My birthday

On my actual birthday we had the carpets cleaned, our move-out inspection, and a 10 hour car trip. The next day was only a 7 hour car trip that ended with getting to have dinner with my kids, nana, papa, Graham, Susan, Ryan, Karen, Keith, and Aunt Lou!!  So very special. I don't think we have all been together since Susan's wedding!

It was great!

Oak island

We made it to the beach tonight!!  There is something so wonderful about being in this house right on the beach. I love having the windows open, the ocean breeze, listening to the waves crashing, watching a full moon rise, and reading a good book. Excited about this week and getting to relax. 

Moving out day

Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday 2 nice ladies packed our stuff. It doesn't usually take 3 days but these girls didn't want to go work another job for part of a day and refused two other helpers!  So instead of giving us time to get other things done, we sat in our house waiting on them to finish!  

Now we watch the five guys load 11 wooden crates with our household goods. So far 3 are finished. It's going to be a long day. Not much excitement on our part. We did all kinds of cleaning and organizing last week. It is quite the challenge for us to not participate!  We each have good books to read so that helps. But we really don't like to watch others working and not help!

Miles is doing well. He thinks every one that comes to the house is there to see him and greets them all excitedly!  

Our attached neighbors are also getting loaded up today and the empty house next door is getting a new family today. 3 houses in a row with big moving trucks!! The fourth truck across the street is there packing them up. They get loaded tomorrow!

It's busy on our block today!!

Hand Me Downs

This week Justin and I have been really busy getting the house ready for moving.  We organize, clean, donate items, throw things away(including my birthday gift from Caroline), remove batteries from toys, take pictures off wall, take down curtains, and set aside things that shouldn't be packed.  We also have gone out to eat with friends and been to the movies too!!  

Friday morning Justin graduated from Command and General Staff College (GCSC), his Army school.

Justin and some of his buddies from his small group with one of their teachers.

 I love hand-me-downs!  I love getting them but I really love giving them and then getting to see a beloved outfit loved by another special kid!!  Uncle Paul and Aunt Patt, I hope you are ready to be the distribution point for some more clothes.

Over the last few weeks I have been going through the kids drawers pulling out clothes that don't fit or we won't need in HI.  All told I have 11 boxes or bags of stuff to bring to NC for either Susan or Laura!!  Mostly Laura since only 3 go to Susan.  Lots of great winter clothing since we won't be using that this winter.

Part of the cleaning we have to do is the big curbside trashcans.  I let Justin do this one since his arms are longer than mine!

 We are also dog sitting this weekend.  Piper came Friday morning and will leave sometime this afternoon (Sunday).  Miles has been really depressed and sad since the kids left.  Not eating or chasing a tennis ball or not even really wanting to go for a walk.  Since Piper has been here Miles has finally started to eat again (after almost a week of not) and get up and greet us when we get home.  Thanks for providing therapy to my therapy dog Piper!!

St Louis

So after dropping Justin's car off, which was just across the border in IL, we went back in the city to see the famous arch.  We walked around with Miles and the kids and enjoyed a little stretching-your-legs-time after the long car ride.

The Mississippi River is pretty flooded.

Not sure what Will was throwing.

Running up the steps

Couldn't get all 3 to look at the same time!

Big sister to the rescue

Running around

Miles had a blast too!

Dad, take a picture of me.

Doctor and camping

Last Wednesday (I think) Eric wasn't feeling so good so I took him to the doctor.  He had a really bad croupy sounding cough.  It wasn't a big deal but I wanted to make sure he was ok before going to NC.  The kids were perfect!!  They sat beside Eric and held his hand the entire time.  The doctor made comments about how she should record this so other kids can see how they should behave.  NOt sure what got into them but I loved it!!

When he laid down he laid in Caroline's lap!

Almost asleep after the doctor visit.  The later that night he had a fever of 103.  And was worse the next day.  But then got better pretty quick thank goodness.

 Will has been wanting to go camping for a while now.  Last Thursday night Justin and Will headed out to camp.

 Caroline, Grace, Eric and I joined them for hotdogs, chips, and Smores!  It was the kids last night in KS and Caroline's last day with her buddy Grace.  She had spent all day with her family swimming and then Grace joined us for dinner.  I spoke with Grace's mom on Sunday and she said Grace had been crying for Caroline and I told her Caroline had done the same.  Such sweet girls and a great friendship. I think now they are talking about being college roommates!!!  It could happen.

Then when the boys got back Friday morning crazy ensued trying to get out of the house and to St. Louis in time to ship Justin's car to HI.  I was trying to get out of the house to go to my allergy shot appt by 8:30, Jason was picking up the cat, and Justin was getting the camping stuff out of the van and the kids stuff loaded in to it.  Eric was clingy and wouldn't eat breakfast so I took him with me to the clinic.  There was an emergency at the clinic and my shot was delayed by about 45 minutes so Justin and the bigs went ahead and left for St. Louis.  Eric and I get back to the house grab a few more things and the dog and hit the road too.  Everything went well and Justin got there with 30 minutes to spare!

Rockets

Justin used to shot off rockets when he was a kid.  Great memories for him.  Fast forward too many years, and now he gets to enjoy making these memories with Will!!

Last week was launch time.  They built the rocket during nap time and then after nap time went to  the field down the street to launch.

He shot the rocket off 3 times and was thrilled about it!  Now the plans are for Grandpa to bring some of the rockets from Justin's childhood to the beach and launch some more.

Countdowns

Not just one countdown, although there is one big one, several countdowns are happening and some have past.
*kids are done with school
*Justin is now done with school!
*Unaccompanied baggage was taken on Monday (not sure exactly what that means except it is stuff we send earlier than our household stuff)
Those above have happened, the ones still to come:
*Take Justin's car to St. Louis to be shipped to HI (this Friday).  It takes about 30 days to ship a vehicle so when we arrive on July 10 we hope it's there!
*Granddaddy picks up the kids in Il on Saturday
*Justin graduates June 14 from his Army school
*June 17-20 they pack and load our household goods
*June 21 we clear housing here and start driving to NC!!
*July 10 we fly to HI!!!!
So today is laundry and packing the kids for their trip.  Justin is also taking Will camping this afternoon and won't be home until the morning.  Will is super excited to spend this time with Justin all by himself!!
While the kids are gone there is lots of cleaning and organizing to be done so the unpacking is easier.

The kids are each handling the move differently and now thanks to the DirecTV repair man, who was here last week, the kids are worried the plane is going to crash!  The repair man has never been on a plane and was getting ready to fly for the first time and was saying that every time he turned on the TV another plane was crashing.  Thanks man!  I really needed you to say that in front of my kids after they had just told you we were going to HI!!
So I explained, to the best of my ability, the reason planes actually fly, the shape of the wings and such and hopefully eased some of those thoughts.  We have also talked mostly about how God will have his hand on that plane and will be with us and protect us.  We can't worry about those things since God will take those worries for us!!
Eric also had a fever of 102 Tuesday night and was coughing tons.  He finally slept better last night but is more congested today.
Prayers and thoughts for the kids during this time of transition would be great.  Thanks!!

Saying good bye to friends is tough!  Will and his friend from across the street Kaylee.

Going on a hike

Friday night Caroline had her 2 best friends spend the night.  Grace then went with us on a hike in nearby Weston, MO.  The path was very nice, by the train track and river.  We enjoyed being outside on a cool first day of June.  It didn't get above 65* yesterday!

Grace and Caroline

Eric was in and out of the backpack.

Will watching the train.  The river is VERY full right now, we've had lots of rain lately.

The girls drug this branch for a while and Will had fun stepping on the branches to aggravate them.

Exploring off the path for some added fun!

We let Miles off his leash and he had fun exploring too.

Checking out a snail.

First trip to Hawaii

Justin and I took a quick trip to HI last weekend (May 23-26) to see about housing and have a little anniversary vacation.  My mom came to KS to watch the kids for us!!  We only spent 3 nights in HI and that just wasn't long enough.  We are really excited about getting to live there.  

We splurged and got a convertible to drive around the island.  That was super fun!

Went on a hike 

with lots of other people

to see the little falls and people jumping off the side.  (see the splotch of red on the middle, right in the green?)

We also hiked up Diamond Head.  This is looking out over Honolulu.

fading rainbow behind palm trees

The beach on the North Shore where we stayed.

Lookout at Diamond head

We found out we are number 35 on the housing wait list for on-post housing.  It is more than 30 days before we get there so that number could change.  So for the time being it looks like we will be living on a hotel for a month or 2 based on the wait list time.
Come visit!!  Thanksgiving is taken for sure and it looks like Justin will be deploying in Feb.  We look forward to hosting all of you!!