SOS Graduation
Greetings to all.
We got up early this morning, though not as early as yesterday. After breakfast, Rebecca, Xavier and I drove onto Maxwell AFB. It has been seven years since I last stepped onto that base. The last time was for Rebecca's AMS graduation; it was also the time I knew that Rebecca "was the one for me."
Xavier held up OK during the ceremony, but when he got hungry, we had a few rough spots. We met Rebecca's classmates and her instructors. We even ran into a woman whose daughter was in the same NICU as Xavier at the same time as Xavier.
We had loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel before the ceremony, so leaving base we headed for the Montgomery Zoo. It is a smaller zoo, and very kid friendly. Xavier was not so much interested in the exhibits, but more in the plumbing and mechanical features he discovered throughout the park. Even feeding the giraffes did not impress him.
After leaving the zoo, we drove to Pensacola Beach where we hoped to relax for a few days. As parents, Rebecca and I had a few new experiences. The car seat Xavier sat in we placed next to the passenger side door (too much luggage, so we could not put the seat in the middle of the back seat).
It hit us when Xavier pushed the window button and opened the window a bit. Rebecca and I instantly thought the same basic things: is the door locked, can Xavier unlock the door, the car seat does not anchor to any D rings, what if the door comes open. Xavier no longer had a five-point harness, just a lap and shoulder belt.
We pulled off the road and figured all this out, as well as learn what safety features the rental car offered. It was, to say the least, unnerving and a new level of driving stress for us. At least when we checked in to the hotel, we could move the car seat to the middle of the car, which (we hoped) would help relieve some of our new-found angst.
We made it to Pensacola Beach without further incident, though both Rebecca's and my ears kept careful attention to what Xavier was doing in the back, which after we got back on the road, he eventually fell asleep.
We got to our room (which overlooked the ocean and white powder-sand beach from seven floors up), put on our swimsuits and headed for the hotel pool. We splashed around the shallow end, warmed up in the hot tub and floated around the Lazy River on tubes.
We picked up a DVD from the front desk's collection, but we all fell asleep long before the movie ended.