A new face...

My friend Jennifer (see 'The Baker's' in my blogroll) tipped me to a great website to help keep some variety to our blog! I know I was getting tired of the boring layout that we had for so long. Well, have no fear...... www.thecutestblogontheblock.com is responsible for our new winter look! wohoo!

Thanks, Jen!

Andy the pig catcher

We celebrated Thanksgiving early today with Andy's squadron at a great place in the country called Peaceful Way. A gracious family opened their farm to the 16AS squadron for a day of fellowship and fun as a way to celebrate the holiday and to all gather prior to the airmen being deployed next month. We enjoyed a turkey shoot, wall climbing, horseback riding, great holiday food, and the soon to be famous "greased pig wrestling"!!

Andy and several other originally unwilling participants were roped into participating in the pig event so that the commander wasn't out there all by his lonesome. If you refer back to a previous post (or maybe some of you still have it fresh in your minds), Andy was introduced to pig chasing on a recent trip back to Indiana. Although that memory remains a tough one for Andy to make peace with, the skills he learned on that trip served him well today!

The participants had their legs tied together as well as one of their arms tied to their belt loop to make it more difficult. They actually looked like a group of zombies shuffling around out there after the pigs because of their limited mobility. It was quite a site! =) The goal was the catch a greased pig and put a t-shirt on it (head in the hole and front legs in the arm holes!) Andy and Jamil ended up placing third, but they should still be proud of their efforts.

Andy and Jamil are tied up and ready to chase!

Below you will see the time where the pig won and Andy ended up on the ground!

They get it cornered!!

Andy gets a back leg and the pig is officially theirs!! Now what to do with it?!?

It looks like they have done this before!!

Now we have to get the pig all they way over THERE to get the t-shirt!!

I guess we will just have to carry it!!

Struggling to "dress" the pig and beat the other team that is working hard in the opposite corner!

The look of defeat as the other team finishes just before them!

The day wasn't all about pig chasing. We did compete in the turkey shoot and got to spend some quality time with Emily and Molly Paige. While watching Uncle Andy in the pig contest, Molly Paige kept shouting "doggie"....apparently she has never seen a pig before!! We need to get that girl out of the city more often!

Andy looks on and admires my shooting skills =)

We hope you are all having a fun weekend and are getting geared up for the holidays. We will be traveling to North Carolina next week to spend Thanksgiving with Andy's family and we couldn't be more excited!

A night aboard "The World"

We were lucky enough to be hosted aboard 'The World' last weekend to join some friend's parents who were in town on the ship. This ship is unique in that it is a private community where the apartments are owned so that you can travel the world from "the comforts of your own home". You are free to get on and off at your own leisure and can decorate your apartment however you would like. The World docked in Charleston for a few days and that is when we were invited aboard for a private dinner and tour. Wow, was it incredible! We decided that we should start saving our pennies now so that we can experience something this wonderful during our retirement!

You can see details of the ship here http://www.aboardtheworld.com/

The pictures do nothing to capture the glamour of the evening, but I will share them anyways. I felt silly taking pictures during the tour, so there are not many from that. I almost felt like the ship was sacred and I shouldn't mock it by pulling out my camera after every turn we made!!

The main lobby set the precedent for the beauty of the entire ship.

The putting greens on the top deck!

The pool is on the top deck too!!

Andy and a beautiful sunset.
Our private dinner was served here and was absolutely delicious.

After a wonderful night of friends and food, we stayed downtown at a great hotel and our balcony overlooked the Charleston harbor. What a view! We got breakfast served in bed and enjoyed feeling like tourists in our own town!

Back home again in Indiana...

We made a non-holiday trip back to Indiana to share in Purdue Homecoming. I was able to fly in mid-week and get some bonding time in with my family, and Andy made it in late Friday night for the big tailgate weekend! Cathy and Eli were there from Oklahoma; Andy M. couldn't make it due to some AF training he was involved with, and we missed him terribly! The Schers made it as well, although Kaylynn had to miss a soccer game where her team was in the final game of the tournament! Kelly and Eric said they had a lesson about "priorities" and how family always tops that list, but I know that some tears were shed. Lessons are hard to learn at any age, but especially when you are only nine! However, I think the fun times that we all had as a family will make better memories for her than one more soccer game.

I will let the pictures tell the stories of our fabulous trip. There is nothing better than a visit with family!!

Eli got all dressed up in his boots and Wrangler jeans to go to the Pumpkin Patch!

Papa helps Eli pick out his favorite pumpkin!


Kaylynn and Garrett got free rides to the stadium, thanks to Andy and Eric!
Kaylynn measuring the exact distance for her new tailgating game.
Uncle Andy works with Garrett on his throwing and catching skills! (with beer in hand:)

Joemamma even showed up for the day! We realized we hadn't seen one another since he was in our wedding, and that was 2 1/2 years ago! That is WAY too long.

After the game we all headed back to Mom and Dad's and spent the rest of the weekend there. Kaylynn and Garrett had to work with their pigs since they are taking them to a show in Louisville next weekend, and Eli was more than thrilled to help out! Papa loved having his grand kids out the in the barn with him and let Eli feed the pigs an entire bag of marshmallows! I never remember him letting us girls do anything like that! He must be getting soft in his "grandpa years" =)

We hope you all have a great week! Besides election day, it is business as usual around here.

Andy turns 28!

Happy Birthday, Andy!! I asked him if he felt like he was getting older and he said, "no, just wiser"! haha. We are spending the day together at home with no big plans. X-box and football seem to be the priorities at this point. A dinner out together could possibly be in our future, but we will see what the day brings. Happy birthday to my amazing husband! I love you.

Andy with his surprise birthday cake at the Halloween party last night.

Andy and our brother-in-law (Eric) were surprised with cakes, singing and presents at the tailgate in Indiana last week.

The in-laws have begun taunting Andy already for the big game!

p.s. To those that have been asking, I will get the post up SOON from our trip to Purdue! Perhaps tomorrow =)

Also, here is a picture of us from the Halloween party last night. Andy's name tag says "Dr. McSteamy". I told him he didn't have enough hair to try and be McDreamy! (fellow Grey's fans will understand). We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Girlfriends gathered for a night out on the town to celebrate my friend Jessica's 30th birthday. Jess has been a busy mom over the past year raising Aidan (aka. the "little man") and definitely deserved a night that was all about her! We celebrated with lots of food at Grill 225 in downtown Charleston and then moved on to the wine bar 'Social'. Our friend Hannah even flew down from Delaware to surprise Jess and join in on the party!

Andy originally thought he was included in the plans (..."you mean I don't get to enjoy a night downtown?!"), but he got over the disappointment and was the family representative at a cook-out for his squadron. He ate free hot dogs and I dined on a multi-course meal from a premier restaurant. Personally, I do not have a problem with the conclusion! =)

"Jessica and I peak out from behind the BIGGEST menus ever!"

"Liz and Hannah.....come out so we can see your smiles!"

"Jessica gets a special dessert along with a rendition of Happy Birthday!"

Me with my friend Liz

Andy continues to study and fly for his SOLL II upgrade and is doing well with it, or so it seems. I only have two days of work this week because I am headed home for a visit with my family and then on Saturday will celebrate Purdue Homecoming! Tailgate and football, here I come! Andy can't arrive until late Friday night, but he will be just in time for the tailgate. There will be a cornhole tournament on Saturday morning so Andy and I have already been discussing strategy! Fellow tailgaters....consider yourselves warned!! We are anticipating another Allen family victory! (see previous post!)

Cornhole and a night with the alligators

Cornhole. It is such a strange word, yet it actually describes a very fun game! The object is simple...throw bean bags toward the board and get points by making it in the hole or for merely landing it on top of the board. However, landing your bean bag on the board is a lot harder than it may seem! Andy and I have played a few times together at various cook-outs, but this weekend we were in a couples tournament at his squadron picnic. It was time to get serious.

We are both competitive natured, but we never dreamed we would actually win, especially since we have only played one time in the last calendar year. However, we won the lot of 16 and now have the champion title until next summer!! wohoo! I did hear comments such as, "well, she IS from Indiana!" Like being from a state that is abundant with cornfields makes me an automatic pro at a game with 'corn' in the title!! I think maybe the were just jealous of my smooth bean bag launching technique! But, if they want to claim that our win was biased by my Indiana farm roots, then I suppose I will allow it.

With the big cornhole win behind us, we were able to focus on our next adventure of the day. We were going to camp in a tent!!! Despite my concern, Andy secured us a campsight in the "primitive" area of the park and we got busy setting up our tent. Primitive meant that we had no electricity or water, but Andy assured me that we didn't need either. We camped with our friends Blaine and Jennifer, and they beat us in the tent set-up portion of the night by about 20 minutes. However, our tent was eventually erected, the air mattress was blown up, the sheet set was appropriately placed on the mattress, our sleeping bags were rolled out, my suitcase (Andy still can't figure this one out) was unloaded, and we changed into our carefully selected "camping attire". Let the fun begin!!!

Once the fire was going strong, I was able to introduce everyone to my family tradition of 'pudgy pies' cooked over the fire, and they were a huge hit! I would share the details here, but I am afraid that would compromise the integrity of the recipe. If you want to experience a 'pudgy pie', then you will just have to invite me on your next camping trip!

Our campsite was right on the water and I was convinced all night that an alligator was going to break into our tent. You see, last summer a man was attacked by an alligator in this very lake and his arm was eaten off! It was big news around here and I could not get that image out of my mind. I had even asked the lady that rented us our sight about it and her response was merely, "ahhh, I don't think they will bother you tonight."!! You don't think they will get me?!?! Are you kidding?! That did nothing to reassure me. I made Andy follow me around with a light everytime I needed to make nature's call in the weeds behind the tent because I was afraid of being bitten in the butt by an alligator. I don't know if the light would deter them, but I wasn't going to take my chances! I figured, at the least, he could give me warning to get my britches pulled up and RUN!

I only woke him up once asking if "that noise" was an alligator and we were both in one piece this morning, so all in all it was a successfull trip! We are talking of buying our own tent and making camping more of a habit, but next time I may choose us a campsite a little further from the alligator infested lake!