I've had this blog site for quite some time now and it's just been sitting here empty. I signed up for it because I thought I had to have it in order to stalk, er um, I mean "keep up with" my good friend Cherish's (fabulous) blog posts. Turns out I could've been doing it in stealth mode this whole time, but whatever! So I decided since I have it, I will use it to sort of do what Cherish does. Keep my friends and family up to date on our lives. Life gets busy and I know we don't all always have time to make the phone calls or send the emails to keep in touch, so this way you guys can sort of know whats going on with us. I am going to try to post something ever couple of days, to once a week at the least.
So here we go.....
Bare with me because this one is LONG. I'm doing a little 'catch up' from the time we left Alaska until now, for those that I haven't talked to very much (or at all) since we've been here, and I did not succeed in keeping it brief. But the good news is, if you don't have the time to read it all, or you don't want to read it at all- you don't have to! No one is forcing you ;)
If you do however have a little bit of time to spare and would like to take a look back at what's been going on with us up until now as well as look at some pictures, I would love it and hope you enjoy!
So we left Alaska in January for our new duty station, Holloman AFB, NM. Travis and my Dad left Jan. 16th, five days before Dylan, my mom, and I did. They drove down to Haines and jumped on the ferry that took them down to Bellingham, WA. All in all my Dad and Travis both said it was a good trip. Not a ton of wildlife other than this guy
It's a wolf. The picture is pretty blurry and he has his back to the camera, but it's the best one they could get before it ran off.
But anyway, the trip was pretty smooth sailing to Haines and then again on the ferry. He said at times it was a bit boring on the ferry, but overall it was nice to just sit back and not worry about anything for 80 hours.
Their boat
At one of their ports taking the dogs for a walk. Thought this was a pretty picture
January 21st my mom, Dylan, and I boarded our plane for Seattle, a day before the guys were due to arrive off the ferry. We strategically planned our departure around Dylan's 'schedule' and I must say, it worked pretty well! By now Dylan is what I would consider a seasoned airplane passenger. This was his fourth or fifth time flying in his (at that time) not even two years of life. I believe I didn't go on my first plane ride until I was three. Anyway, this was only his second or third time having his own seat though and we discovered that he does not actually need to be strapped in his car seat in the seat of the plane, like an airline worker had previously stated. So we gate checked the car seat and he got to sit like a big boy on the plane seat. Man was he excited about that! He loved it! We showed him the wing of the plane and explained that we were in an airplane (which he LOOOVES airplanes). He kept staring at it saying, "plane, plane". I don't think he realized that we were IN that plane though. Anyway, the first five or so minutes were a bit rough and I thought, "Oh man, if this is any indication of how it's going to be, get me off of here!" He was just being whiney and almost nothing would make him happy. I can't remember exactly what it was that finally got him in a good mood, but we found something and from that moment on, he was great. He got at least half a dozen compliments from the people around us, which was nice.
He looks like he's looking out the window like, "What are you getting me into"
Doing some reading and not liking being interrupted!
We got to the hotel sometime around 3pm, so 2pm Alaska time which meant it wasn't too far past his normal nap time. So I put him in one of the beds, closed the curtains, and he slept. My mom went down to the lobby to work and I just laid in the bed next to him. He only slept for about 45 minutes though, when he woke up while re-adjusting himself and I think new he was in a strange place. He started fussing so I put him in the bed with me and he acted like he was going to fall asleep, but then he would whisper words in his Dylan language and look over at me all excited like, etc. I knew that he wasn't going to go back to sleep, so I gave up.
Bedtime was a different story. Anyone that knows my son, knows that he is very weird about falling asleep. He either needs to be in his own bed, lights out no distractions, etc., or in some sort of crib or pack n play. He has never been one to fall asleep in the bed with us. I guess maybe he had enough of that when he was a newborn sleeping on our chests every night? Anyway, I thought though, "I'm going to make this work. I've got this big ol' bed and he can sleep in it and cuddle with me for tonight, etc." I figured there was no need to get a crib because,"I got this!" WRONG!!!! I started trying to get him to sleep around 7pm that night. It was a bit earlier than he normally goes to sleep, but he lacked a lot of nap time so I figured it would be ok. He WOULD NOT fall asleep for ANYTHING! I don't know why I didn't just get up and go get a crib, it probably would've solved all of my problems, but I think I was just so determined to get him to sleep in that bed, that I didn't even think of that. He thought it was play time. He would talk to me, to himself, look over at my mom and talk to her. Whatever he could do to NOT sleep, he was doing it. I don't even know, I think it was around 11pm when he finally dozed off. But then everytime he would readjust himself (which was often), I heard him and was afraid that he was going to wake up and see me and not want to sleep, etc. so I got very little sleep. It was a bad night!
The next day the boys showed up with Trav's car and the UHAUL. We caught up and then headed to Lakewood (I think it was Lakewood?) to have an early dinner with some of my mom's family and my brother (he was in that area for a hockey tournament with the team he coaches). We went to Romano's Macaroni Grill in this mall area. It was good. I've never been and have always wanted to give it a try. Glad we did! Afterwards we walked leisurely around the mall (yep, all like 9 of us- looking like a tour group!) and found a seating area and just talked. We haven't seen this family in quite some time so it was nice visiting. We said our goodbyes to them and my cousin, Nikki sent us with some delicious zucchini bread and tons of travel magazines about New Mexico (thank you Nikki! It was so, so thoughtful of you and the bread was great!) and then we headed back to the hotel.
That night my parents got their own room and Travis and I got a CRIB! Oh what a lifesaver those cribs at hotels are! I know, it sounds a bit sketchy putting your child in a borrowed crib, but we try to always wipe it down first and put clean sheets on it and he's been fine so far (knocking on wood now).
The next day we went and had breakfast at this amazing breakfast place in downtown Seattle with my Dad's brother, Jim. I can't remember the name for the life of me, but it's a local place and the food was EXCELLENT (awesome choice Dad and Uncle Jim!). Seattle is such an amazing city with so much art and culture, and the old buildings everywhere and Pike's Place, and the people.... I just love it there. And I'm sure there are a million excellent places like this one, but all I know is that this one specifically, was delicious! Alaskan's, think Snow City but BETTER! It was that good! I will ask what the name is in case any of you happen to be in that area at any point. Anyway, we chatted with my Uncle Jim for a while and then my Dad and him took off in his vehicle (my dad was staying with him that night and heading back to AK the next day) and Trav, Dylan, my mom, and I headed out for our journey down to NM.
Hitchin' a ride from Nana
"I'm outta here!"
The drive to NM was a quick one. We thought we were going to have time to stop and do some exploring of the areas we were in and then take Dylan to Disneyland for his birthday when we got down to that area, etc. but unfortunately we had no extra time.....for anything. Right before we left Alaska we got a call from the housing office here on base saying they had some houses to show us and scheduled us an appointment for the 28th of Jan, which meant we needed to be here by the evening of the 27th (we didn't leave Seattle until the 23rd and remember- we were travelling with a two year old). I took it. We were told to expect about a 3-6 month wait for a house on base once we got here and the fact that they had some houses to show, was something I was not going to pass up for Disneyland. Because Disneyland will always be there, this house if I had taken a later date appointment, may not have been. It was really a bummer having to miss out on doing fun things, but in the end I do not regret the decision to do so.
So back to the roadtrip down. Since it was so quick and there wasn't a whole lot of time for extra stuff, this part should be brief. We stopped in Medford, OR the first night, Stockton, CA, Barstow, CA, Mesa Grande, AZ and then rolled into Alamogordo, NM on January 27th. All in all the trip down went pretty smooth. We had a few 'tiffs' but that's kind of to be expected when you put three adults with different personalities and a two year old with the patience of, well, a two year old in the same car together for four days. We ate mostly fast food because honestly, that's all we really ever had time for! The night we stayed in AZ, our hotel was on the same road as a Cracker Barrell (my mom's favorite restaurant) and we got there early enough (before Dylan would go into meltdown mode) to actually eat there. It was nice having a sit down dinner. Anyway, we stopped several times on the way down to let the dogs out, stretch our legs, change Dylan's diaper, get gas, get snacks, get lunch, etc. but other than that, we drove. There were even a few times when my mom and I did a quick stealth like diaper change from Dylan's carseat. Dangerous, I know, but we never unstrapped the chest part of his carseat and frankly, desperate times called for desperate measures!
At Cracker Barrell
Model pose outside of Phoenix
Emergency diaper change!
Well, that was the roadtrip in a nutshell. Again, nothing special other than the time we got to spend with each other and seeing the uniqueness of the different towns we drove through. Oh, never go to Barstow, CA. It's a pit stop and that is ALL it has going for it. It was quite a creepy town. I can't explain it. I don't mean because it seemed like there was a lot of crime or anything there, it was just a weird place. Enough said.
My mom stayed at a hotel in Alamogordo and we stayed in TLF on base. She also rented a car so she could be mobile. It worked out very well because there was a day that Trav had to do in processing, so my mom, Dylan, I all got to pal around. Trav ended up getting some time off for househunting and to get settled, so we did just that....well, and a few other things. We got our house on the 28th. Travis didn't get to go sign the lease until the 29th and the house wasn't ready until that following Tuesday, but we got one none the less and without a 3-6 month wait, thank GOODNESS! Have you seen the housing options off base here? Yeah, until you do, you can't appreciate my excitement. There are hundreds of BEAUTIFUL houses up on the hillside, but they are all about twice what our housing allowance is. We kept saying, "Man, if only we had Alaska's BAH rate, we could be living like kings in those houses!" They are extremely beautiful homes. Homes that all the doctors, lawyers, and German's of Alamogordo probably live in. ***There is a German air force base on Holloman and they get overseas pay for their housing, which is RIDICULOUS for this area. Their housing pay works differently than the US Military. Their air force pays their landlords and mortage companies directly. So if they are alloted $2800 -which is roughly what I heard- for housing and their rent/mortage is only $1000, they don't get to pocket the rest like we would be able to. SO, they do the smart thing and rent/buy the best house they can to try to max out their allotment. Can't say that I blame them and I'm telling you, those houses are nice! Some of them are I admit, just standard and probably not QUITE twice our housing allowance, but they are still in a very nice area and are pretty nice. The other ones though, are AMAZING! And really compared to what you would probably pay for them in AK, the prices on them aren't too steep, but just steep enough for us to not be able to afford with our pay rate down here. The ones we could afford- well, lets just say that they are not an option for us.
So anyway, before we were able to move into our house, during our 'getting settled' time, we all four went to Las Cruces to explore and eat lunch (definitely appreciative of having that city within 45 minutes of us. It has absolutely everything I need to feel like I'm in a real city, and then some), went to Roswell to see aliens (there aren't any there btw), White Sands National Monument (very cool place!), Cloudcroft (a cute little town in the mountains, with shops and skiing in the winter- reminded me of of AK), and then off to El Paso to say goodbye to my mom. We got to El Paso the day before my mom left. Got a hotel and then had dinner with our friend, Nick (Uncle "Kick" to Dylan) who was stationed in Alaska with Travis. He's now stationed at Ft. Bliss which is nice to have him close (even though he's been gone on TDY's more than he's been there since we've been here, but it's still nice knowing he's only just over an hour away). We had arranged for my car to be picked up from Dallas by a third party and delivered to us at home and he wasn't supposed to arrive until the day we got back from El Paso, but as we were about twenty minutes from El Paso, he called to say he was about three to four hours from there and would be at Holloman shortly after that. So, we just had him drop it off there at the hotel that night. The next morning my mom and I went out and got some things for her flight back home while Trav and Dylan stayed at the hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to pack up and head out. We had time to have lunch before dropping my mom off, so we went to Olive Garden!!!!! Soup, salad, and breadsticks combo here we come!!!! I love Olive Garden! I don't recall that I've ever really ordered a MEAL, but I love eating that combo and an appetizer. Oh so good! Anyway, after that it was time to drop my mom off. The reality that I would be saying goodbye to my mom for who knew how long and that we were REALLY going to be living in different places from now on, did not hit me until the moment I got out of the car to see her off and give her hugs. I hugged her for a very long time and cried and sniffled on her shoulder. It was hard. I've said it before to some of you, but the hardest part is, knowing that Dylan can't see her and she can't see him anymore. They're buddies you know. And he's the biggest reason any of this has been hard really. I know he's so young and won't remember any of this when he gets older, but right now, in this moment he knows he's not seeing his best friend, Autumn, his cousin Brandon, and his Nana and Papa, that he is so used to seeing on such a regular basis. And randomly things happen that make me sad for him. Like one day we were at the McDonald's playland and this mom kept calling for her daughter, Autumn. Everytime she said her name Dylan would look around half with excitement and half with concern. It took everything I had to hold back those tears that welled up in my eyes. I just wish he was able to understand why we don't see those people anymore. It's getting better everyday though.
Dylan's sweet new wheels. A birthday present from Nana & Papa- this car is no joke and when he runs over your bare feet with it, the verbiage used is not always gonna be pretty!
White Sands
The only alien we saw in Roswell. Oh, this picture cracks me up! He high tailed it before we could even get a picture!
My two favorite boys, outside Cracker Barrell- again. I mentioned it's my mom's favorite restaurant, right?
Eating dinner in El Paso with Uncle "Kick". Man, we really need to do something about keeping Dylan's hair groomed!
So we said our tearful goodbyes and went back to pick up my car that had been delivered to me the night before (SOOOO happy to see my car btw! I had been w/out it for about 5 weeks and I missed it so, so much!). Trav drove Dylan back home in his car while I followed in mine. I had a good, solid 85 miles to get reaquainted with it and it was nice!
So that was February 3rd. Since then we've just been getting adjusted to life down here. We got our furniture delivered that very next day (the 4th) and got pretty much all of the boxes unpacked by the end of the weekend. There are still to this day a few miscellanous items that I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with, but for the most part we are unpacked. And because this house is a bit bigger than our last, there are things here that we needed (and still ned), that we didn't in our last house. Or like because we had our tv mounted in our last house and we're choosing not to do that here, we still need to find a tv stand. Decisions like that determine which direction to go in decorating this place and because I get so overwhelmed trying to decorate, the walls are still bare and it's been a slow process to say the least! Rome wasn't built in a day though, so yeah.....
Anyway, we've made a trip or two to Las Cruces to shop or whatever and a trip to El Paso to hit up the outlet mall, but other than that we have stayed pretty close to home. Again, just getting settled and relaxing after months of moving out of one house and into another temporary one, driving down here, living in TLF, unpacking, etc. We do have a list of things want to and are going to go do though. Some of them are relatively close and some, not so much. We are waiting for the snow to stop in the mountains so we can go back up to Cloudcroft to shop in the little town and have lunch, I'd like to go to the Ruidoso Downs horse track to watch some races this summer, we want to go to Albuquerque for a weekend and if we don't make it this summer, we will for sure be up there in October for the Balloon Festival (thank you Lisa for telling me about it!!! I'm really looking forward to it!), we will be going to Hatch in September for the Chili Festival as long as we are in town, we are going to take a vacation to Arkansas around the 4th of July to see Trav's family, most likely be going to either Colorado or St. Louis for a 50th anniversary/family reunion for my grandparents in September, Christmas with Trav's family hopefully, Dylan and I will be trying to make it to AK for my Dad's 50th birthday in January, and then next Feb/March Trav and I are looking at going on a cruise- by ourselves (yipee!). Between all of that, I'm hoping that family and friends will come visit US as often as possible! You're always welcome!
Other than that, we are getting used to life down here. Travis is loving his job. He actually gets to do the work he signed up for the military to do. And starting this week he got put on a barrier crew, which he loves doing. He missed it big time when he moved out of his CE squadron in AK. He's been going in at 530, which makes for a very early day, but he gets off at 230 which I love! Dylan I think is getting more and more aware of the fact that this is home. Things are becoming a little more routine for us like they were before we moved out of our house in Alaska, which is good for him. Kids strive when they have routines and get completely out of whack when their routines get messed up (regardless of what some people may think- or at least that's how it is with Dylan). We've been going on walks or to the gym with Amber and her kids in the morning and before Trav's new shift, by ourselves after Dylan got up from his nap (Amber was my dear friend Cherish's next door neighbor in AK. I had met her a few times before they got stationed here and it's been a God send to have her here! For my sake because I feel like I have a little piece of home here and of course a friend, and for Dylan's because he's had friends to play with.....thank you Amber for welcoming us right into your life! You are truly appreciated!). Some days we have errands to run in town and others we just stick close to home and go on our walks and let Dylan and Amber's kids play at the playgrounds.
The weather here has been for the most part phenomenal! I'm talking blue skies for miles without a cloud in sight and during the day anywhere from high 50's to low 70's. There have been days though that would be beautiful, but the spring winds make it feel cold. I was told that these winds are common during the spring and fall time, but in the summer they stop- and then it's 100 degrees and you wish there were winds! Anyway, we've been enjoying our dinners outside on the patio a couple times a week and Travis and I have been trying some local wines with dinner (mostly just on the weekends due to Trav's early schedule and because a couple glasses give us a little buzz!). We've started our firepit up a few times after the sun goes down and just sipped our wine, watch Dylan play until it's his bedtime, and then call it a night! I've always been a fan of being able to sit outside in warmth and just relaxing and I love that we can do that here, almost year round!
Trav has a two night excercise coming up the first week in April, where they will be sleeping in the desert and then after that he will be going to Sheppard AFB, TX for school/training for three weeks. He will be leaving here on probably the 11th and then will get done on the 3rd of May, so long as he doesn't fail out early! Praying he doesn't. This school should finish up his Associates and then he will probably be putting in a packet to become an instructor at Sheppard. He can start putting in the packet now, but he can't be considered until he's been here at least a year. Just something he's been looking into doing and I'm hoping that if it's what he ultimately decides on, that it works out. I would love to be at Sheppard. I don't know much about Witchita Falls, TX but I do know that it's only about 6 hours from his Dad's house which would be so nice!
Anyway, while Trav is gone, Dylan and I MAY be making a trip up to Alaska. We'll see how it works out though and I will keep you posted.
Dylan and the dogs all say hi! Oh, the dogs! I've barely mentioned them! In a nutshell, they love it here. They love going out in the backyard and sitting in the hot sun. And they love going on walks around the neighborhood. There are like two or three spots where our ground is not level with the fence in the backyard, so Scrappy has been trying to escape, but other than that, I think it's been good for them here! Dylan's become obsessed with them lately and chases them around the house. Sometimes it's hard for them to find a safe place, but they do just fine!
Okay, so I think that pretty much covers us! Thanks to those of you who stuck around to read the whole thing and to those of you who didn't, boo to you! I promise from now on the blogs will mostly be pictures and quick summaries of our day to days....
Miss you all tons!
Closing with pictures we took at the zoo last weekend....
Getting excited about the Owl. He kept calling it a 'kitty'.
He knew who this guy was right away
Heaven forbid we help him guide this thing either!
Aw, this monkey was sticking it's little hand out for the food the people next to me had. And they were being cruel by teasing it!
There's a playground in the middle of the zoo, so we stopped to let him play for a bit....
I think all the kids had a meeting to decide to push the dirt in this hole. I tried not getting them in the pictures because I didn't want to look like a creepy person getting pics with random kids in it, but there were like four kids sitting around piling dirt into this hole! Anyway....
Dylan was picking up most of the slack here....
Dylan was his present! Just kidding, it's the camo gear and turkey decoys!
Trying to get Dylan to give the turkey kisses
CAKE! That Dylan worked really hard on, give the kid a break, he's only two! We had a delicious dinner too. His choice; steak, fried potatoes, beans, pasta salad, and cheesy garlic bread. 
We had Miss Kaylee (and mom and dad) over
Jonathon (Travis' BBF) and Kaylee
After dinner, we walked across the street to the park to let the kids play and then went home for cake. Overall, I think it was a pretty good birthday for Travis. I still don't think any birthday can top the one that him, Dylan and my parents put together for my 27th (nice, mellow, low key night at home with a fabulous dinner and cake!), but Travis said he had a good night, so that's all that matters! :)
Happy Birthday Travis!!!!! 
He was jumping down from his head stand position or something. Whatever he was doing, I missed the picture I was trying to get, but got a pretty good action shot instead. 
Eli is such a good 'big brother' to Dylan. It's like he knows he's littler so he has to look out for him, but at the same time he plays with him, includes him, and has fun with him when they are together. I just love Eli!
That was so sweet. He took a quick break from all the fun, walked over to Amber, sat down on her lap and said, "I love you Mom". Then came some momma lovin!!! He may love his momma AND be able to say it in public, but he's still too cool for smooches!
Dylan was like a crazy person in that car. Well, any of those cars you see in the picture really. He was 
Not a great picture, but it's the only one I got with Parker in it (Hollie's son)! It was hard keeping up with all of them! And I realized after we got done that I didn't get one single picture of Eli or Izzy. I'm telling you, they were all over the place!
Kaylee climbing up the slide
Dylan helping me book our airline tickets, or not really actually. He was more so just tearing the room apart and playing in our box o' pens!
I'm starting to think we don't have enough toys in this house for him? First the box of pens and now the laundry basket? 
