Kelly K

Buddies

2012-01-18T22:34:00.001Z

Watching The Goofy Movie with Zeus after preschool.

Good-night, PJ

2012-01-10T03:46:00.000Z

Caleb has never been huge into stuffed animals, but recently they've become more popular. I think this started this summer when he won an ugly stuffed cow at the state fair that he named Pomas. He's constantly reminding Pomas to mind his Ps & Qs and generally does a good job of parenting that inanimate bovine!

Recently the new found enthusiasm for stuffed animals has found its way to bedtime, where he is often joined by upwards of five different plush friends in his tiny, toddler-sized bed.
However, nothing pulls my heart strings quite like when he makes room for PJ.

PJ has been my teddy bear since third grade and has been around the world with me. I still remember when my grandmother gave him to me. Perhaps at 8 years old I should have been on my way to outgrowing stuffed animals, but I knew PJ was special, and not just because he was a Heart to Heart Bear. He was my buddy, my friend.

Growing up, my dad used to do this bit called Talking PJ Time, which came with its very own theme song. He would hold his hand behind PJ's neck and make him "talk." Of course we knew it was Dad talking, but we loved Talking PJ Time and would beg for it!

I'm tempted to speculate about PJ's place in my life at that time as I was quickly leaving childhood and heading for the scary pre-teen years. But to be honest, that feels a bit too serious for the affection I had for PJ. And the fact of the matter is, I've never been the most mature person and was a bit of a late bloomer in many ways.

Pop psychology aside, I just loved that bear. And still do. So to see Caleb cuddled up with the bear that held all my secrets brings a smile to my face. Good-night, Caleb. Good-night, PJ.

I Have Wall Tracks

2012-01-08T03:11:00.000Z

Caleb is at a funny age. He's hyper aware of his age now, and really wears it as a badge of coolness. At his preschool, the kids "sign in" by putting a laminated picture of themselves on a chart on the wall. And they will kick up some serious fuss if someone has already taken the number fours spot on the chart. Because FOUR is the COOLEST number, obviously!

While cars have always been cool with Caleb, suddenly he's convinced that none are cooler than Hot Wheels. He'll even flip a car over to show you the logo, like it's a Hallmark cards from about ten or so years ago! But you know what's even cooler than owning Hot Wheels? Having Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, of course!

Wall Tracks, for those of you who don't have kids this age, are attached to the wall using Command Strips that can be easily removed when the kid outgrows the toy or you move or whatever. It's a nice way to give him a race track that literally has no footprint in his room.

He's super proud of his Hot Wheels Wall Tracks he got for his birthday last year. In fact, if he introduces himself to you, he'll say, "I'm Caleb. I'm four. I have Hot Wheels Wall Tracks."

I'm always particularly amused when this is the beginning of his conversation with a girl. 'Cause I'm fairly sure most four year old girls don't care what kind of race tracks he has. But boy, he sure does think they make him a big deal!

Of course, I'm his mom. So I already think he's a pretty big deal!

Hello, 2012!

2012-01-02T03:36:00.000Z

I'm pretty good at breaking resolutions, as I suspect most people are. So while the type A/box-checking side of me really wants to set a goal for blogging a certain number of posts a week or month, I'm going to refrain from setting myself up for failure. But I do want to commit to being a more consistent blogger this year. (Of course, that's a pretty low goal, considering I blogged less than 30 times in 2011. But, hey! Low standards are better than no standards...right?!)

We spent the last hours of 2011 with family, and that is a great way to ring in the new year, if you ask me. Caleb and his cousins ran the house and wore each other out, which was very convenient for us adults! All three kiddos were down by 9! Of course, we made sure they got in some minor firework fun before we sent them off to the land of quiet movie time.

A year ago today, we boarded a plane in London Heathrow and said good-bye to our time in England. I've been thinking this week about what that means. When you've been somewhere a year, people stop asking, "Where did you come from?" After about a year, you've been somewhere long enough that your not-so-distant past becomes less relevant. You can't pull the New Kid Card anymore. And while you can't really say you are "from" your new location, your old location is used less and less to identify and classify you. The new location becomes more and more a part of the fabric of your every day life.

It's been a good year. I started a new job working for the Army, which has been a lot of fun! Tommy's kicking butt in the new avenue of his job. Caleb has learned to dress himself (finally!), and is learning to write his name. Zeus and Zoey survived the trans-Atlantic relocation, and Zeus recently discovered the trick to getting into the new kitchen trash can. (Drat!) We bought a house! And we survived one more move.

It's been a year of change, which was challenging at many times. As many times as I've moved as a military brat-turned military wife, I tend to think I can organize the chaos and stress out of the transition. Unfortunately, you can't do that. (Or at least I can't. Yet. But it won't stop me from trying next time!) But in spite of all the change this year, it was a good one.

Here's hoping 2012 will be even better! So from our family to yours, Happy New Year!

Festive Fun

2011-12-30T03:28:00.000Z

Took Caleb and his cousins to The Lights Before Christmas display at the Riverbanks Zoo tonight. Quite frankly, it's a bit exhausting dragging around a two year old and two four year olds at 7 pm, but they had a great time!

To be honest, it doesn't much matter what we do or where we take them. They always have fun when they are together!

Are We There Yet?

2011-12-24T05:23:00.001Z

I really do enjoy the Christmas season, but boy is it exhausting! Between the shopping, wrapping, parties, and my own self-induced baking mania, I tend to push myself to exhaustion. I have got to get a game plan together much earlier next year if I want to keep up any sort of momentum and still maintain a shred of sanity.

Apparently sanity (and sleep) were not that important this year. Instead, sugar was the priority. I can't explain it. Sometimes I just get bit by the baking bug, and I just can't shake it till I just about burn my finger tips off in molten chocolate or on the edge of hot baking sheets. Although it was far less actual baking this year (only one batch of cookies, not featured in this post at all!) and much more treat making.

Caleb assisted me with my last batch of Oreo truffles tonight. We ended up making three batches of them. It just felt right! He also helped me with the buckeyes a few nights ago. I'm really enjoying 4. He's so interested in being helpful and being a big boy. It's a lot of fun!

Having said that, my kitchen mojo has completely run dry. I'm so glad to be done tonight. In addition to the Oreo truffles, we did three batches of buckeyes, two batches of gingerbread popcorn, three batches of cinnamon sugar roasted pecans, and two pecan pies.

I say "we" in the loosest sense, obviously. Caleb was interested in helping for about five minutes, and Tommy was more interesting in taste testing than anything!

(I wanted to do Kahlua spiked pecans, but since these will be up for grabs by as many kids as adults, I opted to leave even that tiny bit of alcohol out. Safety first, kids!)

So with that, I'm hanging up my apron for the week. I finished wrapping tonight, and the Christmas shopping is officially done. I'm ready to sit back, relax, and "enjoy the show" for the next three days.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Get Your Yum On

2011-12-21T02:55:00.003Z

I'm in the throes of holiday treat making. (It's less about baking this year, and more about goodies.) Yesterday I finished up my fourth batch of Gingerbread Popcorn. I shared a good bit of it with my coworkers yesterday and today. The rest of the batch is coming with us to my in laws this weekend.

Tonight was all about my husband's favorite holiday treat, buckeyes. Although time consuming, they are relatively easy, and totally worth every second of effort.

In the end, a double batch yeilded nearly 125 buckeyes that are taking up every inch of space in my fridge. And I'm still worried it may not be enough to last us through Christmas!

(Of course, it doesn't help that I can't stop eating them already...)

Holiday Fun

2011-12-18T20:43:00.000Z

It appears that it was a little too ambitious of me to go from no blogging for 11 months to trying to blog daily. It's proven to be an especially difficult goal for me during this hectic holiday season, and the added complication of camera woes did not help! Be that as it may, here's a few pics to try and compensate for the many days I've missed of the December Photo Project!

Today Caleb and I went to visit Santa in the nearby shopping center. Caleb was very excited! I wondered how he would do when we actually got there. In the past, Caleb's enthusiasm turns to anxiety when close-up with a childhood icon.

Of course he's on the Nice List!

But Caleb did great! He told Santa right off the bat, "I'm four!" Then he told Santa he wants a doughnut for Christmas. I think Santa can probably accomodate that wish! After we left Santa's workshop, Caleb told me, "I was so brave! I didn't even cry!"

Aftewards, we headed towards the "town center" of the shopping area, where they have a little road train that rides through on the weekends. While waiting for the train, I snapped a few pics of Caleb by the huge Christmas tree they have there.

This is my JC Penny pose.

I brushed my teeth extra shiney just for this pic!

Caleb loved the train ride, of course! It wasn't our first time riding the land train, but he never gets tired of it. He would wave at people and shout, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" like he was the fat man himself!

I own this train.

It's been a very busy Christmas season. I think I was so focused on hosting Thanksgiving for the first time that I just totally forgot to prepare myself for Christmas, so it's felt very rushed this year. I HAVE to start shopping/wrapping earlier next year!

But it's nice to be able to take a break from all the craziness to enjoy a little silliness with my most favorite reindeer of all!

DPP Day 9: "I have a playground in my back yard!"

2011-12-12T02:43:00.000Z

So this is the final result of the playset we had installed on Thursday for Caleb's Christmas present this year.

Now to finish sodding the back half of the yard and laying some mulch for the play area. Boy, this homeowner business is never done!

DPP Day 8: Holidays in the Office

2011-12-12T02:34:00.002Z

We're having a cubicle decorating contest this year. While winng isn't super important to me, I do tend to geek out when it comes to theming up something.
This is my cubicle as of last week. I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve, but I'm not sure if I've got any remaining motivation!

What you can't see is the little, three-foot white Christmas tree with blue and silver ornmaents to the right of this picture, or the icicles hanging from the bookshelves in front of my cubicle. Now to find more snow roll and window snow spray...

DPP Day 7: Anticipation

2011-12-12T02:17:00.003Z

It wasn't my intent to go AWOL on the December Photo Project so early in the game. Remember my camera woes? Well, they continue.

I can't find the charger for my old camera that I'm using right now. I remember seeing it shortly after we moved into our house in January, but now that I need it, it's nowhere to be found. Nuts. so I've ordered a new one from Amazon and have been waiting on that for a few days now. Hopefully it will be hear soon!

Until its arrival, I have finally decided to get smart on my smart phone. So here commences blogging from my Android. Please pardon any typos. And please forgive me as my pictures get seriously low res!

Okay, enough preamble! Here's a photo I grabbed Thursday. Caleb is getting a playset for the backyard for Christmas this year, but it had to be installed early. Unfortunately, due to some scheduling issues, we arrived home about two hours before it was complete.

I tried to talk Caleb into helping me decorate the tree, which we had just put up the night before, but he wasn't terribly interested in that. Instead, he pulled up a kitchen chair to the window and watched the progress. Roughly every two minutes, he'd announce, "I think they're almost done, Mommy!" It was a long wait.

When the guys finally did finish, it was dark. Fortunately, they were kind enough to leave their flood lights on for a few minutes while Caleb ran around to check it out. The sqeals and giggles told me everything I needed to know! :)

DPP Day 6: MaMaw and Me

2011-12-07T03:13:00.002Z

This was an attempt to grab a picture of the adorable new headband I was sporting today. While I never grabbed a decent shot of the headband, I did manage to see something else in this shot.

That's my grandmother, MaMaw, on the left. My dad's extravagant and fantastic mother.

Whenever we would come to town, she would take us on MaMaw Days. Just me and my brother and my grandmother, out for the day. This usually involved a trip to Chuck E. Cheese and Toys R'Us. We'd wander around the store for ages, debating what to bring home. It seemed unfathomable that she would just let us pick a toy, just because.
I also remember when she remodeled her kitchen. It was shockingly gold and over the top, the way only MaMaw could pull off. It felt so glamorous, just like her. She love a bit of sparkle.
She passed away when I was in high school, so I never got the chance to know her as an adult. I wish she was still around so I could hear stories about my dad and his brother misbehaving as kids. While I may not have inherited quite the level of class MaMaw had, she certainly passed on her appreciation of things that sparkle and shine to me.

I miss my MaMaw. It's nice to be reminded of her from time to time, especially this time of year.

DPP Day 2: Breakfast With Caleb

2011-12-06T02:11:00.001Z

Caleb is not the best at meals. I mean, he's great at eating. He's not picky and has a good appetite. But sitting still long enough to eat an entire meal is difficult. More often than not, he is joined at the table by toys of his. This is a habit I probably need to break, but it keeps him at the table, even if not seated the entire time.

Like the Nutella mustache? I do. Very dastardly villain, if you ask me. Caleb is joined by RPM, No Stall, and Lightning McQueen (of course!)

DPP Day 4: Little Helper

2011-12-05T02:20:00.000Z

We began painting our kitchen and living room yesterday, with the notion that we could accomplish it in a day. Turns out, not so much. We finally finished around 2 o'clock this afternoon. Hooray!

The trickiest part was keeping Caleb occupied. I played more than one game of hide and seek in which my seeking wasn't as earnest as it should have been. Fortunately, he's at an age where he thinks the point of hide and seek is to eventually jump out and try to scare someone, so he wasn't too concerned that I never found him.

My little helper insisted on being a part of the action, so whenever possible, we tried to include him. In this particular shot, he is painting a monster, in case you were wondering. :)

Pretty pleased with the results, so I'll share those as well. :)

No Christmas tree yet. Need to get one! The eternal battle of real vs. fake rages on.

Again, pretty pleased with the results. And pretty knackered, too. This might call for an early bed time!

DPP Day 3: Tape It Up, Chris

2011-12-05T02:12:00.002Z

Tape It Up, Chris, a photo by kellyangelo on Flickr.

This was taken with the intention of being yetserday's DPP post. But since we didn't get to bed till about 1 am due to a loooong day of painting the kitchen and living room, blogging fell be the way side.

DPP Day 2: Mr. Fix It

2011-12-03T03:30:00.001Z

It's probably hard to see, but there's a hammer in one pocket, a ruler in the other, and a wrench in his hand.

With any luck, he may have inherited the handy man gene my father-in-law posses in spades. It seems to have skipped a generation with my husband, who can manage some basic repairs, but prefers to pay a professional with anything serious.

But my father-in-law can fix anything, as Caleb is quick to tell you. He's fixed things we thought were impossible to fix. I wish I had a brain that could take something apart, find what's wrong, and put it back together. My brain simply doesn't work that way. But if something ever breaks in the house, Caleb is the first to say, "Papa can fix it!"

And you know what? Papa can!

December Photo Project, Day 1

2011-12-02T02:17:00.001Z

Well, this is a terrible confession to make. Day 1 of the December Photo Project, and I can't find my dang camera. Looked all over it for it this evening, but no luck. I'm sure it's probably somewhere super obvious, like right in front of my face, but for the life of me, I can't find it.

So instead, I'm going to throw up a picture from last week.

Caleb taking a walk with his Papa, aunt, cousin and dad. They had been fishing and decided to take a quick walk across the street to see if there wer any alligators out. No luck on either the fish or alligator front, but Caleb didn't seem to mind. He was just happy to be hanging with family!

December Photo Project

2011-12-01T02:44:00.004Z

In an attempt to resuscitate this very dead blog of mine, I'm going to join the December Photo Project that I read about on my friend Renae's blog, The Grand.

I'll preface this by saying I am not a professional photographer, nor do I own a fancy camera. In fact, my newer camera died after one too many pictures in the rain at Disney World last month. Rest in peace, Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3.

So I've moved back to my handy Nikon Coolpix S51. Just a hot pink little point-and-shoot held together with some electical tape where I've dropped it a few too many times.

Wow. I am not kind to my cameras. It's not on puprose, I assure you. I'm just clutzy by nature. It drives my husband crazy. (As my dad might say, "It's a short drive!") All that to say, don't expect artsy pics from this here humble (and recently silent) blog. I just want to capture some memories this month and restart my creative engine.

So as a bit of a teaser, here is a pre-DPP photo to get this party started.

We hosted Thanksgiving this year for the first time ever. I was pretty stoked because we finally have a house with living space large enough for a feast of this size. Earlier this year, we bough some really grown up peices of furniture for this, our first formal dining room. So to host my in-laws for turkey day was a pretty big deal, and I was quite happy with how everything turned out (even if the corn casserole was late to the party!)

All right! Let's get this party started!

The New Adventures of Old Kelly

2011-01-02T23:03:00.003Z

We're here! We've made it to South Carolina in one Peirce and relatively unscathed.

Despite my anxiety for Caleb's behavior during the international leg of the flight, he was a complete rock star. About an hour into the flight, he settled in for a good two-hour long nap.

He watched Aladdin on the small screen in the back of seat. But since that was the only kids movie playing during the flight, we brought out my laptop and he watched The Goofy Movie for a bit. He also did a bit of coloring and reading, but mostly we played with the cars he brought along.

The worst part of the trip was the Washington Dulles Airport. That has to be one of the least efficient US airports I've visit, especially in regards to processing international flights. The baggage claim area before custom was ridiculous! There were not nearly enough baggage carousels, too many people in too small a room, and it just took way too long to get our luggage.

When we arrived in South Carolina, Tommy's mom and brother were waiting for us. Caleb had a shy moment, but quickly warmed up to telling his Nana about the cars he brought with him.

When we got to my in-laws house, we found out that Santa had made quite a substantial delivery for Caleb in South Carolina.

After he opened his spoils, Caleb took some time to acquaint his Papa with his new cars and trucks.

Today Caleb got to try out his new Mongoose four-wheeler. I'm telling you, the kid is in heaven!

He's having a blast getting to know his cousin Krista! She was born after our last trip to the States as a family, and he's thrilled to have someone smaller to boss around.

It's been a fun first twenty-four hours back in the States. The jet lag has been rearing its ugly head now and again, but we've managed to stay up...so far!

Tomorrow we'll go out to see our house and begin the car and phone shopping. It's equal parts exciting and exhausting to be starting all over again. Having spent so much time thinking about it and preparing for it, though, it's nice to finally get this party started!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T23:00:00.003Z

Happy New Year!

It's been a fantastic year...heck a great four years. I'm tempted to wax sentimental, but to be honest, there's been more than enough of that around here lately!

So instead I'll show you our makeshift fridge from our hotel room in London. We have a couple of bottles of cider (one Bulmer's pear, one Kopparberg mixed fruit) hanging in a bag from our window on the second floor, ready for midnight consumption!

Except we probably won't make it that long. :)

If you've been tagging along my blogging adventures for the whole past four years (mom!) or if you're new to the party, thanks for reading and commenting and being a part of the fun!

Here's to a great 2011. Can't wait to see what it has in store!

Ode to Lil

2010-12-29T22:05:00.003Z

It goes without saying that the hardest part of moving is leaving good friends. Even when you know you'll see them again, losing them as a part of your regular life isn't easy.

This is Caleb's best bud Lily.

She's been his friend since he was 1 month old and she was 11 months old. They didn't know they were friends at the time, but they soon figured it out.

For a while, they didn't really know how to play together, so mostly they just hung out and babbled at each other.

Once they got a bit bigger, though, they liked to go on adventures together. Sometimes they were local adventures, like to the river in downtown Thetford on a sunny afternoon.

Ely was another local favorite from the time they were babies until they became the big kids they are today.

Other times, we'd go a bit father, like to a proper beach!

Sometimes we'd go for a while without seeing Lily. But as soon as we did, Caleb was ready with a big hug for her.

Or sometimes just a hand to hold.

Caleb knows he's moving to South Carolina soon. And he knows that Lily is moving, too. But I'm sure he doesn't quite grasp that he's not going to be able to go over to Lily's house any time soon. I'm sure he isn't aware that she won't be in his classroom at his day care any more.

His whole little world is about to shift and get toppled upside down.

He's young and resilient, and I know he'll recover. At the same time, my mom heart hurts for my little guy. To lose all that is familiar is hard. To lose the familiar comfort of regular contact with your best friend in the process is heart breaking.

All the same, I'm grateful for the three years of friendship he's banked with Lil. Fortunately she'll be moving close to some of my family in the not-so-distant future, so I know we'll see her and her family again.

And I'm glad for that. 'Cause she's a keeper. :)

Mental Packing

2010-12-26T19:58:00.005Z

As our final days in England draw closer, I find myself grasping at any tangible item I feel will give me a connection to our time here. It's strange to think soon England will be a memory and not my daily life. So as I pass something I want to remember, I pull out my camera or my debit card and make sure I have a piece of it to take with me. It's as if I'm desperately trying to stuff every last memento and memory into a mental suitcase so I can pull them out later when I'm homesick for England.

That was why purchasing this silver plated tea service from one of our local antique dealers felt terribly important. When else will I have a chance to purchase an authentic English tea service from the 1860s? I needed to have something physical, something I could reach out and grab to help me remember the importance of a nice cuppa tea.

It's also why I purchased a silly little hair clip covered in feathers today while wandering through Bury St Edmunds in search of good Boxing Day sales. One of my English coworkers had a lovely little feathery hair clip during our Christmas party that I adored, and she advised me that I must not leave England without a bit a plumage! I'm not sure she would have envisioned this hot pink piece of fluff, but by golly I love it! I have no idea what I'll where it with or what occasion will justify a bit of plumage, but when duty calls, I'll be prepared!

It's why I was thrilled when my friend Robin gave me this gorgeously tacky mug commemorating the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Are you kidding me?! This thing is beautifully ugly, and I can't wait to drink tea out of it and remember all the media hype from their engagement.

It's also why I took this picture of a hedge in a little town called Flempton, which lies on the A1101 between RAF Mildenhall and Bury St Edmunds. A proud part of my military heritage comes from the fact that my mom and dad were actually stationed at RAF Lakenheath and lived in Mildenhall village when I was born. I had a blast taking mom and dad around when they came to visit to see what they would remember. And this hedge is something they remembered well because they flipped their VW bug (I beleive) into these hedges on a slippery day many years back (pre-Kelly.)

It's also why I took a picture of our bizarre laundry set up in our house. For some reason, even though it was a brand new house, the builders chose not to include a way to vent a dryer. Most of our neighbors opted to put their dryers out in the garages, and some of the locals bought condenser dryers, which are quite frankly hard to explain. We vented our dryer out the kitchen window every week. Beleive me, it's as big a pain in the butt as you'd think.

It's also why I grabbed this picture advocating dualing the A-11. There is a stretch of the A-11 that's nearly ten miles long which is a single carriage way (one lane each direction.) It's a dual carriage way (two lanes in each direction) on every other part of the A-11, but for some reason it's taken ages to get this stretch taken care of, and the congestion it causes can be insane, particularly on a Friday night.

On the one hand, I'm glad to be letting go of the laundry set up and traffic drama. On the other hand, they were instrumental in shaping our experiences here, so I don't want to forget them all together. As much as I want to hold on to the great memories, I also want to remember the things that made life in England a little challenging at times.

Because I hope in doing so, it will help to ground my memories of England. I want to hold on to them to remind myself life in England wasn't all tea and castles. As most people do, I have a tendency to reminisce on the past through rose colored glasses. As lovely as it will be to remember the great experiences I've had, it's as much a part of my history to remember the ways in which it was difficult to adjust to life in England--the things that reminded us that no matter how much we loved shopping off base or exploring the local area, we are still irrevocably and fundamentally American.

So I'm putting all my little bits and bobs into my mental suitcase. The good, the bad, and the ugly mug. The time for reminiscing is just about done. It's now time to look forward to the next big adventure and all the challenges and excitement that will bring. I need to put these things away to truly be able to focus on what's on the horizon and to enjoy becoming reaquainted with the things we've missed about living in the States.

But it's nice to know that when I need it, my little mental suitcase is ready to be unpacked and incorperated in small ways into the next chapter of our lives.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T21:55:00.001Z

From our room in billeting (military hotel) to your home, Merry Christmas.

Thetford

2010-12-21T19:45:00.007Z

Just north of the Suffolk/Norfolk border is a cute little town called Thetford.

It is a quintessential English town with a busy high street, a weekly market, and a sweet little river running through it.

Evidence of Thetford's unique history are woven throughout the streets of the town. Just off of Rampart Way is Castle Hill, which proudly boasts being the largest medieval earthwork in Britian. Used in the Iron Age and during the Norman period, the man-made hill housed a timber fort or castle, and the ramparts around it served as protection.

Not far from Castle Hill are the ancient priory ruins. An important monastary in its time, it was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monastaries during Henry VIII's reign.

Up the road is Kings House Gardens, where Caleb and I would take regular walks during the spring.

There are three medieval churches in town, as well.

And, of course, there is the Thetford Forest to explore.

More imporantly, to us anyway, Thetford was our home for the past four years.

It was along Tottington Close that we'd push Caleb along on his first tricycle. Many summer afternoons were spent blowing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk along our road that wasn't really a road.

Friday nights were curry nights, and our favorite take out place was Red Pepper. Sadly, before we left, Red Pepper closed their doors. Rest in Peace, Red Pepper! Your emerald curry was amazing!

Of course, not all of my memories of Thetford are fond. We spent countless Friday nights stuck in traffic jams on the A-11 where it turns into a single carriage way through Elveden. Dual this road now!

There were times I wished I lived closer to (or on) base. It certainly would have made life a lot easier and daily transit a lot quicker. It would have been nice to be centrally located to the hub of overseas military life in many ways.

By and large, though, I'm grateful for the experiences we had living off base. I wouldn't be so foolish as to claim that we were immersed in English culture. Sadly, our lives did still revolve around the base to some extent. But I'm thankful for what little immersion we were able to experience.

This week we handed over the keys to our house and said goodbye to our neighbors. Although I have been know to moan about the parking arrangements and laundry situation in our old house, I will miss it. It was the home where Tommy finished his bachelor's degree and I began and finished my master's degree. It was Caleb's first home. We celebrated Caleb's first of many things there...first birthday, first Christmas, first steps, first words.

It's hard to say good-bye to Thetford. I've really enjoyed our time there. I hope I'm able to find as many adventures in Columbia, albiet of a different nature.

The good news is, Thetford ain't going anywhere. It calls itself the Ancient Capitol of East Anglia. Who knows? Maybe we'll be back to visit again some day.

Until the, thanks for everything, Thetford!

The Best of Times

2010-12-20T22:06:00.002Z

I'm sleeping in my snowball.

Less than two weeks till we leave England, and this snowball keeps picking up momentum. It's not a bad thing. It's the natural way things go. And although it's been stressful, it hasn't been a bad move, so far. Not everything has lined up exactly the way I'd like, but then again, I'm a bit of a perfectionist sometimes. Enough things have lined up closely enough, that I'm pretty comfortable about this move.

And the snowball keeps picking up steam.

On this side of the ocean, we are winding down. Finishing up work, training our replacements, attending our own farewell lunches, hugging people when we run into them because we might not run into them again before we go. There are checklist items that still remain, but it's hard to slow down this kind of momentum. Things will get done.

On the other side of the ocean, things seem to be falling into place. I hesitate to stay that, because I know there are so many variables that can still complicate matters. But, so far, so good. The seeds we've been planting seem to be sprouting tiny, delicate buds. There's no promise in those buds, I am hopeful.

It's hard not to reflect on our arrival here in England four years ago as we wrap up our time. Somehow, the beginning and the end feel a lot a like, although they are so different.

One of our last nights in our house, I was staring up at the bare walls and ceilings as I tried to fall asleep, and I remember our first night in the house. I remembered laying on our mattress on the ground (because our box spring wouldn't fit up our narrow stairs) and thinking, "This doesn't feel like home." I remember an almost suffocating sense of homesickness pressing down on my chest, and wondering if I'd ever feel like this house was our home.

Last week, I looked up at the walls where there was once furniture and pictures and mementos from our life, and I thought, "This doesn't look like the home we spent four years building." Back to the basics. Back to essentials. The important things are here: my husband, my kid, my health, and the promise of a new adventure. But it's hard to lose your home, even when you've been preparing for it since Day One. Even when you've know all along it was just a temporary home.

The beginning and the end magnify the differences between English and American life. I was amazed at how slowly things seem to move over here. Setting up Internet took over three weeks. We couldn't establish our satellite TV until we had a land line, which also took a few weeks. And as we leave, I'm reminded again of how long it takes to get things done. Thirty days to cancel my phone line? How hard is it just to turn it off? Three weeks notice legitimately isn't enough?!

The past few weeks have been hectic with Christmas parties and major moving hurdles. These next two weeks are a little more calm, with more time to reflect and say good-bye. Tomorrow we hand over the keys to our little home on Tottington Close for the last time. We will be officially homeless for a short period.

It's hard to roll all these emotions into this big snowball I'm sleeping in. The excitement of new possibilities and the sadness of losing what's familiar. The appreciation for excessive American options and the loss of these unique travel opportunities. The anticipation of being closer to family and the despair of losing...well, losing England.

It's been the best of times.

And I am grateful.

Just Keep Swimming

2010-11-29T20:05:00.000Z

The countdown till the movers come is on. In the mean time, I've got two lists going. One is of things we need to do. The other is of things I don't want packed.

I have to admit, it's a lot harder coming up with the Do Not Pack List this time. When we packed out in Georgia, we were pretty much done there. We took about a month of leave to visit my family and my in laws, and then left for our new adventure. So when we packed, we packed to leave.

We'll be taking leave this time, but not until we get to the other side. So even though the majority of our stuff is getting packed out next week, we'll still be here for another three and a half weeks or so. During that time, we have two holiday parties to attend and we're both still working. We also have a mostly potty-trained toddler to consider as well, which means lots of changes of clothes and plenty of items to entertain him.

Packing our suitcases is one thing. But I keep thinking of things I don't want packed that I'm making a list of. Things like toilet paper and dish rags and kitchen towels. I've heard stories of movers packing bags of garbage, so I know they'll pack pretty much anything (except items that are not allowed, like cleaning materials.) So as I go through my day, I think, "What am I using that I can't live without?

There's a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks. We're just trying to stay on top of it. I just keep reminding myself that it'll get done, with or without manic organizing. My coworker used to tell me, "The Air Force is a big machine. It's going to keep on rolling, with or without you." That might sound a bit harsh, but it was a good lesson for me to learn. Not just in the Air Force, but in life in general. I'm not the lynch pin in every plan. Most things will happen with or without me. I'd like to think that I can improve some of the processes I'm a part of, but even if I'm not there, chances are, it'll still get done.

I find that very relieving.

So we just keep moving forward. Checking things off of one list and adding things to the other. Trying to stop and enjoy our last few weeks here in the process. Looking forward to a work kids Christmas party this weekend. It was one of the highlights of my holiday season last year, and this year's promises to be amazing, too. The weekend after that is my husband's Christmas party. The weekend after that is my Christmas party. The weekend after that is Christmas. And the weekend after that, we'll be leaving.

Unbelievable. It's so easy to swing from, "I got this!" to "Holy crap! Slow this train down!" in a matter of minutes. In the mean time, don't mind me if I channel Dory to get me through this hectic period.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

The End is Near

2010-11-21T21:09:00.006Z

Holy smokes. We're down to six weeks.

In approximately six weeks, we'll be exchanging pounds for dollars and boarding a plane from London to the east coast of America. It's startling to realize how quickly the end is approaching, even though I've been preparing for it almost since the beginning.

I remember driving through the Thetford Forest the second year I was here thinking, "Some day I'm going to miss all this."

Some day is almost here. And as predicted, I know I will miss it all.

I'll miss the fall colors changing in the forest.
I'll miss being able to take the train just about anywhere on this island.
I'll miss the castles and cathedrals.
I'll miss pretending to be Elizabeth Bennett anytime I walked into a Regency era house.
Shoot, I'll even miss those rock-strewn English beaches that almost never seem to have any sun hanging about.
I'll miss English friends who can brew a proper, good cuppa.
I'll miss the adorable accents on my neighbor kids.
I'll miss Tesco like it's an old friend...and old friend who provided me with interesting flavors of chips and unique types of sweets and very reasonably priced, cute clothes.
I'll miss Norfolk Lavender Farm.
I'll miss LaHogue, a really cool local farm shop that recently introduced me to Breckland Orchard, a really awesome local soft drink producer.
I'll miss downtown Thetford, which has always been a great place to walk the dogs, entertain my kid, grab an ice cream cone or a piece of cake, feed the ducks, and just generally enjoy the hum of English life.
I'll miss greasy fish and chips and greasy kabob take out shops.
I'll miss the many Indian and the sole Thai take away joints in town that regularly delivered to our house on Friday nights.
I'll miss my job, which is been probably the most pleasant surprise in this journey.
I'll miss my military spouse friends, who have been my extended family and solid support being so far from my home.

I'll miss our base, which is truly the first base I've really felt a part of. Sometimes you get super lucky and hit the jackpot in an assignment. And you know what, kids? Mildenhall is the jackpot.

I know a lot of Americans come over here expecting England to be Little America. When it isn't, it's easy to get disappointed and frustrated. And no kidding, moving overseas (even to a country where they speak the same language and have McDonalds and Friends on reruns all the time) is hard. Don't let anyone tell you it isn't.

But if you get stuck in the mentality of mourning America and miss out on the amazing opportunity of living in England and getting stationed at a base with such a cool mission and really great leadership, than you've got no one to blame but yourself when you are miserable. Nobody can make you see how incredible this chance to be here is but yourself. So if you're new (or not-so-new) to England and still find yourself hating it, I'd encourage to you a.) open your eyes, and b.) get out and experience English life for all it's worth.

The next six weeks will be stressful. There's the usual holiday stress of parties holiday shopping. And we're adding to it the stress of preparing to move, packing up, out processing, and living in a hotel over the holidays. In my own mind, I'm also adding the stress of leaving what has turned out to be one of the best assignments of my military dependent life.

Of course, there is the silver lining of returning back to the States: being closer to family and friends, and the ubiquetous food and shopping options. It's not all doom and gloom, surely. But in spite of the rewards on the other side of the ocean, I can't help but begin to mourn a little for the loss of England.

I just have to remind myself not to get so caught up in the stress and sadness that I forget to actually enjoy my last weeks here.

So here's to you, England, you beautiful, overcast country! I'm gonna miss you, old gal!

International Pet Relocation, Part II

2010-11-11T13:12:00.004Z

Once upon a time, I shipped my dogs to the United Kingdom. We were embarking on our four year English adventure, and I couldn't imagine doing it without my fur babies, Zeus and Zoey. So in spite of the complications and cost associated with shipping our pets into the UK (and oowee, it is complicated!), we took the plunge, found a pet shipping service, and met our dogs at Gatwick Airport in London the day after Valentine's Day.

Now that we are wrapping up our English Adventure, it was time to start thinking about getting the Z's back to the US. Since the US has more lenient restrictions on bringing in pets ("They got rabies vaccines? Cool."), I expected to be a bit easier.

As it turns out international pet relocation is no fun no matter how you slice the pie.

Okay, let me retract that statement for a minute. It actually could have been a LOT worse. Most of the anxiety and stress had more to do with all the preparations leading up to the shipping and less to do with the actual shipping itself.

Since I decided to fly back with them myself instead of using a pet shipping service (cheaper, and gives me a chance to house hunt on this side), I had to really up my game, do my research, and make sure all my I's were dotted and T's were crossed.

In spite of my preparation, it seemed a lot of little issues cropped up last minute.

I lost the health certificate my vet issued ten days prior to shipping.
I forgot to get their vaccine card updated with their most recent rabies shot. (Rabies doesn't exist in the UK, so they hadn't had a rabies booster in years.)
The low temps in our final destination (Columbia, SC) was just below the airline threshold of 45 degrees, which meant we needed a cold weather acclimation certificate. But our own vet wouldn't issue one, so we had to go to another vet.
I couldn't find all of the mandatory dog dishes that must be attached to their kennels and had to order some from a UK site and have them overnighted.
I needed to get enough of Zeus' seizure meds to last until we actually move in January so my in laws wouldn't have to worry about it.

And due to my own wired personality, I began to envision every possible thing that could go wrong. What if they won't accept them on the flight? (American Airline's won't book pets as checked baggage until two hours before the flight.) What if our plane was delayed and we missed our connection? What if the customs personnel didn't like the British vaccine card and demanded a rabies certificate? What if I forgot one tiny piece of information and we're stranded in Dallas-Fort Worth? WHAT IF THEY TELL ME TO TAKE MY DOGS BACK TO THE UK?!

I know, I know. I'm a real worry wort when it comes to these things. I plan and plan and still worry that I didn't plan enough. And I give myself pep talks. I try to remind myself that all I can do is prepare. I can't control all the circumstance, just be prepared. I tell myself it's going to be okay.

Unfortunately, my brain doesn't always buy that. I remind myself, "The eyes go where the car goes." (It's a racing metaphor from a book I recently read, The Art of Racing in the Rain. Really good. Go read it!) No point in envisioning the crash, 'cause the eyes go where the car goes. Envision the finish line!

In spite of all my pep talk, I was still a little nervous Wednesday morning when we arrived at Terminal 3 at London Heathrow Airport.

As it turns out, all my preparation paid off. Everything went great! The American Airlines staff were super helpful. One of the BAA (British Airport Authority) security dudes was SUPER awesome. After I checked in the dogs, he took the crates, but let me keep the dogs for about an hour and half before I needed to go get ready to board the plane. So we walked all over Terminal 3, letting them take care of business (yes, I cleaned up after them!), and just letting them get a bit of exercise before they were penned up.

In Dallas, I went through immigrations and then picked up my luggage and the dogs and headed for customs. Everything was smooth there, except the customs lady "confiscated" the two Ziploc bags of dog food I had taped to the top of their crates. No biggie. I just had about a days worth of food in case we got separated at DFW. Take the food, just don't confiscate my pups! The AA desk let me take the dogs for about a ten minute walk again, which I know their bladders appreciated!

They arrived in Columbia safe and healthy and happy to see their Nana (my mother-in-law) who came to pick us up from the airport. We dropped them off with their doggy cousins and Linda and I went to grab some 1 am breakfast at IHOP. (God bless the overnight shift workers at IHOP and their delicious omelets! That tiny puddle hopper from DFW to CAE was gonna charged me $4 for a pack of pretzels! I slept instead.)

The Z's are currently settling into life with my in laws. It didn't take them long to reacquaint themselves with the old dogs and introduce themselves to the new ones. (Yes, there was some bottom sniffing going on.) They seem no worse for the wear and ready to just move on to barking at the neighbor dogs and sleeping all day long.

Over all, it was much better than I could have even hoped for. They were a hit wherever we went. (Well, who doesn't love a dog in a personalized hoodie?! Crazy people, that's who!) They behaved themselves beautifully, and held up fabulously after a ten and a half hour flight to Dallas. (Remind me not to make that flight again. WAY too long. And no personal TVs on that particular plane. Say WHAT?! At least they played new episodes of 30 Rock on the overhead TV!)

Now I can take a deep breath, revel in the relief of having successfully gotten my dogs back to the US, and focus on looking at some houses and cars while I'm here. Good times!

The Big Tower

2010-09-17T23:31:00.009+01:00

For weeks now, Caleb's been saying this exact line, or some version of it: "Guess what, Mommy? I'm going to go to the big tower."

I kept thinking it was something they were doing at school. Maybe a book they were reading? A song they were singing? I couldn't figure out what tower Caleb was talking about. I meant to ask his teacher, but never remembered when I was at his day care.

A few friends have suggesting that maybe he's talking about the air traffic control tower on base. But to be honest, Caleb is almost never on that side of base, so I didn't think that was it.

(P.S. This is totally not my picture. I nicked it from the Mildenhall website, which by the way, was the best in the Air Force last year! Way to go 100 ARW Public Affairs, and let me give credit to Sgt Tracy DeMarco, whose photography skills clearly exceed my own.)

Tonight on the drive home, we passed the Elveden War Memorial on the A11. We pass have passed this giant statue almost every day, often twice a day, for nearly four years now. I always wanted to stop and grab a picture, but for many reasons have never gotten around to it.

However, with a potty training two-year-old, I've found many occasions to stop on the side of the road recently. Not long ago, his need for a roadside restroom found us stopped in the layby next to the memorial, so I took the chance to snap a few pics. Yay! Mission accomplished. :)

Tonight during the usual Friday night stop-and-go on the A11, Caleb pulled out his standard line, "Guess what, mommy? I want to go to the big tower." And I gave my half-listening, "Yeah, baby. That sounds good," response.

He must have picked up my on less-than-enthusiastic response though, because he started freaking out. "I want to go to the big tower! I want to go to the big tower! I want to go to THAT BIG TOWER!" His little finger was clearly pointed at the memorial.

And suddenly, it hit me like a ton of bricks. So that's what he's been talking about all along! Even before we actually stopped there recently, he's been begging to go to the big tower he's passed nearly every darn day of his little life.

I can't even imagine how huge that monument must seem to him.

I remember as a kid going to New Orleans to visit my grandparents on my dad's side. Outside of the house he grew up in, there was a baseball park with a small stadium. My dad would always say how small it seemed to him in comparison to his memories of the place. It seemed strange to me, because it was huge!

Then a few years went by before we could get back to New Orleans to visit. I came back as a teenager and was shocked to discover it wasn't the huge, Major League Baseball stadium I remembered. It was just a medium-sized neighborhood baseball park. Sure enough, it was nowhere near as big as I remembered.

The Elveden war memorial, on the other hand, is proper huge! And I'm saying this as a girl whose been living in England for a few years and has seen her share of war memorials. It ain't no tiny tater.

But if it's this big to me, how mammoth must it be to my two-year-old? How much of his life is defined by our thirty minute drive into base, and weather or not we've passed the memorial yet? What does that giant "tower" mean to him? What does he think it is?

More importantly, will he have any memory of it in two or three years? Chances are, probably not. Sadly, this marker of his daily life will probably be nothing more than a picture on my computer that he'll see on a screen saver slide show one day and ask, "What is that?"

Ah, just another reminder of things I'll both miss and not miss about England. Passing the war memorial every day? Yeah, I'll kinda miss that. Stand still traffic on the A11 on a Friday night? Well, not so much that.

But at least I know what the big tower is now! As Winnie the Pooh would say, "This mystery is history!"

Brighton, Day 2

2010-09-06T18:57:00.009+01:00

On our second day in Brighton, we woke up to rain and clouds. Very disappointing after the fantastic weather we had the first day. However, if there's one thing you learn quickly while living in England, it's that you can't let a little rain stop you. For one thing, if you did, you'd never get out. For another thing, chances are the rain will let up soon anyway!

Fortunately, by the time I had finished my full English breakfast (fried egg, sausage, non-streaky bacon, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms and a tomato), the rain itself had stopped, even though the clouds were still hanging around. So with full bellies, we ventured out to see some more of Brighton.

I was super excited to be checking out the Royal Pavilion. It's unlike any other palace I've visited in England, with its very Indian design. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the house, but it was as beautiful inside as it was out. We had to take a few detours for Caleb for potty breaks, but the staff was very accommodating.

After the Pavilion, we went in search of a Boots (pharmacy) as we had just run out of the potty bag liners for Caleb's Potette. We found a massive, two-story Boots that had the liners we needed (yay!) plus a sale on No. 7 cosmetics! (No worries, Tommy. I only bought one thing!)

On our search for Boots, we began to get a little more familiar with the town, circling around its shopping areas and peering in windows. We also encountered this statue of Queen Victoria. I'm actually reading a biography of Queen Victoria right now, so I was happy to see her. I'm a nerd like that.

I had decided early that morning that I needed to keep with my English food trend for the day and find a Sunday roast carvery for lunch. It took a bit of walking, but I finally found a family-friendly pub that had a roast on. And let me say, it was worth the walk! Roast beef, fried stuffing balls (what?! yeah!), fried potatoes, yorkshire pudding and veggies. So good! Caleb had a child-sized chicken roast dinner and ate all his veggies! Atta boy!

After lunch the sun had come back out, so we headed back to the pier. Turns out all the big rides are at the very end. Caleb was just on the borderline for some of the height restrictions (for smaller rides). Some guys let him on, and other guys turned him down. He was heartbroken not to go back on the bouncy castle he had been on the day before. But we made up for it with some trampoline time and a driving ride!

We also hit one of the two arcades on the pier and spent some change "playing games." This was actually the first game we played, I put in 30 pence and was trying to show Caleb how to play. I wasn't even paying attention to what I was doing and got the jackpot! Out spit 101 tickets, which we combined with more tickets later to get a Lightning McQueen mug.

We hit the beach after the pier, but the sun was hiding again. It was definitely cooler and windier than the day before. Caleb spent some more time relocating rocks while I read.

We finished up our day of traditional English food with some fish and chips from a restaurant across the street from the pier. We sat in the window watching the pier light up as the sun went down, ending our last day in Brighton.

Our trip back was uneventful. I have to say, I was super impressed and humbled by the kindness of strangers while venturing out on this journey sans-husband. Particularly in the tube stations!

If you've never been to London, the tubes are attrociously poor at accessibility, and lugging a stroller, a suitcase and a backpack up and down stairs while trying to keep track of a two year old is a headache, at least. But every single time I encountered stairs and escalators, some stranger would help me with the stroller or suitcase while I tended to Caleb. I never expected the help, but every singe time, it was offer. Thanks, London tubers!

So that's pretty much it! We're both pretty knackered from the weekend and glad to be home. But I'm very happy to have made it to Brighton finally and would definately recommend a weekend trip to anyone around here!

Brighton, Day 1

2010-09-05T20:31:00.008+01:00

Happy Labor Day weekend! In the days leading up to our three day weekend, I began to think about getting out of town. I knew it would be tricky with Tommy unable to go with us. But with summer quickly fading and our time in England slipping through my fingers, I decided it was time to check something off of my list of things I still need to see.

The coastal city of Brighton has been on my list for ages. It's often mentioned in Jane Austen pieces, and the train line to Brighton was the scene of a lost baby in one of my all time favorite works, The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. Additionally, I had a pal on Flickr (back when I was active there) from Brighton whose beautiful pictures sealed my desire to come check out the city.

Saturday morning, I juggled the stroller with Caleb in, a small suitcase that turned out to be missing hair gel and a hair brush, a small lunch tote, and a book bag full of the ever important Potette Plus and plenty of changes of clothes for my quasi-potty trained punk.

The trek to Brighton wasn't bad. It took four trains (include a tube train) to get down. We pre-booked online, so we knew where to get off. While navigating the tube, several people were very helpful and offered to help with the stroller or my carry on suitcase on stairs and escalators. Caleb enjoyed the train ride, and the packed lunch came in handy, since we didn't have much time between trains.

It took about 3 1/2 hours to get down to Brighton. We checked into the B&B I found online. They had upgraded us to a nicer room, which was great! The downside is, it was closer to street level. I didn't realize how close we'd be to a few clubs, and it was loud for a while.

Actually, it wasn't even so much the clubs. You kind of get used to the constant hum of MMch! MMch! MMch! But the morons in the streets meeting up with their friends were so loud! I actually got out of bed to check to make sure the windows were closed. I did manage to get some sleep, though.

Anyway, after we checked in, we headed down to the beach. Brighton is a pebble beach, which seems to be the most common beach in England. Don't quote me on that or anything. I'm just going from my own experiences here. Caleb didn't mind, though, as his favorite beach activity is relocating all of the rocks back into the ocean.

Although the temperatures were mild and beautiful, the water was still pretty cold, so neither of us put more than our feet in it. Again, Caleb didn't seem to mind. He was just happy to be there!

After the beach, we went to Brighton's Sea Life Center. We spent way more time there than I had anticipated (about two and a half hours), but that was partially due to a fire alarm that went off in the middle of our tour. I took our forced evacuation as a cue to go eat malt vinegar-soaked french fries from a beach joint. Caleb took it as a cue to have a public accident in an eatery. Most embarrassing accident to date! Oh, well. What can you do?

Back in the aquarium, Caleb really enjoyed the sharks and the giant sea turtle. There was a an underwater tunnel he couldn't get enough of. (Seriously, we had to go through twice.) He loved looking at the sea turtle's belly. There was also a glass bottom boat tour we took, which he thought was super cool.

When we were finally done with the Sea Life Center, we hit the pier for the first time. Having seen pictures and even done a little research before we visited, I was still amazed at how huge the pier is! It's lined with vendors, restaurants, arcades, bars, and rides for 1,722 feet. We didn't even make it down to the end of the pier the first day. (This was primarily due to the fact that Caleb hadn't gotten a nap and was getting a big punchy.)

After some time on the pier, it was evident that we both needed to eat. We walked through town looking for something that wasn't fast and greasy but also wasn't too posh. (Two year olds and posh just don't jive well together!) We found an Italian joint called Pinocchio's, where Caleb got a pizza and I had a delicious plate of gnocchi Gorgonzola.

After dinner, we went back to the B&B where Caleb pretty much immediately crash. I stayed up reading for a bit and listening to the clubs getting warmed up. Eventually, though, I had to just try and sleep in spite of Brighton's nightlife. I had another full day in town, and I needed to rest up!

Bad Dog, The Continuing Saga

2010-08-31T21:13:00.005+01:00

I came home one day ast week to the sound of my dogs running down the stairs. Immediately, I knew something was wrong, before I even opened the front door.

I should never hear the rush of Italian Greyhound feet stumbling down the stairs as if every moment is a race for which the winner gets a pile of hotdogs. They should be securely locked in their crate until I come upstairs to let them out.

I opened the door to find this.

Apparently I forgot to lock the crate when I left that morning. Stinkin' dog got into the trash can and redecorated the house for me. Grr. And there he is, with the balls (not literally, 'cause, well...ya know) to sit in the middle of the mess like, "What's the big deal? It's not like I shredded a pile of trash all over your house. Oh wait, yes it is."

Actually, I was really grateful it wasn't worse. And really grateful we're potty training so there weren't any diapers for him to destroy, as that is a disgusting past time of his.

Dumb dog.

For better or worse, though, he's my dog.

Wet But Dry

2010-08-23T22:53:00.005+01:00

What a rainy day we had today! The kind of day that generally makes us Amercians groan and say things like, "Ugh! England!"

We do get our fair share of dampness here in the Queen's country. To be honest, though, we don't get a whole lot of proper rainy days. I almost never actually bring out my umbrella (other wise known as a "buhwella" in this house.) I just suffer through the drizzliness until it dries out.

Other than the higher-than-usual raindrop count, it was a standard day. Oh! Except that Caleb had no accidents all day at school for the very first time! Yay! Even during nap time! I'm so proud of him. :)

Way to keep it dry on a very wet day, kiddo! Momma's proud of you!

Fight Inertia!

2010-08-22T21:28:00.005+01:00

I think one of the hardest things for me to do is to recapture momentum.

It's such an amazing thing, momentum. Just the act of moving creating more movement. The success of one step inspiring another. There are times it feels almost effortless, whatever it is you're doing, as long as you keep the momentum.

For whatever reason, the momentum I had earlier in the year for a healthy lifestyle waned this summer. And holy smokes, it's so hard to pick it back up.

I've just been in a bit of a fitness funk and a nutrition funk, and all of that tends to add up to a less-than desirable general funk. I stare at the same ingredients in the kitchen that used to come together in yummy recipes and I just can't figure out what to do with them now. The thought of defrosting and dicing up a chicken makes me absolutely exhausted before I even begin! The idea of packing my gym bag seems daunting.

Why is this? It didn't seem like that big of a stretch just a few months ago. Sure, it was a little added work in my day, but the benefits were pretty awesome, and it wasn't like I was spending hours cooking or preparing food. The food was great, so it was worth it! Now, though, most of my meals have gone back to being frozen meals or from a box. And lemme just say: yuck.

Maybe I just need to shake things up. I feel like I'm missing the trees for the forest here. Change seems so daunting and overwhelming and exhausting. Maybe I just need to focus on one meal at a time and quit trying for a complete overhaul in one day.

In college, I read Ethan Frome in one of my many English classes. I remember having a discussion about inertia...about how things are always the same because nothing bothers to change. In the midst of this discussion, I had this epiphany about how my course work had been come just that...work. I was missing all these opportunities to learn, I was allowing all this knowledge to slip through the cracks of my brain in pursuit of a decent grade and a quick degree. Nothing was changing (as in, I wasn't actually learning) because everything was the same (homework was just a task to accomplish, not a chance to gain knowledge.)

I went home that day and wrote on a marker board above my desk, "The goal is knowledge. Fight inertia!' I wanted to remind myself daily that it wasn't about the piece of paper at the end. It was about what my brain retained at the end of the journey.

My dad sent me a picture of the board not long ago, and I couldn't help but shake my head at how often I need that reminder. Not just about knowledge, but about many aspects of life.

It's so easy to slow down and get comfortable and eventually to find yourself in a rut. It's so, SO hard to pick yourself up (or kick yourself out) of that rut. And it's even harder to work up all your dissatisfaction into actual momentum towards whatever it is you're trying to reach.

Do you ever feel like you'll spend your life learning the same lessons over and over? Yeah, that's me right now.

So I find myself in the familiar position of trying to get started all over again. I know what needs to be done. Shoot, I've done it many times before. I just need to break out the jumper cables and restart my motivation and just. get. moving.

Tomorrow is a new day. Let's try this again from the top...

Potty Training Report Card

2010-08-15T20:12:00.009+01:00

Last week's unexpected successes with potty training were exciting, but the week that followed presented challenges. I'll spare you the soggy details, but I will say I've done a load of Caleb's laundry every other day this week to ensure he has enough changes of clothes for the next day's attempts at potty training.

So I decided to use this past weekend to refocus our potty training efforts. I figured if one weekend of potty training had brought us that far down the path do Diaper-Free Land, surely another weekend of nothing but potty training would really help to seal the deal!

Turns out, though, that two weekends of potty training make mommy crazy. ("No TV and no beer make Homer something something.")

Although Saturday was bad, Sunday, on the other hand was a great success! In fact, it was the most successful day we've had to date. No accidents! Even after nap time!

We attempted a trip out in public on Sunday for the first time during our two potty training boot camp weekends. We went to base to run a few errands. Before we left the house, I packed a bag with three changes of clothes and Caleb's new travel potty.

What' s that I hear you say? What kind of travel potty are we using? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because I freakin' love this thing.

We are using the Potette Plus by Bibs & Stuff. Here's the Potette lined up next to his frog potty (his personal favorite potty) and a potty seat he's still a little unsure of. The Potette is on the left, sans liner.

Now, to use the Potette, you also have to buy Potette liners, which are essentially small, plastic carrier shopping bags that smell like baby powder and have an absorbent pad in the bottom of the bag. Here' s the Potette with the liner in it. You can actually pull the liner all the way around the lid (and I usually do.) I suppose you could just use regular carrier bags, but that absorbent pad is nice!

Here's a peek down at the absorbent pad at the bottom of the bag. Genius little piece of material!

Once your kid has done the deed, you pull the bag off the seat, tie up the handles, and toss it in the trash! No mess to clean up! Super easy! Then you can fold the legs of the Potette flat for storage. Brilliant, right? It comes with a large plastic bag to store it in to keep it separate from whatever else you are carrying with you.

The legs can also pop out to create a little portable potty seat, too! Caleb's still a bit intimidated by big toilets, but hopefully this will help in public potty situations down the road.

Although he's still intimated by big toilets, Caleb loves having his Potette! He's used in the BX, the Commissary, the Arts & Crafts store, the vet's office, and even on the side of the A-11 during Thursday afternoon rush hour traffic. (That was just tonight!)

We're still having accidents, but he's making progress! The last two days, he's only had one accident each day at school. We've had some rough days (and nights!), but if I were to plot it on a chart, I'd say overall, we are moving in the right direction.

On Sunday, after he successfully stayed dry for our trip to base, I figured we'd venture out to our neighborhood after his nap. I took along the Potette, but he never needed it.

We brought out his scooter. He's finally figured out how to push himself along, but he can't seem to get much momentum going, so he prefers a little push.

We also brought out his tricycle. He still hasn't figured out how to pedal, so I pushed him along for a bit on that, as well. He loved it!

Caleb loves the sticker charts we've been using. He gets a little sticker for #1 and a big sticker for #2. Not too many big stickers yet (and none in this pic.) That's okay! We'll get there. (By the way, we're on chart #3 now!)

Over all, we're making progress. There are dark days where I'm tempted to put him back in a diaper and try again when he's 14, but then there are days when he does great! The laundry is never ending, but what can you do? He's a big boy, and he's demonstrated in so many ways that he's ready. I just have to remind myself to be patient and to ride it out.

Good job, big boy!

Super Caleb!

2010-08-08T20:42:00.006+01:00

I can't get a Take That song out of my head.

Speaking of which, while flipping through channels this morning, Caleb wanted me to stop on a Take That video (Greatest Day), and he said, "I like that song." At which point I thought, Ya know, if I had a few more years, I could make this kid good and English. A football loving, beans and jacket potato eating, JLS-listening,"That's rubbish," saying English kid.

I don't have a few more years, though. I have a few more months. So I guess I'll have to settle for an American kid with English beginnings!

Oh, man. It's been a great weekend. For real.

Here's a lesson I learn over and over again. I really am only capable of being awesome at one thing at a time. I can be pretty good at a few things. I can be okay at a lot of things. But it general, I'm usually only awesome at one thing at a time. And that one thing varies.

Some weeks, I'm awesome at being Super Healthy Girl. Packing lunches, making breakfasts, planning dinners, hitting the gym. Some weeks, I'm so good at it, I should get an award. And in those week, man, the scale loves me! Unfortunately, I've never been good at maintaining momentum for those kinds of weeks beyond about 3-4 weeks. Sad, but true.

Some weeks, I'm Super Social Girl. Whether it's catching up on friend's Facebooks, or blogs, calling friends I haven't talked to in ages, having lunch or dinner with the girls, getting caught up with volunteer activities, being at all the meetings and events and parties and shindigs I can get my hands on. My mom's always called me a social butterfly. And there's a part of me that seriously thrives in this environment...for a while. Then I want to tuck my tail and run for a while.

Sometime I'm Super Mom. This is the one I enjoy being Super at the most. When it's right, it's SO right. And it's so much fun. And it's so rewarding. And so life-affirming. And when it's not right, it's so hard, and it's so exhausting and I'm battling all that stupid, useless mom guilt.

This week was not a Super Mom week. But this weekend wasn't too shabby! I won't say I rocked the casbah or anything, 'cause really, it wasn't about me. It was about Caleb. My sweet, cheeky baby became a big boy this weekend. He started using the potty! I mean, actually, really using it.

Not without accidents, of course, but by today (the second day of Potty Boot Camp Weekend), he wasn't needing urging or reminding. He was listening to his body's own cues. By tonight, he was even trying to pull down his own pants!

WHAT A BIG BOY!

I'm not kidding, man. There is something magical about that sweet sentence, "Mommy, I need to go potty!" He knows! He knows ahead of time! It's coming, man, and I need to get down to business! Of course, I kept him pretty pumped full of fluids so he'd have plenty of opportunities to recognize those signs!

The past few month of struggling with him and suddenly, he gets it. Something in his brain clicked and now we're actually working on the same page!

I realize our potty training journey is far from over. Tomorrow will be the first day we try him at daycare without a diaper. No lie, I'm a little nervous -- mostly about the long drive to school. Eep! But I'm excited to see his teacher and tell him what a successful weekend we've had. I'm looking forward to passing the baton to her and hoping they have a successful week with him, too.

PROGRESS! It's an awesome thing.

So yeah, it wasn't a Super Mom week. But it was a Super Caleb weekend, and I'm super excited about that!

By the way, I know I almost never mention my other two punk kids. So let me just show a little love for Zeus and Zoey for a hot minute.

Just look at this trouble-making face. Have you ever seen a face more prone to mischief? The plates in his front left leg will argue no. Tell you what though, you can't get a better cuddler than Zeus, if you can manage to get him to calm down for a moment.

Then there's Zoey girl. The diva. The slight, small, nearly hairless alpha dog who is perpetually cold and would live under a blanket if we let her. Caleb loves to smell her ears and tell me, "They smell funky!" It's true. They do. But I love those ears!

So yes. Successful weekend. We ate like crap. We never left the house. I barely showered. But whatevs, man. My kid peed on the potty! Take that and put it in your piggy bank! I, for one, am going to go have a Brother's strawberry pear cider in celebration. Wahoo!

Summer

2010-07-10T22:08:00.003+01:00

This, our fourth and final summer in England, is the first season I would properly call summer.

When we moved here in January 2007, we heard tales of the summer of '06 being the hottest on record and the misery that accompanied that heat. But the summer of 2007 ended up being one of the (if not the) rainiest season on record, so we knew nothing of that heat.

I remember this, because it was also the summer that Rhianna's "Umbrella" was #1 on the charts for something like an unprecedented 11 weeks, and that happened to coincide with some of the rainiest weeks people could remember - floods and all. At that point, I was ready to boycott that song if it meant we'd see a slice of sunshine.

The summers of 2008 and 2009 weren't as soggy as '07, but we just couldn't seem to get proper summer temps for longer than a few days, or a week as most.

In fact, I can clearly remember there being one week of amazing weather every year sometime in April. Having lived in a comatose state of gray, damp, and cold, the weather would yawn, shake itself off, and reveal brilliant blue skies, unadulterated sunshine, and this bizarre sensation called heat.

And every year, it was as if my soul would mirror this physical change of seasons and reawaken with new awareness and appreciation for life. Every year, I'd go out and buy warm weather clothes. And every year, every year, the next week would return to cold, damp and gray, totally extinguishing any hope we had for a true change in weather.

Sure we'd get some more sunny spells, but they'd be short lived. And yeah, we'd seem some warm days, but again, they never stuck around long, and it was rarely warm enough to even justify wearing shorts.

This year, though, something weird is going down. For three weeks now, we've had proper summer weather. It's been hot, real hot. It's been sunny, to the point where my skin is starting to darken!

Hark! What is this? The beginnings of a tan? Can my skin even do that anymore?! Someone grab the SPF!

I've sent my son to school in shorts every day for three weeks! I've work skirts or capri pants myself every day except one where I decided to wear pants because it was overcast in the morning. By lunch, of course, the sun was out and blazing, and I was miserable.

I hesitate to write about this, because I don't want to be the one to jinx it. But it's just so unusual!

Unfortunately, it's also uncomfortable. Because it's so rare to have temps this high for so long, England isn't really equipped to deal with the heat. So we have no A/C at home, in our cars, or at work. We go from hot to hot. No respite for the sweaty, I guess. I spent a large chunk of this afternoon daydreaming about a cold, crisp, air conditioned home. And getting ice in my drink without having to ask for it. Ahh, some day!

But let me not whine about this. I'm happy to have the sun and the heat. I'm uncomfortable and sweaty and gross, but whatever. It's SUMMER! And it actually feels like summer! So much so that at 7 pm tonight, while walking along the River Ouse in Thetford, Caleb and his friend Lil (who was over for the day) and I did a bit of wading around in a shallow part of the river.

I didn't realize this shallow section even existed today until a local mom by clued me in. We don't normally walk this far down the river. But once she mentioned it, we set out searching for our own little piece of local paradise.

And we had a fantastic time. Totally unplanned, totally unprepared, and totally fun. Such a nice, cool respite from the sweltering day.

Seeing my little boy become a big boy this summer has been equal parts thrilling and heartbreaking for me. I'm so excited that he's not scared of things that used to terrify him just a few months ago. I'm so proud of how adventurous and brave he's become. But my mommy heart breaks a little that my baby isn't a baby anymore and won't ever be a baby again.

But he is becoming my big boy. And I'm so excited to watch it happen. And excited that he has such a great pal along for this part of the ride.

Here's hoping for more hot weekends in England! Happy summer, everyone!

Happy (American) Independence Day!

2010-07-04T17:10:00.005+01:00

Happy Independence Day! We spent the day out at RAF Feltwell, where they open the base up every year to Americans and Brits alike to celebrate our independence from these tea-drinking jerks! (I kid, I kid!)

A friend of mine posted on Facebook recently about how strange it is to celebrate our independence in the very country from whom we were declaring independence, and how stranger, yet, it is to open up our celebration to those very countrymen we were rebelling against. Surreal thought it may be, it's still a fun celebration every year.

Now I'll admit, there's a shocking lack of red, white and blue in this post. And no fireworks, either. They do fireworks at Feltwell, but it's not until like 9 or 10 pm, and Caleb has pretty much turned into a pumpkin by then.

But we did have plenty of fun with friends.

And Caleb and I had plenty of fun with each other while my husband worked his squadron's food booth.

At the end of the long row of fried food booths which so proudly declare our independence from caring about our waste lines was a small booth with fresh watermelon and pineapple slices. Genius! After the corndog, chili cheese fries and, yes, fried Oreos, a slice of fresh fruit was absolutely divine.

Caleb had a blast all day. Summer sunshine + hot dogs + rides + getting to sit in a helicopter, fire truck and ambulance + bouncy castles + friends = a little bit of Caleb heaven. He did have a few rough patches (not enough nap and too much sunshine trigger these things), but overall, he did pretty good.

My favorite shot of the day, and possibly my favorite pic of Caleb ever up to this point, came while we were waiting for a Battle of Britain memorial flyover from a Spitfire. We never did see the Spitfire (it was running a little late, I guess, and we were just ready to go home), but I did grab this little gem.

The bad moods and tempers are exhausting and frustrating. But these little moments of pure, unadulterated toddler joy wrapped in sunshine are absolutely the most amazing little slices of life. In those moments, you completely forget that whiny, cranky side even exists.

No worries, though. Toddlers are quick to remind you of that other side! ;)

Happy 4th of July!

Friday Night Drive

2010-07-02T22:20:00.005+01:00

The Friday night drive home from base is never fun. For some reason I still can't properly understand, the A11 backs up to London (or at least it feels that way) and my normal 30 minute drive usually takes about 50 minutes any given Friday night.

Additionally, the radio on Friday nights is just abysmal. I have four stations I listen to regularly here (with BBC Radio 1 being my favorite.) But all of them seem to pick their worst pre-club dance mixes for the Friday drive home. Now you know me. I love to shake my tail feather. But I can't stomach a solid hour of dance music. I need something I can sing along to while I wasting time sitting still.

And the last two weeks have been hot in England. And I know our hot doesn't compare to a lot of hots. I get it. But we have no respite. There's no A/C at home, no A/C at work, and no A/C in the car. So you go from hot to hot. When I picked up Caleb from daycare today, he told me, "I no wanna go in the car! It's hot!" Can't say that I blame him. Even with the windows down, it's just uncomfortable.

So sitting in our hot car in standstill traffic on the A11 tonight should have soured my already inexplicable bad mood from this week. But there was a slight breeze, and the radio mix was slightly better than normal on Friday nights. And yeah it was hot, but that means the sun is out, and having sun for the three day weekend is nice.

I was looking out my window at the breeze blowing through the long, dry grass, thinking, "I'm gonna miss this country," when I heard the jets. I looked up and saw one of our KC-135s flying overhead, coming in for a landing at RAF Mildenhall behind us.

I can't really explain it, but I had this huge surge of appreciation well up as I watched the plane descend. And I thought, "This is my life. Stuck in traffic on the A11 watching one of our planes fly over the English countryside."

That might sound a bit tedious, but at that moment I felt proud to even have a tiny part to play in the mission of our base. I'm so grateful to have had the chance to spend the last three and a half years in England, particularly in the Suffolk/Norfolk area. It's cool to be a part of a wing that can trace it's history back to a bomber group from the same region.

Somehow in that hot car, after a long week, in the miserable traffic, on a long Friday drive home, a simple jet overhead reminded me of a few things I am really grateful for.

Graphic Good-Byes

2010-06-25T21:14:00.005+01:00

Remember how I was telling you how I was going to miss my boss in my last post? Well, this is just one reason why. The guy always knows how to give the perfect gift. (Click for a larger image.)

We here at Mildenhall are lucky enough to have the most talented military cartoonist (is that a word?) in at least the whole Air Force, if not beyond. If you haven't seen Austin May's work as Box D Blues (Team Mildenhall's cartoon), or in the Air Force Times weekly publication, or at his own personal site, Air Force Blues, then I am super excited to introduce you to his work.

Simply stated, the guy is friggin' hilarious. You don't necessarily have to work with or for the military to understand or appreciate his humor, but it certainly makes it sweeter sometimes. I look forward to my daily fix of Blues after I check my email in the mornings.

Anyway, I'll stop blowing sunshine up Austin's skirt. I was just super excited to receive a signed print of this personalized strip and wanted to share it with you guys. How cool is that?!

It was a seriously long week at work, and I, for one, am seriously glad to see the weekend. It's already packed with things to do, but luckily they all promise to be fun. Woo! Anyway, have a great weekend!

In other news...

2010-06-22T20:30:00.007+01:00

Okay, I know that by now you are surely thinking, "WE GET IT, KEL! You went on a Disney cruise. It was amazing. You had the time of your life. Blah blah blah! We're over it!"

Well, you're in luck. Everything there was to say about the cruise has been said, so we can wrap that up in a pretty little box and put it behind us. *Phew* No kidding, it felt like a homework assignment that I just needed to tackle, so I'm a bit relieved it's all said and done.

In lieu of holiday blogging, I now present real, actual news in our family! It's not really breaking news, since we've known from last week. But if you aren't my Facebook friend or someone I see in real life, then chances are you don't know, and it's news to you. (But really, if you aren't my Facebook friend or real life friend...who are you? Where did you come from? Who let you in?!) ;)

Our news is that we got our next assignment, and we're moving to South Carolina! Columbia, to be exact. We're pretty excited about the news. It looks like we'll be moving back stateside in January, which will come quickly, I'm sure.

Of course, leaving England does mean we'll be leaving cool scenes like this. (Geeze, I wish this had been my house for the last 3 1/3 years!)

But being back in the States does mean we'll see more scenes like this.

Something to look forward to, I guess? As our four year tour in England wraps up, I know we'll have many bittersweet moments that will remind us of how lucky we've been to have this assignment.

In other bittersweet news, my boss is leaving soon. He's been a pretty good boss (understatement of the year), and we are sad to see him leave.

Where I work, this is how they say good-bye. Fortunately, I'll escape this treatment when I leave since I don't fly. (I dunno, I might trade in one day of sopping wet good-byes to be able to fly!)

So, lots of changes in the immediate and distant future! Lots of things to plan and prepare for, and even more things to say good-bye too, sadly. It'll be a challenging, but fun six months!

And now, just because I feel like it, I wanted to share this adorable picture of my son with his friend Lily. He loves that girl! Tomorrow is Lily's mom's birthday. So, happy birthday, Robin! Have a great day! :)

Disney Cruise - See You Real Soon!

2010-06-14T21:01:00.008+01:00

I've been struggling for a few days to think of how I wanted to end my Disney cruise blog series. I've already shared the majority of pictures and stories, and quite frankly, all that's left is the sad bit: saying good-bye.

This was our first cruise, and man did we set the bar high. How can you top an eleven day Mediterranean Disney cruise? I'm not sure you can! We were on the ship so long, that room 7584 really did begin to feel like home.

Our dinner servers, who moved with us from restaurant to restaurant, began to feel like friends we'd look forward to seeing every night. They knew our likes and dislikes well enough to make some pretty spot on recommendations and to always have our drink of preference ready and waiting for us.

The food was incredible. Never having to cook or clean up after ourselves made it even sweeter. We felt like royalty.

But mostly, it was just nice to be away for a while. I love our life. I like my job. I like my family. I like living in England. Even so, it was nice to step back from the hum drum of normal life and just be us for a while.

The on board babysitting was great. Having the opportunity to dine alone, go hang out in the hot tub on the adult side of the top deck, or go see a show without our sweet rug rat in tow was so much fun.

The ship itself was beautiful. There was so much to do and so many places to eat. Every day was different, and yet we fell into a pretty comfortable routine during our time on board.

Caleb, of course, had a blast, as we knew he would. Whether is was running around in the toddler splash zone...

Or running into Mickey Mouse at breakfast...

Or Goofy on shore...

...Caleb was always looking for the next adventure.

Unfortunately, our time was wrapping up. After our last port of call in Villefranche, we had one last day at sea to enjoy everything the Disney Magic had to offer. As much as we were grateful for that last day at sea, it was tainted with the knowledge that every minute brought us closer to Barcelona, and the end of our cruise.

Since we've returned, I've been asked numerous times if I would recommend the Disney Cruise Line. And I want to say, emphatically, "Yes, yes, YES!" It was amazing!

But, see, the thing is this: I'm the kind of person who totally buys into the magic. From the first sighting of Mickey to the farewell show on the last night, I'm still mostly a kid a heart who gets excited when the mouse waves at me. I get goosebumps when I walk into Magic Kingdom. I get up and scream and dance just because some dude on the stage tells me to. I yell loudly for Capt Hook just to get him to wave.

So maybe I'm the kind of person Disney cruises are made for -the kid at heart. But I'm naive enough to think that most of us still have a kid a heart. Many of us keep it under wraps a lot better than I do, that's for sure. But I think a lot of people are eager for the chance to play, to be carefree, to be unashamedly excited about little things.

And if you can't be excited and playful on a Disney cruise, than I just don't know where you can.

So this is it. Not just the end of my Disney cruise, but now the end of the travel blogging as well. And I'll admit, I'm a bit sad to really wrap this up and put it all behind me. Because it was so much fun. I've enjoyed re-living it through the blog. And I can't wait to do it again sometime in the not-so-distant future!

Disney Cruise - Day Ten: Villefranche

2010-06-10T20:33:00.010+01:00

Our last port of call was Villefranche, along the coast of France. This was another stop I didn't really have the biggest expectations for. But, as with Corsica, it ended up being one of my unexpected favorites.

I woke early again to probably my favorite sunrise. Don't worry. I didn't wake up early every day. It was vacation, after all! But when I did, it was no hardship to do so with sights like these out the window.

Like in La Spezia, the harbor wasn't deep enough for us to properly dock, so we had to tender a little ways out in the water and take smaller boats to shore. Watching the coast of France grow closer on our tender boat was beautiful.

But turning around while still on the tender boat, I got my favorite picture of the Disney Magic. Isn't she beautiful? I wish I lived on that boat! If you look closely, you can see the smaller, tender boats loading people up. This picture seriously makes me happy.

Our shore excursion took us to the principality of Monaco. I didn't really know what to expect from Monaco, so I was blown away by how beautiful this tiny little country is. If I had to pick one word for Monaco, I'd lean towards "posh."

The first part of our tour took us through the old, downtown area of Monaco. One of our first stops was the church where Princess Grace Kelly got married. (I feel a Mika song coming on!)

This is where the princess is buried.

We walked further downtown and stopped for a while near the palace where the royal family of Monaco lives. We had a little bit of free time at this point, so we sought out souvenirs and (of course) ice cream. I think we ate ice cream at almost every stop on the trip!

We also passed a Lamborghini along the way - you know, as you do, when walking through Monaco!

After our walking tour in the old town, we took a street train tour of the newer downtown Monaco. The tour took us along the Monaco Grand Prix racing track, which was cool. Would have been nice to have the Lamborghini now!

We passed by the Monte Carlo casino on our tour. We didn't stop in, though! We weren't dressed nicely enough to be let in anyway.

We finished out train tour and then walked towards the marina to stop at a cafe for coffee or beer. As we were walking, we noticed a huge, thick cloud of fog rolling in over the coast.

It was surreal. It wasn't like being in a fog, it was like watching the fog just ahead of you. We never seemed to actually be in the fog, but it seemed to be seeping into the landscape everywhere else we looked.

On the ride back to the ship, the roads were taking us along a higher elevation, and the clouds were lying thick along the mountains, just below us, like a heavy quilt. It was like we were in a plane, flying over Monaco, instead of on a bus driving through it. Our tour guide was amazed. She said she'd never seen fog like this in Monaco.

We pulled around the curve of a mountain and there was a break in the fog just over the harbor where our ship was tendered. It was such a cool sight to see. Thick, white clouds hanging heavy all over the coast and the sea, except for one small patch of clear blue right where the Magic was waiting for us.

It felt like we were returning home. Except that we knew it was the last port of call for our cruise. One more day at sea, and then we'd be getting off in Barcelona. I honestly felt a bit like I was mourning the end of our cruise. It had been so much fun, and we had seen so many amazing places. The daily grind of life seemed a million miles away.

But regardless of how we felt, the trip was coming to a close. We were so lucky to be able to take such an incredible trip. The pictures and words will never properly capture just how incredible it was. Even now, two weeks out from the trip, I feel homesick for the Disney Magic.

I've got one more travel blog up my sleeve. Just a collection of random on board pictures and general thoughts about the cruise overall that I hope will cap the whole series off nicely. But for tonight, I'm going to go lay down and try to dream that I'm back on board and looking out my verandah at sun rising over the coast of France. Bonne nuit!

Disney Cruise - Day Nine: Corsica

2010-06-06T20:23:00.012+01:00

Our next port of call was Corsica. To be honest, I was really looking forward to our three stops in Italy the most. Everything else was just kind of icing on the cake.

We had previously arranged for a half-day beach break excursion without Caleb. (We were going to leave him on board with the Disney nursery staff.) But we were called in our stateroom a couple of days before to let us know our excursion had been cancelled because of a problem with the tour company they contracted with.

So instead we were left with a free day in Corsica. This was actually a bit of a relief after five pre-arranged shore excursions. A chance to explore a city on our own was just what we wanted at this point. So off we went into Ajaccio to see what the day held!

Corsica ended up being an unexpected treat on our trip. Without a guide or agenda, we were free to go at our own pace, stop when we wanted to, and plot our own journey.

Additionally, Corsica was beautiful. As in I-want-to-live-here beautiful.

Again, we had awesome weather. We really hit the luckiest streak of sunshine imaginable.

We did a bit of shopping and stopped at a cafe for a quick drink and a bite. (Mostly we needed an excuse to use a toilet, but the espresso and white chocolate cranberry cookie I had were a welcome bonus!) Caleb had apricot juice here!

Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napoleon, so with the help of a map we could barely read, we managed to find the house he was born in. We didn't bother going inside this time. It was just too crowded, and today was less about sightseeing and more about relaxing.

After that, we found a little beach near the town center, so we went down to hit the sand for a while.

Of course, I had to get the obligatory feet-in-the-water shot. Look! I'm standing in the Mediterranean Sea! And it's cold!

Caleb must have felt that every rock on the beach was misplaced, because he spent the majority of the time throwing them back into the ocean. He loved the beach. Even though the water was cold, he didn't care at all. I can't tell you how many times he's asked to go to the beach since we've been back home.

It was such a relaxing afternoon. Tommy and I laid out on the towels we brought from the ship, I read a book, Caleb played in the water. I could have stayed there all day.

After a while at the beach, we decided to head off to the other end of town to see the Napoleon monument.

Caleb was pretty wiped at this point, so Tommy found a bench to sit at with Caleb while I climbed to the top of the monument and looked out over Ajaccio.

Corsica ended up being one of my favorite stops. I had virtually no expectations for it, but it ended up being such a relaxing nice time to spend together as a family. Looking back, I would have trimmed back on the pre-planned guided tours and done a few more days on our own like we did in Ajaccio.

Unfortunately, we knew our time was almost up. We only had one more port of call left and a day at sea before we had to disembark for good in Barcelona. It had been so much fun, and we had seen so many cool things, it was hard to imagine how we could end on a higher note than Corsica. But we still had Villefranche left!

Oh, but one more note from Corsica:

Disney Cruise - Days Seven & Eight: The Med & Florence

2010-06-03T07:19:00.016+01:00

Want to know the difference between a 10-day and an 11-day Disney Mediterranean cruise? It's a single day at sea dropped right in the middle of all the ports of call.

Instead of heading straight to La Spezia from Citiavecchia, the captain took us out into the middle of the Med for a relaxing day at sea. I didn't think much of a day at a sea, but following four hectic ports of call, that quiet day at sea was perfect.

We also lucked out with the most beautiful weather we had all cruise! I've already mentioned this, but we had great weather all cruise, and this day, our lazy day at sea to relax and recoup, was the best! The crew went on and on about how they have never seen a more peaceful day at sea. One of servers said in his many years of working there, he had only seen a day like that maybe two or three times. It was awesome!

I woke up a little early the next morning and watched the sun rise from our verandah as we pulled into the next harbor. I could get used to a veiw like this!

The next day found us in La Spezia, where we tendered the boat. I guess the harbor of La Spezia isn't deep enough for the cruise ship, so we anchored a way out in the harbor and took smaller tendering boats (that held about 200 passengers) into the shore. Caleb liked going from the big boat to the little boat.

We took a bus from La Spezia to Florence. It was about an hour and a half through beautiful Italian country side.

We made our way through the city passed the Santa Croce to the Palazzo della Signoria. One one side of the square is the impressive Palazzo Vecchio, that I remembered visiting when we were stationed at Aviano AFB when I was in high school.

We had a chance to look inside the courtyard of the Palazzo.

The piazzo is kind of like an outdoor museum. There were beautiful sculptures in various areas of the square.

We left the piazzo and walked passed the Uffizi, which is a huge art gallery. We didn't have a chance to go in due to our time crunch.

Walking through the other side of the Uffizi, we caught sight of Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge.) It felt a bit like a homecoming for me. I hadn't been to Florence in about 15 years, and it's not like I lived there. But my Italian class took a few trips there, and I absolutely loved the city. It felt great being back there again.

This ice cream-eating, underwear exposed girl had the courtesy to make it into our one and only family picture on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Thanks, girl.

We then made our way to The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which is really amazing to see as you approach it. Covered in white, green and red marbles, it's very beautiful.

In my mind, The Basilica di Santa Maria is kind of the opposite of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The outside of St Peter's, while impressive and imposing, isn't necessarily beautiful. But then you step inside, and it is gorgeous! The sculptures, the marbled floor, the mosaics...it's just breathtaking. Florence's basilica, on the other hand, is magnificent from the outside. But the inside, surprisingly, is rather plain.

After we toured the basilica, we had some free time. Our tour guide had scolded us earlier in the day for eating ice cream that she did not deem worth of the name gelato. (It was just ice cream on a stick.) So she gave us a business card for "good gelato." Jackpot!

We wandered down a few streets, and with the help of the map the guide gave us, we found Gelataria di Neri. SCORE! I had finally found my great gelato! The soft, sweet, tart gelato I remembered from our years in Italy as a high schooler. I had a scoop of lemon and a scoop of strawberry. It was SO good! Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water.

We had a little time to kill, so we did some shopping around the Piazza Di Santa Croce, which is where we were meeting our group.

Caleb had a blast chasing the pigeons around the square. This was probably the highlight of Florence for Caleb. Don't worry, we made sure he was nice to the birds. Besides, they looked like they could use a little exercise!

Leaving La Spezia that night afforded us some beautiful views from the ship, including this island with a little light house on top.

We also got to watch the sunset as we sailed further into the Mediterranean.

It was an amazing day! Got to see the sun rise and set over the Med, and in the middle, we saw some amazing views in Florence. Can't ask for more than that!

Disney Cruise - Day Six: Rome!

2010-06-01T20:31:00.010+01:00

Our next port was La Citavecchia, and our next port adventure was Rome! I had been looking forward to this stop the most, probably. Although I lived in Italy for a few years in high school, I never made it down to Rome, so I was eager to finally see the eternal city.

We went to The Coliseum, of course. As we approached the more ancient parts of Rome, I began to wonder if the Coliseum would live up to my expectations. I've heard so many people come away from Stonehenge disappointed. It doesn't seem as big as people seem to expect, and in the end it's just a pile of rocks. (By the way, I thought Stonehenge was pretty cool. But I think I'm in the minority there.)

Fortunately, the Coliseum lived up to my expectations. It was pretty huge! It was also pretty crowded.

This rather unimpressive picture is just to show some of the original, remaining marble floor. Our tour guide told us that the whole Coliseum used to have white marble face. I can't imagine how majestic it must have been in its glory (err, gory?) days.

We left the Coliseum in time for lunch, and along the way passed this majestic monument. Isn't it gorgeous?

After the Coliseum, we had a pre-arranged lunch somewhere in Rome. We had pasta and veal, plenty of bread and, of course, wine. But most important? The tiramisu we had afterwords!

Holy gravy train, this was good tiramisu. You know how you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince sometimes? Italian food is that way. I had to try a lot of tiramisus (and gelato for that matter) to find the ones that made me think of my days as a teen at Aviano AFB. I've spent many years trying tiramisus all over the world. While a few have held up, most end up being disappointing. Fortunately, I was able to get an amazing piece of tiramisu at this restaurant (with a complimentary espresso!) My hunt for great gelato was still on at this point.

Our next stop was Vatican City! I was very excited for this. (I realize I keep saying that, but it's true!) I've always wanted to visit the Vatican, but having recently seen Angels and Demons (the Dan Brown movie), I was even more eager to see this beautiful principality. The cinematography of Vatican City in that movie was just breathtaking, and I couldn't wait to experience it for myself!

We wandered through the Vatican Museum first. Okay, wandered isn't the right word. We practically jogged to keep up with our tour guide flying past sculptures and tapestries. Like everywhere else in Rome, it was so crowded.

But it was also beautiful. There was an entire ceiling in one of the galleries with frescoes like this one. It looked like a bas relief, but it was actually painted! A whole long gallery like that. It was amazing.

As beautiful as everything inside the Vatican Museum is, the goal is to get to the end where the Sistine Chapel waits. As much as I keep saying "I was looking forward to this, " I really was looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel!

Our tour guide had warned us that we were not allowed to talk in the Sistine Chapel. The radio headsets we wore to hear her would have to be turned off for our time in the chapel. She said the guards were very strict about this and about the no photography rule. As busy and crazy as the rest of Rome was, the idea of standing still inside a silent chapel under the masterpiece of Michelangelo was awe-inspiring. I was really looking forward to a sacred experience.

Unfortunately, it was anything but. The small chapel was swarming with people, and everyone was talking! Granted, they were talking more quietly than in the rest of the museum, but I thought the whole point was to shut up and experience the moment, not talk about it! Additionally people were taking pictures...with flashes!

***We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog with a public service announcement. If you are one of the dingalings who insists on taking pictures when pictures aren't allowed, then at least don't be the kind of idiot who uses flash when it's strictly prohibited. It's not allowed for a reason, doofus. TURN IT OFF. If you don't, I'll be tempted to turn you off! No kidding. How hard is it in 2010 to turn off your flash? Not hard at all. Unless you want to experience your camera being thumped on your head repeatedly, follow the rules! Thank you. We will now resume regular blogging***

Anyway, the whole experience was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, the chapel was beautiful. But I was looking for a sacred moment, or at least a quiet moment of serious appreciation, and instead all I got was a teeth full of tourists. Blargh!

After the Sistine Chapel, we got to explore St Peter's Basilica. While crowded, it was also huge, so the people thinned out a bit. And photography was allowed, because the artwork was all sculptures and mosaics. St Peter's was gorgeous. (I know, I'm being super redundant here, but it's ROME!)

St Peter's is one of those churches that has an impressive (but not really beautiful) exterior. And then you step inside, and all you can say is, "Woah."

As I'm blogging, I'm searching through my pictures for the perfect woah-inducing shot and realizing I just don't have one. So let me say this. My pictures and words do it no justice. I'm not a photographer. I'm not even a very good blogger! But trust me, it was beautiful. As one example, here was one of my favorite sculptures in the basilica, sculpted by Bernini.

Our tour did not include the catacombs beneath the basilica, which would have been cool. But here are the stairs leading down to the catacombs in the middle of the basilica.

Another one of my favorite pieces of art in the basilica was this one. At first glance you'd swear it was a painting. The colors and details were so vivid!

But on closer look, it's a mosaic! Amazing what they can do with tiny stones.

Rome was really amazing. My only complaint is that we didn't have enough time to see more. And as was standard with all port adventures, there wasn't enough free time. These tours can be exhausting!

At the end of the day, though, I'm really glad I finally got to see Rome and that I got to share it with my favorite boys.

Disney Cruise - Day Five: Naples & Pompeii

2010-05-31T14:49:00.009+01:00

I woke up a little earlier the day we were arriving in Naples and was rewarded with a beautiful view from our room just shortly before we pulled into the harbor.

We had an afternoon excursion, so Tommy and I had reserved babysitting at Flounder's Reef, the nursery on board. We had a two hour block so we could hit the gym. After about an hour, I felt that I had worked out enough. Tommy stayed in the gym and hit the treadmill pretty hard.

I, on the other hand, went back to the room after my workout and suddenly realized I had the room all to myself for an hour. So I ordered a warm chocolate chip cookie and a cocktail from room service! I sat out on the verandah with my cookie and cocktail and read a book for a while. It was amazing! I wish I could do that every day!

Our afternoon excursion took us to Pompeii. We drove through Naples on the way. Naples had to be the ugliest port we stopped in. I found myself looking at the buildings in Naples and wondering, When do dilapidated and run down old buildings become classified as ruins? I mean, really. At some point, places like the Coliseum must have just been an eye sore as it began to fall to ruin. And then, magically, at some point it became a historical ruin people come to visit from all over the world. At some point will the ugly port of Naples be ruins?

Of course, Pompeii is a little different, since its ruins were buried for nearly 1600 years after

Mt Vesuvius exploded it's guts all over the city.

This, by the way, is the best picture I could get of Mt Vesuvius. Not stellar, I'll grant you. But it's as good as I got on the bus ride.

Pompeii was crowded and hot. And crowded. It was hard to get around in some parts. We had little radio receivers we wore around our necks with single ear buds so we could hear our particular tour guide. 'Cause there were tons of tour guides. Some waving large Mickey Mouse lollipop-style signs for their tourists to follow (like our guide did), some waiving umbrellas or scarves or just their hand. If it weren't for the number on our Mickey, I would have totally lost our group.

Seeing Pompeii was pretty cool. Having been in Europe for a while now, we've seen our share of ruins, but never an entire city like this.

Of course, there were rocks and dirt and climbing to be done, so Caleb was pretty happy. Pompeii was super dusty. (It gives whole new meaning to the volcanic ash discussions we've had in England as a result of the Icelandic volcano eruption that disrupted European travel recently.) By the end of the afternoon, Caleb was filthy.

It was cool to walk through the houses. Many of them had these little white stones embedded in the floors. Our tour guide said that this was to help reflect the torch light at night to give a little more light to the houses. Clever!

Many of the houses had remains of the original frescoes still partially in tact.

In addition to public areas like the forums and private houses, there were also businesses. We passed what used to be bakery.

This little corner store was a snack shop, according to our tour guide. Notice the ever-present Mickey lollipop? He's serving us up a pizza or some such thing!

Of course, the real reason you visit Pompeii is to see the preserved people! Ruins? You can find those anywhere. Preserved people? Bring it on!

Unfortunately, the lines around the cases of preserved people were thick, slow moving and frustrating. But we managed to make it through and snap a couple of pictures. It was creepy and strange and fascinating.

We had a bit of free time towards the end of the tour, but as was beginning to be standard, it didn't seem like enough. But we did pick up some gelato from a stand near our bus stop. I had been looking forward to having gelato again for months and was sad to see it tasted just like American ice cream. It was really disappointing. Fortunately, gelato was able to redeem itself just a few days later in Florence! But before we get there, we had a day in Rome to get to!

Disney Cruise - Day Four: Tunisia

2010-05-31T10:10:00.007+01:00

Our next port of call was Tunis, Tunisa. I was pretty excited to be able to say I've been to Africa after this stop. Granted, it's really, really northern Africa, but I'll take it!

Our shore excursion took us to the ruins of the baths of Carthage. We lucked out and got tons of sunshine that day. In fact, our whole cruise was charmed with tons of sun, and every tour guide told us how lucky we were because just days prior it had felt like winter. Even our cruise crew couldn't believe our luck with the weather.

Caleb loved exploring the baths. Anything that involves rocks, dirt and climbing make that kid happy.

We also stopped at an ancient amphitheater in Carthage. Caleb loved climbing to the top of the steps and back down. Anything to wear him out!

Our next stop was the town of Sidi Bou Said, which was very pretty. All of the buildings in Sidi Bou Said are painted blue and white. Our tour guide told us the white was to help keep the buildings cool in the midday sun and the blue was to keep the mosquitoes away! I wonder if the latter works.
We toured a typical Sidi house, which was crowded but pretty. I recently finished reading The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory, which was a fictional account of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Gregory's account went into a lot of detail regarding Catherine's childhood growing up in Moorish villages that her parents had conquered. Touring this house made me think of that book.

We also had a bit of free time to explore the market stalls along the road. We picked up a few ceramics, a couple of which broke on the way home to England. Nuts.

I grabbed a coke in the cafe where our tour group was meeting.

When we got back to the ship, Caleb and I took a camel ride. I was worried he'd be scared, but he really liked it!

We hit the pool later that afternoon, and Caleb got in some good splashing time. He was becoming more confident, and as one of the older non-potty-trained toddlers, I had to really watch to make sure he was too enthusiastic in his splashing around the younger kiddos. (Don't worry, mom, we SPF'd him head to toe!)

That night we ate at The Animator's Palate again. The walls, which were decorated with black and white sketches of Disney characters, were filling with color that night. There were also screens playing scenes from Disney classics, which helped to keep Caleb entertained.

We enjoyed Malta and Tunisia, but we were really looking forward to our next three stops, which were all in Italy!

Disney Cruise - Day Three: Malta

2010-05-30T21:51:00.007+01:00

I'm skipping day two since we spent it entirely on board the ship. I'll summarize by saying we hit the gym, we ate too much, and we watched "Up" in 3-D in the Buena Vista Theater on board. There! That's about it for that day! ;)

On the third day of the cruise, we awoke to views of Valletta, Malta from our verandah. It was gorgeous!

Since our shore excursion (or "Port Adventure" in Disney speak) didn't take place until the afternoon, and since it wouldn't involve Valletta at all, we decided to do a bit of exploring of Valletta on our own. Close to the port, there was a street lined with horse drawn carriages offering tours of the city. The first carriage asked for €140 for an hour long tour. We laughed and kept walking.

By the end of the road, a guy was offering a tour for €40. We weren't going to take it until we realized how much uphill walking we had to do just to get in to town. We were on a time crunch, so we decided to take him up on the €40 tour.

Towards the end of the tour, we ended up at a huge monument overlooking the harbor. It was an amazing view.

Here's a view of the beautiful Disney Magic! We saw a handful of other cruise ships in various ports, but none of them held a candle to the Magic!

We returned to the ship for lunch, and then got off again for our afternoon tours of Mdina and Mosta.

Mdina is a medieval, fortified town. We passed through the city gates and followed our tour guide around the narrow roads. We toured a church and passed along many of the homes owned by the town's aristocracy. You'll get tired of me saying this, but it was beautiful.

In Mosta, we had a chance to tour a cathedral inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. I'm glad we had a chance to see this one, since our tour in Rome a few days later didn't include the actual Pantheon.

This church had been struck by a bomb during World War II. The bomb pierced the domed ceiling that, incredibly, did not explode. This is my little weapon of mass destruction in front of a replica of the bomb.

We also had a chance to visit a craft village that was essentially an old military base converted into various craft shops and factories. We saw a glass blowing factory and a shop where they made silver filigree.

When we returned to the ship later that afternoon, Caleb had a chance to visit the toddler splash area. Since he isn't potty trained yet, he couldn't go in the kiddie pool, but he didn't seem to mind!

This day also happened to be Tommy's birthday! Our servers brought out a huge slab of birthday cake and sang him Happy Birthday. We were dining at Lumiere's that night.

It was a great day! We didn't make it to the evening's entertainment that night, which was a comedian. To be honest, I couldn't tell you what we did after dinner that night! But overall, it was a great day!

Disney Cruise - Day One: Welcome Aboard!

2010-05-29T08:48:00.012+01:00

We started our cruise by winding our way through the line in the terminal and having our paperwork and identification thoroughly checked. Caleb did pretty well waiting in line, and to Disney's credit, the line moved fairly quickly .

We also had our first Mickey and Minnie Mouse sighting in the terminal. Caleb was excited to see them from a distance, terrified to get up close, and then ecstatic to shout, "I LOVE YOU, MICKEY!" as we walked away. His enthusiasm and fear turned out to be a pattern for pretty much the whole cruise.

As we arrived to the terminal, porters took our luggage for us. Disney had mailed us luggage tags a couple of weeks before with our room numbers on them, so the bags were magically whisked away while we got on board. We weren't able to go to our rooms yet because they were still being prepared, so we went up to the 9th deck to grab some lunch from the Topsider Buffet. Then we got to exploring the 9th and 10th decks, which were where the pools were.

We were able to get to our rooms before too long and drop off our backpacks. For the rest of the cruise, I carried around my camera bag which included a tube of lip gloss and my Key to the World Card, which is the card that counts as cash and gets you on and off the ship while on the cruise. I really didn't need anything else on board!

We checked out our room, which was a deluxe stateroom with verandah on the seventh deck. It was nice! It really did become our home for the next eleven days. Although I'm happy to be back in my own bed, I sure to miss the views from the verandah in Room 7594!

Our luggage hadn't arrived to the room yet, but it was time for our mandatory emergency evacuation drill! So we donned our life vests and headed down to Deck 4 where the life boats were to get a briefing on what to do in case of an emergency. Caleb wasn't excited about his big, boxy vest, and it was hard to hug and console him in my own big, boxy vest, but he survived (which, I guess is the point of a life vest, so hooray!)

That afternoon, they had a deck party at the Goofy Pool on Deck 9. The cruise entertainment staff and a bunch of Disney characters showed up to welcome us aboard. It was super fun. I'm totally a kid about this kind of stuff, and I had a blast dancing along and screaming for Mickey.

See the guy in the front? That's Dave. He pretty much has my dream job.

Dave is the Get-the-Party-Started Guy. For years, I've been saying my dream job would be to go to people's wedding receptions just to get the party started. I don't want to be the DJ. I want to be the person on the dance floor pulling everyone else out, the one who isn't afraid to do the funky chicken and even the sprinkler if necessary, the one who requests Dancing Queen and the last one off the dance floor. That's pretty much what this guy did. He was everywhere on the ship! I saw him in the Rockin' Bar D - a dumb name for a bar (I don't get it?) - but they had cool comedians and magicians and bands perform there every night. He was usually the emcee there as well.

The excitement of the day was a bit much for Caleb at this point, who fell asleep on Tommy's shoulders during the deck party. At the end of the deck party, they sounded the ship's horn to signal the start of the cruise. The horn sounded like the first eight notes of "When You Wish Upon A Star." It was pretty awesome to hear that coming so loud from the ship's horn, and the whole boat pretty much went crazy when it sounded.

For dinner that night, we ate at The Animator's Palate. On board the Disney Magic, you eat on a dining rotation. There were three main restaurants - The Animator's Palate, which was kind of general dining; Parrot Cay, which focused on Caribbean-inspired food; and Lumiere's which featured fine dining with French influences.

All of them were amazing! Each night we ate at a different restaurant (on a scheduled rotation), and our serving staff came with us. By the end of the trip, Kendall and Walter knew what types of foods we liked, who were the experimental diners, and what drinks to bring without even asking. It was awesome.

We discovered our friends from base were sitting two tables away from us the first night. Caleb was very happy to see his friend Tehlaia, who is only two months older than him. Our servers noticed we were spending a fair amount of time at each others tables that first night and offered to let us move to their table permanently. It was nice to see familiar faces at the end of the days!

After dinner, we attended a live theater show in the Walt Disney Theater on Deck 4, which seats about 600 people. The show was called "Welcome Aboard; Let the Magic Begin." It featured a lot of the characters and really captured the excitement of our first day on board! The Walt Disney Theater was gorgeous! They had some sort of live performance, whether it was a play, a comedy act, a magician, or a talent show every night either before or after dinner (depending on your dining schedule.)

We were pretty wiped after that so we went back to our room to unpack and get settled in. We had only been on board since about 2 or 3 pm, but it was a full and long day, so we slept pretty well that night! We knew the next day would be a day at sea as we cruised down to our first port, so we were going to have plenty of time to explore the ship!

Disney Cruise - Arriving in Barcelona

2010-05-27T20:04:00.009+01:00

So in my most recent blogging draught, I totally skimped on discussing the build-up, planning, stressing, excitement and anticipation that led to the 11 day Mediterranean Disney Cruise we just returned from. So let me just summarize in a word: AAIIEE!! It was a lot like that.

Okay, one more tiny detour. I'm going to set myself a goal to finish blogging the cruise within the next two weeks. I'd like to do a blog about each shore excursion, but I may combine a few. All the same, we had seven stops, so I think a two week goal is achievable. There! I've made it public. I don't want to disappoint you now!

Enough poppycock. Let's get to the trip!

We left the day before the cruise and went to Barcelona, which is where our ship was going to embark. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold in Barcelona when we arrived, and I had been hoping for (and was dressed for) warmer weather. Additionally, we struggled to navigate our way through the public transport, mostly because everything was in Spanish! My husband's high school and college Spanish classes didn't help us on the metro. We got a bit mixed up and ended up walking a ton the first afternoon because we couldn't figure out where to get off.

Our goal was to make it to the aquarium downtown, but when we finally got there, the line was so long and we were so cold, that we decided to just grab dinner and went back to the hotel. I did have some good sangria, but that's really all we accomplished the first day!

The next day, we decided to make it easy on ourselves and took a taxi downtown. We started at one end of Las Ramblas and just worked our way up. It was a beautiful first thing in the morning before it got too busy. The middle plaza-like section of the street was lined with market stalls.

Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding a place open for breakfast (at 8 am!) So we settled for some super yummy pastries in a shop along the way. And I totally grabbed a Starbucks coffee. Terrible, I know.

We made it to La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was beautiful, even with the scaffolding around the outside. The inside was beautiful, too.

From there, we hit a market along Las Ramblas which was quite seriously bursting with the freshest, most colorful fruit and vegetables I've seen. I wanted to move in there. Unfortunately, it was also bursting with people, and Tommy was eager to get out of there fast.

At the end of Las Ramblas, there was a huge, open square we wandered around for a while. The weather was much better the second day and downright warm by this point. We fed the pigeons, which was fun. And then we promptly sanitized our hands.

Nothing like a self-portrait with pigeons in your hands!

From there, we caught a taxi back to our hotel and then another to the port to board our ship! Our stay in Barcelona was short, and I wish I had had a chance to see more, particularly of Guadi's other buildings. But it was time to board the Disney Magic! And we couldn't wait!

Still here!

2010-04-15T21:23:00.004+01:00

Remember how I said I was going to try and commit to blogging daily back in January? Well, clearly I have not met that goal. Not even close!

But if it makes you feel any better (and I'm sure you couldn't care less), I do think about blogging almost daily. The problem is really finding the time. Work days are long days. And right now Mr. K is out of the country and Caleb is boycotting bedtime, both of which make work days even longer.

But I do think of you, my three-to-five loyal readers, often. In fact, I've even started a few posts to finish up the story of my brother's visit, but those posts haven't made it to the public eye because, quite frankly, they sucked. And I think you deserve better than that. So I'll shelve them for now, work on them later, and hopefully get back into the groove soon.

I haven't given up, I promise! (This is what I told myself in March when my diet and exercise plan fell apart for a bit due to illness and family visits. But hey, April has been good for that regime. Maybe it'll pick up for blogging, too!)

A volcanic plume is either a.) heading to England, or possibly b.) already over England. This doesn't affect me personally as I don't have any immediate travel plans. It did make my coworkers' day quite unusual and surreal, I'd say. But I did just want to say we haven't been struck by the apocalypse yet. Don't worry, though. We have plenty of canned goods and diapers should things get hairy. ;)

That's it for now, but no post is complete without a pic. So here ya go. Caleb enjoying a beautifully chilly English spring Sunday this past weekend. Here's hoping for good weather (that won't be clouded over by volcanic ash!) this weekend! :)

Steve & Kim's Visit, Part I

2010-04-01T21:30:00.007+01:00

Okie dokes! I seriously owe you (mom) a blog about our recent adventures with Steve (my little bro) and his family. And since occasionally other people stop by, I'll do my best to not just address my number one fan. ;)

So, my brother Steve and his wife Kim and their two kiddos (Ben, 3 and Katelyn, 5 months) came to visit us in March. Steve is my only brother, and we are only about 18 months apart. Since we grew up in an Air Force family, he's one of the few constants in my younger years, and he loved to remind me at every base, "I was your first friend here!"

The years have gone by, but Steve is still my dorky little brother who used to pester me when my friends would come by and read my diary. He make look like a professional at work, but we all know the truth.

Caleb was super excited to see his cousin, Ben. Being only about 10 months apart, they have very similar interests: trains and cars and various other modes of transportation. Oh, and french fries. They both love french fries.

The first day Steve and Kim arrived, we headed down into Thetford to check out the priory ruins. Caleb and Ben loved chasing each other around the place.

I, however, was pretty excited to notice this little plaque showing that this spot in the Thetford Priory is likely where John Howard, Duke of Norfolk was buried! As in John Howard, father of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk who was the uncle of Anne Boleyn who likely threw Anne in Henry VIII's path and changed the history of England forever! My Tudor sense (it's like a Spidey sense) was pinging. It's strange how once you get sucked into the Tudor history, all roads seem to eventually bring you back that crazy era.

After that, we went to Castle Hill, and Stephen climbed to the top. It's actually a pretty steep climb, and I've attempted it before, but I can't manage to get more than halfway up the hill because I always have Caleb with me. It's just too steep to turn back around and go down carrying a toddler. Some day, though, I will make it to the top!

Didn't I mention he's a dork?

Okay, it's getting late, so I better wrap this up. Next time I'll try and tackle our weekend jaunt our west where we saw Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath and Hampton Court Palace! For now, good-night!

International Produce

2010-03-30T21:21:00.004+01:00

Okay, I'm going to make a commitment to you. As we wrap up our tour in England, I'm going to do my best not to be mopey and sad about all the things I'm going to miss here. I'm excited about the next chapter in our life (which won't start, by the way, for another 8-9 months).

But living over here has been such an incredible experience, that I am experiencing a bit of preemptive nostalgia about a lot of things. Chalk it up to being a military brat. You have a pretty good understanding of how the loss of normal things in your life can affect you and begin to anticipate the pain early. Sure you'll get over it, but GUH! It hurts.

Okay, heading in the wrong direction here. The point of the intro is this: I'm going to try really hard not to be mopey about our impending departure. But I hope you'll indulge me and allow me to tell you along the way the random things I'll miss about life in the UK. Today is going to be one of those days.

Buying produce on base can be a bit hit-and-miss. Some days you'll find gorgeous produce, other days it looks like the produce that fell off of the truck along the way and was scooped back up just to be sold at the commissary. It can be a bit depressing.

But produce off base? Amazing! Imagine a chorus of angels singing the joys of produce fresh from the open air markets or even one of the English grocery chains. 'Cause that's what I'm imagining.

We are a Tesco family. We love it. Primarily because it's the closest grocery store to us, and also because it's awesome. It's like Target. But British-er. Yes!

So most of our produce comes from Tesco. And one cool thing about produce purchased over here is that they tell you where it comes from! Do they do that in the States? I don't remember. If they did, I must not have paid much attention to it. But over here, it's fascinating. Strawberries from Spain? Bananas from the Dominican Republic? Globalization of delicious produce? Yes, please!

Tonight, I made stir fry. And while I did, I was excited to see where my veggies came from. So, just because I'm a nerd, here they are.

Here are some of the veggies we used. Not pictured: zucchini and broccoli, because they were already cut up, and pineapple because it came from a can. Don't judge me, man. I'm busy! Because I bought the broccoli and zucchini loose (not pre-packaged), they didn't say where they came from. Or maybe they did at the store, and I didn't notice. I have an amazing eye for detail.

'Shrooms from Holland. Thanks, Holland! A few years ago, I hated mushrooms. Still don't like them raw. But LOVE them in stir fry! A mushroom soaks up soy sauce like nothing else. YUM.

Cilantro from Kenya, or as it's called here, coriander. Actually forgot to put this in tonight. No worries, I'll make good use of it somewhere else! Loving me some cilantro.

Bell peppers from Israel. Israel! Unreal. Bell peppers are the only vegetable Caleb will eat raw, and he loves them!

My coworker today made a comment about this. He always knows where his fruit and veg come from (and is on an infectious Chilean grape kick right now.) And he was saying how disappointing it'll be to get back to the states where most of your fruit and veg come from California.

I'll admit total ignorance in this department, but I can only guess he's probably pretty accurate on that statement. I'm sure we (Americans) import a fair amount of fruit and veg, but primarily, I'm sure it's grown in somewhere in our huge country. Not that there's a problem with American grown food! I'm all for it. But it is sad to think I probably won't get bell peppers from Israel once we leave England. Better enjoy them while I can!

Holy Moses. As usual, this blog was way longer than intended. Good night!

Caleb and Kelly's East Anglian Adventures

2010-03-27T20:16:00.009Z

It's hard to believe my brother and his family just left England on Tuesday morning. It feels like ages ago. I realize I still need to throw up a few blogs about our adventures with them, but today is going to be about a different adventure.

Tommy had school work to sort out today, but I was pretty eager to get out of the house. The day started off sunny, which of course meant it turned to crap as soon as we were ready to leave. But if there's one thing you learn in England is that you can't let rain dictate your day. Pack a brolly, wear a hooded jacket, and get on with it!

So that's what we did. We packed a lunch and left the house at about 11 and headed for Framlingham Castle. I'd been wanting to visit Framlingham since reading about Mary Tudor's accession to the throne. Her younger brother, Edward VI, violated his father (Henry VIII's)succession act by naming his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as queen on his death bed. Mary rallied support at Framlingham and was able to take the crown without much of a fight.

The castle had a decent audio tour available for free. You never know what you're going to get with audio tours. Some of them have way too much detail and move too slowly. And some of them have seriously corny actors pretending to be prior residents of the castle. This audio tour did have a bit of cheesy acting that was easy enough to skip past, but the historical parts moved swiftly enough to get the gist of a room without having to linger too long. Although, with an active toddler, it's pretty much impossible to really stop and enjoy the tour for more than about 2.5 seconds at a time.

The curtain wall of the castle was largely still in tact, but the building inside it were mostly gone. Framlingham didn't have a traditional castle keep (large, central tower inside the curtain wall), like many of the more famous and larger castle. Instead, there were a series of buildings inside the castle for different purposes. The only remaining building served as a poor house after it was sold from the Howard family to a local politician, Sir Robert Hitcham.

Another cool thing about Framlingham is that the original owners and builders, the Bigod family, also founded the Thetford Priory! I love it when a bunch of random peices of the stuff I've experienced begins to tie together.

After we finished exploring Framlingham, Caleb and I headed for the coast. Aldeburgh was a short drive away, so we crossed our fingers for a bit of sunshine as we ventured to the beach. We weren't terribly lucky in the weather department. As we got there, half the sky was somewhat sunny and the other half was dark and ominous.

Aldeburgh is a rock-covered beach, which reminded me of our own gravel-filled backyard. Fortunately, there was less dog poop at the beach! Caleb and I plopped down and enjoyed our packed lunch for about 20 minutes before the clouds moved over us and began to rain.

I suppose we could have kept moving down beach to stay ahead of the clouds, but we decided to cut our losses and head home. It was a short trip to the beach, but we had fun anyway!

We left Aldeburgh with every intention of heading home. I was armed with Google maps with directions home from there. But as we began to head home, I saw signs for Orford. Orford Castle was on my short list of local castles to visit. As it was only about 2:30, I made a quick decision that we might as well head over to see it while we were in the area.

Where as Framlingham is primarily a curtain wall, all that remains of Orford is the keep. And it's a pretty impressive keep! Orford was built by Henry II to help manage the Suffolk area and to kind of serve as a reminder to the Bigods (who built Framilingham) that he (Henry) was king and had the power in the country. It was kind of cool to hear how the two castles histories were intertwined.

Caleb was excited to explore another castle! You can't see them here, but he had two puppets on the end of (unsharpened) pencils that we had purchased at Framlingham. One was a knight and the other was a princess. He spent most of his time at Orford making them talk to each other. He's still pretty young, though, so most of the conversations involved both characters asking the other, "What doing?" over and over again.

I'll go ahead and apologize now for the next two pictures. I have a bad habit of taking pictures of the garderobes (toilets) at castles. I just find historical personal hygiene to be interesting! Gross, but interesting.

This, however, seriously cracked me up. In all the castles we've seen over here, I've never seen this before. And the audio tour indicated that it's pretty rare. It's a urinal. A small, triangular cut out in the wall allowing for easy relief for the resident of that room (presumable the castle's constable.) The pee goes straight outside down the wall of the castle. Hilarious! Pardon the poor picture. I actually took it about six times, and this was the best I could get in that small hallway.

After we finished touring Orford Castle, we were ready to go home. But I got a bit turned around in town and ended up at Orford Quay (the town wharf.)

Since the sun was out again, we parked the car and wandered around for a bit.

Caleb loved looking at all the boats!

We wandered out onto a peir. I dunno. Would you call this a pier? Or a dock? Or a jetty? Or a berth? I really don't know. The town of Orford called this one a pontoon on the sign. But I'm used to thinking of swamp boats as pontoons. So I'll say it's a pier.

Caleb really loved looking at the boats and the buoys. And let me tell you, there's not much cuter than a two year old pronouncing the word "buoy."

The end of day sun made for some great pictures, but it was definitely getting cold and time to head home.

The ride home was a bit of an adventure, as well. Since our newly ordered GPS isn't in yet, I was utilizing some printed directions and a map of Southern England my brother gave me as a Christmas gift the year before we moved here. But every time I thought I had found my bearings, I would end up in a town I was not prepared to see. So I'd consult my maps, readjust my route, and press forward...just to find a sign indicating I was not heading the right way. So I'd recalculate and readjust and press forward.

For about a half hour I kept finding myself in strange towns. I'd review my route and have no idea how I ended up there. I'm telling you, man, English roads and English maps do NOT correlate. The first few times, I didn't mind too much. I had no deadline to get home, and it was kind of a challenge for my map skills. But after about the eight reevaluation of the map, I was going NUTS! When I finally saw a sign that indicated that I was actually on the road I meant to be on and heading in the direction I wanted to be going, I was literally proclaiming my own awesomeness as loudly as possible.

Just goes to show you, sometimes the adventures you set out to have may not be the most adventurous part of your day! In spite of our overly scenic route home, we had a great time. Glad to be checking a few more castles off of our list!

Best Work Day Ever!

2010-03-25T19:53:00.006Z

Amazing, amazing, amazing! I just had the most amazing day at work, and I'm a little devastated that it's not the kind of day I'll be able to repeat.

I had the awesome opportunity to take an orientation flight on a KC-135 today. And it was so freaking COOL! My job gives me quite a bit of exposure to the KC-135s. I've seen tons of pictures and even a few videos of refuelings. But actually getting to participate in one was incredible! Getting to sign off my computer for the day and spend the rest of it flying circles 27000 feet above Germany refueling fighter planes was indescribable. But that's not going to stop me from trying!

Our show time was 0855 this morning. There were originally two other people that were on this flight, but neither could make it. So that meant I had the whole orientation flight to myself! The first hour or so was spent preparing for the flight. Here is the crew going over...oh shoot, I don't know. Charts? Checklists? Weather reports? They went over a lot of data, most of which went over my head. Don't get me wrong, it was cool to see the prep work and get a feel for the process and paperwork they have to go through, but I understood about 30% of it, at best. The guys were really good about answering my questions, though!

This is me in front of our jet's tail flash! I've always wanted a picture in front of our awesome Box D tail flash. I just imagined it wouldn't be so windy, and I would look a lot cooler. Or tougher. I guess that's kind of hard to be tough and cool when essentially you're just a big nerd.

Getting into the plane was just the beginning. There were still tons of checklists for the crew to go over. I followed our boom operator around for a bit and got familiar with the plane. This is the inside of a KC-135 before it's powered up. Quiet and dark.

Finally, it was time to taxi to the runway and take off! I was super excited. The boom operator gave me a headset so I could listen in on the chatter. It's amazing how much chatter goes on between various aircraft and the tower, etc. The pilots did a remarkable job listening out for their call sign and paying attention to what was pertinent to our mission.

Time for takeoff! No kidding, I was seriously excited at this point. It's not like I've never flown before. But sitting in the jump seat directly behind the pilots and listening to all the chatter made it feel like I was really part of the crew. Kinda fun!

This is the moment when we rose above cloudy, overcast England and into a bit of sunshine! I need a job where I can leave behind cruddy weather and seek out sunnier skies! We had gorgeous weather all the way to Germany and back. You could definitely tell when we were back in England, because it became gray all over again!

Cruising at 26000 feet! Okay, I realize I snapped a picture of the wrong indicator. This dillyo, if I understand correctly, tells us what altitude we're aiming for. There was an actual dial-type thingie that indicated what altitude we were at, but the picture I got of that was blurry. All that to say: we were flying high! And MAN, the traffic! At one point the aircraft commander counted ten planes in the sky (either the planes themselves or the contrails they left behind)...and that's just what we could see from the front!

Flying over Germany! You're looking at the boom, which is how the fuel is passed between the KC-135 and its receivers. To the left of the picture, you can see the Alps! We flew a giant circle around Munich, seeing the Alps, a runway, and two energy plant towers over and over again. The boom joked that it was like National Lampoon's European vacation when they get stuck in the roundabout in London. "Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!"

First contact! This is the first plane we refueled, an F16 from Aviano AFB. Having seen pictures like this a hundred times before, I still wasn't prepared for just how close we'd be to the receiver. I could see his mask move when he talked. If we weren't going hundreds of miles and hour, I could practically jump from the boom pod to the receiver! It was amazing.

This was the boom operator for the flight, who happened to be the provider of Corn Nuts, as well. Yeah, I said Corn Nuts! Anyway, as the boom operator, you have to go in this little space in the back of the plane and lay down on your stomach. There is a joystick-like controller that controls the boom and connects it to the receiver. If I remember correctly, we offloaded about 5-6,000 pounds of fuel each to these two F16s. (Like how I say "we" as if I had anything to do with it?) And it literally only took about five minutes per plane. It's nuts.

This is the second F16 that we refueled approaching the boom. Once the boom and receiver connect, we all just cruise along in a big orbit while the gas is passed!

The next two planes we refueled were A10s from Spangdahlem. I didn't know what an A10 was before this flight, so it was cool to see them. This is the first one approaching.

This is right before the boom establish contact with the A10.

After the A10s were done, the F16s came back around. Again, just crazy how close we are! I used the puny 3x optical zoom on my little compact camera to get this close. This pilot was showing us the buzzard claw. He told us the buzzard is their squadron's mascot.

The pilots were super cool and flew around when they were done for a great photo op. I don't know who they were, but thanks, guys!

This is me in the boom pod, seriously contemplating a career change.

And these are the pilots, doing their thing in preparation for landing!

One last look at the jet before I head back to the office. What an incredible day!

Here's the thing: I'm a bit of a Mildenhall nerd already. I just stinking love this base. It's by far been my favorite assignment so far, and I hate that we're in our last year here. Since starting my job, I've really gained a better understanding of our wing's mission as the USAF's only refueling base in Europe.

But getting to see it in action? Unbelievable. I really can't do it justice. And maybe that's just because I'm the kind of person who gets easily excited about this stuff. But honestly, it is cool. It's cool to be a part of a base that refuels all of the Air Force in Europe. It's cool to get to work with the guys who do that mission day in and day out. I feel super lucky to have had this opportunity today. I only wish I could make it a regular part of my job!

Hopefully I'll get some video uploaded in the next day or two. For now, it's late. I'm out!

Two Kid Weekend

2010-03-06T20:13:00.005Z

Right now I'm waiting for two kids to fall asleep so I can enjoy my Skinny Cow ice cream bar in peace. I've been holding onto the idea of that Skinny Cow for a while, so I'm really hopeful that these little eyes will close very soon. But I'm not holding my breath.

Caleb's friend Lillian is hanging out with us this weekend. Lillian is, for all intents and purposes, Caleb's oldest friend. In fact, Lily met Caleb before Tommy met Caleb, due to his deployment at the time. They've been buddies since before Caleb could walk or talk. And although I know it's a short time we're measuring here (he's only 2!), Lily really has been a consistent part of Caleb's early landscape.

Anyway, Lily's parents are in London for the day and seeing Dave Matthews Band at the O2 arena tonight, so Lil is chilling with us for today and part of tomorrow. I eagerly agreed to watch Lil, because I know how well Caleb gets on with her. But I was a bit nervous in the days leading up to this weekend. I've watched her before, but never overnight. In fact, I've never had two kids for longer than a few hours...ever.

But it's been a total breeze! Other than a few sibling-like moments where they bicker over a toy or who sits in what chair, it's really been painless. We hit the zoo this morning for the first time in about four months. We have a membership to the small zoo about 20 minutes from our house, but the weather has been phenomenally grody for ages. This week has been inexplicably awesome, so in spite of the fact that it was still pretty cold outside, we took advantage of the sun.

Lily led Caleb through the petting zoo/barn area.

These short-legged cows actually terrified poor Caleb. In his defense, they were mooing really loudly. And it was approximately nap time. All the same, my husband was shaking his head. The tigers? The leopards? Neither bothered Caleb. The mooing cow? Left him crying and begging to be picked up and whisked away. Lily wasn't bothered.

Here the kids are checking out the kangaroos. They really enjoyed identifying all the animals and demonstrating their "sounds."

I really can't tell you how many self-portraits I have with Lil. Quite a few. I should make a montage of them to see just how much she's grown in the couple of years I've known her.

Checking out the penguins and eating pretzels.

Caleb's favorite part of the zoo: the land train. The sun disappeared for a bit while we were on the train, and we were freezing! Luckily we had already been there about an hour and a half, which is all you need at Banham Zoo, so we took our cold selves home.

On the way out of the zoo, holding hands. They really do get on fantastically.

We ate lunch when we came home and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, one of Caleb's current faves. It really is a cute movie. Or maybe I'm just enamoured with the idea of burgers falling from heaven.

Then we headed out to the playground near our house. Again, it was quite cold, but when you haven't seen the sun in what seems like a decade, temperature is a secondary consideration. The kids spent about an hour and half chasing each other, swinging, climbing, and pretending I was a child-eating crocodile. Of course, I had to play the part.

Well, the good news is that since I started this post, both kiddos have fallen fast asleep, and I've had a chance to enjoy my Skinny Cow! Yummy. I have to admit, I'm tempted to grab a second one, but I think that defeats the purpose. Do two Skinny Cows make a Fat Cow? I think so.

Anyway, we have Lily for a short time tomorrow, in which I'm hoping to make blueberry pancakes and possibly braid her hair. Hey, Tommy won't let me braid Calebs! Gotta get my girl fix where I can! Hopefully our morning goes as well as today did, which was great! Maybe this two kid gig isn't so bad after all!

Grounded

2010-03-03T21:41:00.002Z

So, I had a pretty cool opportunity today that I had to let go of, and I really didn't realize how much it would hurt, but hoowee! It did hurt.

I was offered an orientation flight with the guys from one of the squadrons I work with, and I jumped at the chance last week. I knew it might be tricky, because I had something going on that night (tonight), but at the time, it seemed like it would work out.

Unforunately, the mission changed today and there was going to be a later landing. Since I had already made obligations for that night, I had to take myself off the flight. Instead, I spent the day looking out my window at the flightline and the clear skies thinking, "I could be flying. And instead, I'm reviewing performance reports."

It was a pretty big bummer. I suddenly had a newfound respect for the disappointment my coworkers go through when their flights cancel for various reasons. It SUCKS to be stuck behind a desk when you should be in the sky! Ugh! How do they put up with this?!

Anway, I managed to get over it, but I have to admit, it did sour the day a bit. The reason I had to bail was because I had organized a circuit training social for my husband's squadron's spouses. So I went to that tonight. And although the turnout was pretty meager, we did get a great workout and I had a good time...in spite of burpees and lunges and renegade rows.

So THANKS to the ladies that showed up! I was really glad to see your sweating faces! And thanks to Courtney, who led the class. She was awesome!

Giddy

2010-02-27T21:14:00.003Z

Okay, so first thing's first. I totally caved and had an amazing latte this afternoon at the community center on base. So much for caffeine-free. But in my defense, it was nearly 2 pm and I was at a children's birthday party, and said community center also has an indoor play zone with has no volume control. And it was tasty. And I did make it about two weeks. And frankly, that's enough for me.

Okay. Phew. Confession time is over! Now I'm going to get all impossibly giddy on you, so let me make apologies up front.

First and foremost, I'm seriously stoked about my brother coming to visit soon. He and his awesome wife and their adorable kiddos will be making the trek across the Atlantic to see England...err, I mean us. ;) Actually, I think they are pretty excited about both. My nephew Ben is about nine months older than Caleb, and they are going to have a blast!

We're going to bit hitting some things we've done before, such as Bath and Dover and Stonehenge, but we'll also be throwing in some new trips such as Hampton Court Palace (oooh, Tudor excitement!), Windsor Castle, and possibly Burghley House (Jane Austen AND Tudor excitement!) I can't wait!

Second, we are about three months out from our Mediterranean Disney Cruise, and I could NOT be more excited! I finally got our plane tickets and hotel sorted, so that's a relief. Now it's a matter of scouring the zillions of Disney shore excursions available and figuring out what our "Must See"s are!

I'm not going to even try to disguise it: I am giddy. I'm so thrilled and the idea of being back in Italy again. The thought of walking around Florence seriously makes my heart beat a bit faster.

I really have been super lucky as far as where I've been able to live. I got to live in Italy as a teenager! For nearly three years, we were stationed at Aviano Air Base (best base EVER!), and for field trips, we went places like Verona (think Romeo and Juliet), Germany, and Florence. To this day, Florence is my favorite city in the world. I'm so eager to go back and see if it's just a magical as I remember it.

Unfortunately, my family never made it to Rome while we lived in Italy, so I'm also especially excited to finally make it there! I can't wait to see the Sistine Chapel and the Coliseum. I can't wait to eat Italian food in Italy. Just thinking about it, my mouth is already watering for REAL tiramisu and gilato! I'm so excited about having spaghetti carbonara in the country where I originally tried it, and maybe even a sgroppino. Even the little things, like a San Pellegrino Lemonata are getting me so excited to relive some of my youth in Italy.

I'm nostalgic and expectant and so excited I just can't stand it! To experience it all as an adult, with deeper appreciation for just how remarkable it is to actually be in Italy, will be so incredible. I only wish there was some way I could coordinate it in such a way that I could run into my old friends from Aviano High School while we are there. That would be the icing on the cake.

Okay. Phew. Seriously. Let me take a breath. I'm getting so excited, it's ridiculous. I just can't believe this will all be happening soon. It takes away a bit of the bitter sting of realizing this is our last year in Europe. Chances are very likely I'll never live on this continent again. But I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had growing up and marrying into the military that make me a little more of a world citizen than I might otherwise have felt.

To give Caleb a chance to have some of these experiences, even though he is so young and will probably not remember any of it, feels like such an amazing gift to give. I know that might seem silly. But I regularly think how cool it is that some of his earliest experiences and impressions have so much historical and cultural significance. Maybe he'll look back on these pictures and think, "I was there?" But the sights and sounds and textures of his earliest impressions will be those of castles and coliseums. In my little head, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Collection of Thoughts

2010-02-24T20:11:00.002Z

Here is a list of uncollected thoughts that are too long for Facebook status updates, so you get to suffer, if you so choose! ;)

1.) Mumford and Sons are really growing on me. I didn't get it at first, but I'm loving them now! Are the British? I always assume new music I hear is British (well, except for Ke$ha. How could that be anything but American? Gross.) And plenty of times, it turns out I'm wrong. But they just fell British to me. Then again, I operated under the mistaken idea that Kings of Leon were British for ages, too, until an article in Rolling Stone shed light on that topic.

2.) On the way home tonight, the sun was setting. It wasn't terribly bright, but it was in Caleb's eyes for a little bit. He said, "Sun bright, mommy. I need glasses." I don't know why, but it made me laugh. He wouldn't need glasses if he would stop yanking his sun shade off the window!

3.) I'm going to miss BBC Radio 1 when we leave England. I have every intention of getting Sirius satellite radio (which we had pre-England) so I can still get the Chris Moyles Show.

4.) When I was sick last week, I didn't have any Coke or coffee and realized by Saturday that I had gone a week caffeine-free. I'd been considering a brief respite from the black gold, and this seemed as good a time to start as any. I thought since I had worked through my first week without caffeine while sick that the second week (this week) wouldn't be so bad. I was so, so wrong. I spent one day totally anxious and nervous about nothing. I spent the next day totally emotional and ready to cry..again, about nothing. Today I spent totally exhausted, lethargic and cranky. UGH. Giving up caffeine is HARD!

5.) I'm really trying to refocus my diet on fresh, healthy foods and move away from convenience and packaged foods, whenever possible. It sucks, 'cause I like everything to be fast and easy. I really have to think and prepare and plan. If I don't, I still have convenience meal back ups. And I still have bad days. (Today was a good example. Can't have caffeine? FINE! I'll eat chocolate all day! Take that, dumb head!) But overall, I want to be more conscious about my food choices and pick the best that's available.

6.) I'm excited about a few things coming up next week! My coworker's wife is doing a spouse's circuit training social for my husband's squadron. I'm hooking up with the same coworker's spouse for my first ever personal training session and looking forward to get my butt kicked. AND I might get to take a Fly Day next week! My coworkers take Fly Days all the time...they are pilots. But I might get to take a flight next week, and I'm pretty stoked about it!

7.) Saw the doc today for follow up for my head cold issues last week. Ear infection is clearing up, which is good, but my right ear has had fluid in it since about November. My Eustachian tube just doesn't seem to want to work full time right now. Discussing the possibility of tubes. Really?! At 30? Ah, well. If it would make the ringing in my ears go away, I'd seriously consider it. Trying Prednisone to help reduce the inflammation of the Eustachian tube. Follow up in a month to try and see if we've made progress.

8.) Back to Radio 1 for a moment. They announced the location of their Radio 1's Big Weekend festival this year (Bangor, North Wales, in case you were interested.) It's taking place the week of our cruise. I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed that there's no chance I could go to the festival. I never have before, but it's always been one of those things I'd like to attend. It'd be difficult and unlikely with work and a family. But there was always some vague possibility. So when they announced the location and dates today and I realized they conflicted with previously-made travel plans, I was a bit bummed that this is my last year here and I'll never attend a Big Weekend. Ultimately, I have nothing to complain about. I'm going on a Disney Mediterranean cruise. I win. But I still felt a bit, "Aw, nuts" about it.

Belgium, Day 2

2010-02-21T21:45:00.006Z

Before I get to Belgium, Part II, lemme say this: Neti potting is SO weird!

I'm one of those types that gets sinus infections and colds on a somewhat regular basis. And I had heard of neti pots before, but prior to this year of frequent sinus issues, I never seriously considered them.

At my doctor's appointment Tuesday, the doctor actually recommended a nasal rinse. To which I said, "You mean a neti pot?!" I had recently posted a Facebook question about them that generated a lot of responses from people singing their praises. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one on Amazon that would ship to my American-in-England APO address. Fortunately I have a pretty awesome mom who picked one up for me at Walgreens and shipped it last week.

So tonight I gave it a try. What a strange sensation! It kind of feels like when you accidentally breathe under water, only a bit less violent since you're expecting it. I couldn't make it through a whole pot in either nostril, and I think it'll take some practice. But here's hoping it'll help to mitigate my sinus issues that have plagued me this past year!

Okie dokes, now onto our second day in Belgium! We decided to spend our second day in Ghent.

I summarized Belgium in my last post as essentially us being sick and Belgium being cold. This was indeed true on day two. The only difference was that it was Sunday, and nothing was open till about noon. We foolishly took off for Ghent first thing in the morning and froze our tails off until we found a cafe to warm up in. It was in this cafe that I found the highlight of my trip: the Italian Coffee.

See how pretty she is? Sweet and dark and delicious. It was essentially coffee and amaretto and whipped cream. What's not to love? The combination of coffee and alcohol did the trick to warm me back up and put me in good spirits. Caleb enjoyed his spoonfuls of Daddy's hot chocolate.

Our travel buddy Tim enjoyed his Belgian beer. By the end, we were all warmer and in better moods.

Since it was well after lunch time, we could now explore the cathedral in town, so we did so, taking a few illegal pictures along the way. (Hey, I didn't use a flash!) The cathedral in Ghent was MUCH colder than the cathedral in Ieper had been!

This was taken in the catacombs downstairs. For some reason, I felt like I was in Romeo and Juliet. I guess it felt a bit like my field trip to Verona in 9th grade.

Belgium, Day 1

2010-02-20T19:31:00.007Z

Okay, so I didn't do so hot at my committment to blog more this past week. I really had good intentions, but this sickness I had this week had other plans for me. I honestly went to bed at 7:30 one night--even before Caleb. Luckily my husband stayed up with him, but he's been sick, too. It's just been a symphony of coughing and nose blowing in our house. Awesome. Fortunately the meds are kicking in, and I'm feeling human again. It's 7:40 and I'm still awake! Party time!

So this sickness started for my husband about three weeks ago. I started to feel that tell-tale feeling in the back of my throat about last Wednesday...just two days before the Annual Awards Ceremony. I was panicky that I'd miss the ceremony, so I started doing everything I could to avoid getting sick...drinking Airborne (blech), making sure to take my multivitamin, gargling salt water, drinking lots of fluids, etc.

Well, in spite of my best efforts, I started feeling really good and sick on Saturday, our first day in Belgium. We left at about 5 am, caught the ferry at 8 from Calais, landed in Dunkerque at 11 (one hour ahead in France.) We found the house we were staying at, threw our luggage in, and made our way to Ieper, about 20 minutes down the road.

Ieper is a city with a lot of WWII history. It's also a great place to go for chocolates. Obviously, all of Belgium is pretty much a great place to get Belgian chocolates, but in Ieper, they were cheap!

Unfortunately, it was really cold in Belgium the few days we were there. About 30 degrees the whole time, and it snowed most of the time. So we spent a lot of time going from one cafe to the next just trying to stay warm.

The essence of our Belgium trip was this: cold and sick. We never really felt like we warmed up and never really felt well enough to enjoy the trip. In retrospect, we probably should have just stayed home. So since there really isn't much more to say than that, I'll just show you some pics.

The cloth hall in downtown Ieper. Beautiful building.

Me and my boys in Ieper!

Inside the "In Flanders Fields" WWII museum.

More from the museum. In this area, there was an overhead speaker that had a peom about the horrors of war being read. As the part about "Gas, Gas! Quick, boys!" was read, this tall column filled with eery green smoke. It was very haunting.

Me and Caleb in Ieper.

Outside a cathedral in Ieper.

Inside the cathedral.

Tommy trying to stay warm and eating a waffle topped with bananas, chocolate and whipped cream.

This is Menin Gate. It's very impressive in real life for this small Belgian town. It's a British WWII war memorial. To this day, the Last Post is sounded every night at 8 pm. This was one of the major reasons we went to Ieper, and we spent hours trying to stay warm in hopes of making it to 8 pm.

Alas, after a late night with the Awards Ceremony the night before and having gotten up at 5 to make our ferry, we just didn't have stamina. Nor was there anywhere warm enough to wait that long. In the end, we were all in bed by 8 pm instead of watching the Last Post in Ieper.

Tomorrow (hopefully), I'll catch you up on Ghent and Lille and that'll wrap up our Belgium trip.

Annual Awards Ceremony

2010-02-16T18:41:00.006Z

Okie dokes! Been a bit of blog slacker this past week, but it wasn't necessarily for a lack of trying. I did start a few entries, but couldn't find my blogging mojo and just had too many other things on my mind. So I'll do my best to make a valient effort to make up for last week's absence.

There's a few things to catch you up with, and in an attempt not to bore you to death, I'll try and do one at a time.

So for today, let me tell you about the base's Annual Awards Ceremony that took place Friday. My husband was up for Volunteer of the Year and I was selected to be one of the emcees for the night.

I had been practicing the script for most of the week, but the night of the event, I was super nervous. I remember saying to the other emcee, "Holy crap. This is happening!" And he laughed and likened it to child birth. And in a way, it did feel eerily similar to that forward momentum towards an unavoidable event that is coming quicker than you're prepared for and won't stop no matter how much you dig in your heels. Eep!

Here is Tommy shaking the wing commander's hand after he was given his nominee's medallion.

My heart was pounding as we started the evening, and it continued to pound throughout the whole first half of the event. After we finished the introductions of the nominees, dinner was served, but I was still a bit too wound up to really settle down and enjoy it. Following dinner, we introduced the guest speaker, General (Ret) Gregory "Speedy" Martin. At this point, I was started to fade and was really worried about losing the momentum and energy I had, but Speedy was really entertaining, and his 15 minutes went quickly.

After that we announced the winners. I was super excited to announce my catergories, and sure enough, my husband won Volunteer of the Year at the wing level!

(For non-mil types, you are generally a part of a flight or office, which is a part of a squadron. Your squardon is a part of a group, which is a part of the wing. At our base, we also have tenant units who aren't headquartered here, but have squadrons represented here. So Tommy had already won for his squadron and group. So he was competing at the wing level.)

When I opened the envelope for his category and saw his name, I felt my face explode into a huge smile and I said, "From the Mission Support Group, the handsomest man in the room and my husband..." and announced his name. YAY! It was fun!

The rest of the winner announcments went quickly. It was a fun night. After it was all said and done, a lot of the senior leadership shook our hands and told us what a good job we did. Gotta be honest, as a Words of Affirmation girl, I was totally eating it up. The wing chief came up to shake my hand and coined me with his chief's coin! How cool is that?!

By the time it was all said and done, I was pretty knackered, but it was a fun night! I don't have the pics of Tommy accepting the award or when we walked through a sabre cordon during the introductions, but when I get them I'll post 'em.

Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on our weekend in Belgium!

Five More Years!

2010-02-06T07:32:00.004Z

It's been a heart-heavy week following the surgery of little Xander Torres. They've been on my mind a lot, and while they can put the actual surgery behind them now, they have a long road to recovery and hopefully a seizure-free exsitance for little X.

In our own lives, this week marked 12 years that my husband has been in the Air Force! It's difficult for me to wrap my brain around having the same job for 12 years. Well, not really the same job, because there are many aspects and different sections to that job. But in essence, the same employer and same career for 12 years. Wow! I'm really proud of him!

He reenlisted on Wednesday with the help of one of my coworkers, Rob. In my job I get to witness a few reenlistents. But, of course, it was fun to be at my husband's! He's a real private kind of guy and doesn't like a lot of ceremony or fuss, so it was just the three of us. I didn't even get to attend his promotion ceremony last year and wasn't sure I'd get to see his reenlistment, so I was glad when it worked out in such a way that I did get to participate.

I'm glad it's the weekend. This next week is going to be busy. I'll be preparing for the Annual Awards Ceremony. (Have I mentioned that I'm one of the emcees? I can't remember) So there's meetings, rehersal and the actual event that take up tons of time. Plus, we'll be getting ready to spend President's Day weekend in Belgium. My brother's coming in a little over a month, too, so there's lots of things to do between now and then. YIKES!

Prayer for Strong Towers

2010-02-03T06:34:00.002Z

Just wanted to mention the Torres family today. Their sweet son Xander is having brain surgery to help with some pretty serious seizures he's been having. I can't imagine how scary and overwhelming this must be for them, and I'm sured they'd appreciate any and all prayers.

No Fried Foods February!

2010-02-01T20:50:00.003Z

I really like the idea of picking one easy health-related goal a month. One thing to abstain from, but only for four weeks. It makes it seem more feasible. Plus then I feel like it's really about achieving a short-term goal instead of a massive life change that I know will never stick around.

In that vein of thought, No Candy January is over! Bring on No Fried Foods February!

I did pretty well for No Candy January. I only had candy the two times I've already mentioned - once when my coworker brought in Belgian chocolates...you know, ones he actually picked up in Belgium. And even then, I only had one! And the second was when I helped construct a Reese's peanut-butter chocolate trifle at a Pampered Chef party. It's just no fair asking me to help make it and not to have a little bit!

But over all, I'd say two bits of candy in a whole month of candy abstinence equals success--especially since I maintain the candy dish in our office at work! So go me! *virtual pat on the back*

Since I've been trying to eat healthier this year, I haven't had a ton of fried foods, but I do sneak some of Caleb's french fries from time to time. And I did have some magnificent duck rolls at Dragon House, the Chinese food restaurant near base. Oh man, they were worth it.

But in the idea of short-term abstinence, I thought I'd give No Fried Foods February a chance. When I was doing Weight Watchers, a substitute leader taught us about the dangers of BLTs. A lot of times what really inhibits my weight loss goals isn't my overall diet, it's the BLT's...the Bites, Licks and Tastes I take of the food I'm preparing or whatever is on Caleb's plate. Those little BLT's add up over the week and can make a big difference!

French fries are a particular weakness of mine, and although this past month I haven't ordered any, I sure haven't refrained from taking a few of Caleb's (or my husband's, when he's not looking!) And while I'm still proud of myself for only having a few versus the whole order (hey, Club Sandwich of Love, here!), I know it would make a difference over all to cut out fried foods all together. Again...not forever, but for a bit. I'd really like to know...can I go an entire month without french fries? Is it really possible?!

Okay, I promise this won't become a diet blog. But sometimes that's what's on my mind. That's the problem with having a blog with no gimmick...you get whatever's floating about up there!

Adventures in Toddler Parenting

2010-01-31T18:40:00.003Z

Toddler parenting: the act of cleaning up the exact same mess five times in a day.

The problem with staying home all weekend with the express purpose of having a "lazy weekend" is that it's actually impossible when you have a toddler. Caleb's at an age where he wants to undo everything I do, "help" me with my tasks, climb up and reach everything that used to be out of reach, and just generally test every boundary that exists for him. One of his many moments today including throwing all his shoes downs the stairs while I was making dinner.

I need to start planning at least one Caleb-centered out-of-house-activity a weekend, if only to maintain a shred of sanity.

Additionally, I'm trying to kick my diet up a notch. I've been eating very healthy foods since the beginning of the year and exercising a fair amount, but I haven't seen the results I was hoping for. So I'm back to tracking my food, Weight Watchers style, and really watching my portion sizes.

The result is that I'm hungry. (It's only day one, and I know it'll take at least a week or two to adjust to smaller portion sizes.) But hungry Kelly = cranky Kelly, and a troublesome toddler exaberbates the problem.

Luckily, he's pretty cute. Tonight, after I told him I was going to count to 3 and he better sit down and finish eating, he sat down and started his own cranky mom routine. "I go three! One! Two! Fee!" and general somewhat unintelligible bossiness. I was trying my best not to crack a smile at his cheekiness.

But I couldn't help but smiling at him cuddling with Zeus tonight while watching Thomas the Train. It was nice to see my two trouble makers sharing a hug and a quiet moment, even if it did only last five minutes!

Good day!

2010-01-29T19:33:00.005Z

Two good things to report today!

First, I ran a mile and a half! This probably seems like no big deal to some of you fitness junkies, but it's a big freaking deal to me. By default, I'm not someone who is physically active. I'm not athletic or coordinated or fast. It takes genuine effort and discipline to make myself go to the gym regularly.

Since I started at this job last summer, I've been doing circuit training classes off and on. I aim to go three times a week, but that almost never happens. Stuff comes up, I forget my gym bag, or I just flake out. Since the beginning of the new year, I've been doing pretty good about getting to the gym regularly, even if it's not always to circuit.

Lately circuit has been incorporating a lot more running, and I wasn't sure I could do it. I usually alternate running and walking laps. I am just not a runner. (As opposed to my husband, who could probably run in his sleep.) But I've been pushing myself to run more lately. Tuesday's class required us to run 5 laps (.5 miles) before and after class. And I did it! I actually ran all ten laps! Even after a really tough circuit!

So when I hit the gym today, I thought, "Heck. I can run a mile. I did it the other day. Not all at the same time, but I did it!" So I ran a mile. Then I thought, "Heck, I bet I could run another half mile!" And I did! I was really proud of myself. I didn't run it fast enough to pass the USAF PT test for females in my age range, but I was only about a minute and a half off. I could shave that off!

Again, probably no big deal to some, but a pretty big deal for me! So allow myself to celebrate for a minute. Woo! Go me! I'm the woman! I can leap tall buildings in a single jump! I'm faster than a speeding bullet! I rock!

Okay, enough of that! :)

The other bit of news to report is that I was selected as one of our base's emcees for their annual awards ceremony next month! I actually auditioned last week and again today (long story), but the bottom line is, I got picked!

My husband talked me into trying, and I wasn't too keen on it at first. But when I found out there would be a script, I was more amenable to the idea. I just didn't want to have to get up their and ad lib all night! Anyway, I thought, "What the heck?" (I've been thinking that a lot lately!) I'd never done anything like this before and thought it might be fun. Hopefully it is!

Yeah! So that's that. I have no pics from today, so hopefully the webcam pics at the beginning of the post will do. :)

Job Satisfaction

2010-01-28T21:21:00.003Z

I don't have much to say today, and no pics to go with it. I just want to say that I really like my job. And it's not necessarily the job itself, which is fine, but it's the people.

It's always the people, isn't it? For better or worse, that's what makes your job what it is, at least 80% of the time.

I've lucked out because I've worked with some great people in every job I've had. I can think back to the last three jobs I've had and I'm still friends with a handful of people at each job. Of course, there have been a few people I haven't jived with along the way, but at every job there were great people, too. And it's those great people that make a difference.

And in the job I have now, I'm really blessed to work with a great group of people who make me laugh and teach me things about aviation I never knew I wanted to know. (Don't tell my brother, the King of Aviation Nerdery, but it's actually kind of fun learning some of that stuff!)

Anyway, sometimes I stop and think about how fortunate I am to have a job I like and work with people I like. It hasn't always been this way. It may not always be this way. But I'm happy where I'm at for now, and for some reason, that seemed like it was worth a blog.

No Candy January

2010-01-26T19:45:00.003Z

Today was standard issue. Nothing terrible exciting. Had a really brutal workout in circuit training class today, but that's about it. I think my legs will be feeling it tomorrow!

On Sunday, we went to church, but towards the end of the ceremony, the fire alarm starting going off! I was kind of confused at first. I was looking around like, Is this real? Should I grab my coat? Do I get my kid?

The usher escorted us out and assured us the nursery workers would bring Caleb out to safety, and they did. Turns out some of the ladies were making something in the kitchen for a post-service fellowship, and I guess it must have gotten a bit smokey in there. No real fire, just some exciting cooking! :) These are my boys, outside of church. Caleb is clearly wondering what all the fuss is about.

I also went to a Pampered Chef party that afternoon at my friend Sharon's. It was a bit different than a traditional Pampered Chef party. Instead of the PC lady doing the demonstration, we broke up into teams and competed to make a PC recipe the fastest. Our team won by making a Reese's trifle pretty quickly.

Did I mention I'm trying not to eat candy the whole month of January? Yeah. This past Sunday was the second time I broke that rule when I dug into this divine trifle. The other time was when my coworker came back from Belgium waving around Belgian chocolates all day! (In my defense, though, they were Belgian chocolates! And I only ate one, although I was tempted to eat more!)

I think February I'm going to try and swear off fried foods for a month. I haven't eaten a ton of them this month, but I'm curious if I could survive with NO french fries for four weeks!

We booked a Mediterranean cruise this week (eeeeee!!!) for May, so I'm trying to whittle down a few pounds before then! I'm trying to watch what I eat in general and keep up with the exercising, but I'm also giving myself 1 month rules to challenge myself in one way in particular. This way, I'm not totally depriving myself, but there's one tiny area I concentrate on each month. January might be the hardest because I have a candy dish to maintain at work!

Wonky Ear

2010-01-25T21:32:00.004Z

Did I ever tell you about the time I got a wonky eye infection that wouldn't go away? If you're a Facebook friend of mine or someone I know in real life, chances are you already know. But if you don't, here's a brief synopsis.

Right before Thanksgiving (last week in November), I came down with a bit of an eye infection in my left eye. Puffy lid, red eye, just general eye discomfort. I was given drops by the eye doc and went on my merry way.

Two days later, I was hit by a pretty nasty head cold that took me out for a few days. In an attempt to deal with the symptoms of the head cold, I was taking things like Sudafed and Mucinex, not realizing they would not only dry out my sinus cavities, but also rob my eye of the moistness it needs to...well, be an eye. In other words: OW.

This went on for two weeks, this crazy eye infection. It was like pink eye on crack. And steroids. At one point, for some reason the eye doc couldn't explain to me, the top layer of my cornea decided to take a vacation. That's right, it just...left. Let me tell you, that was painful.

Finally after no less than five trips to the eye doc in two weeks (including a visit on Thanksgiving day), it cleared up. The cornea healed slowly but surely, and my vision is fine now. Hooray!

The only lingering thing I have from this debacle actually has nothing to do with my eye, but my ear! My right ear is still full of fluid to this day (two months later!) from the head cold that I had at the same time. It's really annoying. There's a near-constant ringing in my ear, and my hearing is sufficiently impaired in that ear -- enough so where I don't like using the phone with that ear and sometimes can't hear Caleb crying if I'm asleep laying on my good ear.

So I finally went to the doc today to get that checked out, and essentially he said there's not much they can do about it! He told me to wait a while (apparently two months isn't long enough!) and if it hasn't cleared up in another month, he'll refer me to an ENT doc, where they may discuss putting tubes in my ears.

Seriously. I am 30 years old and discussing the possibility of tubes. Whuuuat?! Isn't that what five year olds get?

It's been a wonky year, health-wise. I've had a couple of ear infections, quite a few colds, a weird (but benign) bone grown on my knuckle, and cracked-out eye infection, and now a Eustachian tube in my middle ear that just won't drain. Oh, and a diagnosis of psoriasis on my elbow!

Is this what turning 30 is all about?! Seriously, I just think it's a bit premature for my body to go all bonkers on me. Isn't 30 the new 20 anyway? Could someone tell my body that?!

I really should shut my mouth. Because in all honesty, I have really great health with a few annoying hiccups, and I'm super, super fortunate and blessed to have all the faculties that I do have. And I do realize that. It just felt like an odd collection of wonkiness that's been popping up this year.

So we'll see how this month goes! Maybe one day, my Eustacian tube will just decide to open up again! If not, then I guess I'll meet with an ENT at some point!

Club Sandwich of Love

2010-01-23T21:40:00.005Z

I started a post about how I want two more hours in the day, but it was turning out to be way too depressing, so I canned it.

At work this week, two of the boss-type figures had a casual conversation about criticism, motivation and discipline. The idea was that you should praise people for their hard work before you criticize their screw-ups. One guy called in the crap sandwich (not in those words.) :) We all have to take a bite of the crap sandwich from time to time. You have the nice, appealing bread layers of praise sandwiching the crap layer criticism or discipline.

The more senior boss guy said he doesn't subscribe to the crap sandwich theory, but believes more in a club sandwich of love with a piece of crap lettuce. He also told us about the 95-5 rule he had learned from a former boss. Ninety-five percent of the time, most people are doing what they should be doing. But five percent of the time, they jack it up. But you can't go beating them up too bad because of their five percent. You gotta feed them the club sandwich of love (95% love) with that piece of crap lettuce (5% criticism.)

It was hilarious at the time, although I realize it's much less so in my telling. But it really stuck with me. I'm a club sandwich of love kinda person. I don't like getting beat up, because I genuinely try to do my best at things, whether it's work or whatever else. And for better or worse, I tend to take criticism a bit personally, no matter how hard I try not to. So I need a bit of love to soften the harsh sting of criticism.

Likewise, I don't like beating people up (not often, anyway). I'm more likely to send an email that's like "Wow, we're so awesome, aren't we? But you know what would make us more awesome? This..." I don't always excel in this area, but it's what I strive for and what I'm most inclined to do. Sometimes, however, my frustrating takes over, and I deliver the crap sandwich.

A pastor I know said you have to be a steel rod wrapped in velvet. You have to have that core of hard truth, but it's best to deliver it softly.

I hope I have a hard core of truth, or I hope to be that way some day, anyway. But I also strive to be...well, palatable. I don't like people that leave a bad taste in my mouth, and I don't want to be that way, either. I know I probably do sometimes. I know I can't please everyone. But I can't stop from trying to have a broad general appeal. It's just how I'm wired.

This was a weird blog. Not at all the direction I intended to go, but stuff that's on my mind, regardless!

Speaking of broad appeal, look at this kid! I know I'm a tad bit biased, but I think he has the broadest appeal there is!

Winner!

2010-01-22T18:04:00.004Z

Hooray! Congratulations to my husband who won NCO of the Quarter for the Wing he works in. Look how handsome he is in his blues! He had some pretty fierce competition, so I'm really proud of him! Plus, I love having a chance to scream really loudly. Ha!

And just for fun, here's me and the boo on our stairs when we got home this evening. Pardon my hair. It's been a rainy day, and my hair is a hot mess!

It's Friday! I'm pretty stoked about that. Especially since we have a really low-key weekend ahead of us. Lovely!

Doncha?

2010-01-21T20:42:00.004Z

Doncha wish your salad was hot like mine?

Doncha wish your salad was fresh like mine?

Doncha?

It was a super tasty salad. Really yummy. Drew a lot of "Wow, that looks like a good salad!" comments.

By the way, I finished it up with a peice a promotion ceremony cake afterwards. You win some, you lose some!

Toddler Sleeping Habits

2010-01-19T20:32:00.005Z

As I type this, it's 8:33 pm in England, and I can hear my 2 year old flicking his light off and on and just generally messing about in his room. He's been "in bed" for about a half an hour and stil isn't asleep.

I did the routine. Medicine (for ear infection), diaper change, jammies, brush teeth, books and bed. (No bath tonight. We're an every other night kinda family at this age.) I let him pick his three books, read to him, said our prayers and said goodnight. He fought and fussed and got out of bed once, but it hasn't been an all-out war.

But why is he still not asleep?! I checked all the boxes that usually work, did the song and dance, paid my dues...his part is just to fall asleep! How hard is that?! I spend most of my day wishing it was bed time already! Sheesh! I feel like I can't move onto the next thing (getting ready for tomorrow) until I know he's out. So be out, already!

I don't have a picture of him not sleeping, but here's one of him the other day. I generally put a body pillow on the floor in case he falls out of bed. The other night, I guess he did, because this is how I found him the next morning.

Ahhhh...he's out of bed again. Pardon me while I go attempt to get this kid to hit the sack. *Sigh*

My Boys

2010-01-18T12:35:00.002Z

Like probably everyone else who has MLK day off today, I wish every weekend was a three day weekend!

An extra day in the weekend means I don't have to rush to finish the laundry, do the commissary shopping, and all the other tasks that wait for the weekend. An extra day means I can actually find time for a movie and read a bit of my book in between checking off items on the to do list. It means I can have brunch with friends on Sunday and not worry about the things I haven't gotten to yet. It means having another morning in which I have time to make something for breakfast, instead of just scarfing down cereal.

And for my boys, it means some quality time. And quality time means a nap on the couch. I came home from commissary shopping this afternoon to find them totally knocked out in the living room. I've unloaded the groceries, put them away, mopped our sticky kitchen floor and now posted a blog, and they are still catching Z's.

Love those dudes.