Long Overdue

So… given our 4+ month hiatus, I figured it was time to return you to our not-so regularly scheduled programing.  A big mea culpa goes out to all of you who follow the blog.  A lot has happened since our last blog post, so I thought I’d fill all of you in.

I’ve been on the road a lot, spending time in London, Laredo, Jakarta, Riyadh, and Jerusalem since the last blog post.  I enjoy traveling around the world but miss Karen and the kids when I’m gone.  The kids love it when I go places because I always bring back a surprise for them.  For Todd, it’s typically some kind of native musical instrument.  For Katelynn, a doll or some other plaything.  Karen is usually the hardest to shop for, but she usually fairs well when I bring home presents (as she found out at Christmas).

A marimba from Indonesia for Todd

A wayang puppet doll from Indonesia for Katelynn

Todd enjoyed his birthday this year at The Woodlands Children's Museum.  I was pretty excited because for the first time in a long time, we were able to do Todd's birthday party on a different Saturday than the Army/Navy game.  There was lots of screaming, shouting, and yelling at the Children's Museum, which typically means the kids had fun.  They got to make "Oobleck" from the Dr. Seuss book and do a few other science experiments.  A few Advils later, I was recovered as well!

Given the chaos of 12 kids running around at the birthday party - plus the other parties at the museum, it's a miracle I got this picture!

Christmas came and went fast.  There’s so much to do with the holidays and never enough time to just sit down and enjoy the time with family.  Karen and I started something new this year with the kids… instead of getting them “stuff” for Christmas, we’ve started getting them “memories.”  This year, at Todd’s request, the kids got their passports for Christmas.  What 7-year old asks for a passport for Christmas?  Given my job, having a passport is a necessity anyway, so we trucked everyone down to the local courthouse and applied.  Under the tree, the last present to be opened was a gift from Mommy and Daddy to the kids – a 5-day cruise from Galveston to Mexico.  The kids were ecstatic!  Karen was pretty pleased with her Christmas present too… something I brought back from a recent trip to Paris.

Karen's Christmas Present - Direct from Paris!!!

One of our family Christmas photos... we're ALL growing up too fast!

After spending a few weeks in Laredo, I returned home just in time for us to leave for our cruise.  The kids had an absolute blast!  Katelynn was amazed with her cruise boat and Todd was fascinated with Mexico.  Carnival has a kids program on the cruise with fun activities for the kids so Karen and I had a chance to spend some time together.  Our stops included Progreso and Cozumel.  We took a cruise-sponsored shore excursion in Progreso to see Chichen-Itza.  Todd's favorite part was seeing 7 iguanas.  In Cozumel, we just bummed around the island, having lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.  What was cool about that place was you could swim in the Caribbean Sea while you waited for the food to come.  Of course, pulling back in to Houston under a Winter Storm Warning was definitely not the best way to end the trip!

The kiddos at Chichen-Itza

My only request was for us to take a formal family picture... we clean up pretty well!

Spring Break brought a week together in Navarre Beach.  It was great to be back in Florida, even if the weather wasn't the greatest.  It was sunny most of the days, but somewhat chilly... definitely not beach weather.  But that didn't stop the kids from going in the Gulf of Mexico (and me standing on the side telling them they were crazy)!  We started teaching Katelynn how to swim - it's a shame I wasn't around last summer... she was fearless then.  Now she holds on to me for dear life and doesn't want to let go!  But we all worked on our tans, caught up on some sleep, and had tons of fun!  Here are a few pictures of just how beautiful the beach was:

And finally, we've started the bidding process.  All I can say is I completely understand why everyone in the Foreign Service (and particularly my career specialty) hates bidding.  We've received our list, researched all the possibilities, and submitted our bids.  We didn’t hear anything this first round… or second… or third… so it back to more waiting.  Hopefully, we'll get lucky, but we're trying to get our minds wrapped around all of the worst-case scenarios.  We'll have the answer for where we're going in the next few weeks... or months.  It's a long process, but we'll keep you up-to-date.

Well... that's all for now.  Drop us a line in the comments section below and let us know (1) you actually bother to read this and (2) how you're doing... we'd love to hear from you!

A Brave Soul….

There she was – in her school’s colors of red and blue – surrounded by a sea of Blue and Gold at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.  The match-up?  The US Naval Academy versus the University of South Alabama in a rival only a few of us really care about.  The rivalry started five years ago when Navy and South Alabama signed an agreement to play a total of four games against each other starting this year, but that agreement was cut short to just one game in Annapolis, Maryland and one game in Mobile, Alabama since Navy is joining the Big East Conference in 2015.  But we’ll get back to all that in a moment.

Our weekend getaway started early Friday morning when we left the house way too early to catch our flight to Baltimore.  United was nice enough to cancel our original nonstop flight and never notify us.  Luckily, we caught it a few weeks ago and got a redirected flight through Cleveland, Ohio.  The flight to Cleveland was great, but the flight to Baltimore was on a Dash-8 – a prop plane that has no business being certified by the FAA to transport cattle let alone people.  What a long, bumpy, loud flight!!!!

We landed, got the car, and drove to our hotel to drop some stuff off and grab a quick bite to eat before heading back up to Baltimore for Jersey Boys (the traveling Broadway show).  Yes, I know… we just saw the exact same show seven weeks ago on Broadway when we were in New York… but we enjoyed it so much we figured we’d take advantage of the traveling show being in Baltimore the same time we were there.

A panoramic from where we ate dinner 

Look at that sunset!

Jersey Boys - The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

Making some great sounding music!

Grand Finale 

Hippodrome - Balitmore, Maryland 

After the show, we walked the streets of Baltimore to the Inner Harbor to grab some dessert at The Cheesecake Factory.  I’m rarely an adventurous eater, but I usually get a different cheesecake each time I’m there.  Karen, on the other hand, has gotten the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake every time we’ve been there since they came out with it (about 5 years now).  This time around, I got the new Toasted Marshmallow S’mores Galore Cheesecake and it was FABULOUS!!!

Yeah.... it's THAT good!

After a late walk back to our car in the rain (to walk off the calories), and a late drive back to Annapolis, we made it back to Nappy-town after 1AM… sometimes it’s nice to be out without the kids!

We got up the next morning and walked over to “the yard” (aka the Naval Academy).  Karen loves to see the beautiful fall foliage this time of year and we love the deals we can get at the Midshipmen Store (a store only open to Midshipmen and alumni with discounted prices and no tax).  We knocked out a lot of Christmas shopping… good thing we brought an expandable bag!

Then it was back to the room to change into warmer clothes for the football game.  It was about 50 degrees throughout the game, so we bundled up with Under Armour, sweatshirts, and our favorite team’s jerseys.  This is where Karen showed her true colors as an extremely brave woman!  Not only did we sit on the Navy side, but we were surrounded by alumni from the Class of 1983 who were at the game for their reunion, a loud and boisterous bunch.  Karen didn’t hesitate to cheer for her beloved Jaguars each time they scored.  Unfortunately for Karen, she only got to cheer loudly twice because Navy crushed the Jaguars 42-14!  GO NAVY!

Bill the Goat joining us at the stadium 

A friendly picture before the "big rivalry" 

A shot of the new stadium on an overcast day - it never looked this nice when I was there!

This "Spirit Button" says it all - I walked up to a group of Plebes and offered one of them $5 for their button (they get them for free).  They originally looked at me like I was nuts, but after I explained to them I graduated in the USNA Class of '03 and my wife from South Alabama, they relaxed a little and one of them gave me his button at no charge.

All 4,000+ USNA Midshipmen at "March On" 

USNA Color Guard

One final look at the scoreboard

Singing "Blue and Gold" with the Brigade

Google doesn't lie, right?  Saving the screenshot for prosperity

A leisurely Sunday with breakfast at the famous Chick andRuth’s Delly and some fall foliage sight—seeing topped off the wonderful weekend before we headed back to the airport to end our mini-vacation.  A wonderful time was had by all… even by those on the losing team!

Annapolis is such a nice town

Beautiful Leaves

"A Labor of Love" (...or more aptly titled: "What Was I Thinking?")

Bear with my long-winded story and you’ll see the pictures…

It all started with Katelynn growing up and outgrowing her toddler bed.  Little by little she’s been getting taller and it was becoming more apparent we needed to find alternative sleeping arrangements for her.  We knew in future homes we might not have the square footage we have now, so we decided on a double bed with a trundle pullout to be used as a guest bed in the event we don’t have a guest bedroom.  Additionally, we were looking for additional storage under the bed to make up for a lost space.  So we started shopping around for natural pine-colored beds to match the rest of her furniture, but ran into a few issues.  First, natural pine doesn’t seem to be a very popular color for kids’ furniture any more.  And secondly, manufacturers don’t seem to understand there’s a lot of lost “real estate” under a double bed with a trundle.  We could find beds with a single level of storage drawers (two levels made the bed too tall for Katelynn) and we could find beds with trundles, but none with single level storage drawers and a trundle.  Yeah, OK…. so we were a little specific in our search.

When we struck out with all the area furniture stores, we decided to check our favorite unfinished wood furniture store when we were in Dallas coming back from our camping trip.  The people there are wonderful and very helpful.  In fact, we've found a number of great pieces there in the past.  However, when they didn’t have what we were looking for, they offered to build us a custom bed to our exact specifications… for $1600!!!   After picking up my jaw of the ground, I started looking online for alternatives and found ana-white.com.  This woman decided to build her entire house and then all the furniture in it.  She has numerous plans on her website for beds, and after looking them all over, I decided I could probably modify various plans on the website and make something that worked for our needs.

Now, back when I was a teenager in high school, I spent 3 years breaking various child labor laws by working for a contractor building houses, so I’m not completely an amateur when it comes to carpentry (although I wasn’t really ever good at it).  And I did take Woodshop in the 8th grade, so I’m qualified to undertake an advanced woodworking project after over a decade, right?  Well, after doing the math and factoring in the cost of the tools I’d need to buy, I was still going to come out ahead if I built it myself.  So I took the plans off the Internet and started running the numbers, modifying them to meet my needs, and working out the measurements again and again.  After weeks of planning, I finally found an opening in my schedule and took advantage of the long Columbus Day weekend.  So off to Lowe's and Home Depot I went, spending 3.5 hours going up and down the aisles purchasing several hundred dollars in lumber, tools, and other supplies.  I measured the wood the weekend before the long weekend, and left for a weeklong work trip.  When I came home from the trip, it all began… it was game time!!!!

Katelynn hanging out in the messy garage with
all the lumber I purchased at Lowe's and Home Depot

Both kids came out to the garage to help a little bit each day.  There were ups and downs throughout the project, especially when dealing with the drawers (what was I thinking?).  At one point, a drawer got so stuck that I had to force it out… but when it finally gave, it slammed right into my rib bruising it and knocking the wind out of me.  And of course, each day required a new trip to Lowe's or Home Depot to pick up something I had forgotten.  But each day also saw a little more progress:

DAY 1 - Building the shelf unit and drawers

DAY 2 - Building the trundle

DAY 2 - Getting a little help with the wheels

DAY 3 - Building the headboard, footboard, and bed rails

DAY 3 - Assembly coming along

DAY 4 - Polyurethane (with some "expert" help) 

DAY 4 - Second coat of Polyurethane

DAY 5 - All sanded

Today, after coming home from another work trip, we moved it upstairs into Katelynn’s room and set it up.  To say that Katelynn is excited about her bed is an understatement. 

The final product... Ta-Da!!!!

Three drawers on the side 

A pull-out trundle identical to the drawers on the other side

Loving her big-girl bed

And while it’s exciting to know I built my daughter something that will last her a lifetime, I don’t see myself quitting my day job.  I’m a much better cop than I am a carpenter.  Most people I’ve talked to can’t believe I attempted such a difficult project (with drawers nonetheless), but those that know me well know when I get an idea in my head… there’s very little stopping me from achieving my goal.

Trips Galore

Where do I begin..  I know it's been a while since I have blogged but it seems like life has been terribly busy.  Here is an update on some fun things we have done over the past couple of months...

After Carl returned home from Mauritania (and he and I spent some wonderful time in Paris and Monaco), he took a week off from work so we could hang out as a family.  Carl and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary and the next day we embarked on a camping adventure with the kids.  The last time I went "real" tent camping was 5 years ago.  Several years ago, I heard about a place in Arkansas where you can dig for real diamonds and keep any that you find.  Of course that peaked my interest, but we never made it up there - until now... this was our chance.  We set out for Murfreesboro, Arkansas, a 7 hour drive north of us.  We made it to the campsite and set up our tent.  Katelynn was so excited about sleeping in a tent and she still talks about it.

Todd and Katelynn excited after getting the tent set up

The next morning after breakfast, we headed over the diamond mining site.  This place is the only place in the world where a regular person can mine for diamonds and keep what you find.  We rented our tools and dressed in clothes that we didn't care about getting muddy in.  We received a lesson in the 3 different methods of mining.  It was a fairly hot day, but we made sure to stay hydrated and rest from time to time.

We were not successful on the first day of mining for diamonds, but we still had fun and found various types of rocks including quartz and agate.  Later in the day we made our way over to the pool/splash pad waterpark that is connected to the diamond field.  It was nice to cool off and relax after a long day of digging.

The next morning we began another digging adventure and met some very die-hard diamond diggers.
Once again we were not successful at finding a diamond but we still had a lot of fun working together as a family.  On our last night at the campsite, we roasted marshmallows and had smores.  We made it into the tent for the night just as a rainstorm began and we fell asleep listening to the rain... so peaceful!  On our way home from camping, we decided to make a 150-mile detour and stop in Dallas.  We visited some of our favorite eating places from when we lived there last year.  Babe's Chicken is must if you are ever in the Dallas area. It has the most amazing fried chicken tenders, vegetables, and biscuits.  We also made a stop at Braum's Ice Cream and Country Store.  This was always a favorite of ours since their ice cream is out of this world.

A few weeks after our return from camping and digging for diamonds, Carl had a work trip to the city that never sleeps.  As my track record holds, I ended up turning his work trip into a mini vacation.  The weather in New York City was absolutely beautiful and a nice change from the hot humid climate of Houston.  Carl and I were able to spend the first couple of days together, but when he started working the night shift, I explored the city on my own.  We went to see the broadway musical Mamma Mia and had a blast.  I was able to take a train to Connecticut to meet up with my former youth pastor and his family, Dave.  Dave lives in a beautiful part of the country and the leaves were just starting to change.  It was so good to spend some time with Dave and Paula and see how much their kids have grown.

Times Square

I found out about a discount broadway ticket booth where you can get tickets to shows up to 50% off.  I set off early on my last full day in New York City to Times Square where the ticket booth was located.  It is located in the middle of Times Square.  The booth opens at 10 am, however I was there at 8 am and was first in line.  Around 8:30 am, the line started to pick up and I was glad I made the trek early in the morning.  I was able to get Carl and I half off tickets to the Jersey Boys musical.  Jersey Boys is the story about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  The music was amazing.

Later in the evening after Carl went to work, I walked to Rockafellar Center which was only a few blocks from our hotel and did the evening Top of the Rock tour.  The view of New York City at the Top of the Rock is incredible.

view from Top of the Rock during the day

view from Top of the Rock at night

On one of the days we were in New York City together, we took the subway down to the location of where the World Trade Center was and where Freedom Tower currently stands.

It was amazing to see how much progress was made on the construction of both Freedom Tower and the World Trade Center Memorial.  Last time we were there, 8 years ago, it was nothing but a huge excavation pit.  The Memorial is beautiful and is a wonderful tribute to those who gave their lives on that fateful day.

Stay tuned for an update from Carl on a recent project (it'll be posted in about a week or so) - you're not gonna want to miss it!