Pirate's Booty and a Couple Other Treasures

I am sitting at the kitchen table with Kaity while she does her homework and thought I would take a few minutes to blog since she just had me laughing out loud and I usually forget the funny things before I get a chance to blog them. I was getting her a snack and this is how the conversation went down.

Kaity: What are we having for snack?

Mommy: It's a surprise!

Kaity (with excitement as I put a little bowl of goodies in front of her): What is that?!

Mommy: Pirate's Booty (for those of you who don't know, it is an all natural white cheddar puffed corn snack and it's really good).

Kaity: GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy: Not like a pirate's bum silly. Like a pirate's treasure.

Kaity (in all the silliness of a five year old girl): I don't want to eat a pirate's booty!

Mommy (playing along): Okay, I'll eat your pirate's booty.

Kaity (after eating her Pirate's Booty in record time): That was yummy, can I eat more Pirate's Booty?

This conversation was followed by LOTS of laughter.


Earlier today, on our way to Busch Gardens, Ryan made me giggle too. As we were accelerating onto the interstate he started saying WHEEEEEEEEEE!!! over and over again. He spent a few minutes on his own personal roller coaster (I swear I wasn't even driving that fast). The funniest part is that I was making a phone call (not social, but to a stranger) and she was laughing too. He was so cute and knew it. He can be so full of himself at times!


Last week Ryan and I were on the way to the Y having a little conversation.

Mommy: You woke up really early this morning buddy.

Ryan: Uh huh, uh huh, kiss Kaity school.

Mommy: You wanted to give Kaity a kiss before she left for school?

Ryan: Uh huh, uh huh, Kaity kiss hand.

Mommy: Kaity kissed your hand?

Ryan (with the sweetest look on his face): Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, Kaity kiss hand RIGHT THERE (pointing at his palm).

Mommy: Kaity kissed your hand, right in your palm...oh...Kaity gave you a kissing hand?

Ryan (in his most excited voice): Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh!

Ryan's two big things he does all the time are getting super excited when you understand what he is saying and excitedly saying uh huh, uh huh, uh huh (I think it may end up being a precursor to a stuttering issue, but it is cute now and I am sure he will grow out of it, his brain is just processing faster than he can talk) and when showing us something he forcefully says RIGHT THERE! Like when he spots himself in the mirror he says, "That's me! RIGHT THERE!" or driving down the street he says, "That's Mamo's (his word for Grandma) truck, RIGHT THERE!"

When Kaity got home from school I asked her if she gave her brother a kissing hand and she confirmed it. Turns out, that while I was talking with her teacher, she was saying her goodbyes to Ryan and they gave each other kissing hands. If you are not familiar with the story The Kissing Hand, it is about a little raccoon who is afraid to go school for the first time and wants to stay with his mom. His mom kisses his palm and the warmth of her love flows through him. Whenever he is lonely and misses her he can touch his palm to his face and feel her warmth and comfort through the kissing hand. Then, the little raccoon gives his mom a kissing hand in case she misses him while he is at school. It is a really sweet book and I was SO touched by Kaity's gesture of love towards her brother. It warmed MY heart!

Children are such a blessing and can make you laugh during the most unexpected times. I get so much joy from the little things that they do and thought I would share a few of the cute moments.

My Trip to Korea

After nearly a week of not being able to stay awake long enough to see 8:00, very interrupted night sleep, and very early morning wake ups, the jet lag has finally worn off and I am feeling like a brand new woman! Since I can't clean out the car after our trip to the beach yesterday, I am taking advantage of a typical Florida afternoon thunderstorm to blog for a bit.

My trip out to Korea was fairly uneventful. The trip consisted of a plane ride to Atlanta, another 14+ hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul, a 4 hour bus ride to Gunsan, then a taxi ride to Kunsan. The Lord works in wonderful and unexplained ways and I ran into a good friend's husband in the terminal of the Atlanta airport. He was PCSing to Kunsan where Bill is and was supposed to be on a different flight out of a different city. We were both delighted to have a travel companion and I think it helped both of us to see a familiar face when we were both struggling with an emotionally and physically draining journey. Their family is facing what we went through, and in many ways, are still going through. After a lot of TDY's and a deployment to the desert, they have to be separated yet again, this time for a year. Like Bill, he will miss the holidays with his family, a year of birthdays and anniversaries, his son's first day of kindergarten, and their toddler turning into a little girl (the gender's are switched, but the scenario is the same). His wife is a wonderfully strong woman with a huge heart and kind spirit, a wonderful mother to two sweet kids and a loving and devoted wife. She is facing many of the same struggles that I was and am. She has the huge job of selling a house in a slow market and raising two small children by herself. She will do a great job and gets her strength from the Lord, so please pray for her when you can.

I have a much greater appreciation of what Bill goes through when he leaves. I was a wreck! I have always said that he has a much harder role in this because while we have to go through life without him, he is without us. At least I have the kids to distract me and bring me joy when I miss him. All he has is pictures and internet updates. Now, you have to understand that up until a year ago, I have never left my children overnight. Before this trip I had left them three times, for one night at a time. I spend every day all day with them and I love it. I love being a stay at home (or run around) mom and my children bring me a ton of joy every day. Some days they make me feel like I might loose my mind, but even on those days, they still make me laugh. Needless to say, I really missed them. I cried for 36 hours and locked myself in the airplane bathroom for 30 minutes twice when it got to the point that I felt like I was going to loose it again. Part of it was pure exhaustion since I slept for thirty minutes total on the flight and maybe an hour on the bus, but mostly I just missed them and was probably having a little mommy-guilt about shirking my responsibilities as their mom, even though I knew my husband needed me too. I can't tell you how hard it was to leave them, even though I knew they were in excellent hands. I am thankful for Skype and wouldn't have been able to get through my two and a half weeks away if it weren't for that. Once I saw their sweet little faces on the computer, I was totally fine. Really I think it was because Ryan started laughing as soon as he saw me on the computer next to Daddy and didn't stop until we hung up. A child's laughter is contagious. He thought it was so funny that I was on the computer because I am usually right their next to him. Apparently, I moved into the computer with Bill. You know, where Ryan thinks he lives.

I mentioned before that Korea was way better than I expected it to be. It was actually pretty. Way more mountainous than I expected. There were many things that surprised me. The first thing I noticed on my way into town at night was neon crosses. I saw many more crosses from Christian churches throughout my time there that were not all lit up that first night. Turns out that Korea has a fairly high Christian population, which I love! Of all the Asian nations, the Koreans have the highest Christian poplulation.

The driving also surprised me, first with the fact that their roads are very American, where the rest of Asia has a more European influence. They drive on the right hand side of the road and have traffic cameras. The weird thing is that they don't ever pull anyone over. You see police cars, but you can fly by them and not get pulled over. And stop lights are apparently optional. And it is nothing to be driving 80mph on the main streets in Gunsan. It isn't like this as much in the bigger cities, but if no one else is at a light, people will run it. In Gunsan, you barely slow down to see if anyone is coming. It was crazy! Our first night out I thought we might die! Oh, and regarding the cameras, people take their license plates off or bend them up to avoid having their plates read from the camera. They call it "fencing in." As in, "Hey man, are you going to pull over and fence in before getting on the expressway?" Also, their cars are colorless. Just black, white, and gray for the most part. Bill will have to fill you in on all the weird idiosyncrasies, but it really is the land of the not quite right as the people (Americans) who live there or who have ever lived there will tell you.

My first day there we went hiking with a group of guys in Bill's squadron. It was probably the best thing I could do to beat the jet lag. Fresh air and daylight. We saw some pretty cool temples and Buddhas and really enjoyed the time outdoors.

We got home, cleaned up, and headed out to a pizza joint called Valentine's in Gunsan, the town outside of Kunsan. It tasted a lot like Pizza Hut pizza which the guys love when they are feeling a bit homesick and tired of Korean food. After that we headed to a bar called ZZYZX, which is owned by the Honorary Squadron Commander and coins itself an American Rock Bar. Basically it is a bar like most other bars, but they have the computer hooked up to a sound system and the American patron play songs from itunes, dance, play darts, pool, and drinking games. We entertained ourselves with taps and soju, which is the Korean equivalent of hunch punch. Tastes like kool-aid. The club also has a special tradition for new Juvats and I was lucky enough to receive the new guy shot. I had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back for a Sweep or a Meet AJ (Any Juvat - it's what they call the new guy before he gets his call sign at the naming). The Sweep they were supposed to have got cancelled, but we had a great time anyway.

During my week there, I met some great gals who made my time go by way too fast! The wife of the guy next door is a hairdresser with great talent at their last base in Italy and at a salon in Texas, and we would sit around her room while she cut and colored and we drank wine or mimosas (depending on the time of day) and chatted and listened to music. We went shopping at local bakeries, a nearby city with little shops, and Bill and I went to Lotte Mart which is like a combination of an enormous Super Wal-Mart and a mall-like department store. Despite all of the weirdness of it, I really did like it. Maybe it was the honeymoon period, but I also think I am one of those people who can be happy pretty much anywhere. I have so many things to tell you about, but this post is already so long and I have more awesome tales to tell about our trip to Thailand and so little time.

Universal

Best Buddies

On Monday of our Orlando trip, we loaded up the crew and went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. You can see all the pictures by following the picture link on the right of this blogsite. Again, the crowds were light (thank goodness) and the heat and humidity were high, but we were still in family bliss and didn't really care too much. We rode all of the rides we could at Islands of Adventure (the kids LOVE Dr. Seuss land) and then headed over to Universal Studios where we rode Shrek, ET, and the kids played at the Curious George water park while Bill and I rode the Mummy. Don't worry, we didn't leave them there to fend for themselves. Grandma drove over and spent the afternoon with us at the parks and hung out with the kids Monday night so we could ride some coasters and have a date night.

One Fish, Two Fish, Old Fish, New Fish

We did discover an undesirable trait in our son on this great day...he's a thief! As we exited the train ride in Seuss Land, we had to go through the candy store. Our sweet children were holding hands and walking in front of us, and after taking advantage of a photo op, we exited the ride and the store. Much to our dismay, we see a Snickers with Almonds bar in our baby's chubby little hand. He took advantage of the five finger discount! Bill went back to return it and the kids and I took our little grinches to meet the Grinch.

The calm before the crime

As we were heading out of the park, we ran into Curious George. Of all the characters we saw, we would have thought that this sweet, non-threatening monkey whom Ryan loves so much, would at least get a hug or high 5, but again, our sweet monkey would have none of it. Kaity on the other hand was as happy as a lark.

Ryan really wanted to meet Curious George until we got next to him

While we weren't sure what we were going to do for our night out without the kids, we knew we would have fun. Since our first trip to Vegas as a newly married couple, we have wanted to see two shows. Bill wanted to see Blue Man Group and I wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil performance, but as newlyweds with credit card debt from college and a new car payment, we just couldn't justify the expense, especially as we were moving to Del Rio in a month and didn't know if I would be able to get a job. While tickets are still expensive, we decided to look into it anyway, and see if we could swing it. Well, Cirque de Soleil was dark on Monday, but the Blue Man Group was performing. Bonus...they had tickets at a reduced price for military. Extra bonus...student tickets were $30! Well, since Bill is working on his Master's, I called to see if they would accept a printed version of his online transcript. Sure enough, the man of the family was able to score us $85 tickets for $30! Way to go babe!

So, we enjoyed an awesome performance by Blue Man Group (where Bill had a few moments of fame-Bill, you need to blog the story because you tell it better, or e-mail it to me and I will add to it and post it), rode our favorite roller coasters at Islands of Adventure, and enjoyed drinks, dinner, and live music at Margaritaville. We had a lot of fun together and this date night was definitely one for the books. Many, many, many thanks to Grandma for making it possible!

Laughing at ourselves while taking a self portrait after riding the Hulk

Catching Up

Okay, so I thought I would be miserable without the kids in Korea with Bill at work and me stuck in his dorm room wallowing in my self pity. I also thought I would use that time to catch up on the blog, pictures, facebook, and email, read a bunch of books, and lay out by the pool with my eyes closed. For, naturally, I would need a lot of distractions. Boy was I wrong! I had a great time in Korea and met a bunch of really great gals, did no blogging, barely facebooked, didn't read a thing, compose those emails I am behind on, lay out by the pool (the weather and limited hours didn't cooperate), or wallow in self pity, though I did miss the kids. Instead, I ran, hung out with the girls doing girly things, explored Korea with my new friends, drank wine in the evenings and mimosas in the mornings. Thanks ladies for making my week lots of fun and making me want to pack up myself and my kids and move back right away. While I wish we could, it really isn't fair for the kids (Kaity in particular, who is so excited to start school and make new friends) to coop them up for 5 months in a dorm room. Maybe if they were younger. Instead, we will see you in November!

I am so excited to share my trip to Korea and our AWESOME trip to Thailand with everyone, but since I left off in the middle of a series of blogs (which didn't get completed in my time away), I am going to try to not ADD on you all and finish what I started before I start on something new. So, my goal is to finish our Orlando trip in the next couple of days and get started on our time in Asia. I guess you will see how well I progress.

Disney

Our visit to the Magic Kingdom couldn't have been better. Cooler and less humid, yes, but the trip itself was awesome. We started out at Guest Services where Bill scored the family military appreciation tickets. The guy taking care of us was a really nice guy and made our day. He was asking the date of birth for each of us and realized Kaitlyn's birthday was two weeks earlier, so he gave her a Happy Birthday button with her name on it. As we walked down Main Street all of the greeters were giving her high fives and wishing her a happy birthday. It made us so happy to see the joy in her face it literally brought tears to her Mommy's eyes and I have a lump in my throat retelling it. You see, Kaity was really bummed that Bill couldn't be there for her birthday, so Mommy told her we would find a way to celebrate when he came home. We couldn't have planned this better! We headed over to Tomorrowland and hopped on Buzz Lightyear right away, then switched partners and rode again! After that we hit the Grand Prix Races where the kids had a blast "racing" cars. Kaity steered and Kim hit the gas. Kaity was a wild driver, even telling Mommy to stop doing that (stopping and going) when her erratic driving made the wheels hit the tracks and stop and go. Bill made the comment that teaching her to drive is going to be AWESOME! I think the boys may have been thinking, "crazy women drivers!" Next we hit the tea cups and the kids had a blast. I am hoping to find a way to upload the video, so you can see the silliness.


Ryan just barely skated through to ride his first real coaster, Goofy's Wild Acre Farm and loved every minute of it. Last time we were at Disney it was so crowded we didn't get to go through Mickey and Minnie's houses, nor did we get to meet them. This time however, the lines were only about 30 minutes long and we got to meet the famous mice. Ryan was so excited to meet them...until we got up there. He is so slow to warm up to new situations and was having his standard internal battle of wanting to do something, but being too scared. Out of all of the character meet and greets, Mickey got the best response, even getting a kiss, but clinging on to Mommy for dear life while sharing the love.

We rode a few more rides, including Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Our kids are roller coaster junkies just like their parents and we love it! Kim rode with Kaity first on Thunder Mountain and the whole coaster she was yelling that she loves this ride and that this ride is her favorite. She rode for the first time on our last visit when she was three and loved it then too. Bill rode with Kaity first on Splash Mountain, which quickly became her new favorite. When Kim went with her, she kept telling me, "don't worry Mommy. It's just a teensy tinesy little drop," with that silly little giggle in her voice. We had so much fun with her. We came back a few days later and met the fairies, rode a few more rides, grabbed a nap and headed over to Hollywood Studios. McQueen and the crew are Ryan's favorites and they do appearances over there. He absolutely loves the movie Cars and any time he sees anything from the movie, he yells "QUEEN!!!!!" He wanted to meet McQueen and Mater and Ryan was so excited.....again, until we got there. Then he wouldn't let go of Mommy. At this point the rides were packed and the storms were racing in, so after getting drenched and grabbing a bite to eat we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for more rides, the Spectromagic parade, and the fireworks. The kids were beat by the end and Ryan was delirious. We got some good laughs in at his expense! While watching the fireworks, our sweet firecracker was holding on tight to Mommy and being super sweet. While holding him, Kim would rest her head against his head and then try to straighten up to watch the fireworks and he would put his hand on the opposite cheek and pull her back in to snuggle. Kaity watched the fireworks from the best seat in the house...her Daddy's shoulders.

When we asked the kids what their favorite rides were Kaity said, "Splash Mountain!" and Ryan said, "GO!" We clarified. "Ryan, you like the race cars ride the best?" "Mmm Hmm" with a smile and a head nod confirmed our guess. To see all of our great Disney pictures, please visit our picasa site and click on the Dinsey folder.
We joke with our family with much sarcasm that Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth (you know, with all the hot, sweaty, smelly crowds and overtired children and adults), but I think this week were were quite possibly the happiest family on earth, so maybe Walt Disney had it right after all.

Orlando

Our first night in Orlando we spent the evening just hanging out. We fed the kids, ran errands, got Carrabas take out and shared a bottle of wine and good conversation on the balcony overlooking Lake Bryan in Lake Buena Vista. It was a wonderful way to start our mini-vacay.

The next day we woke up and took off for the Magic Kingdom. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the park wasn't very busy at all. We were able to meet Mickey and Minnie (our longest wait at 30 minutes) and ride a lot of rides in the small amount of time we were there. We caught the shuttle back to the condo, took the kids to CiCi's Pizza right next door, and got them to bed early. It was an awesome day at the park and a great way to wrap up the day.

The next day was Father's Day and we decided to take it easy and skip out on the parks. We took the kids to play putt putt golf at the course next to the hotel. They had a good time, but didn't really want to play the whole way through. Kaity just wanted to get to the top by the volcano and Ryan, once he heard the volcano, just got clingy. Just as he was able to get down and play again, the volcano would go off again and scare him. It was pretty humorous, but we tried not to laugh at him. We headed back for family nap time and then grabbed some grub at Pei Wei. Turns out Ryan is a HUGE chicken pad thai guy. Who knew?!



Monday we hit up Univeral Studios and Grandma drove over to join us for the day. That night, Grandma hung out with the kids so we could have a date night.

Tuesday was back to the Magic Kingdom where we rode the rest of the rides we wanted to catch and were we got to meet a few of the fairies from Pixie Hollow. We all caught another nap and headed back out, this time to MGM Hollywood Studios to meet McQueen and Mater and then back to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks. While there was a crazy heat spell and the humidity was really high during our whole trip, the crowds were pretty light (until Wednesday around noon), and that made the parks bearable. Even though we were theme parking, we had a relaxing and fun trip and really enjoyed being able to play as a family again for a little while.

Bill's Visit

Bill came home for 11 very quick days in June. We had a fantastic time together enjoying each other as a family. We spent some time at home with his fam, relaxing and catching up, then took off to Orlando for 5 blissful family days. To try to not make this post overwhelming for you or me, I have decided to break it up into segments so stay tuned.

Our Trip to Publix

Before I start, I have to say I LOVE Publix and have missed it since we left Florida 9 years ago. Now that we are back, I am there a few times a week. Here is a brief summary of yesterday's trip to Publix with the kids.
Before we got out of the car, I set the expectations. No yelling, no fighting, good listening or no free cookie. Did I mention I love Publix? We get out of the car and find the behemoth shopping cart that looks like a car and I load the kids in that. I remind them again if there is any fighting there is no cookie. We swing by the deli, order some meat and cheese and start down the isles. They are super sweet to each other with Ryan giving kisses and hugs as Kaity "drives" the big green car cart. The following dialog ensues.
Kaitylyn (as I am turning down the isle): I am a good driver because I know where to go.
Mommy: You are a good driver.
Kaitlyn: I know how to drive because I learned from you.
Mommy: Wow, thank you for the compliment. That is nice of you to say.

Phase to a few isles later. Kaity's upper body is turned around talking to me while her arm is stretching back behind the cart.
Kaitlyn: Look at me Mommy.
Mommy (while looking for something on the shelf): I see honey.
Kaitlyn: I am still driving.
I look more closely at Kaity and see what she is doing.
Kaitlyn: I am driving with my knee. I learned that from you too Mommy.

I about died laughing. Yes, I am ashamed to admit, I do this sometimes to tend to the kids in the back. If I pulled over every time they needed something, I would never get anywhere.

Later on in the back of the store I pick up two boxes of Scooby Doo Go-Gurts and Ryan says, "My Scooby Doo" so, I give him a box to hold and Kaity a box to hold.
Mommy (mostly directed at Ryan): You may not open these boxes. If you open your box you will not get a cookie. If only one of you opens the box than the other will get a cookie and you will not. Do you understand?
Ryan: Okay
Kaity: You don't want to open your box Buddy. That happened to me before and I know how that feels. It didn't feel very good.
A few times ago, I threatened the cookie loss for not listening and Kaity lost out.

Ryan ended up keeping the box sealed, but lost the cookie when he kept standing up in the cart and plopping down after I told him not to. He was not very happy that sister got the cookie this time. Hopefully he will remember on our next trip like his sister did.

Kindergarten Registration

Well, it is official. Our baby is enrolled in Kindergarten. I am so not ready to have to send her off all day, every day, but I know she will love it. To be honest, I was feeling a little guilty because there were a couple of days last week where I was thinking she REALLY needs to go to school and I couldn't wait for school to start. Now I am back to feeling sad when I think about full time school. She is so excited, but worries that she will miss me while she is at school all day. She is afraid we won't have any time to play together. Me too! But I don't tell her that. :)

When we moved into Grandma and Pa Paw's house we showed Kaity her new school and every time we drive by she says, "there's my school!" Now Ryan even yells, "Kaity" and points out the window as we drive by. Kaity and I took a mini tour of the school when we got her registered and now she tells everyone that her school has a library upstairs, she will get to eat lunch there, have quiet time in her class, and play on the school playground. If only she could go all day (8-2), three days a week, we would all be happy. Her first day of school is Tuesday, August 25th. Kaity can't wait to start and make new friends. I can't wait for her to meet some friends, especially in the neighborhood, as she tells me daily that she misses her friends and doesn't have any friends at her new house.

Ryan Turns Two!

The Birthday Boy

Ryan turned two yesterday and we celebrated with Bill's family yesterday and my family today. Ryan is really into trucks, cars, motorcycles, trains, boats, planes and construction equipment. Anything that moves really. Driving down the interstate is quite entertaining. Especially here in Florida where trucks are pulling boats on trailers. That comes in just ahead of the semi transporting the cars as his favorite freeway sighting. So, to celebrate his love of all vehicles he got a plethora of things that go.

Happy birthday to you......

Getting a little help from sis

Our little guy, who usually shies away from the limelight by running to Mommy, ate up all of the attention and really liked everyone singing Happy Birthday to him. He wasted no time unwrapping the presents this year. He knew just what to do! Just in case he didn't, his cousins and sister were there to give him a helping hand. Aren't they sweet? In fact, the only reason I am able to upload pictures and blog this evening is because Kaity is using the precious time that she is awake and Ryan is asleep to play with his new toys. I haven't heard her this quiet in quite a while. We had a great weekend celebrating with family, but Daddy was sorely missed. The pictures from his birthday have been uploaded to our Picasa album.

Hey Strangers!

Wow! After complaints that we haven't been updating our blog, I decided to see what the last thing I had written was. The most shocking revelation was that when I starting typing the blogsite into my browser, nothing came up! My computer had forgotten the site! So much for blogging more once we sold the house and got settled in Florida. At least I had blogged about selling our house. I thought I was going to have to start there.
So, I am going to take the advice I have given to many scrapbookers who are so far behind and have no idea how to catch up. I am going to start with today and work my way back. A quick summary of the events of the last 8 weeks.

May was a busy month for us. We started the month out with Kaity's first dance recital, packing and moving out of our house, selling our house, and a variety of end of the year preschool activities with Kaity Mac. The middle of May we bid our Sumter friends and Shooter family a very sad farewell as we headed down to Florida to live with family for the next 7 months. The day we left we threw Kaity a Bolt themed birthday party where she got to say goodbye to most of her friends. While it was hard to say goodbye, the party was lots of fun and a good distraction from the tears. We also celebrated the birth of our first niece Rylee Patricia Shomaker. My sister gave birth on Memorial Day and we can't wait to meet the sweet sugar when they come into town this Friday! I wrapped up the month competing in my first triathlon. I competed with one of my best friends and had a really fun time. If I can fit in some time to train and it works with our travel schedule I would like to do another one this summer or fall.

June rang in Kaitlyn's 5th birthday, our 9th anniversary, swim lessons for both kids, a fantastic visit with Bill, Universal, Disney, a lot of pool time, more sad goodbyes as Bill left again, and lots of time with family. The kids and I returned from visiting my grandparents just in time to celebrate the 4th and our little firecracker's 2nd birthday.

While there hasn't been a dull moment, we haven't done much. I feel like we have been very busy. Funny how that works, huh? July is looking pretty busy too as we will be spending time with Sharon, Jack, and Rylee, another trip to visit my grandparents to get all the grands and great-grands together, and my solo trip to Korea to visit Bill. We are both looking forward to the time together, but I am nervous about leaving my babies for so long. On a recent facebook posting after leaving the kids for one night (my triathlon) I was wondering what it was going to be like leaving my kids for 2 1/2 weeks if it was so hard to leave them for one night with Kaity crying and me being sad. My dear friend Marianne responded with a priceless one word answer. Romantic. I love it!

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I am going to try to do a MUCH better job sharing our adventures and our pictures, so start checking back often. Hold me accountable people! Thanks to those of you who are keeping on us to post.

We Sold Our House!!!

Well, after four grueling months of having our home on the market and trying to keep it show ready with two small children and not a whole lot of help, I am ecstatic to say that WE HAVE SOLD OUR HOME!!! Yes, I know...I should be using my inside voice since I am inside, but I am so relieved and excited. It is wonderful to know that we were able to sell and not have the hassle of renting and to be free and clear and be able to walk away not only not oweing anything, but also with a little bit of money in our pockets. On my birthday no less! I joked with Bill about the money from closing being my birthday present, but we were so NOT on the same page with that one. :) While the reality of the whole situation hasn't sunk in quite yet, we are so thankful and absolutely amazed at the way the Lord working his magic in the past 6 weeks bringing this buyer to us. While we are super happy, I have to admit I cried as I handed over the keys at the closing today. While I wouldn't have it any other way and am so glad to have it all over, I am sad to be closing this chapter of our lives and the garage door of the first home we ever bought. Our house was a great house. A wonderful home where we welcomed our precious baby boy with open hearts and open arms and filled with happy memories, lots of love, and a ton of laughter. While it wasn't always a picture perfect place to be, the good times far outweighed the bad (or maybe I should say more challenging) and I look back at the vivid memories we made with a smile on my face and tears of both joy and sorrow in my eyes. A bittersweet day for sure, but I am so excited to spend my last couple of days here with my friends and am welcoming the opportunity to be a great mom again with this burden lifted from my shoulders. Oh yeah, and to have a little time to myself to catch up on my blogging.

Bill's First Daylight Korean Excursion

Today I went to Lotte Mart (pronounced LA-te) in Kunsan City. It is much different than driving through the city at night. Lotte Mart is a 4-story Wal-Mart type mega store. The carts are all chained together outside and cost 100 won to unlock, but you get that back when you return the cart. All the wheels caster on Korean carts, not just the front wheels like in the US. The parking garage is on the top floor of Lotte Mart so you ride an escalator-type conveyor belt between floors. The shopping carts ' wheels lock into the conveyor belt so they won't roll (quite ingenious I think).

There was four of us that wandered around the store for a while before we went to the grocery section. The store was clean and had a wide variety of items, especially in the seafood department. I am not used to seeing whole fish or fish that are just cut into segments (head still attached) packaged in a grocery store. There also seemed to be an abundance of gelatinous type of seafood as well as squid and octopus. Quite an eye-opening experience all around. We ended up buying some strawberry cookies, a donut-type muffin, and some aloe water. Yes that's right aloe water, with real bits of aloe so you know its good. Actually all the food was good including the aloe water which got a little pulpy toward the bottom of the can.

I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera on this momentous occasion, but I will post pics as soon as I get them.

ps Its after 1 am as I am writing this so my grammar/spelling aren't great but hopefully my ramblings make sense. Enjoy!

Little Blessings

I was reminded today that our children are such little blessings. Yes, I know this everyday, and there is not one day that goes by that I do not thank the Lord for these wonderful little people (at least once), but I was given another reminder of that today.
Bill dropped some bad news on us today. A couple of weeks ago, he told us that he wouldn't be able to come home in May as we had planned on due to a TDY he was scheduled to go on. Sucky, but whatever, we were coming up with a solution and would work something out, no tears needed. It wasn't in stone anyway, just a great idea that we could probably make work. Today he told us that his one bedroom suite (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, door to separate the kids, etc) was being renovated and he was moving to the small dorm rooms (complete with all the luxuries of a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchenette), making it virtually impossible for us to stay with him. Hard to do crew rest with two kids when you have to go to bed at 5 or 6 in the evening or need to sleep in until 2 pm because you have to go to work to fly at 4 pm. It just isn't going to work.
Now, here I sit in Sumter, on a rainy day, wishing my family were together to enjoy a lazy Saturday when this bomb drops. Panic sets in and I have that suffocating feeling of not being able to breathe. Never had that feeling until right before Bill left for this assignment, just so you know. He told me this on chat and I was crying the silent cry in between messages and while making lunch, when he told me he was heading to bed. So I called him via Skype and he talked to the kids. Kaity now notices that I am crying and asks me why. I tell her I am sad. It is looking pretty dim that we aren't going to be able to go out for the 4-6 weeks we had planned on this fall. I didn't tell her that part. She doesn't need to know right now. Bill told me not to get so worked up, that we would figure out a way to make something work. Easier said than done. The brick wall had already fallen on my chest and I couldn't breathe. Trying to take deep breaths I start to complain (I really don't do this often, he knows it sucks too, and I know it isn't his choice, nor is it his fault).
The conversation starts something like this (said really fast as I am approaching breakdown mode - I know you all know what I am talking about). It's just that we planned for you to come home the first part of May and now that bubble is burst and I really wanted to go to Disney again as a family (AD military get in free and their dependents get a 5 day pass for $99) and now that isn't going to happen, and plane tickets are expensive, and we don't know when we are going to see you now, and you might not see the kids until we come out there as it is and now there is this, and (said with less emotion and speed) our children have the table manners of elephants! Ryan had just dumped his mac n cheese onto his tray from the bowl and is trying to pet the dog from his high chair with his spoon and Kaity is eating hers with her hands, hanging half off her chair so she can see herself in the computer, trying to talk to Bill over me while her mouth is full.
I don't know why I said elephants, but I did and as soon as I said it Ryan starts making elephant noises and then Kaity starts with the noise and her elephant trunk. Then the kids turn into laughing elephants and soon everyone is laughing...at least for a few minutes before Mom (aka Fun Crusher) decided to try to reestablish order at the table.
So, another moment where I am reminded that our children are such a blessing and can make us laugh even during moments when we feel like we don't have a laugh left in us. I know this will all work out and we will figure out a different path when faced with a life filled with roadblocks, but the detours are stressful, and at times depressing, and we are so thankful to have the distractions of our sweet little comedians and our greatest little blessings.

Three Little Words

On Saturday as we were getting ready to board our flight at the airport, Ryan told Aunt Sharon, "I love you!" This was the first time he has ever said it. I am constantly amazed by the differences in my children. Kaity had literally been speaking sentences for months by the time she was Ryan's age and he still has very few words, and no sentences. Unless you count Elmo followed by various animal noises. It is from an Elmo book that he "reads" to me. Telling me in his own way that Elmo is a monkey, or an elephant, or a lion. But he said, "I LOVE YOU!"
Since then he says it numerous times throughout the day. To Bill on Skype, to Kaity, to me, to the dog. The sweetest was this morning when I was taking Kaity to school and she said, "Mommy, I love you." And Ryan said, "I love you." Then Kaity laughed excitedly and told Ryan, "I love you, Buddy." And he said, "I love you," right back to her. SO SWEET!
This evening we were rushing around the house to get ready to leave for a short notice doctor's appointment and I was bathing the kids so I wouldn't have to do it when we returned at (or potentially after) their bedtime. I scooped Ryan out of the tub, dried him off, and hugged him tight and he said, "I love you" and gave me a kiss. I slowed down (just a shade or we would have been really late) to enjoy one of those fleeting moments of motherhood before I blinked and it was gone. I truly think the way he sings those three words in his sweetest baby voice is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!

A High Five

I caught something out of the corner of my eye yesterday, and in one of my "good mommy" moments I decided to forgo scolding and try to get the story. It was out of the corner of my eye after all.

Me: Kaitlyn, what happened? (Add the sound effects of Ryan crying in the background)

Kaitlyn: (Thinking really hard about the best way to answer this question...I am telling you, I could see the little wheels turning). I tried to give brother a high five, but it was too hard. (Said in her most innocent voice)

Me: Really?! You were giving your brother a high five?

Kaitlyn: Yes! (Hesitantly, but excited that I might actually buy this line)

Me: On the back of his head?!

Kaitlyn: No. (Said in defeat)

Yup, that is what I saw out of the corner of my eye. Kaity hitting her brother on the head. The turkey sure is creative though. See what I get for giving her the benefit of the doubt? A funny story! :)

Plans to Tri

Someone once told me that one way to work through a deployment is to set personal goals while you are apart. Since Bill wasn't going to be gone long enough for this past deployment to need to do something big, I tucked this little nugget of information away to retrieve when needed. Thinking that a year is a really long time, I have been thinking about setting a pretty big goal. One that would take me a while to reach.
Many, many years ago during our first year of marriage and our first assignment at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, I had a friend who did a triathlon. Our group of neighborhood friends went to cheer her on, and I decided that one day I would really like to complete a triathlon.
Fast forward to late spring/early summer of last year when a bunch of us gals were sitting around talking about ways to make the 4-5 month deployment easier and a friend who has been through a deployment before made the personal goal suggestion. Most of the couples strive to loose weight together or to eat healthier or to become better organized. I went home and thought about something I wanted to accomplish. I don't really need to lose weight (maybe just a few pounds), I eat pretty healthfully (most of the time), and I am a pretty organized person (again, most of the time). Then a thought struck me...I could accomplish the goal of completing a triathlon! Okay, I'll do it. I'll start training when he leaves, and find one we could go to together as a family when he returns and he and the kids can cheer me on. Great plan! I'll definitely have enough time to train. Perfect! A month or two later we find out about Korea and we weren't sure if Bill was even going to be deploying. In all of the hubbub of the air force madness, I didn't really think about it again. Too busy focusing on what the next six months would entail for us.
Fast forward again to November when I was visiting one of my best friends on my trip back home and she told me she had recently decided to start training for a triathlon. I told her that it was something I had always wanted to do and that maybe I would look into doing one with her if I ended up moving back home. Over the next couple of months I thought about this off and on, but not very seriously. After Bill left, I decided I was definitely in need of a great distraction. I also decided I needed to focus my energy on something I could control instead of the stress of the things I couldn't control. Being apart, single parenting, not knowing where we will be moving next, selling a house. You see where I am headed. The loony bin if I don't act quickly. I started looking up events both near here and back home that might be feasible options. I came across an event the last weekend in May back home. The timing with my plans of being home was perfect and it was a mini tri. 200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and a mile a half run. I could do that, no problem! I would start small and work my way up. So I e-mailed my friend to see if she wanted to do it with me. When she wrote back, she told be she was already registered for the sprint distance event the next day and told me that I could do the sprint distance and that I should do it with her. It is ONLY a 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and a 5K run. She has a lot more faith in me than I have in myself. :)
After doing a bit of research later that day, I thought, I can do this...maybe. I have plenty of time to train. If I can work it out with the kids. I just bought a new bike in May. A Wal-Mart special. I have swimming experience. A long, long time ago. I have done a 5K before. Sure...I can do this. Does it sound like I am trying to convince myself? Maybe it is because I am. ;D Just kidding. I am pretty sure I can do each by itself, maybe even the swim and run together, but don't have any experience on a bike. Aside from the leisurely rides with the family. It will be a great challenge and I am looking forward to it. I committed myself to doing it a few weeks ago, not monetarily (which is the biggest commitment), but I did start telling people I was going to do it. And I told Michelle I was in a couple of weeks ago, so I am definitely committed. Intimidated, but committed nonetheless.
So, I start training tomorrow. I have 14 weeks to train. By the time I cross this off my bucket list, we will be more than a third of the way through this long year. Plus, I will have done something that I have thought would be really cool to do someday. My someday is May 31, 2009! Bill hasn't decided on a personal goal just yet, but I am sure he will think of one. He won't let me show him up. Game on baby!

A Funny Memory

One of my best friends recently reminded me of a funny story from when Kaity was a little bit younger than Ryan. When I was talking to her Ryan brought me a piece of slobbery dog food in his chubby little hand and was chomping on one in his mouth as well. He does this quite frequently and, while I am disgusted by it, I have gotten used to it. He gets a certain look when he has it in his mouth. It is a cute, funny, defiant little look that begs for attention. I was on the phone with a very dear friend in Italy and it had been a while since our last phone call, so she had my (nearly) undivided attention, leaving Ryan to find creative ways to get my attention once he was finished playing by himself. I asked him what he had in his mouth, did the finger sweep, pulled out a piece of dog food, and exclaimed, "GROSS!" before telling him we don't eat dog food...again. Angel asks me if I am going to call the ER. I laugh that exasperated, head shaking, eye rolling laugh and say, "No, he does it all the time." She laughs in return and says, "You don't remember that?" Apparently (I do remember this now), the first time Kaity ate dog food, somewhere around a year old, I actually called the emergency room to see if it was something I should worry about. I think it was after the Pediatric Clinic was closed, but it was the ER nonetheless, making the story even funnier. The difference between the first and the second child. The nurse laughed and told me it was fine, but to make sure I brought her in if she started barking. I totally forgot about this and was so thankful that Angel reminded me that I promised I would blog the memory. Maybe that is why my children like to pretend they are dogs, too much dog food in their diet.

Snow Day!

Happy girl, happy dog!

The Tuesday after Bill left, the weather forecasters were predicting a couple of inches of snow. While I was hopeful and felt a little bit like a kid on Christmas Eve, I wasn't holding my breath or staying awake for it. I woke up to find quite a dusting of snow outside my window! This Florida girl was SO excited! Kaitlyn was excited too. She woke up to use the restroom and couldn't go back to sleep. She ran into my room and said, "Mommy, something really great happened. IT SNOWED!" While I was enjoying my first cup of coffee, while checking e-mail and facebook, she ran into her room, got dressed, and snuck outside (I heard her go out the back door). I peeked outside and found her, almost dressed for the cold, but not quite. Before I could get the camera ready, she had already gone down the slide and gotten her jeans soaking wet. She was too excited about the snow to care about the cold. I joined her outside with the snow gear and played with her for a little while making and throwing snowballs and making a snowman while Ryan was still asleep, then we came inside to warm up with hot chocolate in front of the fire.

Busted!

Catching snowflakes.

When Ryan woke up, he ran straight to the window (Kaity spilled the beans about the snow) and was also very excited. His wonder was so sweet to watch. They were both really excited about the newly fallen snow and the snow flurries that were coming down pretty steadily while they stood in front of the window in awe. Fortunately, Ryan was happy watching the snow from the warmth of the indoors for a little while.

Decorating her snowman.

Kaity's friend Meghan came over for lunch and we built another snowman and the girls had a snowball fight with the fence, threw snowballs playfully at each other, and decorated their snowmen. JD loved the snow as well. It has been quite some time since he has played in the snow and he really seemed to be reliving his puppy days. The snow on the ground didn't last long, in fact it had all melted shortly after lunch, but it was a wonderful day of excitement and fun when we needed it most. The Lord provides!Throwing snowballs.

Our New Puppy

I think I may have scared the you-know-what out of Bill and made the rest of you wonder if I have lost my mind. No, we didn't get a real puppy, but Ryan starting pretending to be an animal today. He got down on all fours in the kitchen and started crawling around and barking like a dog. He got a kick out of himself and would crawl around the apartment barking and laughing, making sure that Kaity was watching his antics. She was, and was impressed that he picked up this newly acquired skill, undoubtedly learned from her. It isn't the first thing, nor will it be the last. At least this was one of the cute things!