Water, Ice, & What?

Ty and Ryan love to experiment with things. I am continually finding things they are working with. Lately all their experiments are taking place in the freezer!

Not The Glue Gun!

Ed always becomes a little apprehensive when he sees the glue gun out. This is my favorite tool, other than a hammer, well actually it might be a tie between those two. Today when he got home from work he saw the glue gun on the kitchen counter and asked "what did you break/fix?" I laughed and told him to chill, i was just putting up a fall decoration. Some left over fall odds and ends and a glue gun makes a cool door decoration! LOL

Triple Locked In!

Have you ever triple locked yourself in......a bathroom? A public bathroom?! I have! LOL



Maybe I should have asked if it was safe rather than clean...


Actually, it turns out that it took three times to get this lock on right! The first one wasn't quite lined up....the second one was closer, but just not quite there, but the third one, was lined up just right and locked me in! Any guesses on where this bathroom was?

It Was A Julia Entrance!

It was a rainy day and we were heading into the Piggly Wiggly to pick up a few groceries. I was getting the cart when all of a sudden Vicki just bams into me and grabs my shoulders. She's kinda giggling and shrieking, i am thinking she is doing some sort of silly dance move and tell her to chill out before we both go down! It turns out she had slid when coming into the store. (We had just picked her up from an outing that she had to wear a dress to, so she was in heels.) Ed was behind her and said she looked like a deer on ice with her ankles going out while the knees came in. She managed to slide into me and had actually grabbed me to keep her from going completely down! The shrieking and giggling was fear and embaressment, we were not the only ones there. Ed said it was a Julia entrance.

Safe!

I'm a klutz, plain and simple. There is nothing graceful about me. Once again, i went down. I was running Jasper on the trail. I saw someone coming towards us as we were almost back at the beginning of the trail. I called Jasper and clipped his leash back on. I usually have the trail to myself and so I am able to let Jasper run free for most of our run. I do 3 miles he does about 4 with all of his back and forths. We were almost up to the guy when Jasper does his little lunge forward. I pull him back, he fights it, whips around, and i go flying. Literally. The grass is high and really wet. With the speed he was pulling me i got off the ground and did some good sliding. If i was playing baseball and running home, it would have been spectacular to watch, but instead i ended up at this guys feet as he was putting in his headphones with grass in my mouth. But if it was a baseball game, i would have been safe!!!

Glad I Blocked His View!

I had just finished running Jasper and I was letting him sniff around and follow his nose. My main concern was to NOT let him pull me into a spider web when all of a sudden I saw it! A huge turkey was walking right across the parking area heading to the woods. I worked very hard to make sure I blocked Jasper's view of this huge bird. I know that if he had seen it, there would have been nothing i could have done! He would have lunged after it possibly dislocating my shoulder while i went in the air before i let go of the leash! I would have had to just let him go after it into the woods and waited for him to bring me back a big dead bird. Glad i blocked his view!

What Does This Mean?

I'm not quite sure what Jasper is trying to tell me here....but i found all of his toys in his food dish....huummmmmm

New Ways To Torment The Guy Bigger Than Me

I really do not need to say much on this, other than i was laughing the whole time i was making it! The kids were cracking up as they got see if before Dad got home. I was even brave and posted it to both our faceboks and sent it to a few friends....later that evening Ed mentioned that i had told him i loved him a few more times than usual and asked what i had done. I said...'nnnnuuuuuuuutthhhhhiiinnnnnnnnnng? He discovered it later when he checked his e-mail...apparently i now owe him BIG for this....

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It Bounced!

I have two mugs that i just love! You will always see one of them on the counter in the kitchen filled with water and a straw. I jokingly tell the kids that they are taking their life into their own hands when using one of these two mugs as i will kill them if they break one of 'em. ;) Well, Vicki still uses my stripe one all the time. She discovered that it bounces quite well on our kitchen floor! She dropped it and to her relief it didn't break, just bounced and laid there perfectly intact! She hasn't used it since though.....

Cuttin' & Shuckin'

It has been sooo fun to hit the Farmers Markets here! There are sooo many fresh fruits and veggies to choose from! Ed taught Ty and Ryan how to cut beans and shuck corn! These two fellas can now help me with some more tasks during dinner prep! Yay! They did fantastic and there was not even a single drop of blood spilt!

Not Liking The NC Insects!

Plain and simple, i am just NOT used to all these bugs!!! Mosquitoes are everywhere, gotta spray foggers outside and ourselves with stinky repellant! There is a never ending appearance of flies as well! Discovered that we should NEVER, EVER turn on the porch light at night either! Well, unless we want to let in a million flying things when we open the door and spend the next 20 minutes with fly swatters killing the invading forces! I don't like those bugs, but i'm okay with them, but spiders, well that is a whole different story! Snakes, too, but haven't seen any of those yet near the house! I went to walk in the front door and this big hunkin', gruesome thing was above the door. I have a rule, no bugs allowed in or you die! I know it wasn't technically INSIDE the house, but above the front door is close enough, and so he died. It took almost an entire can of spider kill spray stuff, but he finally breathed no more! You know it is a big spider when it is dead and still looks big! I really hate these kind of spiders! They are pretty aggressive and i have had my share of fighting these guys. They fight back and charge you! I'll blog those maybe on a flashback Friday someday....but for now, my house has been sprayed inside and out as well as the perimeter! There is a reason that nothing will ever grow close to the sides of my house! LOL

Dropping Another Tear Drop....

It is quite an interesting feeling when you see a kid you were just teaching at the High School a few months ago, in cammies at SOI! Jorden asked me if I could give him a ride to Camp Geiger as his friend John had liberty today from SOI (School Of Infantry). John was just a student at Kubasaki High School this last year! It is just amazing to think I was teaching him in a classroom and now he is done with Boot Camp, at SOI, and will be ready to go fight in a war within a few months. I’m glad I always wear sunglasses so no one can see when I drop little tear drops here and there at moments like these.

Two Walls & A Beam

I love it when we can take our kids places where they can actually see and touch things to get a real idea and feel of what I am telling them about. We were able to take the kids to three places today right here in Jacksonville, North Carolina! It was perfect, especially for this time of year. September 11th has just passed and the bombing in Beirut happened 26 years ago this coming October. First stop was the Vietnam Memorial. It was beautiful! Right there in the middle of the trees. All the names were engraved on the walls going around the fountain. The kids were able to get a good idea at how many people we lost in that war. Their Grandpa Kenny, my Dad, fought and received his purple heart in that war, so it hits closer to home with them. Next stop was the steel beam from the World Trade Center. It was brought here and put in a memorial for the Firefighters and the Military. The kids could actually touch it and feel how strong and big it was to get an understanding of the type of building it was. Our last stop was the Beirut Memorial. It is interesting that this is right next to the 9/11 Memorial; as the one who orchestrated the Beirut bombing is believed to have inspired bin Laden. Terrorist attacks started long before 9/11. I remember when this happened. My Dad lost several friends in this attack. I will always remember his face when he told me what had happened. Here is just a little bit of history on Beirut….
The Beirut mission began as an effort to stabilize a fragile peace in this war-torn country. Lebanon had been a mess since the Palestine Liberation Organization, having been literally kicked out of Jordan, they took refuge there in the 1970s. In 1975, a group of Christian and Muslim militias, some backed by neighboring powers like Iran, Syria and Israel, turned what once was a Middle East oasis into a no-man's land of basic urban warfare.

Than, Israel invaded in 1982, hoping to just wipe out the PLO. In exchange for Israel to withdrawal, the U.N. sent in a peacekeeping force of troops from Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States.

U.S. forces set up camp right there at Beirut International Airport. This was not an easy spot to defend because like the airport was still open for business and then there were still warring factions that happened to control the strategic hillsides nearby.

The situation fell apart quickly. Militia leaders of course began to think the United States and its allies were favoring the Christian-led forces of the Lebanese government. A car-bomb attack at the U.S. Embassy in April 1983 that killed 63 people solidified that.
On Oct 23 1983 a suicide bomber steered a truck loaded with the equivalent of six tons of TNT down the airport road in Beirut, Lebanon. He plowed into the four-story barracks where more than 300 U.S. troops from a U.N. peacekeeping mission slept and detonated what the FBI called the largest non-nuclear bomb in history
A splinter group of the Iranian-and Syrian-supported Hezbollah organization carried out the attack, which allegedly was planned by a man who later inspired Osama bin Laden. Then a tiny guerrilla outfit, Hezbollah has grown into a political and military force in Lebanon.
The Marines' departure brought Beirut no peace. The civil war raged for seven more years until a settlement left Syria firmly in control of the country.

Experts believe Imad Mugniyah played a key role in the twin bombings in Beirut and went on to mastermind the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and a series of kidnappings of Americans in Lebanon. He is believed to have met with bin Laden in Sudan in 1996 and was assassinated in a car bombing in Damascus, Syria, in February. No one has claimed responsibility.
It was the largest single-day loss of life for Marines since the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima.
Almost 26 years later and two wars with Iraq have dulled the public's memory of the Beirut attack. But, I won't ever forget my Dad's face that day.....pictures are on my facebook

Lost In A Corn Maze!

We are having fun discovering all the places to go and things to do here at our new duty station. Our destinations usually begin with Google, than venture over to mapquest, and then we find ourselves at another new place to discover. Today Ed found a corn maze on Google. Vicki wrote out directions from mapquest, and we made it to this cool farm. This nice guy, the owner of the farm, loaded us up into a wagon of hay and he pulled us with his tractor out to the maze. We divided into two teams, Ed took Thing One & Thing Two and I took Jorden and Vicki. As a team, we had to find 4 poker chips, one red, one white, one blue, and one green as well as find our way out with a perfectly undisturbed piece of corn. It was warm and Vicki was grumbling about the heat. I just kept hoping we wouldn’t run into a freaky scarecrow like from The Messengers movie, and Jorden was just being a good sport. We found three poker chips pretty quick….we also told Ed where we had found the chips. He didn’t let us know where the other chip was that they had found, so they won. They also had a better piece of corn than us. Vicki picked a midget corn. But we had fun and didn’t get terribly lost in the maze. We took the kids on something they had never done before, so mission was accomplished! The rest of the pictures are on my facebook in the album North Carolina

Mom Knows The "OLD" Rock Songs!

I was driving Jorden to Camp Geiger to meet one of his friends and he turned the radio to this Classic Rock station. He was laughing that I could sing along with all those “old” rock songs! When did Def Leppard, Scorpions, Van Halen, songs become old?!

I Can Only Hope....

I have an overactive imagination....i think i have always had this condition....I take Jasper for a run every morning on this trail that is really close to our house. I love it, but i am usually almost always the only one there running at that time in the morning. So, certain areas by the back woody area i run extra fast 'cause i've just seen too many CSI's and shows like that. LOL The other day there was this little old lady walking and Jasper wanted to eat her. I can only hope that he will be as ferocious to the creepy guy coming out of the woods in a hockey mask and a chain saw as he was to the little old lady on her morning walk!

Almost Ate A Spider!

I run my dog Jasper every day on this trail about a half mile from my house. I wish i had someone like the hulk and some super tall basketball player to run the trail first for me, but since i don't, i am at the mercy of where Jasper drags me and how fast i can react and dodge what is on the trail! Fortunately i came to a screeching halt before i almost ate this ugly fellow! Thank goodness Jasper decided it was time to drop some logs and so my nose came to a stop at about an inch away from leggy! I backed away very slowly but could only go so far since i run Jasper on a short leash, so i got to actually look at this creature. I couldn't stop laughing after he came into full view to my eyeballs! Looking at his belly, i could actually pretend to see a face, if you look at him he looks like he is standing there with his hands in the air and all upset looking! Well, i guess i would be upset if someone was taking a poo in front of my house! Do you see the yellow eyes, the little white gopher teeth, and silly mush mash?! I do and i couldn't stop laughing. Had to take a picture too!

It's Looking Like Home!

The kids, Ty especially, was thrilled to see the M&M jar has been found, unpacked, and filled! This cool jar is from the Phillipines and (trys to) stay full all year long with whatever color M&M's fit the season! Chocolate mint are our favorites!!! Can't wait for the fall colors to come out!!!


Past seasons....

School Has Begun!

My journal is up to date, however the blogger, waaay behind! I'm not sure why, but it takes forever to put pictures with it, so i get frustrated and avoid the blogger for awhile! LOL......Soo, here is a brief overview from my journal over the last couple of weeks of school for these guys at their new location.....

All four kids are settled into their new schools. They all ride the bus, so i don't have to drive anyone to school! Yay! Vicki's us comes at 6:05, it is nice and dark out, Jorden's comes at 6:35, still dark, but the sun is starting to make a peek, and Ty and Ryan are the last to leave, there bus comes at 7:20. They get to leave when it is nice and sunny!

Ty and Ryan were able to take the bus begining day one as almost our entire neighborhood is military brats in grade school, so it was easy to find out where the stop was and what time and stuff. I drove and picked up Jorden and Vicki the first couple of days until we knew what buses they rode and what time the pick up was.

First Day of School:

Jorden, how was your day? It was school, Mom....

Vicki, how was your first day of school? Uhg, i'm tired, i have a headache, i had to go to all my classes in one day. I miss Lester, i like DODDS schools better, i want to go back to Okinawa.....

Ty, how was your first day of school? I hated it. I want to go back to Okinawa. The kids are so loud,everyone is yelling, i had to run laps.

Ryan, how was your first day of school? Haaarible, just haaarible! I'm not going back!

It was looking bleak.....i made them the "back to school cookies" that they love and the school year began.....




Jorden still feels the same, school is school, not fun, just get thru it and be done with it. He reluctantly gives his jacket to girls who say they are cold and grumbels about how he froze in his classes again because someone wore his jacket all day. He gets invited to parties and such but has no desire to make new friends and is just whatever. I think this in turn makes him appear mysterious as the girls like him and it is a small town, so wherever we go there are the shy hellos and glances. He doesn't notice or ignores it, i don't know..... but he was nominated as Homecoming King which he found hillarious and hopes he doesn't win.

Vicki loves school. Apparently not many new kids move here from a foreighn country and so she has been quite the novelty. I'm impressed that she hasn't let it go to her head. She already has a ton of friends and has had sleep overs her and over at other friends houses. She has made some fun friends that are really cute girls. She loves going to the football games, yes this middle school has a football team.

Ty is okay with school. I guess he has a rowdy class and the teacher punishes them all for the overall classroom behavior which i don't understand how that is going to work....Ty does not think it is fair because the rowdy kids are the bullies and so they don't care that the rest of the class is being punished and Ty said now he doesn't care if he behaves or not because it won't matter, he will still miss recess and run laps. Our bag of bones is skinny enough, i hate that he is now running extra laps at school, but all in all he is okay with our new place and has made alot of friends and is enjoying life. He does remind me everyday that Okinawa is the best place to live and he hopes we go back someday.

Ryan still comes home and tells me his day was haaarible, but he says it now with a grin. He likes his teacher and his class and is just all around fine with everything but misses Okinawa.

Ed walking Ty and Ryan to the bus stop while i drove Jorden & Vicki to school


The bus bringing the kids home on that first day...


Here comes the neighborhood!

Did I Read That Right?

I was organizing all of our Oki pixs and deleted a ton of no longer needed ones and found this one that made me laugh! I came home and found a note on our front door from housing telling me to clean up my front yard! Huuuuummmmmm….where should I begin?! Our yard was actually torn up as they were trying to figure out why i hadn't had basicaly no water pressure and no hot water for the last 2 1/2 years. They were not able to fix it, other than make a huge mess of my yard for a couple of months, but 3 years later they came and put in a hot water heater in my house! I had hot water for the first time in 5 years! It was wonderful to take a shower and not come out with an instant migraine!!! I no longer had to boil water to wash my dishes....life was good! But the notice to clean up my yard still brings a giggle!

My Gheto Dog

Yes, this is a picture of Jasper with a chewed off leash!!! Even our dog is ghetto! I had him on the leash in the kitchen with me while I was doing some dishes because he kept barking at the kids running around across the street. The door bell rang, it was Alicia and Abel and I went to grab Jasper close to me to put him in the back yard before I got the door and all I got was the leash! He had chewed thru it while I was doing dishes and all that time I thought he was just laying at my feet being a good boy! NOT!!! Atleast it was Tank’s leash…..we don’t need to use that one at the moment…

Do Not Slap The Bull!

Wild Hogs is one of our favorite movies. We always laugh really hard at the slap the bull part. Now I am not finding it very funny! There is a big hunkin bull hanging out in a field right by our house. I’ve had to have the serious conversation with the boys about NOT even thinking about slapping the bull by our home! They had been thinking about it, so had to nip that little thought outta their brains! When I was younger my cousins and I used to have fun with the bulls at my uncles ranch. We would dare each other to race across the pin without getting hit by the bull. We always made it, thank goodness! I ran really fast back than!!! So, I’ll have to be extra observant on the boys since I know how I was as a kid! YIKES!!!! Don’t like being the parent on these kinda things!!! LOL

They Got Us Locked In Ty!

Ryan has always totally scouted out any new area we ever go to. It is just instinctive to his nature. He sees everything and has a fascination with camera’s, the surveillance kind. He always tells me where they are in any store we go to. I’m not sure if this is a good sign or not….so, we are walking outta Ty and Ryan’s new school and Ryan leans over to Ty and says, “they’ve got us trapped” and motions up to the security camera posted on the side of the brick building. Of course, I never even noticed it until Ryan pointed it out to Ty

The Dog Wash

We found the coolest thing!! The car wash also has a dog wash! We were thrilled! We washed the jeep, a chore we are reluctnatly getting used to.....we never once washed a vehicle in Okinawa. The rain was so clean and it rained enough, that we NEVER had to wash the outside of our vehicles! 6 years later, we are now washing our cars and the dog, all in a one shot stop! Love it! Jasper was fine until it was time to blow dry him. He got just a little upset and spent the ride back to the house hiding under the beach towel, but he had been rinsed, scrubed, rinsed, flea and tick treated, rinsed, conditioned, rinsed, smell godd stuff put on, and one final spot free rinse! Okay, not so much a spot free....but he had been cleaned sooo good, he just might have been squeaky clean if he wasn't furry!

My Shells

I love gathering shells when i go to the beach. I've kept my shells from different places I've lived and visited in different little treasure chests. These are my Okinawa shells. I write on my shells too, so when you go thru my treasure box you will see things written on my shells.....

Setteling In

I am slowly getting the house together....i just hate doing it at this time of year! I put up my summer stuff since we moved into our house in August, than September first, i put up my Fall things,


Oct first, Fall will be put away and Halloween will go up, Than Nov frist, Halloween will be put away and fall brought back out until Thanksgiving! UHG! In between the decorating the house is coming together....will be wonderful when out storage shipment gets here! That has Vicki's bedroom set, dining room set, the roll top desk-lots of storage in there!!! And of course, my piano! Oh, i will make life very uncomfortable for anyone who discloses the fact that i play the piano to anyone in North Carolina! LOL