family vacation 2015

Texas Muzzle Loading Rifle Association

     



well another fun year family vacation, road trippin to Brady TX for the Muzzle Loading Blackpowder shoot.  This is the first year we have gone that we had to travel from outside of Texas to attend. We have been going for the last 4 yrs.  The first year as a day trip from San Antonio, the next year for the weekend and stayed in tents, last year in our camper, and this year.  We meet up with my honeys parents and this year one of my nephews stayed the week also my SIL and family came for the week and my other SIL and niece came down for the day.  Its a fun time hanging out with family, we eat well and have cocktails in the evening. Food this year breakfasts include pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, dinners were spaghetti with Omas bread, 6 can soup, Hotdogs/brats/burgers, Pot Roast, brisket.  Even camping Oma made chocolate pie, brownies, Cherry Enchiladas, Apple Cinnamon Cake, fruit salad and made cookies to take with us camping.  Of course even though we get poor cell reception we can go to town to Walmart if we forgot something.  This year we only had the boys shoot half the day, and then they could go to the camper and play Xbox or on their electronics.  Sometimes they would shoot in the morning and they other days the adults got to enjoy the cool mornings shooting and let the boys sleep in.

This year the boys and I made the 12 hr trip as a 2 day drive.  Even though my boys are well traveled they get tired of being in the car and we had a lot of fun hanging out together.  We sang songs, the boys played Xbox, yes in the car with a portable monitor, and they slept.  Highlights of our trip...having Texas shaped waffles for breakfast, family pictures getting 17 people all in the same place, my honey driving our travel trailer with two dogs on a time schedule to be present for pics @ 0930 Sunday, after coming home from an out of town class, deciding to drive all night home just to sleep in our own bed, driving down I-10 and seeing your husbands cell phone on your windshield, the pain of the being at the Mississippi state boarder with less than an hour to drive and just wanting a power nap.

why I love LaQuinta Inn, for their waffles

Missing child

a little story of how I lost my 12yo & 14yo...the boys and I were in Walmart yesterday.  The boys wanted to go look around together and let me do the shopping, something we have done many times before.  Of course neither one has their cell phone with them.  I know my boys they wonder off from where they said they would be.  I finish shopping, walk around the store looking for them.  Don't see them anywhere, I figure we are circling each other.  I think maybe they went to the car...so I pay, take the bags out to the car and see they are not there either.  Okay, back into the store, no I am just ready to go home.  I have them overhead paged, something I have done before.  And soon they come bounding up to the front, smiling and laughing.  This time, I wait, no boys...I have them paged again with 'meet you mom at the front', wait...no boys.  We have had the talk, don't get stolen, don't believe strangers when they say you need to come with them.  I am starting to panic...I let the customer service know, they call a Code Adam - meaning missing child.  I am frantic, I look outside thinking maybe they are waiting for me, I run back in the store, still have not found my little boys.  The service desk knows where they are!  They tell me where to find them.  I see them and feel relief, my boys are there talking with an employee, safe..I need a hug, I tell them I was scared and my boys hug me while I cry.  Then I make them hold my hand out of the store.  My 5'9 and 5'4 boys (taller then their mom) got a missing child alert called for them.

Oh so where were they, in the bathroom.  They stayed together. 

This is not the first time I have had to ask for a Code Adam in a store...

why mom was screamin...

there are those moments that happen everyday so unplanned that get brought up later and everyone laughs till they cry.  let me set the scene the hubs and I are sitting on the back porch swapping work stories, having some laughs.  Our dear youngest comes out to listen. We live a bit in the country, spiders, tree frogs, snakes are pretty common. A little tree frog was hanging onto the window behind the boy and hubs asks him to catch it and throw it into the yard seeing it seemed close to the house and we did not want any over night guest.  That slippery little frog jumped right out of his hand and landed in my EYE.  GROSS! that shocking moment you feel you just got slimmed! It felt like my eye was open and that dumb frog was on my FACE!  I jump up screaming, "my eye, my eye", I'm dancing around, in my excitement I pee my pants!  I run to the bathroom to flush out my eye.  Seriously we have flesh eating bacteria in the coastal waters right now!  I hear the hubs and boy laughing!  Heck I was laughing too.  Right after my shower and flushing my eye. 

1st day of school... 2014

The adventures of a new school for this year, Vancleave Middle School.  A few things will be different this year- uniforms.  I call them modified or a strict dress code.  But I think it is great and easy for the boys to get ready in the morning.  Polo shirt in white, grey or blue.  Shorts or pants in tan or navy blue.  And a belt!  Not having a belt will get a kid sent to the principles office! 

Feb 2014...

so glad February flew by, counting down the time here till I am on a Jet Plane.

a funny to share....
When my nieces and nephew in Ohio are in 1st grade they ask everyone to send them postcards from all over.  I believe the class then marks where all the different postcards come from.  So this year I get to send one from the 'Stain'.  Mind you I am not allowed to go off base so I check the BX here to see what they have.  They they have ONE KIND....this one

so glancing at it you think okay Afghan war rugs, but on closer inspection it is rugs that have guns on them!!!  Yeah, I wonder how this will go over at an American Elementary school.  So I send a pic to my SIL to let her know, she says just send it.  I am thinking I don't think it is a big deal, yes it is guns but this is a different culture and heck yeah my nephew will totally love it!!! 

I think it is funny, the one postcard it has guns and really who says I want a rug with guns on it...

flashback to Nov 2013

 November in Bagram was quite uneventful, thankfully.  The meal was a little nicer in the dining facility.  And we did have some guests, Admiral McRaven, one of the four star commanders of the Special Operations Corps.   This visit I made sure I told my Navy brother about...

And a visit from Ashton Carter the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense.

Of course some pic around here...

 

December 2013 in review

Just sharing some highlights of December here in Bagram well and a few of back home

My month started off pretty great, I got to move to a bottom bunk.  Yes I was and still very excited.  Moving to a bottom bunk means no more ladder to get into bed, hanging curtains for a little privacy and that your time is passing.  

Here is my bottom bunk and wall locker, yes that is all my clothes that I have here.  I don’t need much, we wear our uniform every day, pt uniform if you work out and then pj.  It does make deciding what to wear to work every day pretty easy.

This month we have gotten some awesome care packages and the thing we seem to keep asking for is chips and salsa.  I often share this treat as dinner with Christina Chuchuru.

 

 

Also very exciting for me professionally, I was selected as CGO Performer of the Month for my Squadron here in Bagram. (CGO means company grade officer)  I was selected by my OIC (officer in charge), wrote some bullets up about the things I did this month.

I also received many awesome creations from my nieces and nephews, that I have hanging on my wall.  Thank you!

And we got snow here in Bagram, two days before the New Year

On the home front….

Once again we had an awesome football season.  We had a name change from the years past from Mudd Dawgs to Panthers.  Same coaches and team that we have had the last 3 years.  This year they won at the state championships and played in Houston.  

Danny decorated our tree this year, in years past I have always taken the lead on this task, I think he did a pretty awesome job.

The boys received some great gifts for Christmas.  Trent got an Ipad mini and Brice is loving his ‘Jordans’.

This month Danny & I celebrated 12 yrs of marriage.  I love that with all our ups and downs, we are still together and happy that we have the future together to look forward too.