No more driving!!!......well sort of

Continuing from the previous entry......





We had dinner with the Whiting's, and had a great time. I saw the most awesome scrapbook room known to man! Tammy has this room ( and oh yes, I took pictures ) that is a scrapbooker's dream. My picture hopefully will help for me to recreate this room or at least one similar. Well, if we ever get a house! Kevin couldn't believe how their children had grown. They are teenagers now, and Kevin first met them when the youngest was in utero. Their oldest really made an impression on Noah, and Noah was his shadow all night long. It was so cute. I could tell that Noah is really craving that social interaction, playing with friends. We left the next morning going to San Francisco. We took the PCH (pacific coastal hwy) most of the way up. It was the most gorgeous drive. I think we must have stopped a zillion times so I could take pics of the coast, the blue Caribbean like water, huge rocks and BIG waves. The edge of the road was a cliff that dropped straight down. It was just beautiful, we did not want to get back on the main road. Anyway, we make it in to San Fran late b/c of the drive and just decide to call it a night and hit downtown the next day. So, we took Napa out of our plans and decided that would be an anniversary trip. We really like San Fran. It was a neat city and of course we had to ride the trolley. Noah loved this. However, the lines for the trolley were HORRID! We finally figured out that it was easier to jump on the trolley a couple of stops up from the original loading point, and avoid standing in line. We went to Ghirradeli sq. and I found this place called Kara's cupcakes. Oh my, oh my! I took pics of these little gems. And three went home in a box. I think it was the best cupcake I ever put in my mouth, and you know my choc-a-holic son loved his too. A trip to San Fran would not be complete without 2 things; a trip over the Golden Gate and a trip down Lombard St. Noah loved the bridge. Kev and I were a little disappointed with Lombard, cause it was man-made. We thought, before seeing it, that is was just part of the way the road was made and the whole length of the road were these twisting tight curves. But hey, we have now officially been there, done that. Oh yeah, we also hit up Fisherman's wharf. Talk about some tired puppies that night b/c upon arriving in the Union Sq garage in downtown San Fran, we realized we had forgotten the stroller and the snugli baby-carrier! So, we literally hauled these kids up and down the rolling hills of San Fran the entire day. So on to Portland on Tues., well not exactly. We started the drive and got caught driving through the Ave of the Giants. This scenic road goes through the giant redwoods of northern Cali. BIG Detour. Kevin and I could not get our eyes full. We made stop after stop and drove so slow to take it all in. It was simply amazing. The trees are so awesome and hopefully our pics will turn out. So, instead of getting to Portland in 10hrs we were looking at 15. So what did we do, stop in a smaller city just short of Portland? Nope, we took on 2 more hours in the car and made it to Tacoma. Oh yes, we are nuts and dog tired today. We took on 17 long hours in the car. However, the payoff is a short 1.5 hour drive to the ferry. No more 4,5,6, or 10 hour drives. One more short drive onto the boat on Friday. Typing that is simply glorious. I think our entire family reached it peak of "Yeah this is a fun cross country trip!". Towards the end of the trip we were deciding what we could not see and be ok with, so we could get here in WA faster.





I won't be able to publish on the appropriate day so......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!!!!

On Oct 29 will be the big day. We will be in Juneau, AK. This kid is so awesome and 3yrs has went by way too fast. I can't wait to see how much cooler he becomes in the year to come.

Now on to something funny............

Here is a pic I took of Caleb and as soon as it snapped was deemed blog worthy. Enjoy the laugh.

I couldn't get the video of Noah to load will try again later.

Will probably post next time, from Alaska.

2 States Down, 2 To Go

First I have to say I can't wait to get some sleep...................changing time zones is for the birds!

Ok, from where I left off....
We left Arizona after a nice long morning. We took our time and left for Vegas somewhat rested and with full tummys thanks to Holiday Inn Express. The drive was nice. We made it to the Hoover Dam and I was impressed. I kept seeing the scenes from the movie Superman. Kevin had a great idea and we took these really cool pics, however once again the card reader is MIA. There were lots of plaques and tributes to all the hard work, but the coolest one I saw was when we were going back to the car. Apparently the guys working on the dam adopted this random dog that had found them working. The dog became kinda like their mascot. Sadly, the pooch's life ended at the dam and they buried him there in a little tomb. I thought this was weird at first, but they could've sent this dog sailing down the river or something. Anyway, I guess the dog was good company. After the dam we made made the short drive over to Vegas. We also stopped to see Lake Mead. Noah called this lake, Lake Ma. Who knows! We did not get to do our original idea and drive in at night, but hey when the kids are driving the schedule who cares! We went down on the Vegas strip and ate at Paris then walked across the street and watched a show at the Bellagio fountains. I made a little video which I will post later. Then we drove up and down the strip. It was neat. I think I would like to walk through the hotels and the original casino alley during the day when it is less crowded and the vulgarity has lessened. I was really naive going into Vegas and was really shocked at some of the lewdness I saw. Kevin just said "Babe, what did you expect from SIN city?" point taken. So onward we go to California. It was only a 4 hour drive from Vegas to southern Cali. We drove down to Corona Del Mar/Newport Beach to visit Kevin's cousin Sarah. It was an awesome little city. She also has a great place to live. Walking distance to everything; shops, restaurants, beach. The homes were very cute and were built in the late 40's and 50's. We also met Derby, Sarah's little son for the first time. He is so cute and full of life. It was nice having all the boys meet each other. I grew up not knowing my 2nd and 3rd cousins, so this was great. We strolled down to the beach and let the boys play for a while. Our boys needed some beach time. Noah ran all through the water. Yes, I have a video, but have not card reader to post. It will come later, promise. At the end of the video he said "I love Cawifornga!", well with a little coaxing. We drove down to Laguna Beach which was a beautiful drive. After Laguna, we plugged into the GPS to get us North of LA. What it punched out shocked us. We had 250 MILES to get to the base where we were going to stay. That's like almost 4 hours. It was already 5, and we knew we had to stop for dinner. We thought it was going to take like half that! Anyway, we drove it got caught in LA rush hour and made it here at 11pm. So, no we are not driving 2 hours back to LA to do the touristy things we had planned. We will just have to save that for another trip back to LA. So now we are focused on San Fran. We have a jump on the drive since we are a lot further north than we originally anticipated. So, that's it for now. I am sure I am forgetting some things. I have a journal in the car so I can remember all of Noah's anecdotes and our funny moments. Today we are resting and meeting up with Kevin's sponsor family from the Academy for dinner. I think this day of nothingness has been well earned.

Miles and Miles

We left Alabama on Friday Oct 12 and have been on the road, it seems, ever since. Friday we did a grueling 13 hours in the car to make it to Oklahoma. There we visited Mimi and Clara, Kevin's grandmothers. I have found while in Ardmore Oklahoma that I have found 3 great places to eat. 1 Miller's Hotdogs, 2 Wilson, and 3 Catfish Corner. In that order. Of course a trip to Oklahoma would not be complete without a trip to Braums. I think that place runs a tight race with Catfish Corner. Anyway, we left Tues morn and made it to Albuquerque, NM. This was just a stopover. We did not get to do much touristy stuff, but from what we saw, it was really pretty. Every time we told Noah we were going to New Mexico he would reply, "I want a quesadilla and rice". I think this comes from us telling him we are going to Mexico when we go out to eat mexican. Today we made the trek from Albuquerque to the Grand Canyon, AZ. We stopped at the Petrified Forest, that is interesting. I got some great shots of classic painted mountains and desert. All I can say for the grand canyon is amazing! It takes your breath away at first sight. All I could think was how amazing God was in His work. However, I felt like at the 12th point stop that it was all running together and we were seeing the same plateau, just closer and closer. Maybe it was the exhaustion, who knows. I am not posting pics, cause we can not find the card reader. No big surprise to those who saw our car right before we started this road trip. Who knows if I will even find it in Alaska. Our van is packed like we are the Griswalds going on vacation! Tomorrow we are going to Las Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam. Please continue to pray that we make it safely to Alaska. I will blog again when I can, now we need sleep!!!

Ok ok this is it

I just found Caleb with the package of wipes. Funny thing is that he will pull one out, bite it, not tear it, just bite it and then throw it to the side. Repeat 15 times: pull out wipe, bite wipe, toss wipe. I finally stopped him with much reluctance. It was so cute to watch. hee hee

Let's say "See You Later"

Oh happy day! 2 more days left in AL. I can't wait until we get on the road. I still don't think it will feel official until we are there, in Alaska, in our house, with our things. It is a warm and toasty 33 degrees in Anchorage, as I am typing this. Kev has the temp on his desktop. :)

Kevin and I played against each other in a game of flickerball yesterday. So much fun. The refs were calling some crazy/funny/ridiculous calls which made the game even more fun. The kids just sat on the sidelines watching us. This was a game of husbands versus wives or students versus spouses. Kev had to play this game every week as part of his SOS requirement. We had a great time playing each other. Oh yeah, my team won!

His flight (or group he is in) has done really well at this school. They are ranked #2 among 30 flights. He has done a great job here ( I am so proud!) and he is so glad that it is over. He had his last briefing on Monday. That was the last major assignment. I think he just has to breeze through today and tomorrow and Friday he will attend graduation in the morning. The Tuskegee Airmen are coming tomorrow to speak. That should be interesting, and we get to attend too. Then he has graduation practice and he should have an early day. I hope we can take the kids to the fair tomorrow. The fair is in town and it opens tomorrow when Kev's work day ends.

This past weekend we were treated to a Titans game, BIG shout out to the Crossville Jackson's. IT WAS AWESOME! We took the kids and they did GREAT! Noah loved it. Sad thing was the movers got everyone's jerseys before I could, so we did not have them. Kev and I were going to get new ones anyway so we did Sat before the game. Sun morn Noah comes down and everyone was in their jerseys and he said, "Momma, I want to be a Titan too". Well, that did it. Come hell or high water I was going to make my baby a Titan. So, Janice and I got in some major exercise walking, what I think was the entire area of LP Field to find a toddler jersey. We were successful in our searching and the joy on Noah's face when we finally got to the seats and I showed him. It will never surprise me what a momma will do for her children. It was so worth everything cause on the walk back to the car, after the game, Noah tells Kevin, "Daddy, that was so cool". I will never forget that.

I was also an emotional wreck when we left. Kevin and I were both like, "What is wrong with you/me?" I didn't cry leaving any other weekend we visited family. I guess overall, it was just the fact that we were leaving. No more only being 7 hours away from family. No more weekend family visits. This was the last one. We thought the time would drag by being in Montgomery, but now it seems like it flew by.

Weird, that this is my last blog entry for a while. We will be going across the country, and I don't really know if there will be time for blogging.

My last updates on the boys - this is only temporary :) -

Caleb has 3 teeth! WOW! He is a snaggletooth with two on the bottom and one on the top. It is so cute when he smiles! He is really pulling himself up to standing and I assume will start cruising in the next month or so. He has not gotten anymore hair. Which is funny. His foot is still doing great and we will be seeing the ortho guy in Seattle at the end of this month.

Noah will be 3 in a few weeks! I can not believe it. Three years ago he was a itty bitty baby. I think I will have a break down when he turns 5. I can't believe how fast the time goes. 3 years of my life have been so awesome with him around. He is a great kid and I love watching him grow. His leg is doing GREAT! It looks so much better and it seems like it should be completely healed in about another week or so. The salt water compresses we have been doing have really helped.

Ok, adios for now. Next time I will be in my igloo in AK, Lord willing.

Counting Them Down

We are almost there. 2 weeks and counting. This is Kevin's last extremely busy and tedious studying week; his last test, last paper, and warrior run (5.5 miles) week. I will be so glad to see this week come and go! 2 weeks and we are on the way to Alaska; 2 weeks closer to giving the boys some kind of stability, having our own bed, and a clean house, a house not a dorm room!
We are looking forward to the end of this week. We are taking our last family trip to Crossville (Kevin's dad) and being treated to a Titans game. We are so excited. Not only do we love the Titans, we are so pumped we are going to take Noah. This was going to happen last year on his birthday, but he got sick with a stomach flu. So, this is finally it. A great way to say goodbye to the South, introducing our oldest son to NFL football, live!
Last weekend was spent with my dad and my grandparents. Noah fed the horses carrots and wanted to go in the pasture every chance he could get. My grandmother has two mini daschunds (sp?) and they love to lick and sniff. Noah was not keen on this idea, and he kept telling them "No No!" My dad introduced me to Ol Time Pottery. LOVE IT! Kevin was not as enthused at this introduction. hee hee! Anyway, it was a good trip and a good time, and my dad has to make a trip to the post office with a box of goodies. :-)
Noah told us again last night while driving home that he wants our stuff, his toys, and our house back. 2 weeks can't go by fast enough. Caleb has an top tooth pushing through, slowly. Wish teething could be easier and painless.
Today, Noah and I did a little sidewalk art with the sidewalk chalk. He got covered head to toe in chalk dust, so I took him in to get a bath. I ran the water, walked out of the room to get him ready, walked back in the bathroom and the bathwater looked like I had killed someone in there. It was dark ruddy red! No wonder I can not get his leg to heal!! I am furious at this. How long has the water had gunk in it? It has not always been totally clear, but I thought it was because the bath tub is not exactly white. Today confirmed my suspicions, the water is gross. I have been buying spring water to cook with and drink, but I thought we could at least bathe in the water. I was so wrong. He gets showers from here on out. I may even be so bold to use spring water and give him sponge baths, just to be sure his leg is kept clean using clean water. I can't believe I was letting him soak in the bath water thinking it was going to help his leg, when all along it was probably instigating more infection. I really need prayers for Noah's leg. He favors it so much now, I really don't know how much more he and I can take of this wound not healing.
2 weeks and counting............