Mlly Pitcher & Saint Barbara

Last week we attended our second Saint Barbara's Ball, if you do not know (and I did not last year) Saint Barbara is the saint of the field artillery

http://www.landscaper.net/artylgnd.htm#The Legend of Saint Barbara.  There are many traditions that come with attending a military ball, I find them all to be interesting and always enjoy attending.  This year our guest speaker was a 2star General, he gave an excellent speech one of the best I have heard at this type of event.  During the ball military members are inducted into the order of Saint Barbara, they receive a medal and participate in a ceremony.  Afterwards some of the wives in the Battalion receive the Molly Pitcher award http://www.landscaper.net/artylgnd.htm#The Story of Molly Pitcher, I was honored this year to be among the wives who received this award, it was really a wonderful surprise to hear I had been chosen.

I have not gotten my other computer up and running to put my pictures from that night in but I was able to "borrow" some from a friend.

Here you can see us getting ready to receive our medals,they are handed out to us by the LT Col and his wife who put them around our necks and them our husbands clasp them on.

This was the beginning of the ball with a few of the other wives, the two on either side of me also received the award this year.a look at what the tables looked like all set up, they did a nice job with the decotations this year.

Retirement

I think possibly since he was worried I would have a nervous breakdown (and I well might have) Richard has decided to post pone his trip to Walter Reed until March.  I am happy with this for a few reasons, most of all because that means he will be here during all the crazy stuff we have going on in December. 
It is hard sometimes when you are in the military, so many decisions are out of your hands, you quit literally get told what you will do and when, so when there is an opportunity to make a decision on your own it is nice, I guess that is how I saw this whole DC ordeal, I needed him to choose to be here with me, he needed me to tell him what I needed, somehow we managed to figure that out, after many days of I am barely speaking and when I am it is full of tears and depression, I feel better, he feels better and it helped us get some other things out, lead us to making some other major decisions that we needed to talk about.
The biggest being we have finally set a retirement date, we had been tentatively thinking off October 2012 since that is when he basically has to retire unless he promotes again, now we have decided he is going to put in his packet now asking to retire one year earlier so October of 2011, he will have done 22 years by then, long enough we think, given all that has happened in the last year I think we are ready to go somewhere we choose to go and to feel like we are building a life someplace we can stay.  The girls are getting older and will be in high school so we would like them to be someplace they do not have to worry about having to move from, we would like to buy a house and not still be paying on it when we are 80!  So it feels like the time is right, it is a scary and exciting decision, the Army has been good to him and to me as well, there are definite positives to the life style but I look forward to the next step.
Of course he has to request retirement, they can say no, he could be promoted in January and then we would have to re evaluate again but for now it is nice to be making plans and looking at all our options

Walter Reed round two

I find myself riddled with guilt this week and I must say I just don't like it.
A few weeks ago Richard and I traveled to Washington DC to Walter Reed, he had a week long evaluation for "unexplained" illnesses.  I was pleased and disappointed with the trip, first I was hoping we would get more answers than we did, I guess they truly mean it when they say unexplained, but I was also pleased, they offer a three week session they wanted to sign him up for that consists of helping cope with the illnesses, stress and pain reliving etc, it also ensured that all his medical issues are being well documented prior to retirement.
He received a phone call a few days ago saying they found a spot for him in the November/December session, I had not expected it to be so soon since they told us when we were there that that one was pretty full but there was also a March session, I guess somehow in my head I expected the March one, but instead they offered him a spot coming right up.
The guilt now comes from the fact that I am a nervous neurotic wreck since he told me the dates, he will be gone for a very important court date for some terrible things that happened to our daughter last year, I am having a terrible time even contemplating going to court alone, the thought is making me physically ill, I feel like this is a time when I need him more than ever and he will not be here.  I have had a couple friends offer to fly out and go with me, and I have no dought that if I asked any one of my brothers, sister or Mom they would come, but somehow it is not the same as having him there, he really is my rock.
I woke up at 3am this morning realizing that on top of that he will miss all the pre holiday stuff I love so much, we will be moving right in the middle of him being gone (that I am really fine with doing alone) but then he will miss picking out and putting up a tree, decorating, there will be no outside lights this year, he will miss my company Christmas party and the Holiday events we have planned for his company, we will most likely miss the Saint Barbara's day ball, he will leave right after Thanksgiving and be home right before Christmas, everything in between will be gone, that is my favorite time of the year, for awhile we thought he was going to be deployed and when we found out he would not be I was so excited that he would be home with us for all the "holiday" fun, now he won't be.
We just found out he will not be able to go home with me in January or on our year long planned trip to take the kids to Disney land because of some Army training, and while I am disappointed about that I am OK with it, I know that is how it goes and I accept that, but somehow this is different, I think because I know there was another session later (and maybe it was full I don't know) because I feel like I had no say in this time frame and because right now I am already so depressed all the time I am not OK with this one.
So now I feel guilty, I know he would stay here with me if I asked him to, but I also know he wants to go to this session or he would not have said yes when they offered it to him, he took the time to call the court and make sure he did not have to be there, he made arrangements for me to be able to sign for the new house, he has covered all his bases and I know he wants to go, and I agree he needs to go, I WANT him to go just not now, but if he stays for me I will feel guilty, I realize that reason I have for wanting him to stay starts with ME, and that is not fair, this is about him as well and what he needs, so I suppose I will get over it, make the best of it and with any luck even be able to take a small trip with the girls and go see him while he is there, in the meantime I just want to stop feeling so guilty about everything all the time!

Off to Walter Reed

21 years ago Richard was a Private brand new to the Army and he got sent off to fight in Desert Storm, about 18 years later we started seeing some weird things happening to him, when we were still in Colorado he started breaking out in these huge hives, there was no reason for them, over the last 4 years we have seen numerous doctors, had all the allergy tests and found out he is not allergic to anything, what it comes down to is for some reason his body is reacting to and fighting itself.  I started to do some research a few years ago when we were not getting any answers and determined that I am convinced he has Gulf War syndrome, he has all the symptoms I read about(not just hives), but like Agent Orange years ago Gulf War syndrome was very controversial, no one was really ready to admit it existed, even now that they know it does it is really just a name to give numerous different things that have happened to out veterans from the Persian Gulf that no one can explain.
Now on top of the hives the Dr's have found some abnormalities in Richards chest x ray, they think it is caused from the sand he breathed in there, he thinks it may have more to do with the fact that they did PT out in the open while all the oil fields were burning so they were breathing in all the chemicals.
So now that his retirement is getting closer he is in the midst of many physicals etc so that his medical profile will be complete when it is time to retire, they have decided now to send him for an evaluation at Walter Reed, we will be there for a week while he is checked out by the doctors there, then if they will decide if he should come back and be part of a study they are doing, if he is put in that he will be there for 3 weeks.  Nothing he has right now is life threatening just annoying and hard to live with, so we are hopeful we will get some answers, some new ideas about how to treat things and medical documentation so that any treatment he needs will continue once he does retire.
We are off next week, with my flight benefits I am lucky enough to be able to afford to go with him, I am grateful for that as I want to hear what the doctors have to say.

Who knew being a Mom would break my heart

Of all my children Levi is the one who had NEVER given me any trouble, he has always been sweet, respectful, lovable, and so on, that being said I now have to wonder who or what has invaded my sweet boy and left this monster!
We have been having a few problems getting Levi to come home, do his chores etc. he had taken to staying at a friends as often as he could get away with, literally coming home from school and then out the door to Trevors house, gone all weekend, not doing his chores, and his chores consist of taking out the trash, cleaning up after the dog, and feeding the dogs by 5pm, he started lyeing saying he had fed the dogs when he had not, Daniel had to start taking out the trash because it would be over flowing and then the final straw came when I saw on the parents portal that Levi was missing math class and failing, so when I talked to him about it and told him he needed to stay home until his grade was up he went nuts and told me he is 18 he can do whatever he wants and he is moving out with Trevor and he left.  I gave him and me 24 hours to calm down and tried calling him, he would not take my calls so told him he needed to bring us back his military ID, Richard should not have to be responsible for him if he is not here, and he had the privileges that come with the ID because of Richard, well he told me he had already been to JAG I can not make him give me his ID, I cannot make him come home, he can do what he wants when he wants and the worst part is I can hear this other kids mom in the background telling him "you tell her she cannot do anything so she needs to stay out of it, we have talked to legal and you can live here etc etc"  who does this women think she is...I told Levi he needs to come here and talk to me about this like an adult and he said not unless she comes with him, because she knows all the legal rights, I told him if she steps foot in my house I will have her arrested.  She has half the neighborhood boys fighting with their parents and living there shortly after they turn 18, it is weird.
I was so upset after all this that I talked to his Dad, Steve somehow got ahold of Levi and talked to him, so Levi came home, gave us his ID (I had told him he could have it back if and when he showed me he could be responsible) and apologized but then he left said he would rather live over there and off he went then he went to the school made it so we can no longer check his progress on line or at the school and we have not seen or heard from him since.  Even in Stevie's worse teenage years I have never been talked to as disrepectfuly as he was to me, I was shocked, hurt and had no idea how to react.  This is my kid, I raised him, I sacrificed for him, and I loved him and some other women walks in and takes him from me and turns him against his whole family, I don't even know how to process that.  What I do know is I feel I have failed as a mother, I want to curl up in my bed and stay there until this nightmare is over, but I have other kids I have to worry about so I get up try my hardest not to spend the day crying and trying to figure out where I went to wrong with a kid I thought I had such a good close relationship with.  I go to bed at night and pray he will be okay, and that it wont hurt so bad tomorow.

Izabella Laynn

We spent the day at the Lake yesterday, we had been planning it all week, but once we were there Stevie told me she had been having labor pains all night.  She decided to hang out at the lake rather than rush to the hospital, so we spent a few hours watching the kids swim and trying to relax, we headed off to the hospital when she was having contractions at 6min apart, made it to the hospital fine and Bella was born less than two hours later.  Stevie did great!Sienna has been so excited to be a big sister, she was very happy when she got to come in a meet her new baby sister.

here she is just moments after she was born, you cannot see all her black hair with her little hat on, but she has a head full.  She weighed 7lbs 12.5oz and is 20 inches long.

deployment when and where

We have been planing for deployment for some time now, it looked like Richards battalion would deploy in November to Baghdad, then he was told to plan on being gone by Halloween, but no one ever had orders, just speculation, then a few months ago we started to hear rumors, well the first thing I learned being an army wife was you can NEVER listen to rumors, by the time you hear them any truth there was will be long gone, so we just continued to plan for October.  In July while Richard was gone we were called to a steering committee meeting to discuss the upcoming deployment and we were told that 1st Brigade would indeed not be deploying to Baghdad this year, the reasons are all the same ones Richard kept bringing up when he would tell me deployment there did not make much sense to him (though he will willing go wherever they tell him) they are a field artillery brigade with his company providing support, there is not a lot of call for that in Baghdad right now, since we really are pulling our troops out and turning it back over to the Iraqi, so the official word is a different battalion is going in our place and their mission is indeed to provide support and training to the Iraqi Army, so they are better suited for this particular mission.  For about 10 seconds that was the best news I could of received, but then we got the rest...we are still set for deployment, we just do not know when and where yet, training will continue as planned and they will go as soon as they get orders, my first thought is that will mean they will go to Afghanistan, that is where we need troops right now, especially field artillery, infantry and support.  Right now Baghdad is relatively safe, but Afghanistan is still very much a war torn country with lots of stuff going on, scary!!! 
I think the hardest part for me is just not knowing, I can deal with most anything if I have the information, so when I could plan for October I was doing OK, not thrilled by any means but I understand this is his job, I understand he loves what he does, and I understand they are very well trained to do what they do.   I hate not being able to plan, having to just wait and see what happens, I guess the one plus to this is he is not one of those units that can be anywhere in the world in 48hrs, we will have a could months notice at least when the time comes, they have equipment that has to be shipped so it takes a little time, but all the same I wish I had more information to get prepared with, a year is a long time, and that is how long they deploy for now (better than the 15 to 18 mo is used to be I guess) so for now we are trying to make the most of all our time, continuing to live like deployment is just around the corner and doing all the things we were before.  An upcoming deployment makes you realize how very important family is and how precious time together is, rather than focusing on what will happen when he is not here we are trying hard to enjoy our time while he is.

summer so far

I have been working lots of crazy hours the last couple weeks with almost no time to do much of anything, but I did get some of the pictures of our summer so far loaded up so I could put on here.We went to our little zoo one afternoon, it is small but nice and we had a fun time

Levi turned 18 I cannot belieive how quick that went byThe three younger kids went to Utah to visit family and while they were there they took a trip to San Fransico with Grandma Bonnie and Uncle Robert, they had a ball, they took the train there and then saw all the sights.I got them home just in time for the fourth, our town puts on one of the biggest 4th celebrations I have ever seen with concerts, booths, art shows, car shows a petting zoo and so on, it was fun, then we came home and let the kids play with fireworks here before they headed out to the see the ones in townWe had a family day for Richards Company one afternoon, he got in and played volley ball I wartched and took pictures, it was fun.

I hope to take the kids on a couple little day trips and maybe a quick vacation before school, I cannot believe summer is almost over already!!!

Fallen soldiers

Since our airport is so close to the Army Post here I see lots of "moments" in the lives of soldier and their families.  I am always so sad when the families come in and you know their soldier is going back from R&R, you can tell how hard it is for them to say goodbye and it always tugs at my heart strings to watch them in their final moments before they leave.  I try to let the soldiers go through security very last so they can have as long as possible with their loved ones and then per our company policy they are always invited to board the plane with our Premium passengers.  I love the days when soldiers come home for R&R and the waiting room is full of families with flowers, ballons, signs, and anxious wives, I cannot tell you how many times I have reassured a wife that she looks perfect and showed her where to stand so she will see her husband as soon as he gets off the plane, it is really such a heart warming experience to see them reunited and happy.

But then there have been two times in the last month that were so hard.  the first was when a soldier escourted in a very distraught women and told me that she was the wife of a fallen soldier, she was on her way to escort her husbands body home, I did not know this women, I did not know her husband but my heart just broke to see her.  Today another set of officers walked up to my counter to tell me our plane had the sister of a fallen soldier on it, they had the parents there with them and were waiting to meet her, they asked if we could get her off the plane first so she could get to her family without having to wait in the crowd, so of course I notified the captain of the plane who then notified the flight attendant and I was able to meet her at the plane and escourt her to her family, I cannot tell you how hard it was to see her hug her Mom and just break down.  I do not know this soldier, I am not even sure of his name, but all the same I feel for his family, it brought tears to my eyes to see them, I had to take a minute prior to finishing the flight.

With deployment looming over us, having a husband and a brother and now numerous friends in the military seeing first hand the families of fallen soldiers makes you realize how easily it could be me, and makes you appriciate all the more the sacrifices our military and their families makes everyday.

I know I will say and extra prayer tonight for these families and I know they will be in my thoughts for a very long time.

Ireland

We went to Ireland to visit my brother and his wife a couple weeks ago, we had a wonderful time seeing everything, our first day there we wandered downtown and saw Saint Patricks Cathedrial, it was gorgeous and the grounds and flower gardens were so wonderful, I wish my yard looked like they do.

Later that night we went to the Ocean wandered out to the lighthouse and then had dinner at the cutest little place. On our second day we went to the "casino" it is really a house that was built on an estate to entertain guests, we learned about the history of the house and the owner as well as the man who designed and built it, it was pretty interesting.

 
 

 

From there we headed out the malachi castle, both Ty and I agreed the inside of this castle reminded us a lot of the Valley House (our Great Grandparents house), we were able to go inside as well as wander around the grounds.Later we had lunch at a cute authentic Irish Pub.On our way back to Dublin we stopped and spent a couple hours wandering through an old cemetary, I love to do that, I think old cemetaries are so peaceful and interesting.

we spent a lot of time in downtown Dublin, this street had all the great shops and street preformers, they were fun to stop and watch.

We took a day and went to see the Guiness factory, of course Dublin is famous for Guiness beer, the factory actually takes up a whole block with several buildings including it's own church on the grounds.After that is was off to see the old jail, that was pretty interesting, this is the new part, and considering it was a prison it was really very nice compaired to the old part.This is one of the cells, in this part of the prison they tried to only have one person to a cell, but there were times when that did not work, I cannot imagine living in this small space by myself and to share it with someone would have been horrible.

This same day we went to the museum and saw a lot of interesting things, among them the bog men, they were really neat, I had heard of them but had never seen one, it is amazing that they could stay so well preserved for 100's of years in those bogs.We bought lunch at a little fish and chips vendor one afternoon and then ate it on the grass at Christs church, this is the other big cathedral in Dublin, Saint Patricks is cathlic and Christ Church is Prodestant, Ty told me the way to tell the differenece is the Catholic churchs have crosses on top and the Prodestant have roosters, still not sure why roosters but it was interesting.

We went to Dublin Castle, Beth had been here numerous times and since each tour guide tells you different things, she was able to fill in with extra facts she had learned, that made it really interesting and many of the people on the tour ended up staying with us so they could also hear her tell us extra things.The castle is built over actual Vicking ruins and we were able to go down and see some of them as well as some of the original parts of the castle from medevil times.This is an original stairwell that deliveries would have been made at.

This is on the grounds of the castle, overlooking the Queens gardens and the stables.This shows the only remaining origianl tower of the castle (the castle burned down and was rebuilt many years ago) also this is the church on the castle grounds, this is also the church they use to film scenes in the series the Tudors.

We went out to Bray to the ocean and had wanted to hike to the top of this hill that looks over the whole town and ocean, but it was so cold and windy we only made it half way, it was still a very pretty view.

Richard and I wandered back down town our last day there and found Temple bar, several of his soldiers had told him about it, it is a pretty cool place, very old built sometime in the 1800, they had live music, great irish coffees and were just very nice, they let us behind the bar to have a picture taken, it was a really fun.

I should have all the rest of the pictures on our piccassa album by the end of the day if anyone wants to see the rest you can access that from here.

Some Updates

I have not bloged for such a long time, to much going on I guess, but had a few spare minutes today and thought I would do some updates.  Staci graduated 5th grade and will start middle school next year, we went to her awards ceremony, she made the honor roll again with all A's and she also recieved the Presidents Gold Award for citizenship and grades, we were pretty proud of her, not very many kids recieved this so it was pretty special.

Right before Richard and I went to Ireland, (those pictures will be in a later post) we flew to Dallas to get our passports renewed/name changed, while we were waiting we walked over to see all the JFK stuff, neither of us had seen it before so was pretty interesting. 

This is the book depository, it is a museum now.Richard stood on the grassy knoll, there are two x's in the road to show where both shots were, the whole area is much smaller than I expected, but very interesting to see, there are several memorial gardens in this area as well, we wandered through, they have gorgeous fountains and flowers, it was a pretty peacful place considering it is right off the freeway and in the middle of town.

Off to Dallas AGAIN

Richard and I are headed to Dallas this afternoon, we will spend the night and go in to see about our passports tomorrow.
A couple weeks ago just for fun I was looking at flights to Ireland (since my brother is living there until August) and realized with my new flight benefits we could fly there for almost nothing (less than 200 a piece first class less than that if we end up in coach) so we decided we would take a few days and go.
In the midst of making our plans we remembered that Richard's passport had just expired and since we had no immediate plans to leave the country we had not renewed it, so we found out you can go right into the office in Dallas and do it, he needs a new one and I need my married name put on mine.
We are hoping to see some sights while we are in Dallas as well, then I can at least say with all my trips there I have seen more than the airport and the hotel!
It has been quite the expereince getting him approved to leave the country, for me it was easy I just had to get my shifts covered, for him...he had to get approval not only on a company level but also battalion level, he had to take some classes on terrorists (as my sister says that is funny since they are sending him to Iraq soon, if he doesn't already know about terrorists he is in trouble!) and notify the state derpartment he will be there etc. it was a lot of paperwork, studying and signatures but he got it all done, we are very excited to go.
We are only staying 5 days it will be a quick trip but long enough to at least see Dublin.  Richard lived in Europe twice for several years so he has seen most of it, but never Ireland so it will be fun to go someplace he has never been (nor have I) and being able to stay with my brother makes it nice, since I have found the biggest expence when I have traveled overseas tends to be the hotel.
The kids were unhappy they can't go but I have not gotten their passports yet (except for Stevie) so I told them we would start getting them when I get home and maybe I can take them somewhere over there next year, with my job perks it makes travel affordable so they might as well get to enjoy it too.

Home again

I was just in Dallas again for three and a half days doing work training, I have to laugh because until last year when we went to visit Richard's brother and sister in San Antonio I had never stepped foot in Texas, now this month alone I have been to Dallas three times! the sad thing is I still have only seen the airport, the coorporate office and medical center and the training center and my hotel, no time to sight see, so I could not tell you much about the city other than I have become quite the expert on the airport (fairly easy to get around thank goodness, I know right where Starbucks the USO and the book stores are).  Richard and I will be heading back there for the day on Monday, we have an appointment with the passport place)long story I will save for a post tomorrow, so we hope to go see all the JFK stuff while we are there and maybe the Cowboys stadium if we have time since Richards Loves the Cowboys! 
I got back just in time to run off to the Company (Richard's) safety day at the park, that was nice, lunch some PT activities and just all the soldiers and their families spending some relazing time together.
Home now and of course have a million things to do, Levi had prom tomorrow, luckily "her" mom went shopping and found him an affordable suit so all I have to do is write the check, and take him to get her flowers tomorrow.

Garden

I sent a ton of time and money at the old house to put in flowers, then of course we moved on Post, so last year I did not do anything, this year I decided I need to get my little flower spot ready and plant something, so Richard tilled it all up for me yesterday and today we went to the garden center and got started, you can see our before and after pictures, to include Richard hanging my POW flag (since he took the Army one to his office).  It is not all the way planted there are a few more things I want to put in, but it is looking a lot more like Spring!

Are you kidding me!!!

For the most part the switch over to American at work is going great, I love my new schedule, the new people we hired are working out great and the ones who stayed and transfered over are as awsome as ever, so that being said I enjoy going to work again, but it still has it moments from time to time.
We have a policy (company wide) that states you must check in at least 30min before your flight, we close the tkt counter at 30min before not only that but our computers quit allowing you to check people in then so even if we wanted to stay open longer it won't let you. (I can override it in certain cases but try to stick with the 30min policy).
We have an average of three to four people a day we have to move to a later flt because they missed the cut off time, some are great about it some not so much!
A couple days ago I got one who was "not so much" he was very irrate when I walked out to help people as the flt was closing, since the plane was still on the ground he felt he should be able to get on I keep trying to explain to him that he had missed the cut off time, security was closed and I would have to move him to a later flt, he keep yelling and telling me he was there on time, (they all say that) I informed him I had left the counter open an extra 7min and he was not there so the best I could do was move him to a later flt (this costs people a 50.00 change fee) he keep yelling and got inches from my face and called me some really ugly names I will not repeat and said you are -----------who would not do anything to help the military (yes he was a soldier in civilian clothes) I have been yelled at a lot over the years, I have had dozens of classes on dealing with irrate people it usually is not a big deal to me but his comment left me speachless. all I could say was my husband is in the military and you have no idea what I do every day for the military and I turned and walked away, I went to find security with the intention of having him removed from the property, but they had already left so I went back and told my employess that he WOULD NOT fly, they were not to move him and I told him he could leave or I would have him removed.
I have spent years donating time and money to the military and veterans, even before I met or was married to Richard.  I orginized letters to soldiers, sent care packages, I am the co leader of the FRG, I spend a good portion of my spare time in meetings or doing some sort of project for the unit and their families here, I still have a few Vets who call me to get advise or help dealing with their VA claims (and I have not worked at the VA for 3years now) I have given countless new soliers a ride to in processing on Post from the airport when they have flown in and did not want to wait for the van, I have bought food out of my own pocket and brought it in to feed the ones who have been on delayed flights and are stuck at the airport, I have even brought soldiers home who have not had anywhere to stay because of delayed or canceled flts and let them spend the night at our house then driven them back in for their flts (I only do this when Richard is home of course just to be safe) I deliver their delayed bags on my own time and so on. I do not need or want any special attention for the things I do, I do them because I feel it is the least that I can do for those who give so much everday to ensure we have a safe and free place to live and raise our families.  I recieved an award from the LT Col of the Battalion here a few weeks ago and I just heard I am getting another one from later this week from the next higher up level for volunteering time to the company, I appriciate that and find it to be a great  honor to recieve, but I do not do any of the things I do to get an award.  I was very hurt by this soldiers comments and needless to say when I told Richard he was furious he wanted his name, I cannot give it to him even if I wanted to since all our passengers are covered by the privacy act.
Anyhow the story ended ok, he came back to the counter about 20min after I told him to leave, apologized to me for his behavior and asked if I could help him, I waved the 50.00 fee and had one of my employees put him on a flt for the next day, that was yesterday and then when I walked out after sending that flt there he was late again, looking very upset but this time at himself not at me, he showed me a speeding tkt he had got on the way in and asked me very nicely if I could help him, I moved him again to today and strongly encouraged him to arrive an hour prior to the flt, we had a nice talk about the things that have been going on in his life that had caused him to have the stress level that made him behave the way he had and I even offered to let him sleep on our couch for the night when he was worried about having a place to stay (he declined and I suppose that is for the best since Richard is still upset I won't tell him the name) I hope he gets there on time today and I do wish him the best.

Thank you to the USO

Last week my kids had flown to Colorado to visit their Dad for Spring Break, since they fly on my benefits (free if there is room) I had to let them stay a couple extra days to ensure there would be seats available on the return flight, so I watched and waited and put them on a flight with plenty of room, they made it from Cortez to Denver with no problem and then the storm came, I doing a FRG meeting when we got the phone call, first the flight is delayed, then it is canceled.  This was a pretty big problem since the airlines are not responsible to do anymore than offer you a discounted room rate if flights are canceled due to weather (it is beyond our control) and to put you on the next available flight to your destination, we only have one flight into Manhattan from Denver a day and it was now going to be full due to moving everyone, also it is later in the day so the kids would have been at the airport for 35 hours by then, I had sent them money for dinner but this was not going to last, needless to say I was very worried.
We told them to go up to the USO, at least there they would be fed and in a safe enviroment and we set about trying to figure out how to get them home, the USO is usually only open (and staffed by volunteers) until 10pm, but since the weather was so bad, all flights canceled and so many people stranded they opted to stay open all night, all I can say is God Bless Them, they kept the kids, made sure they were fed, had a safe place to sleep, we ended up flying them to Dodge City the next morning (after our original alternate flight canceled) it is about a 3 1/2 hr drive each way but much better then 8 hrs each way to get to Denver to get them, they were fine when we got them home, tired but otherwise fine.  I told them that day I guess they were happy to be "Army Brats"!

haircuts

Levi decided it was time for a haircut a couple days ago so in he went and had his mo hawk cut off, so thought I would post the before and after.The girls also went for haircuts I think Cheyenne's hair is so cute, but makes her look to grown up.