the civilian world. I have met the most amazing people (most of whom are drama-free, unlike the stereotypes!) and truly feel like I have the best military family outside of my immediate family. It's been so neat to meet people from all over the country and know that any place we visit we most likely have friends there. But, there's also the downside to the military. The stress of not knowing your future (as in where your husband will be the next week), the separations, the long hours, the frequent moves, the inability to plan things, and the limited amount of freedom when it comes to taking vacations, it can be hard.  

But the thing I want people to know about mil spouses is that we're just like everyone else.  Yeah our husbands signed up to do a job that is a little crazy but we're just like you.  We have children, we own homes, many have careers, and we're out there in the community.  Yeah sometimes we're doing it on our own for months at a time, but we strive to be as "normal" as possible and raise our children to the best of our abilities. I have nothing but great things to say about the other military spouses and families that I've encountered over my 5 years of being an Air Force wife.  I look forward our future and what the Air Force has in store for us in the coming years! :)

Our Beachy Easter Weekend

WARNING: Picture Overload!!

Ok now that you've been fairly warned, our beach trip this weekend.

It started out not so great. 60 degrees and raining. Really hard.

It rained for most of our drive but stopped shortly after we crossed the Florida border.  The first thing we did was drive to Henderson Beach Park in Destin so that the kids could see the ocean.

It was freezing but Brady didn't care, in the ocean I go!

The sky was crazy and it was probably about 50 degrees with the wind.

Can you tell we don't live near an ocean?

Layla was not a fan of the water but thoroughly enjoyed chasing the birds.

"Can you give a sister a minute without a camera in her face?"

Look! I was there too! :)

For dinner we went to a place called Fudpuckers.  They gave the kids toy alligators which were enthusiastically received.

They even had a playground in the restaurant.

And alligators to watch, feed, and hold. Brady wanted to go back there every day.

The next morning we woke up and headed straight to the beach. It was in the 60's when we got there so we may have had sweatshirts on but we were at the beach!

Brady decided since the sun came out that it was time to take the shirt off and get a beach pump going.

Brian joined him.

And Layla ate snacks and watched.

I didn't have my swimsuit on but I enjoyed the sand. Nicest beach I think I've ever been to!

Give me your best poses, boys.

Cheese!

Beautiful water and sand!

The boys were crazy in the cold water and Layla and I sat on the beach blankets and people watched. And she ate more snacks.

And chased more birds too.

Then we found another beach playground (genius!!)

And had some lunch

"No time for pictures. I need that sandwich. Right there."

After lunch we headed to our good friends from Omaha's little guys birthday party. He's down at SOS with Brian and his family lives in Destin (lucky!) so we were so lucky to get to celebrate with them.

He rocked that cake smash. Rocked it.

Layla enjoyed her first full of cake too.

After some naps and baths we headed back to the beach to watch the sunset.

She'd had enough of the pictures already.

Sunset

Kisses for Daddy

My loves

Brian even took my picture

My sweet little ones, growing up too fast!

"If you tell Mom and Dad about the chocolate I ate in the car, you're finished."

It was starting to get chilly so we wrapped Layla in my cardigan

My big boy!

I don't know how, but the Easter Bunny knew we were going to be in Destin!

We had brunch at the Eglin AFB Club

And we had a great bay view

The brunch was delish

And both kids gave it a thumbs up

Oh and did I mention we had the dog with us too? Poor guys was locked up in the TLF the majority of the time since dogs aren't allowed on the beaches there. We were still on base though and figured he could come check it out with us.

Trying to get an Easter Sunday picture near the palm tree in the wind..not easy

Best one we got!

Rascal and I

He loved the beach!

We drove one last time to Destin to say goodbye to the beach. It was a chilly 60 degree, cloudy day which was a huge bummer. Brady was really sad to leave, he absolutely loved it.

And Layla enjoyed watching people play volleyball. "Care to take on 1 more player?"

We drove the 3 hours back and of course it was 85 and sunny in Montgomery the whole weekend, oh well! Looks like we'll just have to take another beach trip!  First thing on my bucket list: Visit Destin: complete! :)  Brian and I decided that we'd love to take another beach vacation...without the kids sometime.