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............

The Joys of Motherhood in Alabama

Well, I'll begin this story with the recent past weekend happenings. This past weekend we head up to Huntsville and hang out with my mom and grandpa. I love Huntsville. It is growing so quickly and the city is starting to get all this cool stuff. We had dinner with my BFF Allison and totally forgot to try and have dinner somewhere we have not been in a while, so instead we hit the ol' standby, mexican at Casa Blanca. We had our family pics made too. The session was ok, but the gal shooting would not take my advice on posing and the pics looked weird, so I just took over and started doing things myself, then the gal shooting said we had taken enough pics. Great. This is why I do not like going to studio shoots and as soon as I can get to AK I am going to work my buns off to set up my own studio. So, Noah has his tongue out in 99.89% of the pics. We finally find one that is decent enough, so we spend $10, yes $10 and get it printed. I refused to buy a bunch of worthless photos, but this is our only studio family shot. Oh yes, I will somehow someway earn some money for my studio and do our studio shots myself!

Onward to Monday. Periodically I check Noah's leg to be sure the stitches are dissolving and it is looking ok. Well, Monday when I did my usual check the wound was wet. WHAT! So after much coaxing and mild restraint Noah lets me take a closer look. I press on it a little and infection starts oozing out. So, I manually express his leg to get it out and start calling the surgeon. I find a place here that specifically deals with post-op wounds and is hospital affiliated, so I call and they work us in. The surgeon looks at Noah's leg and says that it actually looks good. Just to keep manually expressing the infection (Yeah me!) and keep an eye for swelling and redness. He also gives us a prescription for some supped neosporin to keep on it until it heals. Good thing, it that he said he is sure that the infection is not deep down in the wound and it should be healed by the time we leave AL. The staff was nice and the surgeon was better than I hoped. Thank goodness we saw someone who at least seemed like he was on top of his game.

So onto my waiting room story. We are sitting in the waiting room. Caleb is wanting out of the stroller I am trying to keep him confined in, Noah is getting up and down from his seat, and I am trying to listen a little to the speech given my Ahmadinejead (sp?) on Fox. We are over in a corner, this is better to corral the kids and this guy comes over and sits rather close. I figure it is so he can hear the tv. after a little time he asks some questions. I felt a little weird about answering some of them, but obliged him anyway, thinking, I will never see this man again. So, question #1, "is that a boy or girl?", while pointing at Caleb. I tell him that yes this is a boy. Long pause #1 - maybe 10 min. question #2 "how old is he?", I answer and then he asks how old is Noah. I am beginning to get a little uncomfortable cause he has been looking at the kids and now he is asking all about them - granted he could just be asking cause every little old lady at Wal-Mart asks me all the same questions and I am not weirded out. Long pause #2 - question #3 "how old are you?" um ok, I tell him. He is in shock. Whatever then he wants me to guess how old he is. Uh ok, 10? Long pause #4 - could the nurse just come on and call us back?!! question #4 "which one of ya are seeing the doc?" So I tell him Noah had a cyst removed from his leg. Now comes the action. He proceeds to tell me about his friend he brought in - his friend has been by the door in a wheel chair - all about this man's heart attacks and that now his feet are decaying. Then he tells me that he is able to take him to all of his appts cause he is disabled and says "See" - this guy pulls up his shirt almost off of his head to show me a scar that runs navel to neck. I just smile and say I bet you are so glad to be alive. COME ON NURSE!!! All I can see in my eye is his big ol scar and I am freaked out while, I hear all about the accident and am repeating in my head over and over - you never know when you entertain angels, you never know when you entertain angels -
and I don't know if any of you watch King of the Hill, but he talked liked that one guy on there. He mumbled really bad and it was hard to understand. After showing me his torso he sits back down about 3 seats closer. **you never know when you are entertaining angels** And then his friend calls for him to move the wheel chair. Nurse walks out says "Jackson". Lets go kids, move move move! I did not see the man again when I left, but I was thinking. Why am I surprised? I am in a poor part of Alabama. Alabama! I love my home state. But jeez, why today? I call Kevin and tell him all about it, he says, "Babe stop flirting" I am still freaked out, so I just hung up on him. Whatever. The joy of being a mom in poor Alabama.

Something Silly

I swiped this off of my friend's blog......her version was too funny! Hope you join in!

The Name Game
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Jasper Sienna
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Straciatella snickerdoodle
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) M-Jac
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Giraffe
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Ellen Guntersville
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)Jacma
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Green Sweet Tea
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Virgil Billy
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Patchouli reese's cup
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Joyce Arlon
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Medieros Montgomery
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Christmas Mum
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Apple shorts
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Cereal Oak
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour")
The Photography Rain Tour