Good times?

The birthday was a success and Junior is happy again. He is out of the tub and screeching as he runs around naked "Eeek!!! Don't look at me!!!". Sisters teach him wonderful things.

The German food was good, the beer was great.

I of course had to check email while I was there and found this:

June 26, 2009

Week Five To Continue As Planned Dear Camper Families, We know that you have entrusted your child to us, and we take that responsibility very seriously. With that in mind, we want to update you on some recent events that have occurred here at Pine Cove. We want to inform you that we suspended camp a few days early at the Towers Week 4 because of a widespread illness campers had picked up. Some of the campers have been diagnosed with having a common stomach bug and others have tested positive for Type A Influenza. Regarding Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) we have no confirmed reports at this time from the Department of Public Health Services; however we have had two parents inform us that their child was confirmed by their family physician as testing positive for H1N1. I have had personal follow-up with one of the parents, and he has confirmed that his child is already symptom free and feeling better. Please click here to watch a video of our Medical Director's comments on H1N1. At this time, all camp activities are running as planned for Week 5. To minimize any future incidences we are undertaking an aggressive cleaning and sanitizing routine at all of our camps. This routine includes but is not limited to: - Deep cleaning every cabin and cabin bathroom. This will entail using an EPA approved anti-microbial cleaning product on all floors, countertops, faucets, light switches, door knobs, etc. (Even the thermostats!) - Cleaning and disinfecting the Dining Hall and Kitchen. All carpets at the Towers are being professionally steam cleaned. We are also cleaning all table tops, counters, door knobs, windows, etc with an EPA approved disinfectant. Each hand washing station is being cleaned, including the surface of the soap dispensers and the water knobs. - Cleaning every activity area. This includes disinfecting all ropes equipment (harnesses, carabiners, helmets, etc.), all sporting equipment, all rocks on the climbing wall, all lifejackets, all inflatables, and all saddles and helmets used for horseback riding. - Quarantining staff that present with symptoms in our health clinic and treating them by either our RN or one of our Physicians or Physicians Assistants. For more information on our cleaning efforts, watch our summer staff sanitizing the Towers Camp. If your child has been sick we are asking that you not send them to camp until they are symptom free for at least 24 hours. We do not want to run the risk of spreading illness to others. We will gladly reschedule your child for another week of camp for later this summer. Our deepest desire is to provide a healthy, safe, and fun camp experience for all of our campers. We appreciate you choosing Pine Cove and look forward to sharing the love of Jesus with your family.

So should I be worried? Of course I am germaphobic, but at least Em doesn't bite her nails like Abs. (Side note, does that fingernail polish that tastes bad really exist, and most of all, does it work?) I told her I was sending her with little bottles of sanitizer. I'm not worried about swine flu or anything, just that she misses out on camp if she gets sick.

The camp is great, and during the hurricane last time--boy, do we know how to pick the week to go to camp!--and the broken hand the first day while she was riding horses, Em had the time of her life. So I called my friend to let her know what the deal was, and she got a little panicky, but I assured her that the girls would be fine. Plus, I just spent the rest of today getting last minute things together for camp, so I am glad that they aren't canceling camp!

Tomorrow brings another long workout, my nephew's play, pack for camp, and hopefully I can crank out some homework too!

I'm missing Abs terribly, but Junior more than keeps me on my toes. I was exchanging emails with The Mrs. about boys, and she totally gets it. After he emptied a tube of toothpaste and then dumped a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup in a cup to make his own chocolate milk, we were off and running.

I better get a run in tomorrow morning so I can keep in shape to keep up with him!

Hmmmm....

If I stay till the end of August, I think I can fit in two more triathlons after the next one I am doing. Sounds like fun!

I biked 14 miles this morning at the crack of dawn.

We went shopping and got the final things Em needed for camp.

We are going out for German food for Junior's birthday.

Speaking of the birthday boy, he took a long nap and is now even crankier than he was before. Nothing is making him happy. I am hoping when Em gets here that he will be happy again and distracted.

Pictures later of his cupcake cake (it's cute!) and hopefully a happy boy.

Stories about Ab's adventures can be found here.

Happy Birthday

Three years ago....



Today:

Still those same big blue eyes, but a mischievous smile to go along with it. I can't believe he is three! Happy Birthday Junior, we love you!

New Plan

Creating a new plan is exactly why I needed a good mind clearing workout this morning on my bike. (My bike is the weakest of the three sports, so I am trying to work more on that)

Anyway, I started thinking about why I wanted to be in Colorado, and whether or not the kids would really need to be in school. I'm a teacher, if I thought they needed to be in school, I could do something about it. If we stayed here they wouldn't even be starting till the end of August.

Gunner is going to school from mid July till the end of August, so I decided that we are not going to Colorado.

At least not yet.

We will wait till Gunner gets back from Knox, and then he can get a house and we can move out there. He doesn't have to race out there now, and can spend time on leave with the kids. He can stay in the barracks, and we can spend August relaxing.

I wonder if there are any triathlons in August....

I heart PCSing

Not really, right now.

Housing will be available at the end of the summer. Not a problem, we want to live in it and not be bothered with fixing things or being tied down to a house, etc. I love simplicity...sort of.

Gunner leaves less than a week after we get there. He'll be back at the end of the summer. School starts there at the beginning of August, so I feel like I need to be there. Apparently, after teaching for a year, I have learned that I am one of the few people at the "great place" that believes their children should go to school every.single.day. So I could keep them out, but I won't.

School starts here at the end of August. So if we stayed here (don't worry mom, I know there is a 30 day limit) then we would miss the start of school anyway. If we go, do we stay in a hotel for a 6-7 weeks?

I found one that would work, but it wasn't exactly in an area or had reviews that appealed to me. There is a military one that we could do, but they only book for three days at a time and then after our three days, we could renew, but there is a chance that someone of a higher priority would come along and we would have to leave. Move out of a hotel we have been living in with three kids and a husband gone? Not appealing. I guess we could rent an apartment, get no phone or internet (I love my iPhone) and live with the bare necessities for a few months and hope that they let us out of the lease to move on post.

Gunner wants to head out there next week and scout out the situation. Maybe he should wait till I get there on the 15th and then we can look. He has to be there on the 10th, so I guess he could live in the barracks for a few days or so. Wonder if we can all live in the barracks? Surely it would be easy to hide three small children and a spouse?

And how come the Army guest house is $80 a night with no kitchen? At Lewis we stayed there for weeks and it was less than $30 a night and had a kitchen....and a maid!

I'm not too stressed yet, since I aced my test today (I think) and finished my hour long presentation, which wasn't an hour but he said it was great. I had a great workout this morning and have hit the gym every day this week, and I get to sleep in tomorrow.

I'll save the worrying for another day, I have pushups and crunches to do before bed!

Still PCSing

Gunner finally got clearing papers on Friday and we hit the road to spend the weekend with my brother and his family.

Saturday morning my brother and I ran 3 miles on a great track in the Memorial area. Talk about great people watching. Of course I had to pass the skinny husband and wife that were running with their cute (maybe 6 or 7 month old) triplets twice, so I felt kind of blubbery. It's all good.

We swam all afternoon Saturday and had a picnic. Had a neighborhood movie party and my kids tested out the playset my brother built. He assured me that he jumped all over it before turning the girls and Junior loose. Whew.

Spent time with my SIL and their absolutely perfect little baby boy. He's so good!!!

Sunday morning my brother and I swam.

I met up with old friends from my sailing days at Casa Mare, Karen and Kari and their families. We finally experienced guitar hero. I was not good at all, but Em was a pretty good drummer.

We drove home and I studied.

I'm halfway through my class and have been busy preparing my presentation and working on reading our book on poverty. Scary stuff.

Abs leaves tomorrow morning with my mom on her big dinosaur adventure. I can't wait to hear all about it!!! She will go on an excavation, meet with a paleontologist, and lots, lots, more. For my dino-loving daughter, it will be the perfect trip to Utah.

I hit the gym this morning to run, and went out riding tonight. I am trying to cut 10 minutes off of my bike time. Probably a bit ambitious to cut 10 minutes off, but I'll give it 110% trying! It's amazing how dead the streets are in the evening in my mom's retirement community. They must all be inside watching tv and getting ready for bed. I didn't feel like I was going to be run over.

Our stuff has arrived in Colorado, and eventually Gunner will make his way there so that he can find a place for us to stay. We apparently got deposit waivers for water and at our apartment that we lived in for 4 months 6 1/2 years ago. The apartment complex has changed management numerous times, and we never had to pay water, so we are trying to iron out all the details. Gunner got a letter from the apartment complex and we are hoping that it will take care of both problems.

We are enjoying our last few weeks in Texas, and Em will head to Camp PineCove this Sunday. They have military scholarships available, and she had such a great experience last time that we are sure she will this time, and hopefully not break her arm the first day!

Back to the books....