Spring Days are Made for Bumming at the Beach
When we were stationed at NS Mayport, we went to the beach all the time. It was right up the road. Since moving to NAS Jacksonville, our beach trips have become much less frequent. It’s a big drive, plus it’s a pain dragging around wet, sandy kids. However, today was simply too gorgeous not to spend it at the beach. We packed into the Armada with lots of sand toys, towels, and a change of clothes and drove the hour to Maport to spend the morning frolicking in the waves and sand. I’m really glad we did. I was reminded just how much we love, love, love the ocean.
Our beach trip had several rules. First, don’t go in the water past your ankles. Why? There’s one of me and four of them. I told them that if something happened, I’d have to rescue my favorite. That really got them thinking. Two: Sunscreen is a must. We’re Scandinavian, for heavens sake. We burn. Three: burn off lots of energy! They did just that. I don’t think Derek stopped running for a second. I got lots of exercise too chasing him.
Isabella was not a fan of the ocean. She clung to me for dear life. I tried to set her down and she clung harder, screaming, “Eeeeeew! No! Wet! Ucky!” She liked playing in the dry sand and once her friend arrived she was happier. By the end of our visit, she was in the water along with her siblings. We stayed at the beach enjoying the warm water and glorious sun rays for several hours. My car is about as sandy as the beach and has nearly as many shells. 
Post-beach cleanup is always interesting. We used the outdoor showers, then I changed one kid at a time and dried them, putting on fresh, dry clothes and loading them into the car. This was a challenge, but we did it. When everyone was dressed up, we headed to Bogey’s restaurant on the golf course for a nice lunch. I love their Cuban sandwiches!
Today’s walk to the beach brought back so many memories. The Mayport beach was the first place we visited when we moved to Jacksonville in winter 2008. We stayed at the Navy Lodge right on the beach and I remember tiny, barely-three-year-old Alex posing next to the palm trees. Alex is now 7. She’s a long, lanky kid who doesn’t look twice at a palm tree because she’s seen them for as long as she can remember. I remember I was barely pregnant with Derek at that time. Now he’s almost four and as crazy as can be. It’s amazing how things change. Yet the beach remains the same. Profound, really. I wonder where we’ll be in another four years. I can’t even begin to imagine.
I think every kid should spend some of their childhood days bumming on the beach. I remember my own childhood beach trips vividly. I loved them! My kids love it too. I can’t think of a better way to spend a warm spring day. Of course, not having to scoop sand out of the truck would be a plus… but the memories we made are so great that they make up for the mess.
Fun Friday Break From School!
Our week has been quite academically intensive. It has been super productive and we’ve accomplished a lot of schoolwork. This morning we got up late and watched Disney Jr all cuddled up in bed. That’s a big perk of homeschooling. Most mornings, we aren’t running around trying to get anywhere. Alex turned to me and said, “Mom, I don’t feel like doing school today. How about a free day?” I thought about it for a minute. We had gotten a lot of school done. The sun was shining. We did meet all of our goals for the month. Why not? We declared it a fun Friday break from school.
Our neighbors joined us for a breakfast of craisin blueberry pancakes. Then we packed everyone into the Armada and headed to Chuck-e-Cheese for a morning of fun! It has been forever since we’ve been there and the kids thought it would be a great place to go. Why not? It wasn’t crowded, there was a ton to do, and they had so much fun.
One Cool Chick
This was our neighbor Evie’s first time at Chuck-e-Cheese ever and Bella’s first time being able to run around and play. For $20, I got enough tokens to keep everyone occupied for over an hour. Not too bad! The kids went on rides, played scores of games, and ran themselves ragged. We were sure to use lots of sanitizer. I think of the kids got plenty of mental stimulation today! They each got a small prize in the end as well.
We don’t take many days off, but sometimes I think everyone simply needs a day to be a kid. What kid doesn’t love games and winning tickets? The morning is the best time to go, too, because there is hardly anyone there. We used to go all the time when we lived by Mayport, but since we moved to NAS Jax there hasn’t been anyone close by to go with us. It was awesome spending the morning with our neighbors. I think they had fun too. Evie was fast asleep before we even got on the freeway to drive home. I think she was dreaming of winning tickets and riding on the police car. Bella LOVED the rides after she got used to them. At first, she wouldn’t come out of her stroller.
The kids used every last token. Bella slept like a rock for several hours after lunch. Now they’re all up and ready for action. Time to head outside for some more fun and adventures on our special Friday break from school.
Fun and Games at the NAS Jax Military Family Carnival
Once a year, NAS Jacksonville hosts its Military Family Carnival and offers families a day of free family fun. Although small, all the rides, games, and concessions are free and the carnival is exceedingly popular.
Last year we went toward closing and were one of the few people there. This year, the lines were packed until closing. We drove by once after a lunch on the town and decided to try again later (it was insanely busy!) Daddy took the oldest two kids back around 4 pm and it was still jam-packed. They made their way through the crowds and enjoyed some rides.
The rides were fun, although the hordes of unsupervised, pushy, and screaming kids were disappointing. Where are parents nowadays? The carnival was fun, but could be a whole lot better. First, parents could watch their kids and keep some semblance of control to avoid the madness. Secondly, the carnival could be held at one of the larger fields on base to avoid such crowding. The Military Family Carnival is fun, but not something I’d drive across town for.
On a Dark and Dreary Day, The Blue Angels Take The Boredom Away!
Another amazing airshow has come and gone. It was a cold and dreary weekend, but we saw plenty of jet action throughout our lovely base. On Friday, we went to Daddy’s squadron and saw the show up close and personal. On Saturday, we watched the show from our home and from a park in base housing. Today, we braved the blustery weather and walked out onto the pier in the Mulberry Grove Nature Trail and watched the Blue Angels perform over the St. Johns River. It was pretty amazing!
The Blue Angels Rip Through the Clouds
Derek liked the airshow from a distance
Alex freezes and watches for planes
It really wasn’t the best weather for an airshow, but thousands of people turned out for the event anyway. We’re proud of our Naval aviation heritage in Jacksonville! The weather was chilly today, misty, dark and cloudy, and very windy. We bundled up in our jackets and drove to the nature preserve, hit the trails and hiked out to the river. It was a great view, considering! I bet the view would have been spectacular on a clear, sunny day. When the jets were hidden in the clouds, the kids busied themselves by pointing out native flowers and birds and watching boats sail by. Ethan watched for alligators in the river. No, we’ve never seen any. It kept him busy though!
Daddy and Derek
Ethan keeps a look out for alligators in the river
Bella was much more interested in exploring the trails than in watching the jets for the fourth day in a row, and before long we found ourselves chasing pesky-pants all over the place. Little Miss Adventure Girl was on a mission!
Running!
The kids try to hold Bella... but she won't hold still for a minute
Despite the chill, we had a fun time exploring the swamp. A little bit of nature, outdoor time, and the Blue Angels do wonders to take away the boredom on a dark and dreary late-fall day.
Alex and Mommy
Bella and Mommy
This evening, we heard the thundering roar of jet engines once more. The Blue Angels were leaving NAS Jacksonville and heading home. Derek jumped up and ran to the window, “Good-bye, Blue Angels! Good-Bye! I miss you!” For a little boy who was so terrified of them just two days ago, he quickly came to love those beautiful jets. I do too. We are already looking forward to our next airshow.
Related articles
- We Love Jet Noise! NAS Jacksonville Blue Angels Airshow 2011 (homeschoolinghelicoptermama.wordpress.com)
- Local Spotlight: The Blue Angels (pensacolavacationguide.com)
Happy Halloween! Trick-or-Treat!
Our Merry Brood
It’s already that time of year! It’s time to dress the kids up in cute outfits, ask for free candy, and give the munchkins too much sugar too late in the evening. Halloween! It only comes once a year and we love it. The scary stuff isn’t for us, but the excitement and the dressing up is timeless fun.
Trick-or-treating on base is a blast. We feel safe, know most of our neighbors, and don’t feel wary about going door-to-door. I didn’t feel comfortable with traditional trick-or-treating out in town because we didn’t know most people in our neighborhood. Who knows who is out there. In base housing, it’s a totally different story. It’s homey and most people are friendly and welcoming.
The kids have been counting down the days until Halloween and were thrilled when October 31st finally arrived. Friends began to arrive around 4:30, and shortly after 5 we were out of the door and on our way to a sugar high. By the evening’s end, the kids had four gallon-sized plastic ziploc bags full of sugery treats! We’ll have plenty of “reward treats” for quite some time!
This Halloween was particularly special because Hubby was able to be here. He was deployed last Halloween and I believe he was on a training mission the one before. Nevertheless, the kids were thrilled to have him around and he was happy to make memories with us.
Alex dressed up as Cinderella, Ethan as a pilot, Derek as a frog, and Bella as a chicken. She was NOT happy about the chicken outfit and broke two buttons off by the time we left. When we got home, only one button remained, her foot and leg was out of the costume, and we were calling her a “Grumpy Chicken.”
Overall, the evening was a great success! It was sunny and mildly warm. There were lots of costumed kids out and about and plenty of residents passing out candy. This is the stuff that childhood memories are made from.
Michael, the kids, and some friends
Daddy and our little monsters
Trick-or-Treat!
Our Little Princess
Brothers scheming Candy
Bella gets daddy to carry her most of the way (instead of riding in the stroller)
Bella and Mommy
Alex and two of her best friends
Baby Derek the Frog
Mommy and Her Favorite Lil' Buddy
Our Merry Brood
NAS Jacksonville’s Forgotten History… A Stroll Back in Time to Mulberry Grove Plantation
Alex Explores Captain's Housing on Historic Mustin Rd
We celebrated fall this morning with a stroll along historic Mustin Road, bordering the St. John’s River. The kids and I headed to one of my favorite spots in the world, the riverside park in Patriot’s Point Housing. We used to live along this road before we were moved into new housing and I would bring the kids here often. It’s a farther walk now, but this place still draws me like a magnet. I don’t know what it is about it, but it makes me feel totally at peace. It’s so quiet, yet so alive. The land rumbles with forgotten history, stories hidden beneath a sheath of time just waiting to be uncovered.
The land where NAS Jacksonville sits was once know as Mulberry Grove Plantation. People lived, loved, and died here. Yet today, all that remains of the past is a plaque and perhaps a ghost or two.
Mulberry Grove Plantation dates back several hundred years. The land was granted to an Englishman named Timothy Hollingsworth by the Spanish crown in 1787. He named his plantation after the numerous mulberry trees in the area. The land passed between many owners over the next hundred years. In the decades following the Civil War, Mulberry Grove Plantation was known for its oranges, cattle, and wide array of fruit and vegetable crops. The main plantation house was spectacular, with a shaded avenue leading to the sparkling St. Johns River. In the late 1800s, supplies were brought to the plantation by steamboats. The plantation was a bustling hub of commerce and life. Today, the magnificant plantation is gone. Not a trace of it survived. Still, the beautiful shaded avenue lives on and makes one wonder about the people who lived here so long ago. Who stood where I stand today, and what was their life like? What was life like for the slaves who once worked this land?
John Reese was an African American whose parents were slaves born on Mulberry Grove Plantation. A kind master, A.M. Reed sold John’s father a 20-acre homestead even before the Civil War granted slaves freedom. Once the Civil War ended, the slave-driven plantation became farm with hired black workers. As a child, John worked hard on the plantation (farm) and his family’s homestead, cutting firewood for the stoves. Crops were grown and harvested year round and oranges were created and shipped on steamboats on the St. Johns River. The River was the city’s lifeblood, offering easy transportation and plentiful fishing. John likely fished the St. Johns River with a little bamboo pole, providing his family with some fresh fish for dinner. Born after the Civil War, children like John worked for wages and loved trips to Jacksonville to buy things like shoes and coats. The St. Johns River was his gateway to the world and Jacksonville was a glittering, busy city full of promise and intriguing shops and sights. It wasn’t a bad life!
The US government purchased a portion of the plantation in 1939 and NAS Jacksonville was born. On April 26, 1939, President Roosevelt signed a bill providing for $66,800,000 for a naval air station program. $15,000,000 was earmarked for NAS Jacksonville. The first contract was issued for clearing, dredging, and filling the plantation in October 1939. On January 16, 1940, the first aircraft assigned to NAS Jacksonville, the Grumman J2F-3, arrived at the airbase. Roosevelt himself visited the bustling young airbase on March 20, 1941. The base continued to grow and expand over the next few decades. Today, it’s one of the largest in the Navy. Approximately 23,000 military and civilian personnel work on the base.
I can’t find a resource stating when Mustin Road’s historic officer’s houses were first constructed, but they are quite old and very magnificent. Housing touts them as being “historic.” Regardless of their age, they are marvelous pieces of history themselves. Scores of influential military leaders have lived within their walls. The commander of the Navy Region South East lived here until recently. This place lives and breathes history.
If one wasn’t informed that a Plantation once thrived on this land, you’d never know the difference. The park is quiet and peaceful, shaded by towering oaks and serenaded by the gentle lapping of the river upon the shore. Apart from an aging sign, there isn’t anything left of Mulberry Grove Plantation or the people who worked and died here. A largely forgotten cemetery (Yukon Cemetary), in a heavily wooded area at Avent Drive and Roosevelt Boulevard between Ortega Hills and Yukon (off base), may have originated as burial grounds for slaves serving the Mulberry Grove plantation. It’s overgrown with brush and in very poor shape. Soon it too may be forgotten to the tides of time. Jacksonville’s citizens have tried to get the cemetary recognized as a historic landmark more than once, but the area is becoming more heavily developed with each passing year.
When they were granted their freedom, African Americans planted oak trees along the banks of the St. Johns River to celebrate their newfound rights. Today, Mustin Road is lined with towering oak trees. If you stay here a while, you might just hear whisperings of the past. And if not… it’s still a spectacularly beautiful, warm, and inviting place to be.
Dear Navy.... I'd really, really like to live in one of these houses someday 
The St. John's River
Derek and Bella relax and bond
Alex and Derek in Captain's Housing
Beautiful Sunday Morning Sky Over the St. Johns River
An Ancient Oak Stands Guard Along the Street. Could It Have Been Planted By the Freedmen?
Alex, Age 6
For more information about Mulberry Grove Plantation, visit:
Florida Division of Historical Resources: Historic Markers: http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/markers/markers.cfm?ID=duval
Jacksonville history: http://www.jaxhistory.com/Jacksonville%20Story/Picture%20of%20Iceman%27s%20Helper.htm
Jacksonville Times Union: Times Have Surely Changed in Clay: http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012799/nec_c4Memoir.html
Jacksonville Times Union: Residents Look to History: http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/063001/ner_6551548.shtml
Naval Air Station Jacksonville History: https://www.cnic.navy.mil/Jacksonville/AboutCNIC/GeneralInformation/index.htm
Airplanes and Helicopters!
- My Future Aviator
When it comes to planning an exciting week of school, there are benefits to living on a Naval Air Base. This weeks theme is “Airplanes and Helicopters.” We’ve read books about airplanes, discussed their uses and why people fly, and read stories about the history of aircraft. We’ve done aviation-related crafts and colored lots of pictures. What better way to learn about aircraft than to get up close and personal with some retired Naval and Marine airplanes and helicopters?
Near the enterance of NAS Jacksonville, there is a great static airplane park, with lots of stationary, historic aircraft on display and paved walking trails between them. It’s located near the runways, so one is able to enjoy watching working aircraft flying, taking off, and landing as well. This alone keeps the kids entertained for quite a while. After a few hours of school, we got out to stretch our legs and enjoy our beautiful base. We discussed different types of planes throughout history and retold the story of the Wright brothers. Alex read us each informative plaque and marveled over the size of each aircraft. The kids loved running around and closely examining the planes. I enjoyed watching them learn.
We see this park nearly every day as we drive by, but that doesn’t do it justice. You’ve really got to get up next to these beasts to see how amazing (and huge!) they really are.
This is one of my favorite shots!
17-month-old Bella explores the park
We love helicopters!
