Picture of Ron in Afghanistan

Here is the only picture of have right now of Ron in Afghanistan.

His unit has a page on Facebook (if your family email me and I'll give you the address) and someone keeps taking pictures and posting them.  Who ever it is, I am so grateful to them.  Its wonderful to see where they are living and to see all their faces.  I was shocked to see this awesome picture of Ron, usually he isn't in any pictures.  And doesn't he look like the classic soldier?!  I love it!!  I think in this shot he had just landed in Afghanistan and they were unloading off the choppers.  If you can't tell which one he is, he is the front right soldier, squint and you can read his name tag on his uniform.

The Great Bike Swap

We had a great bike swap this week.  Tyson got a new really nice bike last year for his birthday, and it still fits him well.  Zach on the other hand has an old bike that is too small for him.  I knew I would need to get a new bike for him soon, but it wasn't a pressing issue since we can't ride bikes that often here in Ca. 

(Side note: we can't ride bikes here except on our driveway because my moms street is way too busy and doesn't have sidewalks.  We can take the bikes down to the park, but that takes alot of effort, so hasn't happened yet.) 

Well, then this week for Boy Scouts Tyson's troop was going on a 15 mile bike ride.  His leaders suggested he ride a 10 speed bike (his is not a 10 speed).  Tyson's leader said he had one he could borrow if he didn't have one. I told my dad about the bike ride and he suggested I buy Tyson a new 10 speed and let Zach have Tysons bike.  It did make a little bit of sense once I thought about it, I just wasn't in the mood to buy a new bike. 

So my dad, Tyson, and I went bike shopping on Thursday night and $230 later we had a new ten speed and a new helmet ; the bike was on sale by the way :-(  . 

So on Friday after school we took all the bikes down to our church parking lot to teach Tyson how to use his new 10 speed bike.  Everyone rode bikes, except Tess who hasn't figured out the bike thing yet, and my cute niece Ivy took advantage of the vacant bike and had fun.  Zach had a ball on his new bike and was grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  A win, win for everyone, except for my wallet :-)

"If I can't make this thing move with my feet, I'll use my hands!"

Striking a pose, my cute niece Ivy Lou

Check out the new ride!!

Tyson got a little frustrated trying to figure out how to switch gears, but he was very patient and figured it out in the end.  My Dad did a great job teaching him - thanks Dad!

Easter

Easter weekend came one week after our arrival in Escondido.  My father "bribed" his children to come home for the weekend by buying tickets to the Lakers/Jazz basketball game.  So both my brothers and their families and my sister Jacque came home for the weekend (I was not invited to the game, only the boys and Jacque). 
It was so nice to see everyone.  The only pictures I got were of our Easter egg hunt.  Little Ella didn't participate because she was taking her nap.

Tess, Emma, Annie, and Elisabeth (Lizzie or Ellie depending on who you ask :-)  )

Jenna dressed her girls so cute and did their hair so beautifully.  I just combed my girls hair and put on dresses and called it good.  Aren't I a great mom!!

We had an easy egg hunt set up in the front yard for the girls.

The back yard had the hard hunt for the boys.

Sweet, beautiful, Elisabeth

And the boys are off!! 

Unfortunately I cut off Alec's head in this shot, but I loved Nathan's expression.

They had a great time trying to beat eachother to the eggs.

Aunt Jacque pointing out some eggs up in the Apricot tree.

The dogs whined the whole time, but we needed to keep them out of the way for the hunt.  L-R, Max, Hailey and Yankee.  Max is my dad's dog, Hailey is ours, and Yankee is my brother Andy's new puppy.

Being with my family is always wonderful; and I'm so glad that I wasn't alone in New York being depressed that we were missing all the fun.  Now we get to be at the center of all the fun.

Drive out West Part 2

It took us 2 days to get to our next respite.  We crashed in a hotel in New Mexico where we swam in the pool and had fun climbing on the luggage rack.

Then we headed for a small town in southeast Arizona, known as Safford, home of the Hargis family : Clay, Kristen, Grae, Barbara, Cal, Van, and Laurel.  They were our first good Army friends at our first PCS station at Ft. Bliss, Tx.  Clay was an Army doc, but has left the Army for the civilian world of Emergency Medicine.  We spent a wonderful day and a half with them.  They generously missed a day of school so they could play with us - isn't that nice?  The highlights of the visit were:

Lego Rock Band - definately aquiring this game!!

Trampoline mayhem

And a hike along Ladybug trail, up to Frog rock

walking sticks are a must

I think Cal's might be a little too big

My hiking buddy, Tess

Clay is the leader of the pack and natural explorer.  If you want to discover all the beauties of the Arizona dessert, you need to go hiking with Clay and his brother Wes - they are the MASTERS!

Regretably this is the only group shot I got and the only picture of Kristen (so sad about that).  We made it to frog rock and stopped for a snack of cookies and chips before heading back.  It was such an amazingly beautiful spring day, we loved it.

Clay is also a great story teller.  He filled the kids heads with stories about searching for gold and turquoise in the mountains.  He convinced them all that we could be rich and buy our own islands - keep wishing!!!

We had such a wonderful time with them.  One of the great things about the Army is that you end up knowing people that live all over the country.  I know we didn't stop and see everybody - that would take forever - but we are forever greatful to the Petty's and the Hargis' for letting us stay with them and for playing with us.  We love you both so much.

Part 3 coming soon.....

Drive out West Part 1

Our move out to California from New York was a fun adventure.  Our first stop was in Ohio with my brother and his family.  The second and third days were spent with our friends the Petty's: Jon, Tamara, Allison, Brooke, Taylor, Steven, Ryan, and Mathew.  We also spent a day at Tamara's parents home which was tons of fun, and good shopping.

The whole crew at dinner.  Did you notice there are a few extra people?  We also got to visit our friends the Mendenall's: Shane, Sara, Andrew, Owen, and Noah.  We all knew each other at Ft. Drum.  It is so great to be with good friends again.

Tyson with his buds Taylor and Andrew

Emmas buddy Noah.  They went to preschool together.

Zach with Steven and Owen

We had a little beauty parlor moment while I was there.  Tamara and her daughter Brooke both have GORGEOUS naturally curly hair.  I helped Brooke straighten it for church and after dinner I suggested we straighten Tamara's hair (she had NEVER straightened her hair before).  She agreed and Brooke and I went to work.  Doesn't she look FANTASTIC!!  Her husband loved it too!!  Sara and I both thought she looked very stylish and trendy.

More pictures of her gorgeousness (is that a word?)

Jon Petty.  My very kind and wise friend.  He always helps me think about what is truely important and I always leave feeling uplifted and enlightened.

Me with my awesome friends, Sara and Tamara.  I wish we could always be stationed at the same place.  What fun we would have!!

The kids and I all loved seeing our good friends again.  I was sad that we had to get back on the road and we couldn't stay longer.

Part 2 coming soon......

Idyllic

So, I know I am way behind in posting pictures from all our adventures and I'm sorry about that.  I will get to it, but not till after Easter because all my siblings are coming to visit this weekend - LOVE IT!!

But something happened today, that is a classic Southern California moment, so I captured it on film.  This was my kids first time experiencing it, and they will have many more to come.

My dad picked them off the tree and dropped them on the ground and the kids picked them up and put them in the bucket.  Fun times!!

In the mood for an orange or fresh squeezed o.j.?  Just got out to the backyard and grab one off a tree!  Oh, and smell the orange blossoms while you're at it, they smell DIVINE!!