Halloween through the years

I love seeing how much my kids have changed and grown and since dh, who is a technical genius, was able to rescue my pictures from my old laptop that took a dump, and throw it on my new one, I have every single picture available since he joined some 6 years ago. Oh yeah we will be taking a lot of trips down memory lane in the upcoming posts. Nostalgia to the max ;)

Oh and I am proud of myself 6 years of relationship, 2 kids, countless trips, moves, vacations, trips to the zoo and etc and I only have 3k pictures. Not bad hun?? That is only 500 pictures a year people that have captured the most precious and special moments. I think I am doing great, dh thinks I am insane. Who asked him anyways??

Anyways here we go:

Oct 2006, FL



Ds was 1 month old and we were in Fl with my parents. Dh had just deployed a month before ds was born, and came home when he was 1 wk old and then left again mid Oct. This was the beginning of the year we would not see each other. My mother bought ds this costume against my wish. I don't like anything Tiger or Pooh for clothing or decorations like the million of parents that do. Sorry!! (see that is what I mean about pictures. One picture will bring up so many emotions)


OCt 2007, Fort Hood, Texas




Dh had just gotten home, we celebrated ds's 1st birthday,was planning a trip, a move and etc and with all the excitement I forgot to buy a costume. 2 days before halloween dh went out and came back with this one.



Oct 2008 Ft Bragg, NC



This year ds was a chicken. Don't ever let your husband pick out the halloween costume. He will come up with the most strange one possible. Never on my own would I have dressed Ty up as a chicken, but considering I was 79999 months pregnant and wasn't feeling like celebrating anything that year, the task fell on dh. Never again ;)


Oct 2009, Ft Bragg, NC







This halloween we had welcomed Juliet into the family back in February. We were still in Ft Bragg, Nc. Ds was in love with Oswald and therefore an amazing talented online friend made his costume for me and dd I found it online by accident. This year goes down in memory as the halloween Ally spent an insane amount of money in costumes. You don't even want to know how much his homemade costume and hers cost me. Oh well they look adorable and its all that matters right?? lol



Oct 2010, FL




(can't figure out how to turn them. Tilt your head ;) )

This year I wanted to do have them match and considering ds was voicing his opinion on what he wanted to wear more often, I decided to do it while I had the chance. We were back in Fl while dh had just started his first civillian contracting gig in Afghan. Another holiday alone.



And finally Oct 2011, El paso, TX.



Tyler picked his costume, which is also the theme for his past 5th birthday, his sheets he begged me to buy, the movie we watch very often and etc...
Juliet was a costume I came across and fell in love with.



Much Love
A

Pinterest to the rescue again..

This week I have cooked my way through pinterest a lot. I have found some keepers and some losers. Some brought smiles to everyones face and other recipes will never grace the kitchen again. I haven't only cooked with the help of Pinterest, I have also decorated, did this and that, but that is for another day.

So lets start,

Banana cake with vanilla bean frosting

http://pinterest.com/pin/400636649/


This pretty was delicious and its definitely going in the recipe books. We all love bananas a lot. Its not unusual to go through 2-3 lbs of bananas a week. The kids are always walking through the kitchen and grabbing some. Dh will eat one right before lunch, then there is banana smoothies, banana breads and banana everything. Funny story about this cake : when dd woke up from her nap, I gave her a piece and then went outside to smoke. I come back inside with her inside my fridge and her mouth and hands full of cake. Also the beautiful frosting had horrible nail marks.
Caught you in the act!!!
Nice real nice. A zombie would have done less damage ;)


Next up came this breakfast casserole :
http://pinterest.com/pin/412529550/


It wasn't that good :(. I don't know if I screwed up, which is kind of hard to do since its so simple, or what. But no bueno and bummer because we love breakfast for dinner and are always looking for new recipes.

This chicken cordon bleu :

http://pinterest.com/pin/113380423/

was next. It was good but not as good as regular in the oven original chicken bleu. Somethings you just cant rush!

Then today came the spider cupcakes :

http://pinterest.com/pin/76375235/


These came out wonderfully good. I actually killed 2 pinterest with one stone. I used this method :

http://pinterest.com/pin/154894910/


with some cake box. I am working on these green sweet potato fillings for empanadas tomorrow. Its my first attempt at a homemade pie crust and things are not going that great, so I didn't want to make cake from scratch. Also I wanted to see if just a box of cake and a can of pumpkin puree would really work. Well it did. I am glad I did and found out because now I will keep that in mind anytime I use it again and want to make it healthier. I mean no eggs, no oil and pumpkin instead is healthier right even if its cake box.


This week the hubby will leave for his first tdy. There won't be much cooking done. Just back to the normal basic stuff for the children. Maybe then I can work on the million and one pins I have for holiday/home decoration.

much love
A

Bum showing

For the next couple weeks I am going to walk around showing my bum :0

You see homecoming was just under a month ago. In these past 30 days we welcomed my hubby home, went on vacations, moved across country, adapted to this that, no humidity, a brand new place, having the hubby home. Which is a big adjustment on its own and we are not done we are still adjusting. 12 months can take a toll on a family, but we were doing good.

That is it until we got a call that hubby was up for his first TDY. He will leave this week and spend 3 weeks in Colorado Springs. Yeah I know its not Afghan and yeah I know its not for another whole year, but I still want to whine.

He just got home a month ago. A month! that is not nearly enough time for me to be ready to send him back again. For this month I let my big girl panties drop, I asked him to open cans, I gladly handed over the bath time routine, one more set of hands in public is always welcome, I was just getting used to waking up late on the weekends. We still have so many plans and things we want to do and yet everything has to be put on hold again.

I know, we signed up for this shit, or it got throw in our path, I am thankful I have a husband to miss, I know, but still it has only been one month?? BLAHHHHH

Anyone knows me knows I try not to whine too much, or at least I don't think I do, but now I am whining to last me a lifetime and probably tomorrow I will so regret this post, but try to understand. Here I go doing everything alone again and to top it off in a place I still haven't learned to go to Walmart and back without getting lost. I still have a couple of boxes to unpack and picture frames to hang. I am still resting off the past 12 months. I am not ready!!

So yeah I whine, but I promise I wont be like those wife that their husbands goes on a business trip and they compare that to the deployment. I promise I still remember this is Colorado Springs and asides from frostbite, his risk level is minimal, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't suck.

The pro?? He will be home on Monday to Trick or Treat and forbid any natural disaster he will be flying home the day before Thanksgiving and there is no Colorado Springs magnets on my fridge. Its the little big things right??

High consumption of wine will be necessary in order to stop this whine and once again find the strength to pull up these big girl panties ;)

Too much tv

We are boring folks around here. We lead very boring lifes and I love it. No drama no issues.

After the kids goes to bed one of our favorite pastimes is to watch tv shows. We never watch them while they are on tv because we are very impatient and get so into it, waiting until next week to find out who killed who is too stressful. Instant gratification all the way (Except for House. Every monday night we are watching House. An episode of House never leaves you hanging so that is okay)

We just wait until the seasons come out on dvd and either download, stream it from netflix or rent it. Every night after the kids are in bed, you will find us in the couch, cuddling up to watch a new episode of whatever tv show we are hooked on at the moment. Don't feel bad for us, sometimes we play cards and drink beer to keep things fresh and exciting ;)

Anyways, a deployment throws a wrench on things and one of the major cons of having a husband deployed is that you end up watching tv shows and movies without them. Life can't stop, and if your husband is lucky enough to be deployed to a calm place, he will have loads of downtime to catch up on movies and shows.

Through the deployment we will coordinate what each other is watching. He will mention a new tv show and if it doesn't sound too appealing to me, I tell him to just watch it, if I like it enough, that is what nap time is for. Since he knows me so well, he will tell me if its worth it or not to watch it. So far he hasn't steered me wrong. Well except with Dexter. I can't stand it and he loves it and thinks I just need to give it a whole season. No way jose.

Movies we will just watch whatever whenever, and when he gets home I will mention the ones I think he has to watch and he will mention some to me. Although in the beginning is a pain trying to see who saw what who needs to see what. Total pain I tell you.

Our current tv show is "Sons of Anarchy". A friend mentioned and it piqued my curiosity. I mentioned to dh while he was deployed and we decided to wait and see it together because it seems like something we will both enjoy.

So while he was deployed he watched the rest of 1.Dexter, 2. Entourage and 3.Supernatural . Dexter I don't care for like I mentioned before, Entourage might be something I end up watching during naptime but I doubt it. The same goes for Supernatural. He thinks I will love it because of my obsession with teen vampire books. I doubt it.

I watched 1.Criminal Minds. Too depressing for him.
2.Army wives. He won't be caught dead watching it and
3.16 and pregnant and Teen mom. He can't understand my obsession with this much trash. I think he is too uptight ;)


Now that he is home we started watching Sons of Anarchy and I must say we are hooked. Friday night yield a 4 am bedtime because we just had to see another episode. Its about a motorcycle club in Cali and its an adult soap opera. Very interesting never boring and just hilarious. Watch it and you wont be disappointed.


After we are all caught up on this, we will watch the last few seasons of Weeds that we left off before deployment, Desperate Housewives and Tru Blood. Never seen it and we both want to check it out.

He also mentioned Spartacus. So we might pick that up. Aren't you just jealous of our exciting life ;)

So is there any tv shows you guys are hooked on with your partners?? Anything you think I need to see because its just that awesome??


Love A

Air show.

Saturday was a packed day. First we got some breakfast then went to yard sales, which was a bust, took the kids to get haircuts which came out great then headed to the Air show.

The Air show was a first for both of us so we were excited. I personally was a bit disappointed. It was extremely hot like high 80's and of course dry. I need some breeze and some humidity and there is none of that. Also it was extremely expensive. $3.50 for a bottle of water, seriously? and they had some fair rides for the kids. A lot of them and they were pricey too like $6 per ride. I didn't like that on top of the fact inside one of the bouncy castles this kid kicked my daughter in the face and she ended up with a bloody nose. All that left a little bitter taste in my mouth.

The show itself was pretty neat, the beer was cold and delicious, the crowds were polite, I guess all in all a good entertaining day but if I never go to another one again, I wont shed a tear. Oh well!!

The cool thing is one of the pilots took the local news guy up in one of the planes while doing the stunts. The news guy passed out twice, when we came back he was so palid, I felt for him. I guess going 900 miles an hour, upside down, sideways and in loops will do that to you ;)





Nothing too crazy on his hair this time. Only a trim



When you have 0 humidity, you need the help of an all natural gel to help you get your curls back.



No more bangs in my eyes makes mommy one happy person!




That made me nauseous just looking at it.







Yeahh enjoy that hot dog, you better eat every single crumble because it will be most expensive hot dog you will ever eat in your life..lol



Love A

Where has the time gone???

"The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life." unknown



It seems like yesterday we started on this journey. A lot of people say 9 years is nothing in the grand scheme of things, I personally think 9 years is huge and I will gladly take it and celebrate it. We are not perfect, we make mistakes, we sometimes are mean to each other, but at the end of the day we only want to see each happiness more than our own and I think that is why we are happy. Not all the time, I don't know if its possible. I joke that: "I love you always, but liking you comes and goes"

So here is a list, just to make everyone have a toothache, of the reasons I love my husband:

1. He tells me I am beautiful and loves me for me at least once a day and at least once a day I tell him his insane but that hasn't stopped him. Somehow he is winning because my self esteem is a lot higher than when we first met.

2. He will let me sleep in without a problem and bring me breakfast in bed. It's the way to my heart and he knows the road like the back of his hand ;)

3. I come up with some crazy idea; like buying a tiny tea cup pig and he will support me. I could say I want to buy a whale and have it sleep in our bed and he will say: 'as long as you got the logistics taken care of, go for it". He has given me so much freedom so I can grow and become who I am, even though if that is slightly insane ;)

4. He is an amazing father. He is hands on, changes diapers from the beginning, cleans up puke, does it all. No joke he would make a great mother if he wasn't a wonderful father. He will roll around on the floor with them, act silly and have a blast doing it.

5. When he is home, he is in charge of bath time, he took on this task because he knows that is one of the few tasks of parenthood I dont like it.

6. He has no idea how much we get paid, and as long as I tell him its enough to pay the bills, he is happy. I haven't worked in 6 years and if I ever thought of getting a job, it was never because of him. He supports me in staying home with the kids and if I go out today and buy a coach purse, he won't care.

7. At 11:30 at night I say I am craving a Brazilian dessert that is a 30 minute drive, he will turn to me and say "have you been reading my mind? where is my keys?"

8. Anytime of the day, no matter if its after he has worked a good 8-10 hours and is exhausted and I tell him I need a break from the kids and from it all, he will turn to them and say "let's go help daddy and the grocery store".

9. He is hilarious. He has a great sense of humor. He can easily make me have tears rolling down my eyes from laughing so hard I will snort. We have so many inside jokes and there isn't a day that goes by, that I won't remember something he did and burst out laughing all alone and later when I tell him he will think its awesome.


9 down and a million to go. I love you with all my heart babe xoxoxoxo

New Mexico

What do you do when you are: in a house waiting for HHG's with 2 children and one very small tv?? You find something to do.

Sunday morning I hopped on the computer and started searching for things to do with the kids. I came across this pumpkin patch that is highly rated and since we haven't done the pumpkin patch this year yet, that became our destination. We packed everyone up with lots of layers that are ready to be ripped off (you see here at 7am its low 50's by noon its high 80's low 90's) so you need to wear easily removable layers, lots of water and got on the road.

While driving we figured out this is our 5th pumpkin patch in 5 years none in the same place as the other. Pretty crazy hun??

The drive there wasn't bad. There is a curve the highway makes, that puts you right next to Ciudade Juarez,Mexico and you can see the adobe made homes on top of the hills just like the slums in Rio. I am very mad we can't visit. The violence there is too great, maybe later on.




Then there is hundreds of cow farms. I hope its for milk only ;) The smell is horrible so windows closed all the way.



"MOOOO" (also I learned my husband can eerily correctly imitate a cow's moo. Oh the things you learn after 9 years of marriage ;) )

There is mountains and still a lot of empty land. To everyone this might seem normal, to us that come from S Florida that you don't see 1 acre of empty land, its odd, then less than 1 hour later we had crossed into New Mexico and headed to the town of Las Cruces, New Mexico.



This was one of the best pumpkin patches we have gone too. There was so much to do for the kids, some delicious local stuff like the delicious pumpkin butter that is currently in my fridge, hay rides, tyke rides, water areas, big slides. Just a fun place. Everyone is extremely friendly and we had a good ol time.








By lunchtime we left and decided to drive around to check out the town. Its a small town and very rural but really cute. Most of the houses are like this :



with these flat roofs. So different.

While driving around we were all hungry so I hopped on my phone and did a search for best place to eat in Las Cruces (can I just say how much I love technology??) and came across this review from a guy that have lived there for 4 years. He rated Bosa Donuts his top place to eat because of their delicious brisket burrito. There was nothing else to say about it, we punched in the GPS and headed there.

Its a hole in the wall with pain chips falling off the wall, the menu is very small. Only a variety of donuts, a variety of breakfast and lunch burritos and some old school style bottles of soda. It was packed. We ordered the brisket burritos (dh's with chili, mine without) and some beans and cheese burritos for the kids and braced ourselves. It was dirt cheap but the best burrito I have had in my life. Its so simple: beef brisket and coleslaw in a flour tortilla, but it was so so good. I know I said the same thing the first time I had Chipotle and the same thing when I had Taco Cabana after arriving here, but seriously this tops the cake. I told dh he will drive 1 hr very often just so I can have this burrito again. So if you are ever in Las Cruces eat there. You won't be sorry!

We all loved our food and can't wait to go back. So thank you technology and thank you stranger on the wolrd wide web for recommending it to us. After driving around some more through the downtown district we headed home very happy that we now know an amazing burrito place and that even though we still don't have furniture, we have kick ass pumpkins and delicious pumpkin butter.

Its the little things people ;)

Next week will take us to the Airshow. The first for all of us and I can't wait. If there is anything to say about this place is that you are only bored if you want to. I don't know if its because end of the year festivities or what but there is a ton to do.

Much love A

Home sweet home

After arriving on Wed and having the realtor get into a car accident while coming to show us homes, we rested up and started on Thursday bright and early. I had a #1, #2,#3 and #4 picked out from her website. She showed me #1 and I fell in love with it. I saw #2 just for the heck of it, but told her no need to see anything else. #1 was going to be it. There is just a feeling you get when you walk into a home that you know it.

I remembered when I moved back to Hood, I saw a house on post that I got a horrible feeling from it, I turned it down and rented off post. Last house I rented, I got the feeling that wasn't the house for us, I ignored it and rented anyways. For 365 days I felt out of place. Never again so listen to your feelings. This also is also for sale so I would have no problems buying this house if we have to stay here longer.

Anyways, 20000 phone calls later, we are all approved, go tour preschools, check out the hotel, set up utilities sign hundreds of forms and get keys. This will be home for the next year.





Its a 3/2 1 car garage with gorgeous red Sausalito floors. The kitchen is big enough, the backyard is plenty, there is an amazing deep tub that I will be spending a lot of time in and this house just gives us a great feeling.

On Saturday we moved in. We got lucky that we are in need of a new microwave anyways, so I went out and bought one to have something to cook in while we wait for the gas to get turned on. Also my parents and I hate sleeping in air mattresses, so what I have done is I get a really good deep mattress pad for our bed, during the year we use it to make our mattress more comfy, when my parents come in to visit, we take it out, throw in some sheets and they sleep in it. They do the exact same thing at their house for us and everyone is happy.

I was due for a new one, so I got a nice 6' one, some new sheets and pillows because you can't ever have enough of that, and we got a place to sleep. We got the microwave to cook, the plates and utensils I was smart enough to pack came in handy, just had to pick up an extra pan, we got our laptops to catch up on our favorite tv shows and the portable dvd player of the car has a cable hook up. We got our cables turned on saturday and now the kids got cartoons.

Everything worked out perfectly and we are comfortable while waiting for our movers. My only complain is we have no hot water. We didn't realize it until we went to take a shower that when you have gas, that also controls hot water which means for cold showers. Asides from the heart stopping moment, we have survived.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and all the time you guys have heard me whining over the past couple days on the site, here and on fb. We still have one major hurdle to go through which is for my stuff to arrive and I promise I will share the hell these movers have put us through, but all in all, this insane, crazy, hectic move has gone off pretty smoothly and I am very happy for that.

Much love A

Racking up the miles...

We are not car trip virgins. We have drove from S Florida all the way up to Killeen, Texas, then to Fayetteville, NC, then back to S. Florida, then up to PA twice, to Virginia and many places in between, so when the hubby found out we were going to Ft Bliss, El Paso, Texas, we decided to drive and save a good chunk of change instead of shipping the car, flying and then renting a car.

Well we did it, after 1900 miles we arrived safe and sound. We left S Florida at noon on monday, (were to supposed to leave earlier, if it wasn't for my parents to deal with my dou-chebag movers we would have left later but that is a tale for another day when my stuff has finally been delivered), and I worried very much if this was the way our trip was to start how would it end?? but I learned a good lesson before it was all over!

First lets not get ahead of ourselves, the trip was good. The portable dvd player that only comes in the car for long road trips was a lifesaver just like it was on previous trips. I don't have a fixed dvd player in the car, it turns children into zombies in my opinion, but for long road trips, zombies is exactly what I am going for. Zone in to disney's latest creation and let us navigate this mess.
Also I knew we were going to be guests in at least 2 different hotels, before we arrived at our final hotel for a good 4-5 days so I packed accordingly. I separated 1 bag with extra clothes for the drive in case someone got sick, 2 small bags with pjs and change of clothes for the hotel and the rest in our suitcase. We stopped for the night, grabbed 1 of the small bags, the bathroom bags and voila. We were set. It was so easy dh complimented me hundreds of times (previous trips he had to drag in 3 suitcases every hotel stop we made), also I filled little ziplock bags with snacks, put some extra juice cups, and other kind of snacks in a bin and kept it by the children's feet. Anyone wanted a snack I handed them a ziplock bag, at the gas station stops we grabbed some ice from vending machines for the sip cups and our cups, poured the juice or the soda. Also I bought ds 1 new game for his mobigo, Juju got one annoying talking toy, and 2 brand new movies. It was by far the easiest trip ever. Longest but easiest. I have become a pro at this and for the girl that only wants stability, I don't know where that leaves me.

My complains are minor. The highway mess that is Houston and San Antonio and getting through those city centers ages me a couple years, fog, and dh just discovering Adele after being overseas for 1 year and not being able to get enough. I know I know I introduced him to her, but he played Rolling in the Deep 500 times. Oh well!

One thing I do want to mention is something that I think its extremely important and I hope anyone that is PCsing or moving to Bliss will see this.
You see ever since we found out about this assignment, I have been online non stop researching, searching, and searching some more. I have read pretty darn near everything there is to read about this area and not once has anyone mentioned what I nicknamed the "Danger Zone". I am going to talk about in hopes of someone seeing this and actually saving a life.

Right outside of San Antonio, about 10 miles outside, on highway 10-West, pretty much the one you will take, if you are coming from the east, there is absolutely nothing. When I mean nothing I mean nothing. I am not exaggerating. Its almost 560 miles from the outside of San Antonio to El Paso, 2 lanes going West 2 lanes going east. For the whole time there is vast empty land, and the most boring scenery ever. There is hardly any towers, so cellphone is sketchy, no cops around, not even a hospital sign. You are going through and around the mountains so its about 30-50% elevation and curvy and windy. The speed limits is 80 for cars and 70 for trucks. Gas stations are very few and far between and no street lights at all.

After we got out of San Antonio, we all had to pee, I started looking for a gas station. After driving almost 50 miles and not finding one we all peed on the side of the road. No joke. Not even a cow to make us embarrassed. It took us another 20 miles to find a gas station then something like 100 miles to find another. In that 560 mile stretch there is 2 little towns and you guessed it nothing else. Cue in the scary music and you got the settings of a horror film. There weren't even birds flying around, no cactus. Only crows and dead skunks on the side of the road. I know, I know, you are wondering how could I have gotten so lucky ;)

Our saving grace is that we only left FLl at noon, so therefore we only made it to before San Antonio by the 2nd night and slept. Early in the morning rested and in good weather, is when we braved this Danger Zone. If we had left early more than likely by the afternoon the 2nd day we would have entered this Danger Zone and we would have said "Oh lets just drive and get there" and it would have been fatal. No joke. I would never want to be caught in this area at night or in bad weather and I feel its absolutely important to share that with people. I got lucky , I hope others are smart about it.

After arriving I went straight to the house I had selected to see first, on the way to me the realtor got into a car accident. She is okay, her car is fine, but she rescheduled for tomorrow. I just wanted to cry. I had everything set up and something gets thrown in my way, then I remembered my luck of my movers arriving late and pretty much saving my life, so I decided to drive by dh's work just to make sure what I figured out online about the house being close to it is actually correct. It is and I am amazing. I seriously can find my way out of hell with a laptop and a cellphone :)

We then went to Walmart to buy some groceries because days of eating out is taking a toll, checked into our hotel, got everyone fed and bathed and happy. Our noses are dry as heck and we are jet legged. This is 2 hours behind what we were used to, but we will make it.

1st impressions..well that drive through the Danger Zone scared the crap out of me, but after getting here I am feeling okay. Its crowded, there is every kind of shop you can possibly imagine, I drive 5 minutes a Starbucks is there. There seems to be a lot to do but its odd. It seems like someone drew a circle in the middle of nowhere land and decided to add everything, totally odd.

The kids love that we are right by the airport. Seeing the jet planes go up and coming in for a landing is amazing. In the upcoming days , I will have a better grasp on things and can share more.

The most awesome news is dh, who is a bobble head, posted yesterday for the first time ever in his FB that we were coming here. Well two friends from his old Hood unit, and 1 from his Bragg unit are here. How crazy is that?? and I could have totally picked their brain for stuff. Oh well. Dh called them and they filled us in on how crowded this place this, how common car accidents are, how there is so much to do, how it snows hard here, there is no rain ever but then there is something called monsoon season. Can I run back home now???

Tonight I am feeling bummed out that I have to learn how to get around, get lost, get lost some more, heck there is a lot of streets not showing up on the GPS, get a house, get settled, do all the crappy things a housewife have to do, but I am content this is a very varied placed. I hear Spanish everywhere, this is such a cultural mesh and I love it.

Hopefully things will go smoother tomorrow, no more roadblocks and I will learn to bloom, until then I am going to try to figure out why my nose is so dry and what the heck I need to make it better and how to get used to seeing mountains after being in flatland for so long.


* Dh and I joked so much about this scenery. All you had to do is attach these pictures one next to the other to make it 560 miles and you can feel and see exactly what we saw in this Danger Zone.





** SO please if you have the luck or despair (whichever way you want to see) of getting this assignment, sleep in San Antonio and attack this area early in the morning and pray for good weather.
Much love A

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat????

Last Thursday night during ds's birthday party dh got a phone call. It was his boss letting him know they are trying to place him in Ft Bragg. My smile grew. I have wanted to go back to Ft Bragg for a long time. Ever since we left. I had picked out a school, a house to buy, I had made plans, God was finally listening.

20 minutes later she called back and told him it might be Ft Bliss. I started to worry. Texas is the last place in the world I want to go back to and this is worse than Ft hood. This is west Texas more west coast. I don't like the west coast. I am an east coast type of gal. No no worries. I have spent hours praying to God. Everything was going to be okay, God listens.

Friday while at the water park dh got the final phone call. You are going to Bliss or back to Afghanistan. No choice, Bliss is understaffed, we need you. You are moving.

My world starts to tumble, I start to hyperventilate. No way this is not possible. For a year they been telling us Virginia, then Bragg, then Hawaii, then UK, then Georgia, then Bragg and now Bliss. They will change their mind. I wont stress. I am going to enjoy this water park, I am going to see the whales and I am not going to think about it.

Sunday driving home we got the final phone call. Bliss it is for sure and it will be soon. You wont have to go back to Afghanistan to clear. Tears, arguments, reminders to look on the bright side, more exchanged words, hurtful words, reminds that is only a year, a husband excited that this is a promotion, no more deployments, only 365 days. Its doable, please wifey follow me. More pleas, more argument, more tears, enough tears to fill a river, fear of passing up this opportunity with the way the job market it is, reminders of Texas sucking, more argument, hours later we reached a conclusion. We would take this position for 1 year, I will follow him, not happy and dragging my feet but I will. I don't think there was any questions about it, but somehow it was necessary to get everything out.

Monday morning another phone call. I am starting to hate the phone it is only bringing bad news. Oh sorry let me rephrase: news that are necessary for me to stick my head in my ass in order to find the bright side. Fucking bright. Don't anyone open their mouths to tell me about bright side. Sure I want my husband home and not in the sandbox, sure its better but its not a fucking bright side moving to Texas. Yeah my husband is alive and we are happy and healthy, I get that, but moving to Texas will never be a bright side. It will be the lesser of two evils, but it will still royally suck. YEah I will try to make the best of it, but bloom?? Yeah shove it.

Anyways, rant over, the monday phone call informed us he will have to report on Oct 15th and start working Oct 17. That is 15 days away. Are you fucking kidding me?? Oh and that they wont pay for our move. It will be on our dime and also he wont go back to Afghan so that means all your equipment that you left there because we couldn't give you an answer before, yeahh that thousand dollar equipment that has to be turned in..it will be shipped from Afghan in your own dime.

Head spinning, no more tears left I hoped in the computer and started to research and set everything up. Moving quotes, car transporting quotes, plane tickets, hotels, rental cars, turning rental in, finding new rental, $$$'s signs rolling around we got everything se then we didn't then we did.

Moving truck will be here on monday morning to load everything we packed on our own, they will be done by noon, friend will clean my house, mom will turn in the keys to the landlord on tuesday because monday afternoon we will be on the road. With 2 kids to drive 1900 plus miles to arrive in El Paso, Texas, before the moving truck, to find a decent place to live, to sign for such place, to grab keys and have it ready for the moving truck.

I want to cry but I have no tears, I have drank enough wine to last me a lifetime in the past couple days, I need a valium, a hug and some energy.

The good thing is so far so good. Its wednesday and 90% of my house is packed. My husband has been running around like crazy grabbing boxes, taking things to goodwill, doing this doing that. That means me muah packed 90% of this house alone in 2 days. My sanity has gone out of the window. I have gotten in touch with a realtor that will meet me and show me the properties I preselected, I got a hotel booked, I now need to finish separating clothes for the trip, and paperwork.

In terms of God, I don't know what to think. He knew Texas is the last place I wanted to go yet he is sending me there?? Either we are on different wave lengths or He knows something I don't know and I need, but I have learned a valuable lesson. Never ever ever tell God you don't want to go somewhere because more than likely He will send you there just to mess with your head ;)

If everything works, 1 week from now we will arrive in El Paso to start a new chapter and I promise if I have any sanity left, I will try to find the bright side. either under a cactus or at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey.


Love A

Let's do this thing...

Once you haven't a real vacation that doesn't involve visiting family in 9 years, only one is not enough, you need two and considering not every year I throw huge birthday parties for my children, this year my son was due for a big celebration. Instead of spending hundreds on a birthday party, we did cupcakes at school, a cake for family, only one kick ass gift, and decided to take them on a trip. In comes our second vacation. Family tagged along which is fine by me, but we didn't go to visit anyone and that is what I was in need off.

Early friday morning we packed up and drove 3 hours north to Sea World in Orlando. We stayed at Coco Key Resort. I had never heard of this hotel before but while booking online our sea world trip, I saw it as a option and researched it. OMG this place is amazing. I will stay there from now on anytime I go up to Orlando. It's right on International Drive and if you are familiar with Orlando/Kissime, this is the place where everything is. You got Disney, Sea World, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, Wet n Wild, and every restaurant and attractions like Go Carts, Medieval Time dinner, Pirate dinner, bungee jumping you name it. Its right around there and this hotel is smacked dab in the middle less than 1 mile from Sea World. The amazing this about this place is that its not expensive at all.

I don't like talking about money and how much I paid for things, but I am going to just to give you guys an idea. For the hotel to check in on Friday and check out Sunday, 3 Sea World tickets and the food plan it was all $382. Just in tickets it would have cost us $201 if we bought at the door (Adults $82 each, Children 3-9 $32 and JU Free) plus we got an all day dining pass. So the Hotel was about $190 for 3 days so around $63 a night. That to me was amazing. Sure you can get side of the road hotel for $29.99 and usually I don't care. They are all the same but not this. There is a covered area with a kiddie pool that doesn't go deeper than 3feet with all kinds of slides, water toys and etc. Then there is another pool with slide for older kids that goes 5ft. Then there is a huge area with just slides and buckets and guns then there is 3 major slides for the bigger kids, then there is a bar with decent pina coladas, a huge acarde, and a big area that sells either hot dogs and burgers or pizza or you can get the sit down buffet. For kids this place is the place to go. You get to play in the water park all day if you got a room and if not you can pay the daily rate and play in the water park. We played in this water park from the time we checked in at 11am until 6pm. The kids had an amazing time. It truly was wonderful and the rooms are very nice too. All the amenities you could possibly want.
So if you ever going up to Disney or the area stay there. Your kids will love you.


Sea World was great. The Blue Horizons show with the dolphins and the aerialist and the Shamu show was very enjoyable. The roller coasters were kick ass. Tyler only got to ride in one. There is also a huge kid area with all kinds of rides for kids. The attractions were great. Dolphins, manatees, penguins, polar bears, sting rays, crocodiles, and etc. Also because of halloween the kids could get bags and trick or treat. Added bonus. Ju enjoyed but Tyler had the time of his life. I think its a vacation he will remember for a long long time. I am not a fan of taking kids to Disney this young, while there is something that caters to them, a lot of rides they cant ride, but this was perfect option. Also at this time of the year its hot but not nasty hot, so we lucked out.
Its a lot of walking but a lot of fun. It was our first time there and we will be going back many many more times.

The only thing I regret is buying the dining pass. I did it in Atlantis and regret it, and regret it this one too. The places are not marked where you can eat, and its not that much cheaper anyways so as a tip don't buy the dining pass, just eat wherever you want when you get there, that way it gives you more freedom. That is my only complain oh and the fact my husband did not agree to me bringing a penguin, dolphin or whale home. Party Pooper!!!

Anything else was better than I could have imagined and I highly recommend it.


View from our room. I told you this hotel was awesome










Much love
A