Headed out...

Today Gunner and I are headed to Austin today for the Urban Dare--kind of like the Amazing Race--with Erin and Scout. Then on Sunday we are doing a 5k--Run for the Rovers. Erin and I did it last year and had a lot of fun. Two down and three more to go, so far. I wonder what else I can sign us up for!

Gunner and the girls had a great time fishing last night and Abs managed to catch a fish! He wasn't sure what kind it was, so they released it, but at least they got a lot of bites in this little lake.They had a lot of fun, and we got them tucked into bed and they fell fast asleep for once. I'm sure that's the same feeling we will have Sunday night after a busy weekend. I never caught up on my grading, but my lesson plans are ready for Monday, and I'll have to get busy next week with school.

Have a great weekend!

Gone Fishin'

Gunner has been chomping at the bit to go fishing. When we were first dating, he would come visit me in Dallas and we would go to this little lake and fish several times a month. We never caught anything that was big enough to keep, but it was cheap entertainment.

While Gunner was in Iraq the first time I went to visit my sister in Alaska and went deep sea fishing. I sent him the pictures of the HUGE halibut I caught and he was jealous.

So yesterday Gunner decided it was time to go fishing. We got cheap fishing poles (less than $9), he dragged out the stuff he had been collecting over the years, and this morning he got up early. He sliced open his hand trying to get the fishing poles out of the wrapper. I asked him why he didn't use a pair of scissors, and he said that he did after he hurt himself.

We packed a lunch, and hit the road. Em wanted to go to spring break camp so that she could see the movie Escape to Witch mountain or whatever it was. We tried to talk to her, but she is a tween and wanted the movie more. At least there was no fighting today.

We went to the Rod and Gun club to get fishing licenses and permits, and all that good stuff. Gunner was happy that he was able to get a hunting and fishing license for free. Now he just needs to find someone to hunt with. He's a good shot!

After filling out all that paperwork, we left with two dozen worms. Abs was fascinated by them. She later explained that if she had to choose a creature to describe herself with she would choose the earthworm and the glo-worm. I asked for further clarification and she said the glo-worm because she was known to be very active at times (at times????), and the earthworm because she could be mellow at times too, and sit and read a book.

Junior and Abs waiting for their Dad to bait their hooks.

Abs making sure she didn't lose her worm. We didn't even get a nibble.


Abs was content to sit there most of the day, casting over and over again trying to catch something. She discussed the finer points of fishing with me, which she learned from a Survival book that I bought her a while back. She was prepared to instruct her father on how to fillet the fish as well.
Junior trying to decide why he wasn't catching any fish.We went to the first spot, where Junior and Abs were dying to get a hold of their fishing poles. Junior's came with a rubber fish which Gunner misplaced somewhere, unfortunately. We left the hook off of his, and we would cast it out for him and he would reel it in. Over and over and over and over again. He never got tired of it.


Gunner packed the tent so that Junior would have a place to rest (HA!) if needed. He did hang out in it for a while, but it was kind of windy and the tent was not anchored, so it blew over with Junior in it and was blowing down towards the water. Everyone was watching us as we went chasing after the tent and Junior was screeching. We never lack for excitement.
The only thing we caught today.....a set of keys to a Ford.Gunner just left again to go with all three kids to the lake near our house to test the waters with the remainder of the worms. Hopefully they return with something!

What next?

There are so many reasons why I am ready to move. Bazillions of them!!! Still no official orders, but I am moving ahead with the plan that we are out of here in July.

I purged Ab's room yesterday and have piles of clothes that she has outgrown or worn out to give away. I need to do the same with my clothes and Gunner's. I am sure there has to be one of those places that loans out job interview clothes for the people trying to get back on their feet. I don't itemize, so there's no tax benefit to donations anywhere specific.

Ab's birthday is next week and I am at a total loss as to what to get her. Gunner and I talked about it last night and there is nothing that she needs. I kept saying I was going to make a knitted dinosaur for her, but that will never get done since I never started it.

I've searched the internet to no avail, and now it is almost too late to order anything.

She wears a uniform to school so buying clothes really isn't an option. She loves legos and I thought about something along those lines, but after cleaning her room, she doesn't need anymore. She wants a Nintendo DS, but that's not happening. She also asked for a Wii and that's not on the horizon either. Back to the drawing board....

Junior escaped from his crib in the middle of the night and went looking for his dad. We close the gates at night because the noise will wake me up if Abs is trying to get up for her late night tv watching. Instead I heard Junior running around. He climbed into bed with us, snuggled up to Gunner and was fast asleep. He spent the first five months asleep in my arms while Gunner was deployed, so I guess it is Gunner's turn now. We need to get the crib taken down as well, but need to find a place to get rid of that too.

Slowly but surely we will get rid of about 5K pounds....And here's a story about my kids.

Halfway through...

I can't believe that Spring Break is already half over! There's still so much to do.

Gunner's parents have a small RV or as the girls call it, a housecar. They told us that they can't use it anymore with 5 dogs, so we should use it whenever we can. I've been investigating where we can take off to. It has a stove, shower, bathroom, fridge, ac, etc. That's my kind of camping! It won't sleep everyone, but we have a small dome tent too. I also prefer to have my food cooked over an open campfire, but a stove is a nice backup, and my germaphobic self would love the sink!

We found a few places to visit, but now we just need to find the time to take off. Gunner wants to take the girls fishing, and Glen Rose has the dinosaur tracks that we could take Abs to see. Em actually likes camping--especially if she has access to her iPOD. Junior would just want to climb and play in the dirt.

We bought Junior a tricycle the other day. He saw it in the store and hopped on and was pedaling all over the place. He's like a mad man on it, zipping around, I do not see a driver's license in his future. We were trying to locate a bike helmet for him at the store, and none of the toddler ones fit. Gunner finally found a non-girly 5+ helmet, and it fit perfectly. He rubbed Junior's head and told me he had a big head. Ummm....yeah......I found that out almost three years ago when I had the boy, hence one of the many reasons we are done.

Last night I asked Gunner what his schedule was like today. I think he was afraid to tell me because I might come up with some crazy idea like going for a 21 mile run or something. I'm not that insane, especially since I am sore, but I would like to go for a run outside since it is so beautiful. We have 5 races coming up in the next few days, weeks, and months. I think Gunner is afraid I might find more. Em & Abs expressed an interest in going to one with us, so we might get that figured out. I bet Abs could run a 5K with her energy level. Some days it could probably be a marathon. I better go marathon clean her room....I noticed a couple of piles of rocks in there, she's sneaky since I created the "No more rocks are coming into this house because I am tired of washing them!" rule.

On the reintegration front, Gunner is done with his reverse SRP and I believe the classes start up next week. Block leave is just 16 days away for him, not that he is counting. What I wouldn't do to have 30 days off with him....

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today Gunner got off early once again and so we headed out on a bike ride. After we tuned up the bikes, loaded them, and drove to his parents house, we were ready to go. We donned our helmets and bike gloves as well as our padded bike shorts. Our water bottles were filled and the wind was blowing. It was beautiful!!!

These bikes have the SKINNIEST tires, and I am always afraid when I haven't ridden them in a while. I got over my initial fears and we took a spin around the circle. Gunner's parents live kind of out in the country, so we took off to see if the bridge was still washed out. Around 8.5 miles Gunner wanted to stop. I kept riding. At around 14.5 miles I thought he would turn off at his parents house, but he kept on following. Finally at 21 miles I figured he had enough so we stopped and enjoyed a nice cold drink on the back porch with his mom. She was in a good mood, and even though after 15 years she can't say my name correctly and that drives me nuts, I actually enjoyed myself.

When we went to get up, I finally felt those 21 miles and my workout the previous day. Ouch! And it was such a beautiful day, it never even crossed our mind to get out the sunscreen, so we are sooo burned. Poor Gunner has red designs all over his head because of the holes in his helmet.

We are BBQing fajitas tonight using the recipe that my dad always used, and Abs and I whipped up a no-egg, no-milk, no-oil, splenda, banana cake for dessert. Initial taste tests passed with Abs, so the results should be interesting. Abs was disappointed that I would not whip up some icing to put on top, but I told her that would defeat the purpose of our healthy (but oh so tasty?) cake!

Today at Spring Break camp Em's group visited the animal ranch. When Gunner picked her up and when she arrived home, she made sure to let us both know that out of all the kids that were there, only 3 did not have cell phones. Apparently when they drove in, all the kids pulled out their cell phones to take pictures. I let her know that I was so glad that she was able to be independent and not be like the rest of the group, as well as the other two kids. She was not amused.

Oh well, at least it only took me three days to get her to the hospital this time for her foot, so that has to make up for the fact that she has no cell phone?

Update: The cake was good, if you aren't used to eating sweet things anymore!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Once Junior heard what his shirt said, he wouldn't stop puckering up while Gunner was trying to take a picture. Let's hope he's not the kissing bandit at school today!Once Gunner gets home we are going to head out on a bike ride. Tonight we celebrate what would have been my dad's 70th birthday.

There's laundry to fold in there somewhere, rooms to clean, and a trip to plan. I think Gunner and the kids and I need to get out of dodge one weekend or something. Who knows when we can fit it in, but I'm determined to make it happen--well in between the three races that I just signed up for--a 10K, a 5K and a 15 mile bike ride. If you are at "the great place" you can sign up at MWR and you can register and participate for free, plus you get a free shirt. Also the month of the military child festival is coming up on April 4th here and that is all free too. We went last year, although the first stop was the ambulance because Em managed to whack herself in the head getting out of the car. I have the ESL test that day, but will hopefully be back in time to go with Gunner and the kids. If not, he's going to take them himself.....hmmmmm....maybe I will just hide in the peace and quiet of my own house? Tempting, but being with the kids would be more fun.

Off to prep for the ride. We want to go at least 20-30 miles depending on when he gets back. I got on my bikes yesterday and couldn't even remember how to switch gears it had been so long! A few miles around the neighborhood and I was good to go....

On the first day of Spring Break

Em whined to me....I think my foot is broken.

So off to the er we go, where we fortunately only have to wait two hours to find out that there is no big break and that we will get a call if there is a small fracture or something they pick up later. Em got an ace bandage, a boot, and orders to rest and watch tv. Of course Em and Abs wanted to go to Spring Break camp this week and not stay home and do fun stuff like clean out the garage, etc. Go figure. If we do move in a few months, then I have a ton of stuff to get done, and this is the only week I have off till July 9th. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I stopped by this morning and hung out with Erin for a while on my way to the gym. It was good to see her and not have to worry about all the kiddos making a mess or getting into stuff.

Had my workout.

Ran to the er.'

Home to make popovers for dessert. Junior was screaming when I arrived because Gunner had taped his diaper on. He apparently wouldn't keep it on, so I put him in underwear and he finally peed in his little toilet. Maybe there is hope that he will be potty trained before he is 3?

....and he peed again after his bath too. We're on a roll! Here's a video of Junior's new ride-on toy. Guess whatever makes you happy! (And he's holding underwear and a Harry Potter magic wand)

So far to go, but no better time than the present to get started....