Birthday Boy

Here are some pictures of Clayton's birthday last night- it was a bit on the lame side, since we had just got back from our so-called "vacation" and my ankle was still sore. Anyway, I bought some cupcakes and we went to dinner at McDonald's. We tried to give Clayton a cupcake, but he would not eat it (as we expected). But Brian was more than happy to help him out-whatta brother! And Clayton got a birthday waffle instead.Clayton got a ball-popper toy from Mommy and Daddy, a super-cute outfit from MorMor and Papa, and a Lil' People SUV from Grandma and Grandpa Monks. The boys both loved the SUV- it gave us a good chance to practice taking turns.

Happy Birthday Clayton!

My little guy is two years old! I can't believe it. What a sweet, wonderful boy he is. We sure love you Clayton!

Here is a picture from yesterday . . . Clayton wandered upstairs and found a bathroom door open. He LOVES to play in the toilet- and this time, he got himself stuck tight! So of course we had to take a picture. Hey, this will be GOLD when he brings his first girlfriend home. Happy Birthday Clayton-bug!

Monks (aka Griswold) Family Vacation

We decided to go to San Antonio this week! Andrew has tons of leave to use up, it's only 4 hours away, and they have so many cool things to do. Two of the biggest are Sea World and Six Flags. Sea World gives free one-time tickets to military families, so that was at the top of our list.We got here Monday afternoon, and checked online to see what time Sea World opened the next morning. Hmmm . . . apparently for the month of October they are closed Monday-Thursday!! So, no Sea World for us.

Then, we decided to look into Six Flags- it would be expensive, but fun. Andrew went to the website- and our conversation went something like this:

Lisa: What time does Six Flags open? (jokingly) Ha ha- don't tell me they are closed too!
Andrew: They're closed.
Lisa: Yeah right! What time do they open tomorrow? If they are closed, I will pull a 'Clark Griswold'.
Andrew: They're closed.
Lisa: No they're not!!
Andrew: (pointed look) Do you want to see the website?

Um, yeah. Six Flags is ALSO closed M-Th in October. Let's just say we learned a lot this week about vacation planning. Side note: The movie Vacation was actually on TV Monday night!! Is that a sign? Andrew and I got an extra chuckle out of it.

So, we got up Tuesday morning and decided to grab some snacks before going to the zoo. We stopped at the commissary on base- and it was closed for 'resetting', something they do about once a decade. By this time, our bad luck was becoming amusing.

Anyway. We went to the San Antonio Zoo and had a blast!The jaguar was sitting right by the glass- so Brian got to almost 'pet' him!Here is Clayton trying to free the goats at the petting zoo.
We got to ride the zoo train last thing. They loved it. Clayton could hardly contain himself - or I guess I should say I could hardly contain him!We got home from the zoo around 2:00 yesterday afternoon. While carrying stuff in from the car, I stepped in a grass-covered hole on the TLF lawn, fell on my face and sprained my ankle. Don't worry, the baby is fine. My ankle hurts like crap though, and since I'm pregnant I can't take any 'real' painkillers. And of course, yesterday was the day BOTH boys decided not to nap for us- Clayton slept ten minutes in the car and decided that was enough.

So, we are heading home today- we might try to see one more sight on the way out- preferably something that requires no walking from me. We'll see. I think too much more 'family fun' would kill me.

Hey, it could be worse. We could be driving Aunt Edna home.

On sale for 99% off . . .

Now that we are fairly well-settled I am once again pursuing my favorite pastime- going to garage sales! Today I broke my personal record for 'most amount of money spent at one garage sale'. FYI, I have been to a garage sale once and spent 1 penny. They had toys priced at one CENT, and I bought one. Of course I've been to many where I bought nothing too.

Anyway, I just have to show you the awesome deals I got today- all at the same garage sale.

First, I finally bought some girl clothes! I have not had time to shop much in the last few weeks, and I have not bought any girl clothes til today. It was so fun. The picture is terrible, but they are nice- Gymboree, Baby Gap, etc. $1 each.Next, I bought 10 DVD's- because they were only $1 each too! Typically, yard sale DVD's are $3-$4 each.
They were selling this porch swing for $15- it is not new or anything, but it is in very good shape. We have been wanting to get one for our patio. I told them I'd buy it if I had a way to get it home- and the guy told me he has a big truck and would deliver it for a few extra bucks! WOO HOO!
Last but not least, I bought two nice patio chairs. They look great, and are super comfy- they rock and swivel. They were $5 each. When I was loading them in the back of my car, the guy helping me (he was the lady's dad who was visiting) told me "These are Telescope brand, and they were about $700 new!" I was thinking "Oh, he must mean $70, or $100. Whatever." Anyway- I went home and looked up the chairs online . . . Oh. My. Gosh. I found an online warehouse that sells Telescope brand patio furniture- and the chairs I bought cost $524.00 each!!! What in the world?? Who pays $524 for one patio chair??? I was pretty shocked. I got them for less than 1% of the retail price!

Holy smokes, what an awesome garage sale. Abilene, I love you more than ever.

PS- Here is a favorite website of mine. Super tips for having a garage sale, and for shopping them.

Fun in the Fall

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch, which we enjoyed. The boys' definitely loved sitting on the big tractor!Then last night we went to the base Youth Center for a Fall Festival. The boys were SO cute in their Woody/Buzz costumes!!! Brian was pretty unsure about wearing a costume- he was not excited at first, but did not insist on taking it off either. His expression in this photo below pretty much sums it up (Mom, seriously? Buzz is cool, so why are you such a dork saying I'm 'cute'?):Clayton is Woody- oh, he looked adorable. Yee-haw!
Here is Brian with our friend Kaylee at the festival! He is too focused on the cotton candy to look at the camera. Unfortunately, the party was a bit much for Clayton- he got WAY too wound up. We had to hold him to keep him from running into all the games. He was not happy about that, and Andrew had to take him home. But Laura, Kaylee, Brian and I had fun.

Here are Laura and Kaylee (above) getting ready for the cakewalk. Brian tried it too, and won a cake! He picked out a blue-frosted one, and was SO proud of it. Above is Brian bowling- he loves bowling. He got a strike! And below, he and Kaylee did the bean-bag toss. Hmmm . . . maybe next year we will try actually 'tossing' the beanbags? Oh, and the ball pit was our grand finale.

Day of Discovery!

Today we played with bubbles . . .And then tonight we went to the Grace Museum here in Abilene- they have a Children's Museum! And the whole museum has free admission on Thursday evenings. I was afraid that would mean it'd be super crowded, but it was not! The boys absolutely loved it.
Above is the Bernoulli's air tunnel- it keeps the ball floating by creating pressure all around it. Brian thought it was amazing!

Below is the life-size Operation game. Clayton thought it was a huge puzzle to put together, which he loves. Both boys LOVED the full-size ambulance. They went back to this one several times. Above they are playing with foam blocks in the toddler room. Below is an exhibit in the main part of the museum- a huge mosaic of wooden 'tiles'. When you touched the tiles, they would each make a different musical sound! So cool. I don't think our pictures show half of what the museum has to offer- if you are in the area, we highly recommend checking it out!

Different Tag

When I read this tag on another blog- it sure made me think. It's a little more serious than other tags, but I felt like I really learned a lot about my friend when I read hers.

The idea is to list your four BEST days ever, and your four WORST days ever. I'm not sure my list is all-inclusive, but this is what came to mind.

Lisa's BEST days:

1. The day Andrew and I got married. Yeah, I know- so obvious. But it really was the best day ever.

2. Valentine's Day, 2002. Andrew & my first kiss! Very sweet, romantic date- perfect.

3. The day we found out we were pregnant with Brian! The day we found out it was a boy was also pretty cool. I think seeing the ultrasound made it even more real and exciting for both of us.

4. The day when I was 11 years old, and my mom took me to get my ears pierced. She also took me to buy a new outfit, and out for dinner. Our family never had much extra money to spend, so this was a super-special day. I remember it so well. We bought a turquoise/white outfit for me, and I picked out little pearl stud earrings. I remember thinking, "My mom is so cool! I need to do this with my daughter someday! My mom is the best!". Such a great day.

Lisa's WORST days (in no particular order):

1. The day in my family moved from CA to UT for my Dad's new job. I was 13, and I moped for about 9 months! I hated UT and missed CA like crazy. But eventually I got over it and loved St. George. One thing I learned: do not dismiss the concerns of teenagers too easily. It may not be a tragedy, but to the kid- it's a big deal. Teenagers have not learned yet that 'this too shall pass', so to them, their 'heartbreak' really is a big deal.

2. The Sunday after Andrew left for OTS (Officer Training School) for 3 months. I was stressed to say the least. In the last two days before that Sunday, the computer and the washing machine (or was it the dishwasher?) broke down. Side note: why do appliances always KNOW when your husband leaves, and choose that moment to break?? Anyway, I was leaving to go to church that morning, and remembered something I needed. I left Brian in his car seat, opened the car door, turned to get out of the car . . . and the car started backing up! I thought it was in park- it was in reverse. You know that scene of Tommy Boy where he backs up in the drive-through, catches the pole and folds his car door backward? Yep, that's what happened to me. I managed to stop the car just a few seconds too late- then burst into tears. It cost over $600 to repair. Now, please know that I realize that day was nothing tragic- I really do. But that moment was just the icing on the cake! It was in May 2006- Brian was almost 1, I was pregnant, I was missing my hubby, I was finishing up my last year teaching, and we did not have the money for this. It was just a crappy day. And knowing the broken car was all my fault did not help.

3. The day my mom called me to tell me she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Bad bad day. Thank goodness, she caught it early and is doing well now.

4. The day we brought Brian home from the hospital. Yes, I must be honest- it was one of my worst days ever. I was in horrible pain; he was such a big baby (9 lb 11 oz) that he broke my tailbone during the 1 1/2 hours of pushing! It hurt so so bad. The painkillers did NOTHING. Plus, my hormones were off the charts to say the least. I think I cried just about every hour. I did NOT want to leave the hospital- I did not know what to do with my baby- my mom had just left- the nursing thing was not happening. Oh, I was a wreck. I had no idea postpartum would be such a nightmare. Plus, we were in the middle of packing- we moved 1 week after Brian was born (if you are wondering how many times I have moved, the answer is too many). Anyway, my tailbone hurt like crazy for about 2 weeks, and was sore for 2 more months. Things gradually got better though. Oh, and just FYI- Clayton's postpartum was so much easier. Compared to that first time, I felt like a million bucks.

If you would like to do this tag, I would love to read it! But if not, that is okay too.

Gimme Five!

This is Brian's new favorite game. It goes "Up high . . . on the side . . . down low . . . too slow!", in case you are having trouble hearing it. It never fails to delight Brian!

Family Picture!

We have not taken a family photo in ages- at least, not one anywhere close to being a good picture! So I was pretty happy Leah captured this one:


Thanks Leah!

Dream of Space, Part 2 - Camping

Here's the other aspect of our camping trip that Lisa didn't really elaborate on; being the first real camping trip away from the city since I've owned a telescope, I decided to pack it up and bring it along. It wasn't ideal - my camping neighbors who decided to use their car headlights as a makeshift lantern sort of soured the stargazing ambiance - but it was definitely a step up from a backyard in the city.

Here's a wide-view, time-lapse pic looking north (ten blog points for picking out the North Star):


Next is a little better view of Jupiter than from my first post. Still no moons showing up on the pics though - I'll keep playing with that:


Despite losing sleep dealing with a hysterically - and vocally - disoriented Brian at 1am (take that headlight campers) I managed to wake up at 6am to catch a first glimpse of a rising Saturn:


I was also pleased to get some great views of a few of the "brighter" faint sky objects like the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula. I couldn't quite get usable pictures with the photo equipment I have, but here are a couple Googled pics of what I saw:

Father & Son Camp-out

Our ward had a camp-out last night at Abilene State Park. Andrew took Brian, and they had a pretty good time! Clayton and I stayed home . . . it just would not have been much fun for a pregnant lady to chase Clayton around the fire pit and then sleep on the ground.

Here is Brian helping to set up the tent:
Here is Brian on the hike this morning- hmm . . . it would seem he wore the same clothes Friday, all night, and on Saturday. I guess camping with boys is not the same as 'Girl's Camp'.

Oh, and here are some pictures of Clayton and his sippy cup. He still prefers to drink with no hands- it's just more convenient for him, I guess. I don't quite know what to make of this last picture. But Andrew and I do like the little 'devil' lock of hair sticking up on the side.

Dirt + Rain = Happy Boys!

It rained a lot last night, so when the boys went outside to play of course they managed to find some mud. I don't think there are many things that bring more joy to them than dirt and water.

Here is Brian trying to get me with his muddy hands- what a twerp!

We thought that Clayton had escaped the worst of the mess . . . until he turned around and smiled at us. I thought I would die laughing. Yep, that's m' boy!

For those of you who are feeling your stomach turn at the thought of Clayton eating mud, take comfort that he has eaten worse . . . much worse. And lived to tell the tale!

Dream of Space, Part 1 - New Toy

If you were one of our faithful blog subscribers who followed the Sympathy Belly Debacle, you know that part of the settlement included a new telescope. Being a woman of her word (and of great patience), Lisa made good on her end of the deal by allowing me to spend a pretty penny on a very nice telescope a couple of months ago.

For those who know or care, it's an 8-inch Newtonian Telescope. Named of course for Sir Isaac Telescope, it uses a big (you guessed it - 8 inch) curved mirror to magnify celestial images (instead of a traditional lens) and rests on a Dobsonian Mount, named for John Mou- OK, it really wasn't funny the first time, sorry. For everyone else that doesn't care about the specifications, here's a picture:


Despite minor interruptions such as survival school and moving, I've been able to spend many nights familiarizing myself with the night sky. The first night involved swinging the telescope around and looking at the Moon and Jupiter - it was pretty cool, but after stumbling upon a globular star cluster and being amazed (and then losing it - argh) I decided to get a good star map and explore the hundreds of "deep sky objects" that the scope was capable of viewing. Since then I've seen dozens of open and globular star clusters, emmission and planetary nebulae, double stars, and even a couple of galaxies.

Unfortunately, what you can see through the scope can't be easily photographed without some expensive equipment (Sypathy Belly Part 2?) but I can capture some bright objects through afocal photography - for the non-technically inclined that means pointing a camera at the 'eye-hole' and snapping a pic. Even then they don't do the view justice, but here are a couple pictures anyway:

The Moon. Click the pic for higher resolution.

The surface of Mercury . . . no, just kidding - a close up of the Moon.
Jupiter. Not that impressive of a pic actually. You can actually see the cloud bands, Jovian Moons, and Great Red Spot through the telescope.

Shortly I should be getting an inexpensive camera mount that should make pictures a little better. I'll throw up better pics when I get them. Till then, if any of our Abilene friends want to hang out and see a few wonders of the sky c'mon over on a clear night.

Snooze N' Cruise

For Clayton's birthday, we got him a toddler bed- it is the Step 2 Snooze N' Cruise. It is so cute, and he loves it! We set it up when we moved here; we figured it's close enough to his birthday and we wanted to give him time to get used to it. I don't think Step 2 makes this bed anymore. I think the retail price was $200-$250? I got this one on craigslist for $50. Seriously, if you haven't checked out craigslist in your city, you should!

I had no idea how Clayton would do outside of a crib, but he has slept great! The first night he got out a couple of times and ended up crashing on the floor, but since then he has napped/slept just fine in the bed. Today he was going on a 3 1/2 hour nap, so we decided to snap some pictures before waking him up.



And yes, we are having waaay too much fun with the new camera.

Saturday Morning

A rare moment of photogenicity with Brian in the backyard:

Photo shoot

Well, this is as close to 'striking a pose' as the Monks boys get! We got our new camera today, and it is AWESOME. Thank you for the recommendations, Harmony! It is a Canon Rebel XSi. Any tips will be appreciated. One of our favorite features is that it takes pictures so much faster. With the other camera, it was "Click!, bzzzzzz-bz-bz-thinking-about-it-bz, Click!" This one is like a paparazzi camera going 'clickclickclickclickclick'. The boys thought that was cool.

Home Sweet Home!

We found the camera! Here is our new place.

Here's the garage!
Check out the pantry- I had to get a picture of it. It is huge.
Kitchen and dining area
Living room and entryway

Living room from the opposite corner- kitchen is on the left and half bath on the opposite side. The door to the right of the bathroom is a storm shelter- just a big empty closet.
I did not get any good pictures of the upstairs- it is all the bedrooms and two bathrooms. Anyway, this is our new house! We absolutely love it. I'm so excited to have our stuff back tomorrow.

A little TOO easy

Maybe I'm cynical, but I do not expect anything to come easy, ever. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So, when we called Dyess Housing last week and were told that we were the only family on the 4-bedroom-house waiting list, I was sure that a dozen captains/majors would show up Monday and take all the houses. But- they didn't! We walked in Tuesday morning at 8:00, and got a house!! Simple as that. At Vance, we waited 3 weeks (which doesn't sound horribly long . . . unless you have a toddler and are 8 1/2 months pregnant), made about 471 phone calls to every person at Vance and FINALLY got a house.

And our new house . . . it is amazing. Beautiful. A dream. I am dying to get my camera (which got packed, so I should have it tomorrow when we officially move in) and post some pictures! It is BRAND NEW, 4 bedrooms, and has hardwood floors downstairs and carpet upstairs. Perfect. And a two-car garage! We have never had a garage since we've been married. It is awesome. And a huge fenced-in back yard! It is quite a difference from our sturdy-yet-50-year-old house at Vance- with no fences, wooden ceilings and brick walls (on the INside).

Oh, and we are reunited with our friends Megan, Scott and Laura! It is soooo great to see them again. We all had dinner at Megan & Scott's last night, and it was terrific. Next month Abe will be back from training, and the Fryer's will be here! Woo-hoo!

So, for once, something came easy! Should I be worried? Are we going to move in and have lightening strike our wonderful house next week? Let's hope not.

The Stars at Night, are Big and Bright . . .

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Here we are in Abilene! Dyess AFB is so different than Vance. It is HUGE. It will take me a while to find my way around, I think. But it is great. The B-1's are humongous too, especially when we are used to the lil' T-6 and T-38.

The drive here yesterday went pretty good. We bought a 5 x 8 trailer on craigslist, and hauled 1400 lb of stuff with us. I got to drive the Land Rover with the trailer AND the two boys (aren't I lucky?) because I can't drive a stick shift very well. So Andrew followed me to keep an eye on us. Here are some things I learned yesterday:

1. I have a whole new respect for truckers who drive HUGE trailers. It is not easy- and mine was one of the smallest ones! What a wimp I am.

2. Come to think of it- not too many truckers are steering the big rig with one hand and juggling two cranky toddlers, sippy cups, blankies, toy cars and a DVD player with the other hand. So maybe I'm not a complete wimp.

3. You can't park a trailer anywhere where you might need to back up. Trust me on this one.

4. It is disconcerting to look in your rearview mirror and see nothing but black metal for 8 hours.

5. A trailer = more weight = drive goes slower = more gas; but we still made a pretty good amount of money with the weight we hauled.

Anyway. It went just fine. But I'm glad to be here!

This morning we get to go look at houses on base- I am so excited! We looked at them for a few minutes last night, and they look super nice! I'll keep you posted on if we find one.

Finally, to our friends in Enid- we miss you!! It finally hit me Sunday night that we were really leaving for good. We appreciate everything you guys did to help us out with the move. We love you all!

Surviving Survival and Honoring Honorable Americans

For those that hadn't noticed, our blog was set to 'private' for the last few weeks. That was due entirely to the quality training I had the opportunity to attend in Spokane, Washington.

For those not in the Air Force, or for those spouses who's pilot husbands don't communicate to you (Lisa can identify) I'll give you a rundown of survival training. Abbreviate SERE for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, the school is designed to train aircrew and others considered at high risk for capture to stay alive and return home if they ever find themselves behind enemy lines.

The first part, survival, is pretty straightforward. It's like Boy Scouts to the extreme. They teach us how to take care of the essentials - water, food, shelter, navigation, rescue signaling, etc. After some classroom work, we headed up to the mountains of Northern Washington for 5 days in the woods.

The last couple days in the mountains are used to teach the evasion portion. Of course it's important to stay alive, but we also don't want to get captured by the bad guys if we get stuck over there. Evading was a lot of sneaking around, wearing camo makeup, and trying not to get "captured" by the enemy.
I'm sad to say I did get captured on the second day.

Twice.


After returning from the mountains, we got right into the "fun" part - learning how to handle captivity. Most of what was taught and practiced is classified but it did involve learning how to deal with the stress of imprisonment, resist questioning, and avoid exploitation, and then having the opportunity to practice in a mock POW camp for a few days with some really 'skilled' instructors.

Finally, throughout the course we were taught a few aspects of escape - but again, classified.

Overall, it was pretty good training - definitely the best training I never want to do again. I did learn a few things though:

- I can live on a lot less food than I thought.
- Rabbit's a little tough but pretty tasty; like a cross between chicken and pork.
- Before cooking it, the rabbit's eye is a good source of water and sodium - but not really that tasty.
- The organs ARE the tasty parts. Liver, kidneys, heart, lungs . . . it's all good!
- Even if it's not raining it's a good idea to sleep under a shelter. When the wind starts blowing, it'll start 'raining' pine needles and twigs.
- Moleskin is a must-have if you're going to hike five or ten miles.
- It's pretty hard to "evade" with a 60 pound rucksack.
- The National Anthem has an entirely new meaning.
- Being a POW is nothing like the movies.
- John McCain, Bud Day, and every other former-POW are REAL heroes and patriots. If they could endure with honor for several years what I experienced for a few days then there's no question about their character and loyalty!