Someone's 11

Mike, Nana, Dalton, Dawson, Dylan, Zac, Kara

See I told you I would post again shortly!!! Well as you can see from the title, we had a birthday in the house!! I can't believe my Dylan is 11. He is getting so big. He is above my shoulders already. Well, for his birthday, he wanted dinner at Fudpuckers in Destin. They have alligators there so.... We invited Aunt Kara and Zac and Nana.It was a good time and the food was pretty good. Dylan got money and books for his birthday and who would think that someone would be so excited about books but by the pictures I will post, you can see that he was so excited. Michael and I got him the books of Ember. There are four in the series and he was over the moon excited about them. Yesterday the movie City of Ember came out in theatres so we all went to see it. It was pretty good but I am reading the book and Dylan already read it and it is quite a bit different than the movie. Oh well, the main plot is pretty much the same just the details are really different. Well, I will post the pictures from his birthday dinner and then I must get some things done around the house. For some reason, the laundry and cleaning does not just happen on its own!! (only in my dreams does it!!!) Have a great day.

Zac, Dylan and Dalton

Dawson
I told you he was excited to get these books!!!
Dylan and Mom

What?? October

Ok, I have been meaning to post on here for a week now but I honestly did not think it had been nearly a full month since I posted last. Wow!! As you all know, we have been busy so there is no need really to bore you will all I have been doing. The house is coming along finally and we are finally to the stage of Construction and not Destruction. I am very pleased about that. I have been at the house every day while the kids are in school (with the exception of Friday the 10th and I will tell you all about that in a bit!!) I am learning quite a bit and I love doing this kind of work. It is fun and rewarding to see what you have built. Ken (our builder) has gotten to the point now where he knows what I am capable of and will just assign me a task and leave me to it. All of the supplies were delivered yesterday for the new addition so that will be underway this weekend. Michael will be at the house all weekend I am sure since he only has 2 weeks left before he deploys. I will keep you posted with updated pictures and here are a few.

Ken finishing up the new concrete

The pantry

Ken mudding the master bath

The new pocket door going into the master bath

thanks for looking and I will be posting more here shortly. I have alot to post but I didn't want to make this post too long. There has been alot more done in the house since these pictures so I will try to take some more today.

Have a great day. Suse

where is the time going?

Wow, where does the time go??? Things are going by so fast, I can hardly believe it is the middle of September already. Well we have been very busy indeed so I am sorry for the lack of updates. Not that I think anyone really looks at this anyway!! HEEHEE Here is what has been going on with us. Michael has finally finished getting re qualified in the plane and he tested last week for Chief so there is no more studying for him right now. Which is good because we have so much else going on. Well, we finally agreed on some plans to renovate the house and we got the prints last Friday and I was able to get the building permit and notice of commencement Tuesday. So as you can imagine I have been at our house helping our builder doing what ever I can. I expect I will be there most days for a while. I think it will a month or two before we have it all completed. It will be awesome when it is done and we are so excited. One bad thing before all of this was able to take place was that we found a leak in the main water line that came into the house from the pipe straight off the main. I happened to go into the bathroom and I heard running water. Well since the only thing in the two bathrooms combined was one toilet, I knew something was wrong. Well, about a week and a lot of digging and busting of concrete later, we found the leak about 10 feet under the slab. We are lucky though, we only had to bust up part of the bathroom floor and a small hole, (only considered small if you take into account how big the side of the house is!) in the side of the house. We were able to run a new copper pipe in through a conduit we made of PVC that we had water jetted in around the old copper pipe. Well, sure enough we found the hole in the pipe. All the plumbing was finished yesterday and we have no more leaks. YEAH We even had to replace the PVC that ran from the meter to the house because there were 10, yes I said 10, different connections. When whoever put that together, they must have used all the leftover bits they could find. It was ridiculous!!! Well, now there is only the joint where it plugs into the meter, one in the middle, and the one where it is plugged into the house stuff!!





Not that you really care what is going on with my house, I really felt the need to explain all of that. I will now post a couple of pictures and leave the rest up to you since a picture is worth a thousand words right?? Thanks for looking and have a great day.

This is Mike looking from the master bath into the hall bath.

See? A hole in the front of my house!!

The hole in the hall bathroom floor. (and my toes!!)

The front yard dug up since we had to chase the leak for a while.

We are really still here!!

Mike and I on the boat for the 4th of July Fireworks

The boys at Sea World
Wow, I know it has been a long time since my last post but I just never seem to have enough time to sit down with no distractions. Well, here it is 2:37am and while everyone else is sleeping, (since I can't seem to) I will update you. We have moved into Fort Walton Beach although not our house. We are living in Michael's Mom's house for the time being. We still have not had our household goods delivered so we are still sleeping on air mattresses (the kids) and Mike and I are on a mattress on the floor. It is really starting to get old but we do what we have to. I thought we had decided what to do about our house here in FWB but Michael has yet again changed his mind. So I think the plan now is to replace all the flooring, have the house repainted inside and then fix the other minor things and move in. Hopefully this can be done in a couple of weeks. I will be over there tomorrow to strip some wallpaper off and then start scraping the popcorn off the ceilings.

The kids start school in just over a week and I feel like a horrible mom when I say this but I can't wait!!! They are going stir crazy right now and need some social action with other kids and a break from me. We have had a good summer I think but a busy one. When we flew into the US, we stayed down south and visited relatives and visited Sea World, the zoo and went on an air boat ride to see alligators. We made it up north here to find our house looking like complete rubbish from the tenants. I am not cut out to be a landlord!!! I don't understand how people don't take care of things.... I won't bore you with the details.. We have been to the Zoo here, we go swimming all the time at our house and we have been to many movies trying to stay busy but man, I sure do miss the prices of the movies on base in England. The prices here are ridiculous!! I am not used to paying so much.

Michael has been busy studying to get re-qualified on the plane. He is done with that so now he is on to studying for Chief. He tests next month. One exciting thing for him is he finally got his Harley. He has wanted one for so long and for one reason or another has never done it. Well, on our last night in England, everything came together and he was able to order one. He is loving it!! He hasn't taken me or the kids out on it yet but he has his safety class next week and then he will have his Motorcycle endorsement on his drivers license and then he will take us for a ride. He needed to get used to it anyway, it has been a long time since he has ridden.

There is nothing else that has been really exciting here, we have only been to the ER once when Dalton tried to cut his thumb off with a brand new cross cut saw!! 7 stitches from that whew hoo!! He now has a really nice scar on his thumb. I think that is a record for us.. I should knock on wood, I know I will be off to the ER tomorrow if I don't. Dawson is not feeling too well himself. He had a 104.1 fever last night and that is probably why I can't sleep. He is in my bed and between worrying that his fever has spiked again and him kicking and laying on me I can't get to sleep.

On a note about me, by some miracle, I have only gained 5 pounds back since leaving England. It has been just over 2 months since I kept track of anything so the fact that it was only 5 pounds is amazing. I have however decided that losing 44 pounds was huge and I was not going to mess up what I worked so hard for. I found a Weight Watchers here in town and I have already lost 3 1/2 of my 5. So I am back on track and ready to get to my goal. I asked Mike when 5 lbs looks and feels like 20? He of course didn't know but my answer is: when you have lost 44 and gained 5 of it back. I will keep you posted on my accomplishments there. I know you are cheering for me Marybeth!!

Well, I will try to post a couple of pictures and then I really should try to go and lay down. It will be a long day tomorrow otherwise! Thanks for looking.

Susan

Contact me

Hello, I don't know what is going on with my email Rhonda, We are in town but we are staying in Santa Rosa Beach so it is a pain trying to get to FWB everyday, not to mention the gas prices..... I do have the kids in VBS this week and they are having a blast. Not sure we will make it on Sunday's for a while, we will cut down the trips in as much as we can, but we will be moving in (not sure where yet) hopefully pretty soon. Hope to see some of you soon, it was nice seeing some people, almost like we never left!!! Have a great day and I will post some pictures of our trip home soon. This computer doesn't always work!!! UGH God bless everyone and have a great day!

We made it!!

Ok, we finally made it across the big pond to Florida. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We flew into Orlando and stayed with family there for nearly a week and then drove up to (Mike's) Mom's house on Monday. We went on Tuesday to look at our house in FWB and the tenants were not very nice to it.... We will be a little while moving into it but I think we may do some renovations before we move in. We haven't really decided yet. We have been having a great time on vacation but like all vacations, I am really starting to want to be on a schedule. We will probably be at the house everyday next week doing what needs to be done but there is no help for it. I will post more later along with some pictures from our trip. Until then, thanks for looking and keep in touch.. Susan

FUN

Mike rocking out.

Dawson Playing

Hello everyone, we are still just chilling out over in England. The phone company has decided to cut our phone off almost 3 weeks too early and they say the internet is going to be cut off any day now. We should still be online every once in a while, we will just have to take the computer to the library or the community center. We will make due for the next 2 weeks..... YES.... I said 2 weeks and we are out of here. I am really excited. Michael's replacement got here yesterday and I think he is really getting excited now too.



I went to the BX (the base store) yesterday with my friend and they had a Karaoke set up. If you sang a song, you could get a coupon and save up to a max of $100 on any one item. Dalton, Dawson and I sang 'I Had a Bad Day" and we got a coupon for 50% OFF any one thing. We decided to buy the Wii Guitar Hero III. It is sooooo much fun. We were having a blast last night. I am not sure who had more fun, the boys or Mike and I after they went to bed. Here are a few pictures of them rocking out. If you have a Wii and don't have this, I recommend it, if you don't have a Wii, well I can't believe it!! HEEHEE You can come to our house and we will share. (Just to let you know, I am kicking Mike's butt on the Guitar Hero!!!)

We will keep you posted on where we are and what is going on but until then, some of you have our cell or email us. Thanks for looking!!

We are still here!!!

Wow, we have been so busy, the time and events are flying by like mad. We have now been packed out and our goods are on their way to the good ol USA. Things have just blown by, it seems as if we were looking forward to them forever and then now we are looking back thinking, "wow, when did that happen?"

We went on our camp out to Normandy, France. It was amazing and very humbling. We were able to see a lot of the coast for the different beaches, Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold. The cliffs were daunting and to even imagine what the men were thinking as they were approaching in their boats, knowing they had to try to climb the cliffs and get shot at while doing so is an impossible task. So many lives lost..... The American cemetery there was done so beautifully and I am grateful for that, at least these men have a beautiful and Peaceful resting place. (I will attach some pictures)

Mike and the boys on the edge of a cliff near out campsite

Susan and Dalton on the bus

The Eternity pool at the American Cemetery

Dylan Crossing over to Boy Scout on Omaha Beach
A shot of the cliffs from the boat

A shot of Pointe Du Hoc, there were so many craters from the bombs and some bunkers.

A shot of the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc

The American Cemetery

The Memorial statue, this represents Youth rising up out of the waves. It was beautiful.

The wall of the missing...... very sad to see so many names still missing

Other good news is that Michael finally graduated!!! And I am ever so sorry to say that my camera battery was dead so I didn't get a picture of it. I am hoping to get one from the news paper guy that was there. I got it on video though. If I ever figure out how to add that I will. I must be going for now. I hope all is going well and I will keep you all posted on our whereabouts. Thanks for looking.....

Birthday party

Mike, Dylan and Dalton, there in the middle

Mike and Dalton
Mike and Dawson

Dawson Coming out of the Flume

lunch after the swim
Dalton Coming out of the flume
They shared a cake, Power Rangers
Taking their bite out of the corner

Finally it was time for Dalton and Dawson's joint birthday party. We started the morning with french toast and then Dalton and Dawson got to open their gifts. Dawson got an omnitrix, (from Ben-10) and Dalton got a Spiderman puzzle ball. They were both so excited. By 9am, we were off to pick up the cake and get to the leisure centre. We decided to have it at the Breckland leisure centre nearby in Thetford, they have a really cool swimming pool there that creates waves and has a current that pulls you around. It was so much fun and we all had a blast. I think we will be going back there before we leave. We were all so tired after we were done though, whew!!

Things are moving quite quickly for us, we shipped the truck out today and the movers come to pack us out next week. It won't be long now. We are off to Normandy this weekend to go camping with the scouts. It should be fun but I am praying for dry, if not good weather!! I can deal with a little chilly but I am just afraid that it will rain and then our tent will be soaked and the movers will be here the next day after we get home, I don't want a moldy tent...

Well, I best run for now, there is so much that I should be doing other than sitting here at the computer. Enjoy the pictures and I will post some of the camping trip next week... I hope...

Finally

Ok, clearly I have been crazy busy as seen by the date of my last post. We are all doing very well, time is flying by and I sometimes feel overwhelmed but for the most part, we are all getting through it. We have something going on on most days and the weekends are pretty filled up so we are constantly running. The truck gets shipped in a week and the movers come in just over two weeks to pack us out, we are going to Normandy for a campout for Dylan's cross over to Boy scouts in two weeks. YIKES

We have decided to do a joint birthday party for Dalton and Dawson and we have decided to do it at the Leisure Centre in Thetford. It should be great fun, they have an awesome pool that has a current through it so it will just pull you around the little "island" and then they start up waves sometimes, there is a flume in there too. The boys are so excited. So am I, I can't wait to post those pictures.

My friend Ronni and I took our kids out to a great park in Bury St. Edmunds called Nowton Park. It has trails through the woods, huge open fields, soccer pitches, tennis courts, a great play park, a picnic area and bathrooms to so it is a fantastic place to go. During the spring, there are millions of Daffodils that bloom. I am sad to say that I missed the main bloom this year but there were still a lot. I took a few pictures and I hope you enjoy.

Until later....

Happy Easter

Dawson making a snow angel.

Dalton and Dawson, ready to throw the huge snowballs at me. They got me to.



The boys and our snowman

Dylan making his snow angel

Well, As I posted a while back, here are the pictures of snow. The kids and I had a blast. It was too cold for me though. After a snowball fight and then helping with the snowman, I was happy to come in!!! The boys stayed out for a while but by the time they came in their coats, mittens and jeans were soaking wet. I was a smart Mommy and they all had their wellies on!! I think this will probably/hopefully be the last of Winter since Spring officially started the other day. I am so ready for the sun and some nice warm days. They wind has been horrible, with gust up to 40mph for about 5 days in a row. At least it is not really blowing today.

We headed out for church this morning but when the truck started sliding all over the road two times, I turned around and headed home. I was too afraid to drive over to the other base in these conditions. I am saddened by this as I was really looking forward celebrating with our friends the true reason for Easter!! The fact that our Savior rose.

Well I must close for now, enjoy the pictures, we had a blast playing and enjoy your day. Praise God!!

Someone's 7!!

Where does the time go?? Dalton just turned 7 on Friday. I can't believe it. We didn't do anything for his birthday yet, we are going to do a joint birthday party at the bowling alley next month I think. We are getting short on our time here and a lot of the weekends are already booked with one thing or another. I did have to bake some cupcakes for a bake sale so I held 5 back so we could celebrate with him. I still can't believe he is 7!!

We also had an Easter party and the kids had a blast. The boys ate sooooo much junk. They had a table where the kids could decorate a sugar cookie and then eat it, the cake walk of course where they won cupcakes, cookies and candy. They were able to decorate hard boiled eggs, eat popcorn and jump in bouncy castles. It was great fun. Too bad Michael was in school.... I managed to be a VERY good girl and I didn't eat anything that I should not have. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Dawson with the Easter Bunny, he really looks grumpy!!

Dalton with his goodies

Dylan getting his face painted

Life

Wow, it has been a while since I posted anything, life just seems to get in the way.. We are so busy trying to prepare for our move, and one or more of the kids have extra activities after school 4 days a week. I am so exhausted by the time I get them into bed. We are down to 12 weeks and counting, and I don't think I am the only one counting. It is pretty sad but I think when you know you are getting short (in time left overseas) you start noticing all the things that really drive you crazy but for the last 3 years or so, you had just resolved to deal with it. That's how it is for me anyway. I am starting to be bothered by all the silly little things, like trying to get mail or having to order certain things online because I can't find them in the BX and it is too expensive to purchase them on the economy. The pound rate is killing us right now at over 2 to 1 so any shopping off base or any activities have to be planned. Michael is busy with school right now so we won't really see him for a week. I better get off this subject because I could really go on all day and it would not be doing anyone any favors.

On other news, I have some great news, I had my weigh in yesterday and I have now lost 40 pounds!!!! I am so excited and I am still really motivated. I still have a long way to go but I only have 10 more pounds to lose to meet my goal of 50 before I leave England. I think that is totally do-able.

One last thing, please keep us in your prayers, we are having some issues with our tenant in our house so I am just hoping things get resolved soon. I am really just praying they move out soon.

Until next time, have a great time and enjoy your life!!

Awana Games

Mike, Dylan with his medal and Dawson

Wow, it has been nearly a week since I posted, we have been so busy. It has been a very uneventful week since I last posted. We just do our thing during the week and try to squeeze in what we can. We were lucky this past Saturday to be able to go to the first ever Awana Games held here in England. They have had the regular clubs here for years but they have never been able for whatever reason to have the games. It was so much fun. We go to Awana at the Chapel on Mildenhall on Wednesday evenings and the boys are doing great with it. Our group along with RAF Alconbury, RAF Menwith Hill and RAF Marum met at the RAF Alconbury High School on Saturday. Dylan's team for T n T won first place over all and they got a really cool medal. Dalton's team placed second for the Sparks but they all had a great time and did a good job. I will attach a couple of pictures of that, what few I have, my camera is freaking out and I don't know how to fix it.

Dylan and Jared doing the 3 legged race.

Dalton is in blue somewhere, they had to crawl to the other side and then run in for the team.

Dylan doing the 4-way tug of war, good thing he has long arms, he had to reach and grab the yellow bean bag which is behind them, his team won.

Yesterday, Monday, Michael and I were finally able to get some things accomplished as far as getting dates for our move lined up. We went to the "Smooth Move" brief and then we were able to set up dates for TMO (the movers) to come and pack us out. We are not able to do that until April 29 due to the fact that we will be camping out in Normandy for the weekend of the 25-27 and we would need all of our camping gear for the camp out and of course, we want the movers to pack it out for us. We also have plane reservations for June 3!!!! YEAH we are so excited. I am so ready to come back to the states and be just a little closer to friends and family. I am also excited about being able to go back to our church. I sure do miss it and all the friends I had there. Won't be long now, we only have 2 months and 29 days!!! HEEHEE The kids are pretty excited as well but we have so much work to do. I am afraid we will be way over on our weight so we need to get rid of as much small stuff as we can, if we don't need it, it is broken, missing bits, ripped, or doesn't fit it is gone!! Any volunteers to come and help?? Dawson had picked up one of my empty plant pots the other day and accidentally dropped it, of course it broke and Michael said, "that's ok, one less thing we have to ship". Oh well, I imagine I will be making several trips to the tip!!





That is all for now, I guess I better get a lunch made for Daws and then I am off to the gym. Have a great day and thanks for sharing.