Back Into the Swing of Project Life

I have finally, yes finally, finished another page for the project life book that I started over a month ago.  I'd like to share my page 3 and see what everyone thinks about it.

I'd like to say thanks to Heather again for getting me going with this.  After stopping it was hard to get back to but as soon as I did, I got hooked again.

A few things have happened since I last blogged.  We moved from Leo Palace in Yona to a house on base and are loving it.  I do miss my neighbor from up there but other than that, life seems so much easier since moving here.  We get up an hour later, walk to school instead of the kids having to ride a but for 45 minutes, they get home before 3:45 and are able to do their homework and walk right down to the park that's about a block away.  They can go across the street to ride their bikes and there's a field that we can play baseball in less than a block away.

Another milestone, Alexander learned how to ride his bike.  He started trying on Thursday when the kids decided that they would like to ride their bikes to school and by Saturday he was riding on his own.  There are a few times when he tends to wobble and it scares me thinking that he'll wipe out and want training wheels again.  He's still trying to grow in those two front teeth that he's had missing for almost 6 months but other than that he's doing great.

Christopher and Alexander have started playing baseball and are loving it.  It's twice a week and we practice on the weekends.  Madison is no longer in soccer but she's most likely going to try out some volleyball when that time comes.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of months. :)  I hope everyone is doing good.

This is Alexander with his valentines box he made for school

Christopher was practicing hitting while we were packing before he started baseball.

Alexander was obviously so excited about the sucker he bought with the tickets he won at the school carnival.

They were waiting in line for a game at the school carnival.

That's it for now.  I'll post more later and try to keep everyone updated.

The Mac is Back

I know, that sounds corny, but hey, it's the truth. :)  I'm back to the mac blog right here.  I'll keep this one just in case...you never know.

We Miss Daddy

I know, it could be worse and he could be gone for 6 months but this really really sucks.  I don't like waking up in the middle of the night without him there nor do I like waking up in the morning and knowing that he's not going to be there or even be in the bathroom shaving.  He won't be walking in the door at 4:30 in the afternoon or calling me up to see if I can throw some brats on the grill for him around 11:30.  It's only been 4 days and it feels like it's been forever.  I know it probably feels like an eternity to him so I shouldn't be complaining.

Friday morning we dropped him off at the ship and they left after we were gone.  I don't have a clue what we did after that besides go home unpack and have McDonald's for dinner.  Saturday we just unpacked, did laundry and played Monopoly.  This was until the clog in the pipe out front of the house that was obviously here before we were decided to make it to the top.  We heard something coming from the bathroom and the toilet was running.  We decided to check it out.  I was trying to get it to stop running when Madison said that there was water coming from somewhere.  Oh boy was there ever.  I tried to stop it quick and after I got a few towels down, I called the front desk for them to send maintenance over ASAP.  They got here within 10-15 minutes and had the water shut off.  That was not before the kids and I had scooped up about a half tub full of water not including the water the kids and I had scooped up before I decided to put the plug in figuring that the water was just coming back out another drain.  In a way it was comical and I was going to have Madison take a picture of us with our pajama pants all rolled up and sweating as we scooped up water with my giant plastic cake holder, my USAA mug and 3 Chuck E. Cheese's cups (those get you free drinks whenever you return by the way) but I decided that I wasn't in the mood.  My back hurts, my shoulder is killing me again for some reason but they got everything fixed.

They left and came back to clean up the nasty algae that had come out of the AC unit in the hall that went on the carpet  (they asked if I had a vacuum and I said "Yep, but I don't want that in it") and after that they sent housekeeping over the next morning to put down some spray that kept it from stinking and to clean it a little more.  They left a large "wind mover" fan to dry that patches of carpet that had gotten wet and we had to run that loud thing all day.  The electricity better not have skyrocketed because you know I'll raise Hell if they make me pay for that after it wasn't my fault to begin with.  So that was our Saturday evening followed by our Sunday.  Oh wait, we did go to the grocery store after they left on Sunday and I even offered to leave one of the kids with the person who brought our groceries to the car. Yes, they were that bad in there...and no, he didn't take one, I still have all 3 of them.

We got home and put the stuff away, resumed our game of Monopoly that had been changed to Orangeopoly after they decided to try a new game.  I was losing at Monopoly by the way, yes, I'm telling the truth.  We played Life and I lost the first round to Alexander, yes, my 6 year old beat me at the GAME OF LIFE!!  Great, what is that saying?  Ok, so we busted out Orangeopoly which is the equivalent to Monopoly that Nana got Glenn quite awhile back except for this one has an actual rule that  on the spring break space (which is free parking) you actually get the money in the middle!  How ingenious was that?!?!  Man do the kids know how to monopolize the market and get you down to the coins in your couch or what?  Alexander and I teamed up and Madison and Christopher are on a team, this is an ongoing game here and it's still on our coffee table.  They now have 4 diplomas which are like hotels and you have to pay an arm and a leg to stay there for 1 turn!  On the other hand, Alexander and I own pretty much everything else besides Crouse Avenue, which is known as a railroad in the other game.  We're losing but Madison and Christopher think we're winning because we have more 50's 20's and 10's than them.  I'm not telling them, I'm waiting for them to cash in their chips and forfeit the game.

Other than that there's been a lot of packing paper, cardboard boxes and laundry going on.  I want to have the house in awesome shape by the time Glenn gets home but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where to hang the pictures.  Maybe I should wait until I get the rest of the stuff put away for that step.

The boys' room is pretty much done except for the books that I need to get from their shelf so I can put more of their books there.  I don't think that "Business Strategies" is on the top of their summer reading list although I may be wrong which I am most of the time, just ask Glenn.  Madison's room is done except for the boxes I have to move back out of her room because of the flood causing me to have to put them in there.  I know, run on sentence, so what.

I will be posting pictures of the house and the area soon but I don't want to post pictures with boxes and crap everywhere when I can wait a day or two and post nicer ones. :)

I'm not sure who was able to see the past few pictures I have posted and who wasn't so here they are again to those who saw them already.  Have a great day everyone because mine is coming to an end.

Madison and Christopher in the middle of their swimming lessons.

 Alexander actually did everything during this swimming lesson without being told to or asked.  I just told him to do what he felt comfortable doing and not to do what he didn't feel like doing! :)

He liked this part.

 This is the payoff for doing everything at his swimming lesson.  I think he might try a lot harder during those lessons since he knows what's at stake, not every single time though, that could get pricey.

 Here they are with one of the giant cane toads they caught in the back yard.  These guys are from Australia.  Not my kids silly, the toads! ;)

They finally let one go so that Alexander could catch him.  Man was he excited.

Check out the size of that thing!  They're funny looking up close too. 

The mosquitos ate till they dropped that day.  My poor kids.  All I can say is Thank God for calamine lotion. 

Yeah, they got me too. :(  Buttheads.  

Have a good day!

More Pictures of Our Adventure

This was taken on Friday the 8th of July when we went to the command picnic.  The kids had a great time looking for coral and playing in the sand and water.  We even saw a hermit crab.  This bugger wasn't like the ones I'd seen before.  He looked small and was green and round like a pea.  I picked him up to show the kids and he stuck his mini claws out and got me right in the finger!  No more picking up hermit crabs. :)

 They were obviously having too much fun to want to leave when we said it was time.  I wanted to get their picture before we did though so I had them say cheese for me...Yeah, so much for that.

 See!  This is how much fun they WERE having before I made them go.  Just a bunch of happy little kiddos until meany mommy steps in and spoils all the fun.

 Madison and I thought it was cool to write in the sand.  She wrote it super fast because everytime she'd get it written out and move fast enough for me to get a picture of it the wave would come in and take it all away.  She was like flash this time and we got the picture! :)

 Here are the kids with their snorkeling gear on all ready to go see the beautiful fishes and hopefully some turtles. 

 This is Alexander in the car after Glenn and I took shifts snorkeling because Alexander decided not to go and he was cold.  I took him to the car and he was out in less than 5 minutes.

 Notice that the other kids' clothes are on the seat...they're still out there because I told them it was ok to go back out with Daddy.

 You would think that 2 hours of snorkeling would be enough water time for the day right???  Wrong.  After we got the laundry going the kids and I went out to the pool for more swimming.  We were only out there for about an hour, maybe a little more but it was so dang hot!  It didn't feel like it was 99 degrees when we were driving home but when we got down to the pool, the heat just hit me and I had to get in the water.

 They love those blue mats that make them go super fast on that slide.  I don't know what they'll do when they can't ask to go to the slide pool everyday...oh wait, yes I do...they'll ask to go to the pool down the street when we get the house on Wednesday. 

I will be busy unpacking everything and making it look like we live there so that Glenn has a place to come home to when he gets back instead of coming to a house with no pictures or decorations.  We'll need to plan a birthday party for Christopher too.  The MWR office has tons of stuff you can rent for parties too!  We'll have to look into some stuff.  I"ll post more later.  I have to go get the last load of clothes from the dryer.  :)  Have a great day everyone.

Another day in the sun

Today will consist of the beach, some picnic food and some possible swimming.  I'm thinking I might leave that up to the kids but I don't want to have them in the water themselves.  I think I will have to wear my bathing suit like superman wears his cape, incognito. ;)  That may be a little difficult though because both of my suits have that big old tie around the neck.  I think I may have to check out the NEX to see if they have a cheap one that looks normal without making a gigantic bulge in the back of my shirt.  We'll work on that after we get our house.  Maybe after I lose about 30 pounds as well.  Vacations cause me to gain weight...ok, that's a lie, I cause myself to gain weight.  I need to cause myself to lose the damn weight but it's difficult.  You would think that taking the kids to the pool every day would help a little with the burning of the calories but I still weigh too much for me to be happy.  I don't know how I keep getting to this point.  I haven't been this heavy since we lived in Tennessee!  There's got to be a change around here and it's obviously got to start with me when we get to the house.  I will need to make sure that the stuff I get at the grocery store doesn't include cookies and unhealthy snacks.  We need more fruits and veggies and fruit should not be hard to come by here.  There are banana trees up the wazoo and coconut trees as well.  There are starfruit trees in some field that is still unknown to us but we will find it.  There are mango and papaya trees too I heard.  If all else fails, the commissary has fruit too. :) 

I think that when Glenn's ship leaves for the short time they're going, I will buckle down and lose at least 10 pounds.  That actually does a lot for me and makes me want to keep going.  At least there won't be a China Wok and Charley's near us up at Leo Palace. :) 

The kids are going to get signed up for daycare starting on the 16th of August so that I can get to my orientation and start college classes on the 17th I hope.  I'm hoping that they have something I can take that doesn't go on 3 or 5 days a week.  I would think that they wouldn't because the semester is a few months long but I don't know how things work around here yet. I'll know soon.  I think Glenn may drag me to the Navy college office after we leave the picnic. 

So I started reading the book "The Help" a few days ago and love it.  I have already finished the other two Heather Graham books that I brought.  I left one for my sister Heather and the other I started on the plane.  I kind of like this nothing on TV thing.  I think I need to limit my shows to like 2-3 per week and not feel like I have to watch one every single night.  There are more important things to do along with fun things to do here than sit in front of the television.  I think I need to make a schedule for which nights we'll go to the pool at home and when we'll go to the beach.  I want to get the kids fitted for snorkle masks but I think that Alexander being able to put his face in the water first may take precedence over the snorkle gear seeing as though you kind of have to in order to see the fish.  We'll work on that for a while.  We told him that we're not going to stop taking him to swimming lessons.  He's going to keep going until he learns how to swim.  Madison and Christopher love them and they're doing great there.  3 weeks left and then it'll be time to sign them up for August classes but then we'll have to work around my class schedule too. 

We thought we had lost Madison's bathing suit top for good but just as we thought it was a total loss, Glenn knocks on the door a few seconds after leaving this morning and TADA!!  He's holding Madison's bathing suit top!! :)  Madison's happy because the other suit she has doesn't fit as well as this one.  I'm happy because I don't like hearing her complain about the suit that doesn't fit. 

I tried to take a few pictures of the actual town while we were driving back to the hotel from the base but the little camera I had did not work quite as well with the quick shots and most of them turned out blurry.  I'll try again later but next time I want to bring my good camera.  I'm just kind of scared to bring it out because of the humidity and I don't want it to get ruined.  I think I may be brave today and bring it with me because it's Glenn's Hail today and he looks handsome.  Ok, who am I kidding, he looks handsome all the time.

I need to get in the shower so we can get ready to get to the beach before everyone else because I want to make sure we get a parking spot.  Goodnight to everyone! :)

Happy 4th of July!!

No pictures were taken yesterday to document the fun that we all had but that's ok.  We went to a picnic that Glenn's sponsor put together and it was great.  The kids swam for around 4 hours and had cupcakes, cookies and fruit.  They played with gigantic water balloons and that turned into a grown up battle.  We were playing volleyball in the pool when water balloons started getting launched over the net at the same time as the ball to cause a distraction.  The kids were the ammunition suppliers and some people got hit.  I got slammed in the face with one of them but it only stung for a little while.  The rain kept coming and going and I didn't realize how bad it could hurt someone's eyes but man something stung mine.  We all had a great time and didn't even realize that we'd been there for over 4 hours.  We came home and pretty much crashed. 

Today we went to the base sponsored function and the kids rode on the bull, got snow cones and played in a few bouncy houses.  We were able to see Lucy the caribou that the guy takes for walks and lets his dogs ride on there too.  Afterwards we went and checked out the gym for swimming lessons, classes and everything they had to offer.  It looks very nice and I think that I will be going to the family workout room so that I can get a workout in before the kids go to swimming lessons at 9:00.  They have a room with lots of equipment and the kids have a play area that you can see via the tv screens on the wall if they're behind one of the walls.  I'm going to try to make it a Tuesday and Thursday thing when I take the kids to their lessons.  We have to get up early enough to take Glenn into work for now because we only have one car. 

Here are some pictures from today for everyone.  Oh, one more thing, Madison almost caught a lizard today!  Maybe one of these days I'll be able to post a picture of her holding one...we'll see.

That bull doesn't look very nice huh?

 Well, he wasn't, just check her out down there.

 Christopher thought he'd give it a shot.

 He was doing pretty good.

 Then he lost his grip.

 Yep, flew right off the back end of the guy.

 Alexander gave it a whirl.

 Did pretty good...until...

 This happened.

 They all had fun though and nobody came off crying!  Thank goodness for that.

 One of the many bouncy thingamajiggers they had set up there.

 Oh and yes, that's a technical term for those things.

What, you don't believe me?  Look it up...Did you actually think about looking it up?  Ok, smarty pants, I probably would have.  :)  I hope everyone has a great day because it's dinner time for us and we're hungry.

A GET TOGETHER TODAY

We have a picnic or get together or whatever you want to call it to go to today.  Glenn's sponsor is having us over to his place along with a few other people as a welcome to the island thing.  I think that will be pretty fun.  We will be heading over there around 1:30 and I think that will be good for the kids again.  They have been doing pretty good in the hotel room but they need to get out and run around and get some of this energy out.  They like to play quite loud in the room and Madison likes to decide that she's in charge of the games, which means that every rule she makes up goes and ones that Christopher and Alexander make up don't count.  I think we will be heading to the picnic on base tomorrow for some fun times.  They have tons of stuff to do tomorrow. 

 

Celebrity Chefs will be judging a BBQ Rib "Throw Down", Chili Cook-off and Apple Pie Contest.

Sporting Events: Ultimate Frisbee Tournament, Volleyball Tournament, 3 on 3 basketball, horse shoes, tug o' war, 1-pitch softball tournament, 9-pin Bowling Tournament.

Headliner Country Concert: Country Western star Nate Pearce! Performing our National Anthem during the opening ceremonies (which begin at 10:00am) and featuring a full live 90-minute performance at 2:30pm.

Activities: Power wheels, balloon artist and face painter, parade, inflatable kingdom and several sports events.

I'm pretty sure that will keep the kids occupied for quite some time and tucker them out.  I'm sure it will tucker Daddy and I out as well. 

 

I got all of our laundry done last night and I am so glad that the dryers didn't suck as bad as the ones in Seattle did.  Of course they're not as good as the ones in homes but they weren't the best dryers ever either.  I just sat down there and read my book while they were rinsing and drying because I didn't want anything to get taken. 

 

I don't really have much more to write about right now because it's 7:54 in the morning so not much has happened today.  Have a great day everyone.