Airport Adventures, Continued……

We are having yet another airport adventure. We’ve had many, so here is just another one to add to our travel logs. We were originally flying out of New Bern, NC to Ontario, California on December 26th. Just a small glitch, the storms in other areas affected the aircraft coming in to our non weather problem flightline. Instead of the 50 seater a 35 seater arrived. It was fully booked 50 seater, so yeah, some of us weren’t getting on. Unfortunately we were one of the ones not getting to fly on that plane, or that day! There is only one l fight a day going out. It was kinda like a Space A flashback…… BUT, they did give us $450.00 a person in US Airways vouchers for showing up and trying to fly! Kadena just said, sorry, plane still broken, flight cancelled, or didn’t call our name due to not enough seats and we dejectedly got back in our van and drove back to our concrete house to try again the next flight. We had a 9:05 am flight this morning, much better than the 7 am flight yesterday that made getting up at 3 am soooo NOT fun! Got to sleep till 5 am today. Oh, our luggage made the flight, so it was interesting getting ready this morning with NOTHING! But then it was kinda cool leaving for the airport with like NOTHING!!! We got on a tiny little plane and flew to Charlotte, NC where we got to wait for 4 ½ hours for our next flight. Sooooo fun, NOT. But, I love watching people at the airport! Have you ever ran up to a stranger at an airport and pretended you knew them and began talking to them and telling them how excited you were to run into them after all these years and how funny to run into them at that particular airport? You have to do it, it is soooo funny! But, be careful at an international airport, ‘cause like when they don’t speak English, well it is just like AWKWARD!!! But still funny and like the odds of running into them again are pretty slim! I was going to do that today, but decided I would spare my kids the embarrassment…..maybe on the trip back. Yippee, they are calling our flight!!! 4 hours has flown by fast!!!

Belleau Woods Memorial

We all know the story and the song, here is the memorial to the Marines who fought in the Battle of Belleau Woods

A Soldiers King

A favorite Christmas song of mine. I think it was originally done by Kenny Rogers, but i only found a video from Donny....

Rear View Mirror Flashback

I climbed into the van back in July to start her up. She had been in storage for 6 years while i drove my Town Ace on Okinawa. She was on empty and I was going to drive her to the gas station and put in enough gas to get to the U-Haul place. We were pulling her from South Carolina to North Carolina. Didn't want to drive her after sitting 6 years till she saw the Van Doctor! I adjusted the rearview mirror and the most amazing thing happened! No, a million dollars did not start falling from my windshield; more like a million images flooded my mind! I looked in the mirror to see that I had it right and all of a sudden I just saw this whirl of images, like a ton of photos going real fast in a slide show, but I distinctly knew each of the photos and the giggles and background of each one and each image seemed to hold longer than it actually really did because all this happened soooo incredibly fast! I am ever amazed at what our brain is capable of; especially my little pea sized one!!! I won't share all the snap shots I saw, just a few…but it started with Ryan and Ty in that middle seat. Ryan was facing backwards and Ty was facing me and Ty was talking to newborn Ryan, next Ty was holding Ryan's now bigger hand, now they were both facing forward playing with toys, clashing their dinosaurs together in their little fat hands, Ty tasting Ryan's bottle, them switching sippy cups, toys flying at me while I drove, sippy cups flying at me while I drove, driving thru a snow storm with Ty and Vicki while Ryan was in utero to meet Kelli Kirwan with her kids at Kisha Banks house in Spanish Fork, the kids faces as we stopped on each corner of Miramar as I put money in firemen's boots following the September 11th attacks, the super loooooong waits to get on base following 9/11 with Vicki and Jorden and the other kids I gave rides to doing their homework and the awe on their faces as the gates had transformed into actual bunkers with fortifications, weapons, battle gear worn, etc. The giggles from Ty as the police dogs got into our van to make sure we weren't undercover terrorists, changing diapers during those long waits (yes, always made sure I had extra zip log bags in the diaper bag!), nursing Ryan while I crept along and getting him back in his car seat before we got to the gate, the weekend trips to Sea World, Zoo, and Wild Animal Park, camping, family trips to Disneyland, New Mexico, Northern California. Just this huge wave of history in this vehicle! It was the coolest slide show I had ever seen and it only lasted maybe 1.5 seconds!

3 Baseballs & A Cool Dog

I just love Jasper! He can drive me crazy at times and requires lots of care and attention, however, i do think he is my favorite kid. I'm sure that is primarily because i get to lock him up when i leave the house. He really is just the sweetest dog and is my total buddy in the land of nothing. I have no friends, well I have friends, just nobody closer than 45 minutes and I am okay with that. This isn’t a complaining post, I really am fine with my only friend being a dog and a partial friend in my snooty cat. Most of my time revolves around the kids but the school hours revolve around Jasper. Jasper and I run the trail every morning. I know everyone’s schedule pretty much that uses the trail so I can get there at a time where Jasper and I have it all to ourselves. It’s wonderful because this way he can be off his leash and run free! He is the sniffer and loves to follow his nose! It’s hard for him to do this on a leash as I have no desire to leave the trail or go into the water, or more like swamp….I am scared every time he disappears into the dense shrubs or jumps in the water! I worry about him being bitten by snakes or coming out with an alligator chasing him. I’m sure he could outrun the alligator, however, I am positive I will not be able to! Aside from my fears we have a great time running every morning. There are 2 dogs that get to the trail most mornings about the time we are done. They are Jasper’s girls, Jessie a lab and dalmation mix and Bailey who is on the husky side. Jasper loves Jessie, Jessie likes Jasper and Bailey LOVES Jasper!! On certain parts of the trail all three dogs will be off their leashes and they are soooo cute to watch! Jessie is such a sweetheart and Bailey loves to run side by side with Jasper growling at him and swishing her big fluffy tail in his face if he isn’t paying enough attention to her! One day we were walking along and Jasper dove into the bushes and disappeared. We heard all kinds of rustling of branches cracking and leaves shaking. Jasper appeared out of nowhere and dropped a baseball at Jessie’s feet. We all went, “awwwwww”. Jessie walked happily with her gift in her mouth. A few minutes later Jasper disappeared again into the shrubs. Same sound effects as before and presto Jasper appears and drops a baseball at Bailey’s feet. Bailey is thrilled and is walking with her ball in her mouth and again we say “awwwwwwwww” followed by “wow!!!” Believe it or not, Jasper now jumps into the thickery of the shrubs a third time. Same commotion, and like, wow, he comes out with a baseball in HIS mouth!!! Is he the coolest dog or what?! If I was a dog, I would soooo want Jasper to be my boyfriend! But, instead I’m happy to have him as my buddy. I wake up to him in my face in the morning and fall asleep with him trying to take most of my pillow every night.

Lookin' Ghetto, again!

I am quite embarrassed to say that at this very moment I am the epitome of a wife whose Marine is gone. You know, the lady who hasn’t showered, done her hair or makeup and wearing something ridiculous! Well, it is almost 7 o’clock at night and I look just like her. I did brush my teeth though It started out just fine, I took Jasper for our run, we did 4 ½ miles, came home and did my weights and than just started doing the normal housework. The repair guy for the microwave was coming so I didn’t dare get in the shower and miss him! We use our microwave ALL the time! He was supposed to come before 5 pm. Well, 4 0’clock rolls around and the phone rings with a Whirlpool guy telling me the repair man is behind schedule and won’t be at my house until a little after 5. I decide to take a quick shower! My phone rings again as I walk down the hall to my room, it is the repair man informing me he is on his way! Sooo much for my quick shower! It took a couple of hours but he got our microwave fixed while I got thru everyone’s homework. It was time to start basketball practices, so out the door, zip into McDonalds to get everyone a $1 sandwich and to the gym we go. I am sitting here in the bleachers typing on this computer still wearing my clothes I ran in this morning, which consists of black Capri leggings, one of Ed’s long sleeve shirts, Valentine socks, my dirty running shoes, and Ed’s plaid super lined jacket! I have a messy ponytail and of course no make up! Vicki assured me that I am just fine since we live in Richlands!

Seriously?

I had to really bite the inside of mouth tonight to keep from laughing out loud! I was at McDonalds waiting for everyone’s $1 sandwich when a chick came in with a bag containing 3 orders of french fries. She said they were tooooo greasy and she wanted some fresh ones. Hello? Like the fresher the fries the greasier they will be! The manager threw them away and made her new french fries. After they were pulled from the fryer they sat for an incredibly long time under the heat lamp before they were re-bagged and given to the lady. I just thought that was soooo funny!!!

Road Kill

I am sooo tired of the road kill here! I have yet to venture out on the roads and NOT seen the carcass of some not so long ago living animal in the road. So far, I have not hit anything and I do hope it stays that way! There was a dead deer today. I’m just so glad someone moved it to the side of the road as there would not have been room for me to go around it! Don’t be surprised if ya see a picture of me posted sometime in the near future with a pile of dead animals. I get bored out here and I have thought it might be fun to hit the roads and go gather the dead carcasses, borrow a shot gun, and strike a pose!