Headed back

I can't wait to get home. We went to the beach on Thursday and even with a ton of sunscreen I got fried. Ouch!

We are headed back to Downtown Disney for a quick lunch at Planet Hollywood with a friend of mine. Can't wait!

Block leave is coming to a close and you know what that means....



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Orlando,United States

How we roll when we vacation

-- Post From My iPhone

Disneyworl

We made it although I think they were ready to throw Junior off the plane. This cute boy?


-- Post From My iPhone

M-I-C-K-E-Y MOUSE

Junior has decided that only potty trained boys can go to Disneyworld with their sisters, and I am "just a mommy" so I shouldn't go.  Thanks kiddo.  I'm going anyway.

Abs dressed for the trip.

The bags are packed, and even though Gunner wouldn't share any of his bag with me, I managed to fit in everything that I needed.

Gunner wanted to arrive at the airport an hour and a half before our flight.  The Denver airport takes forever to get around, plus we have to park, then get bags and 4 kids to the terminal.  I told him we needed at least 3 hours at the airport, and we could always stop off at the USO if we had time.  His solution is that he will drop me off outside the terminal with 4 kids, 6 bags, 6 carry ons, and a carseat.  

How fun does that sound for me?  I think I will line them up, make them each drag a bag, Em will get two, I'll handle the carseat and my bag, and we will march to the counter to check it all in.  I think we might make the evening news.  

Some people frown at "leashes" for the kids, but since my stroller is in FL since we didn't have room in the car on the drive back from TX, I think Junior might have to be on one while we are marching.  I can't afford to lose him.

Speaking of Junior, Gunner took him to get a haircut today and Junior told the barber that he wanted his cowlick chopped off.  He came home and was so proud that it was gone, till Em pointed out to him that it wasn't.  Tears, more tears, and even more tears.  He's convinced 4 year olds should not have cowlicks.

This is our last hurrah before Gunner leaves.  So while I am excited about the trip and all that we have planned, I am also sad that it will be a long time before we can do something like this again.  

Wish us luck, and be glad that you won't be on our plane!

Too tired to pack

I got a little packing done, but it's not almost 9 pm and I am nowhere near done.

I'm exhausted.

The race was great!  The water was cold, and the timing mat was at the top of the ramp to T1.  Ummmm....that added minutes on to my swim time, and made me look uber fast in transition.

The bike was a nice course.  Lots and lots and lots of hills.  One right after another.

The run course was all cement, but wove through some field/marsh type things, so it was nice.  Lots of water stops.  I probably should have slowed down on the liquids, because I eyed the port a potty on the route pretty hard.  Fortunately I made it without a pit stop!

Abs and Gunner were there throughout the race cheering me on.  Abs was really impressed every time I raced by. She looked up from my iPhone long enough to smile, wave, yell for me, and then return to what she was doing.

I was 18th out of 54 in my age group.  Not great by any means, but having not worked out in two weeks except for a short 4 mile run one day, I knew I wasn't going to break any records.  It's my fault, but camping wasn't exactly the place to be working out, although I guess I could have run when it cooled down and the mountain lions were out.

The main thing is that I enjoyed the race.  So much so, that I am looking for another race in the same location so that I can kick some butt next time!

Abs and I went to get pedicures, and the lady saw the bottom of my feet and got grossed out.  They are covered in dry skin, blisters, healed blisters, and were looking rough.  She didn't speak enough english to understand what I was trying to say, but she did what she could with them.  All I know is that the massage felt great!

I've got tons of laundry to do before we left, but I did make Junior a shirt while Gunner ran to the store.  I also sent him out with 4 kids to get Em some Keen's for the trip and so that I could try to sleep.  I dozed off and on for hours.

I'm reading The Book Thief right now, and if you haven't read it, it is amazing!  I'm hoping to finish it up on the plane tomorrow and then start in on some of the other books I have lined up.  I completed about 5 or 6 books while I was in Texas, so I am making some more room on my bookshelf...sort of.

We are flying with 4 kids today, wish us luck!

While you are sleeping...

I will be racing this morning.  I had to get up at 3:30  in the morning to head to Denver for my triathlon.

I am in no way prepared, which seems to be my motto for every race this year.

I do it for the fun of it, and this is a sprint, but the bike is only 10 miles, so I can't really compare it to the one where the bike was 12 miles--apples and oranges.

It's all good, I just like to have fun and the challenge.  I lost my tri shorts and Gunner and I had to race out to try and find another pair tonight.  Luckily REI had one pair left.  Whew.

I've laid out my supplies, walked through the transitions in my head so I can make sure that I have everything,

I am getting a pedicure and getting the ridiculous amount of dead skin taken off my feet after the tri and before we fly out.  A girl has to have priorities.

We have so much to do before we leave for Disney....tomorrow.  Help!

How did it happen?

Four years ago......

At 10:01 pm we welcomed Junior (who's not really a Junior, but what my friend called my tummy since we refused to find out the sex) to the world at a whopping 10 lbs 1 oz.

If he had been born October 1st, then I would have had to play the lottery that day.

Gunner arrived home less than 48 hours before he arrived for his R&R from Iraq.

Amazingly, he has survived being dressed as a girl, used as a live doll, playing with barbies, having his hair done, and being used as a model for Em's sewing creations.

He's all boy though.

Obsessed with cowboys, dirty jobs, Diego, and Avatar.

He's opinionated. Still not 100% potty trained (but I am thinking of sending him to The Mrs. for that).  

Loves cars, dinosaurs, and being naked.  (Probably the being naked part because it will make his sisters scream)

Even at 4 he has dreams, or maybe he is just plotting against us.

Where did the time go?

Happy Birthday little guy, we can't imagine life without you!

Pineapple anyone?

I was so happy to be back in my bed, that I couldn't sleep in this morning.  I got up to find Abs on the couch watching tv.

She turned on the Today show for me, and then disappeared.

She never asked for breakfast, or I would have made something for her.

About an hour later my nephew got up.  I guess he is learning that you can never be sure what to expect with Abs in close proximity.  He came out to tell me that there was pineapple juice all over the floor of the bathroom and a half eaten can of pineapple as well.

I called for Abs, and told her she was my "maid for the day".  Together we cleaned the bathroom, with her on her hands and knees scrubbing the tub and floor to my specifications.  She was thrilled, really.  She folded laundry.  She helped wash dishes.  She delivered clothes.  She matched socks.  She ran errands for me, delivering things to other places.

I wish I could figure out her currency.

Home!!!

I never thought I could be so happy to be home.

We had a great time, with a lot of ups and downs.

Abs kept getting her hair stuck in the tent zipper.

Gunner discovered he can't sleep on an air mattress, and spent 3 of the 5 nights in the RV with the dog.

I love sleeping on an air mattress.

Showers don't matter when you get dirty immediately after getting out.  We had/have red sand on EVERYTHING.

More stories to come, but overall we had a great time.  Lots of memories, lots of walking, lots of laundry to do.  (A rare picture of me at Arches National Park.)

I can't wait to sleep in my big, comfortable, sand free bed tonight.

What were we thinking?

Utah is beautiful!

We forgot our first night's dinner, but managed.

Luckily Gunner threw in a little popup dome tent at the last minute. WWIII broke out among the girls, and as tempting as it was to stick them in a smaller place together, we separated them.

We forgot the air pump so the air mattreses aren't the most comfortable right now.

We hiked this morning 3.25 miles with minimal complaining from the girls, probably because their cousin is with us. I'm taking him everywhere with us!

We are filthy but having fun!



Oh, I did lose most of my pinky toenail, abs covered herself with red dirt shortly after arriving, but luckily the bathroom is only a short jaunt away. Unfortunately we have to pass the couple that were watching a movie last night, one in the recliner and one on the couch of their million dollar motorhome, lol.
-- Post From My iPhone

Off we go!

Block leave has started and we are headed out to camp in Utah for 6 days and 5 nights.  (Beware burglars, I am leaving behind a gigantic pitbull that will eat you alive!)

Remember, they have no showers.  My inlaws got a solar shower for me, and there is one in the RV, but Gunner keeps telling me it is for emergencies.

I consider my hair an emergency.  If I don't wash my hair every day, my curls will be in HUGE knots!  Wouldn't you consider that an emergency?

I'm sure we will have a lot of fun, laughs, and memories made.  I also hope that the whining and crying is kept to a minimum.

Right now I just want to crawl back in bed and go to sleep.  Gunner is running around the house singing and dancing, excited beyond belief.  If we were going to Hawaii, I would be doing that.  Camping with no showers?  Sorry, I am trying!

It's going to be fun.  It's going to be fun.  It's going to be fun.

BTW, I am watching a taped version of the Today show, and the skimming of ATM cards makes me nervous!

Regular Jane

My husband is a Regular, so Regular Jane day it was today.  Of course since I have always wanted to join the military, I jumped at the chance.  All it did was to make my desire stronger to join, but with three kids, a husband who is gone all the time, and the fact that I am somewhat opinionated and strong-willed, I have to settle for events like this.

We did a PT test complete with a run.

We threw grenades.  We road marched.  Sang cadences.

This is Em waiting for us to road march, trying on her brother's astronaut helmet.

We visited the AWT.  (Automatic Weapons Trainer)

Guns.  My family fell in love with it.  Abs really fell in love with it.

The smile on Em's face is priceless.  We got to shoot 240 machine guns and M16's.

I liked the machine gun the best.

Gunner wouldn't have been a cool uncle if he didn't hook up our nephew.  He LOVED it.

Abs was constantly on the guns, screaming out "I love guns" and "This is awesome" or "Can I PLEASE go again?".

The Soldiers loved her enthusiasm.

When everyone was done, the Soldiers that had been waiting for a chance to get on the guns too, jumped in next to Abs.

She has asked for a machine gun for Christmas.  Oh dear.

Abs Part 3,567,574

Gunner took Em, my nephew and Abs to a Sky Sox game tonight.

Sounds like fun, right?

Abs wanted autographs so she took a sharpie and a tshirt to get signed.

Can you see where this is going?

I get a text from Gunner with this picture.

I think she was embarrassed that she got caught.  How did she think she wouldn't?  Maybe she was showing team pride by writing Sox on her forehead?

I wonder if the star on her nose had a significant meaning?

How can someone so smart do such strange things?

She sat through the entire game like this.

She wasn't embarrassed.

She is definitely Gunner's kid.

Air & Space Museum

Erin told me about the Air & Space Museum at Peterson AFB, and since my nephew is in town, we headed over there to check it out.  (Plus after taking 4 kids to Em's orthodontist appointment I needed somewhere for them to be outside & it's free!)

We bypassed the museum so that we could checkout the planes first.  The kids loved it.

Junior just liked to lie under the wings of the planes and sing songs about them.

When we got back into the museum, the kids looked around for a bit, and then the docent put on a Magic School Bus video on flight so that I could look around more.  The docent was so knowledgeable, I could have talked to him all day.  I was the only one walking around for a good half hour, so I got a private tour and heard all his stories about people, planes, and military history.  By the time the movie was over, people showed up to tour, and my private tour was over, so we headed home.  If you have boys (or an Abs), this is a great place to visit!

My status...

Sometimes I wish I could just put my FB status in a blog.

Why can't I?

ABW  told Junior he had a tree in his ear and I needed to clean it. I cleaned them out and he started sobbing "My tree is dead, you killed my tree, how could you?" over and over again.


ABW  gets to play Army tomorrow and Gunner gets to watch. I can't wait! Unfortunately shooting a tank didn't make the list of things to do. Wimps, I am sure I am a good shot!


ABW watched Gunner try to get Junior out of the tub last night, but he wouldn't budge because his hands weren't wrinkled yet.....or "moldy" as he calls it. "I can't get out until I am moldy!"


ABW just got baseball tickets for Gunner, my nephew and Em. It's Jimmy Buffet night so I was hoping for free margaritas for the adults, but it was only leis for everyone, so I opted to stay home with the kids that didn't want to go.


ABW Laughed when Gunner told her what happened on the way home from the airport with Jr & abs.They found a roll of paper towels in the back seat and decided that they wanted the cardboard roll.Gunner wasn't paying attention until he saw the entire backseat covered with unrolled paper towels and a fight started over the emptyroll.Trying to be diplomatic he cut it in half. I would have taken the roll and kept it.


ABW is HOME. I left hundred degree temperatures to sit in 50 degree temps, windows open, laundry going, and an entire house to clean. I'll never blame a dirty house on the kids again, only on their dad!


ABW  believes that someone (Gunner) was messing with her netflix queue as Legion and Ninja Assassin are arriving on Monday. What happened to Dear John & Memoirs of a Geisha (Gunner)? Did you forget (Gunner) that we will be home early next week?


I also posted that on Gunner's facebook, and he responded with:
Gunner Someone (Gunner) thought you could watch all the sappy chick flix when someone (Gunner) was deployed for a year.

She's Baaaaccccckkkkkk

Abs flew in on Tuesday.  She hit the ground running.  I went the entire time in Texas without coffee, but now I am having to down a pot each morning in order to keep up.

Last night Gunner and I had just settled down to go to sleep.  I was almost to the point where I was passed out.

I hear a crash.  

Gunner gets up and finds Abs awake and getting into things.  He sends her back to bed, because it wasn't even midnight yet.

We get to sleep, but Gunner had to be up at 3 this morning to send some Soldiers off to school.  He wakes up to find Abs awake.  (I'm sure the minute we fell asleep that she was up and wandering around, just being quieter this time.)

He sends her back to sleep.  I woke up this morning when my cell phone rang.  Abs was calling me to see if I was awake.  I started to panic thinking that she was calling other people, so I dragged my tired self out of bed.

Put on a pot of coffee, dragged Abs off the wii, and gave her her medicine.  

Found an egg in the sink.  An egg?  No clue.

Booted up the computer, and turned on the Today show.  Heard Abs knocking on doors trying to sell Sammy to unsuspecting sleeping siblings/cousin.  

Put the dog outside.

Made first cup of coffee.  Heard a crash.  Went around corner to find Abs into my teaching books (which is fine), but she had knocked off half a shelf (how?) and was sitting in the dog bed (yuck) and moving the books around with her feet to see if she could teach her feet to be as strong and as independent as her hands.

I told her she could practice with her own things in her own room and to use her independent hands to clean up the mess.

Mess cleaned up, Abs is in room.  Finally sit down with coffee to check email, blogs, and I hear footsteps running through the house.  I go to Abs room to find that she has swiped permanent markers to "color" with.  I confiscate, she balks, assuring me she will keep it on paper and nothing else.  She hands them over.

Surprisingly Junior is still asleep through all of this.  

It's only 8.  How many more hours till bedtime?

Gunner's son

Deployment Question #25--The old fashioned letter

Do you write your husband when he is deployed?

Only email?

Just wait for phone calls?

IM?

My husband is usually not in a great location, so our internet time and phone time is very limited, maybe once every week or two for about ten minutes.

I do write letters, but not as often as I should because I always choose deployments as a time to make major life changes, you know, like have a baby or change careers.

This time, I might actually be able to keep up with letters. 

Does your husband write back?  

Gunner is pretty good about writing, sometimes.  Maybe once he reads this post, he will realize how important those letters are to me.  Nothing can change my day like a letter.  Sure emails are great, and a lot of time if I have a question it is time sensitive and I need a reply.  But nothing replaces that letter.

My friend Peggy came up with a solution for the kids that works well too.  She sends Gunner pre-addressed postcards to mail back to the kids.  He tears out three, writes a short note, and then sends them off courtesy of free mail.  I collect them on the other end and hand them out once they all arrive so no one is left out.  

They carry them around, tuck them into their books as bookmarks, hang them on their wall, or just read them over and over and over.  Emails don't have the same effect on them.

So how many letters do you write?  (I will probably be lucky to do one every week or two, seriously, no major changes, yet, but there are still three kiddos to take care of!)

Will he write back?

How do you handle correspondence with the kids?

Camp Pine Cove

This is how I found Abs on Saturday when I picked her up.  Happy and collecting grasshoppers.

I saw Em first, but of course she is too cool for pictures these days.  Em had a GREAT time.  She couldn't wait to tell me though all the things her sister had done wrong.  It was like she spent her week taking notes on her sister so she could relay it back to me.  Ugh.

She started with the two feet of mud on her head and Ab's refusal to get out of the mud pit during Battle of the Brumbies.  I talked to Ab's counselor who told me that Abs was a blessing.  Really?  Someone else loves her?

They had an end of the session program and showed a quick blurb from the highlights CD.  I want to go to Camp Pine Cove.

Em and her counselor.

They both had a great time.  I asked Abs counselor if she slept okay.  The kid slept through the night every.single.night.  I guess I need to recreate camp at my house so she can sleep here.  

They did have a couple of problems with Abs, but it didn't sound like anything too serious.  They are both signed up for next year.  I don't know who is more excited, me or them?

I want one of these!

The Mrs. is having a giveaway on her blog of a Blue Star Quilted Wall Hanging.

Head on over to her blog and checkout how you can be in the running for one of these!