Waiting....

Hubby comes home today. The kids and I have been scurrying about to make the house a welcoming place for him. It has been a crazy week or so since I posted last, what with all the running about and then just holding down the fort while Brian was gone. I managed to contract a cold/allergies in the last few days, which has made the evenings/middle of night less than enjoyable. Lots of coughing/sneezing/leg-crossing/nose-blowing. (Sorry if that was TMI.) Thank goodness for 3am Olympics programming. 

Took the kids to see Wall-E over the weekend. Eh. It was OK. The last part of the film was more enjoyable, but I really am getting tired of movies with agendas. Can't we just make stuff to entertain anymore?

Then yesterday I went to see Tropic Thunder with Emily.   She was supposed to go with a friend, but the friend canceled at the last minute and she didn't want to go alone. We'd already Fandango'd her ticket so I wound up being her second choice. The main reason she wanted to see it is that she is a big Robert Downey, Jr. fan. In my opinion, he was the best part of the film, other than one small part involving a little Vietnamese boy. Other than that, I really wouldn't recommend the film. It was crude, full of f-bombs, and just not my cuppa. 

OK, break time is over. Joel just put on Emily's accompaniment CD for Annie and is busy working to the tune of "Hard Knocck Life." Gotta love him.

*Tap, tap, tap* Anyone still here?

Sorry for my extended absence. No excuses, really. Other than not wanting to bore you to death. But then again, perhaps that is what I do even when I post.... But truly, the only thing of note that has happened since my last post was that Halle had to have a tooth restored at the dentist. Funny thing... the incident that made this necessary actually happened before we left on The Great RV Road Trip of 2008. She and the boys thought it would be fun to throw empty 20-oz. soda bottles at each other. The ever-wise and prudent mother suggested that it was not a good activity, but the participants insisted they were "having fun." Said fun ended rather quickly when Halle wound up with a split lip when one of the bottle missiles hit her in the mouth.  It wasn't until  about 2 weeks later, at her monthly orthodontist appointment (just a few days before we were due to leave town) that we found out more was split than her lip. When the orthodontist removed her rubber bands and wire, off popped part of her tooth. It had broken straight across about halfway up.  Of course, it wasn't  a baby tooth, either. The only thing that could be done for her at that point was just a protective sealant until we returned from our trip.  Then last week, the dentist built up the remaining portion of the tooth with a composite material. She'll have a more permanent tooth made for her once she is all done with braces.

August is one of our busiest months of the year. Brian always has at least one week-long TDY; usually it is two. This year is no different. He leaves Friday to go to the AANA conference in Minneapolis.  He'll return the 14th, only to leave again the 18th for San Antonio. Then he comes back on the 20th, in time for my meniscus surgery on the 22nd.

Meanwhile, this week is VBF (Vacation Bible Fun, as opposed to Vacation Bible School). Halle and Joel both went today and had a great time. Joel wasn't sure he wanted to go; in fact, it was only threat of a pleasureless existence at home that convinced him to go without me dragging him by his heels. Once again, the mother's wisdom was boundless... he can't wait to get up and go tomorrow.  However, our schedule here at home is so crazy that I had to enlist the aide of a neighbor who goes to church with us to help me get the kids there tomorrow and Wednesday. Noah is getting his braces off tomorrow, but his appointment begins about the time I would normally leave here to head to the church building. Then on Wednesday, my pre-op appointment in the orthopedic clinic is scheduled for the start time of VBF.  Thankfully she had no problem with being able to take the kids, and if she hadn't been able to, I had at least 2 other folks who probably would have been able to fill in.

If that weren't enough, I'll have to pick them up just a little bit early tomorrow because VBF doesn't end until noon.... which is when Halle and Noah's music lessons begin. And on Wednesday we won't have time to hang around afterwards because I have my other pre-op appointment at 1. 

Also on the agenda for the week, another appointment at the ortho for Noah to pick up his retainer (Thursday morning), a birthday party for the boys Friday afternoon, one for Emily Saturday evening, and if I get the timing/transportation for Emily worked out, I want to attend this guy's comedy show Saturday night:

Next week should be a bit calmer...

Stuff to do, but here I am

It's a fairly busy day around here, but here I sit. As if writing about what I need to do today will make it all get done. Ha.

So today is a big day for my husband's co-worker/partner. She is retiring from the Air Force after 20 years of service. Brian has been working very long hours this week to get ready for the ceremony, never arriving home before 7pm, with the last 2 nights being 9:15 and 8:30 before he hit the door. He has been in charge of getting everything arranged for it and will be narrating the ceremony this afternoon at 2 (1400 in military speak). And once again, I had the pleasure of creating the programs for the event. Now that I bought Print Shop for the Mac, designing and printing the programs was much easier than when I did the ones for the anesthesia graduation.

Meanwhile, around here I have a few things to do before heading up to the hospital for the retirement ceremony, including folding 2 loads of laundry, feeding kids, and getting myself showered and dressed. Then tonight we have a dinner honoring the retiree. I'm a little nervous about it, because I don't usually enjoy these kind of things. I always feel very out of place because I rarely have much in common with anyone or know anyone very well. Plus there is usually a fair amount of drinking going on and I have never been very comfortable around people drinking alcohol. It just isn't my scene. With Brian being such a major player in the group, we will probably wind up being there for most of the event, which is scheduled to go from 6-10. I am thinking of sneaking a good book in my purse, or hoping the folks hosting have a dog so I will have someone to talk to. If all else fails, I do have Yahtzee on my cell phone.

Coming up

So I haven't exactly taken the time to sit down and write since the 4th. We've had plenty of other things going on to keep me occupied. Mostly the usual and the mundane. Plus a little crud... Brian was sick most of last week; not enough to keep him home, but enough that he did come home early one afternoon and went straight to bed for the night. Then Joel started getting sick. Unfortunately, his led to a raging ear infection for which he is on Zithromax. We are celebrating his first afebrile day by taking in a movie this afternoon (Journey to the Center of the Earth, in 3D, no less!).

I met with the orthopedic surgeon today about my knee. The MRI I had back in June showed a large tear in my medial meniscus. Can't repair it, so we'll have to remove the torn part. August is Brian's busy month, with 2 TDYs of 7 and 4 days, so it looks like we'll be doing this on the 22nd. The doctor said I probably wouldn't be driving for a couple of weeks, so we might be looking for an alternate way for Emily to get to school the first week of September, or Brian will have to fix the schedule so that he can go in a little later than usual that week. So I have a whole month to look forward (?) to this now.

A Fourth of Photos

Happy 4th of July! We got home a little while ago from watching the fireworks in Vacaville. They were nice... nothing spectacular, but then again, when you've seen Disney World fireworks as much as we have, it's hard to be spectacular.

Anyhow, I was able to get some photos uploaded earlier today and thought I'd share them here.

This was Rory's favorite place to be while we were going down the road.

Sometimes she even shared with Campbell.

This is Joel and Rockwell, my sister's 6yo Great Dane. He is a BIG boy!

Another one of Rory's favorite spots (but only when the RV was parked!).

Here you can see a bit of how tall Rock is. He weighs nearly 200 pounds.

This is a picture Noah took of my sister and me. (Even if it doesn't look like it, I'm the younger one... by a whole 5 years.)

Brian and Campbell as we were headed home.

A peaceful moment as we go down the road.

Home again

Well, the Great RV Road Trip of '08 is officially over. We pulled into the driveway around 2:30 or so this afternoon. Yesterday we drove from Needles to Chowchilla, a distance of around 420 miles. That put us within 3 hours of home. We stayed at a very nice RV "resort" called The Lakes. It's only a couple of years old and had great amenities, including an off-leash pet area, which to me is a huge plus.

I walked in to find a sparkling clean house. My neighbor and her daughter had the key to the house while we were gone and worked their magic on the place. She let me in on it earlier this week so I wouldn't be too freaked out (and also so that I could warn Emily that her room would be clean instead of covered in wall-to-wall stuff). I didn't know whether to cry because she was so sweet, or to cry from embarrassment at her seeing how filthy my house was. Either way, it was the sweetest thing to do. Her daughter told me this afternoon that it was my birthday present. Great present, huh? And really, she did much more than just clean: she used her magic and luck with finding other people's cast-off items to find me a great area rug for the living room, plus some throw rugs for the front and back doors. Plus she put wastebaskets in all the kids' rooms. Her hard work made coming home feel a lot more peaceful.

So with the time I've had, I've managed to wash and fold 2 loads of laundry. A 3rd is in the dryer and a 4th in the wash. I think there are at least 2 more to wash as well. Between clothes, towels, and bedding from the RV, there's a lot to do. Tomorrow we will sweep, vacuum, dust, and polish the RV (and clean the bathroom/shower) so we can put it away all fresh and clean. It's a little after 10 now and I'm really ready for bed. I'll check on the laundry and then head there.

Catching up

Sorry for the break in posting. Connectivity on the road hasn't always been great, then there's also the issue of fatigue, plus sharing the laptop with others. To update, after we left Arkansas, we spent Tuesday night in a KOA just past Clinton, OK. Not a bad little place. From there we headed to Albuquerque, NM. That was our longest drive day up to that point, around 450 miles. The RV park there, American RV Park, was one of the nicest we've been to. Unfortunately, there were thunderstorms in and around the area, so no swimming for the kids that night. Had a little blast from the past while flipping channels there... saw a news anchor who used to anchor the local news back in Cape Girardeau, Dianne Anderson.

Yesterday we drove all the way from Albuquerque to Needles, CA, around 520 miles or so. That's our record. We hadn't made reservations for our last couple of nights, so Brian figured he'd see how far we could go and decided Needles was a good spot to shoot for. No difficulties in making it, although we did stop a little later than we had been. We did make a sight-seeing stop at the Meteor Crater just east of Flagstaff. Brian and the boys wanted to see it. The rest of us hung out in the RV. When we arrived in Needles, it was HOT, over 100 degrees. We got set up as quickly as possible and then Brian and the younger kids hit the pool while I worked on laundry. We were getting pretty low on some things, so I did one load of necessities. That took almost an hour and a half. It was nearly 9pm by the time I had it folded and put away. By that point, we decided dinner wasn't going to happen, so it was one of those "snack-your-hunger-away" evenings.

Not sure how far we will drive today. Brian wants to stop at a Camping World and see if he can get our roof A/C looked at. The front unit doesn't seem to cool as well as the back. The length of that stop will probably determine how far we get today. Even without that stop, it would be about 575 miles from here to home, which would be a pretty long drive. Traffic is bound to be worse here in CA than it was anywhere else, so I think it wouldn't be realistic to expect anything like that. But we should be able to get far enough along that our tomorrow's drive could be a short one.

West on I-40

Greetings from westbound interstate 40 in Arkansas! We just left the KOA campground in Morrilton few moments ago and are bound for Clinton, OK today. We left much earlier today (7am) than most, trying to avoid the hotter parts of the day.

The kids (well, us too) have really enjoyed this trip. At one point, Joel asked if we could just not go home, but spend our time driving around visiting relatives. Huntsville was definitely everyone's favorite leg of the journey, even the dogs. They were quite happy to be at Aunt Pam's. Rory was a little overwhelmed at first, but settled right in. When we get home and I can hook up the camera, I will post some pictures of Rockwell so you can see how big he is. Poor guy is getting old (for a Dane, anyhow) and is so heavy his joints are paining him. But he put up a brave front for us and showed us his playful side.

We celebrated my birthday Sunday by going to Olive Garden with Pam & Kirk and their oldest son, Dustin. Service was slow, but the food was good. Then we just hung out for the rest of the day. Oh, except for a trip to the commissary. Pam went with me to get groceries to stock up the RV for this week.

Noah fulfilled his wish of getting an electric guitar this week. We had told him that one of Pam's boys would probably be able to give him good advice on one. Sure enough, Drew (Pam's #3 son) took him out to look at guitars and amps on Saturday. The ones Drew felt were good choices were a tad under $300 for the set. Turned out that he had 3 guitars himself, plus an amp he didn't need, so he offered to sell them to Noah for $100. We are splitting the cost with him, so he is covering $50 of it.

4 more days, and we should be back at the old homestead. Truth be told, I haven't missed it much at all. Doesn't say much about my love for California, does it?

Happy in Huntsville

Had a great day yesterday, even if it did seem a little long at times. My sleep is all messed up because I still have a cough that wakes me up at night. I found myself falling asleep several times yesterday, even while playing Rock Band! You know you're tired when you put yourself to sleep playing guitar on Rock Band.

Brian was able to get the RV situation straightened out. Apparently someone double-booked several spaces at the RV park. At any rate, we are in our original assigned spot and will be staying for free this weekend.

We spent a lot of time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band yesterday. Actually, I haven't even tried Guitar Hero yet; I have only done drums, bass, and guitar on Rock Band. I am a total novice and have to play on Easy, but with practice, maybe I could make it to Medium. I won't hold my breath.

I had brought a bunch of sheet music with me, thinking Pam and Kirk and I could do some stuff together, but I have no voice. This cough has left me quite hoarse. I am totally disgusted.

In the evening, we went to a new shopping/dining district in Huntsville called Bridge Street Town Centre. It appears to be quite the happening place. Ashton Kutcher has a restaurant there called "Ketchup." Everyone was hungry while we were there, but the wait at most restaurants was 90 minutes and up. We were able to get immediate seating at Red Robin, and while it wasn't anyone's first choice, the food and service were good.

The dogs have settled in quite nicely to hanging out at Aunt Pam's during the day. It is good to see them all get along. Pam did board their bulldog Toby at the vet's while we are here, though. She says he is very possessive and would probably start a fight. It's a shame; I was looking forward to seeing him.

Not sure what today will bring. I am sure there will be more Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but at some point, I know we have some movies to watch together as well. We'll probably do some laundry today and/or tomorrow, too. The nice thing about being with family is not feeling like every moment has to be scheduled. Just hanging out in the same place is good.

Sweet Home Alabama

Arrived in Huntsville a little after 5 pm yesterday. The drive from Missouri was straightforward and uncomplicated... just the way I like 'em. However, once we arrived at Redstone Arsenal, everything changed. It took a few minutes to get on base (my brother-in-law met us at the Visitor's Center so that he could take Brian to get a rental car once we were set up at our RV spot). Once we located the small RV area on the main part of post, we discovered a fifth-wheel parked in the spot that Brian had been told would be ours, and no one there. Being after 5pm, there was no-one answering the phone number for Outdoor Rec (the group that oversees the RV park). There was one empty spot left, so we pulled in there and hooked up. Brian left with Kirk and the girls to go to the airport and get a rental van. Some time later, another Class A motorhome pulled up... I happened to be sitting outside the rig with the dogs. The owners of that rig were confused as to why we were parked in the spot reserved for *them*. I explained the situation and told them I was waiting for Brian to get back with the rental car. These folks were very nice, but also fairly insistent that this was their spot and they wanted to park there. They wondered if perhaps our reservation was for the "other" RV spot on base, located out near the river. I told them it shouldn't have been; that wasn't the area we had requested.

In the meantime, Brian called and I told him of the situation. This was not a happy time. He did locate the other RV area, but the site number we had been assigned was occupied there, as well. It took him a little while to find his way out of the woods there and get back to the main RV site, but while he was doing that, the folks occupying our spot arrived. They said they were supposed to have been in a different spot, but it was occupied when they got there; they called Outdoor Rec, who told them to take our spot.

Long story short, we unhooked and pulled out and drove over to the church behind my sister's house to boondock for the night. I don't even know what time it was when we finally arrived. Much later than it should have been, that's for sure. Brian has plans to get back over to the Arsenal today and get some satisfaction. The folks in our spot were only staying one night, so hopefully we will be able to get in there before someone else comes along and takes it. Our credit card had already been charged for a 4-night stay, so there will have to be some refunding done at any rate.

Anyhow, once we made it to my sister's, we had a good time saying hi and seeing the dogs and kids (3 of her 4 boys were there... they are all grown and out of the house now). I can't wait to take some pictures of Rory and my sister's dog, Rockwell. He is a Great Dane as well, but has 5 years, a few inches and MUCHO pounds on Rory. He is massive. But for all that size, he is just a big lover. He spent much of the night giving me kisses and hugs (a hug involves placing his head next to mine and then leaning into me.... we were having a contest as to which one of us could lean the most).