Date Night

…with myself!

It was glorious!  After two whole days of potty training bootcamp where we stared at my 2.5 year old's privates, my husband forced me to go to the movies. By myself.

Ahhhhhmazing.

This is not the first time I've seen a movie by myself.  During our first deployment, I went all the time. But that was pre-kids, 3 deployments and 5 years ago.  And I love going to the movies!

I saw Taken 3.  I love me some Liam Neeson.  I sat there eating my sour patch kids, drinking my blue Icee and sipping some bottled water.  With empty seats on both sides. And I loved it.  Such a wonderful gift from my husband that only cost him $23 total with the military discount.  Talk about a cheap date!

Image via 20th Century Fox

Eight Week Challenge

We are buying a new house! Yay!   But it's still under construction.  Boo!

Which means we are staying at Extended Stay America for 8 weeks.  One room with 2 kids and 2 dogs sounds like a dream.  It is, let me tell you.  It's a real nightmare haha.  

Oh God, why must you test me so?! Mike is calling it 'The 8 week Challenge' but I've got a few other choice words for it...

Now that my hubby's car has arrived, I can drive the rental (until my car gets here next month).  Things are a bit better now that I can escape the 'jail cell' but I've got two kids in tow, which scares the crap out of me! 

Here we are! The Happy Home Buyers!

Tour of the Idaho Hospital System

Upon landing in Idaho and spending one night in our TLF (temporary living facility), our little girl Emerson started having trouble breathing.  She had a slight cough the night before we left England which just got worse and I took her to the ER on base on Tuesday afternoon where they diagnosed her with RSV (a really bad virus that affects the respiratory system).  They transferred us to the St. Luke's hospital in Meridian via ambulance where we spent one night and then as she worsened, we were transferred again via ambulance to St. Luke's in Boise because they have a pediatric intensive care unit.

Scary stuff.

We spent 5 days in the ICU and were then moved to the pediatric ward for another 4 days.  Thankfully,  she made a complete recovery but a visit to the ICU and a surgical chest tube implant were not part of what I had in mind for a military move. Yay! All better ;)

Friends of ours from our previous assignment in NC invited us to house sit for them while they went home, which was a life saver as Mountain Home AF base is an hour away from Boise. My mom flew out from NC to help with Joey because it's impossible to keep that little man cooped up in a hospital room all day.  And she also helped watch the kids while we viewed houses that were for sale after Emmie was discharged from the hospital! Grandmas are the best!

Bon Voyage England

Two adults, two kids, and two dogs plus 11 pieces of luggage.  That's what it takes to move back to the US.  Of course each PCS (military move) is a learning experience.

What we have learned during this move:

Don't travel with that many suitcases.  You won't need half of it.  And if you do, screw it and just buy it in the US when you get there.

25 hours of travel is not a good idea with a 2 year old.  And 3 flights with said 2 year old…bad idea.  He screamed for a whole 3 hour flight from Washington DC to Denver.  We were those people.  And then when he paused for breath, you could hear the dogs barking from the cargo hold.

Yep.  Awesome.

Bolar Christmas Party

We changed our travel plans in order to stay for the squadron Xmas party…priorities.

We purposely planned to leave England 2 days after the party to allow for any visiting hangovers.  Good decision.  The venue for this year's party was the Ely Cathedral.  A beautiful building built in 1083. Yikes! Perfect spot to drink to excess.

A great time had by all.  According to my hangover the next day, I had a really good time! Finding a dress 2 months postpartum…eh, now that was a different story!

LOCO's Fini Flight

A fini flight is the final flight that you have with your current squadron.   Upon landing, you are hosed down with champagne (and then your wife chugs straight from the bottle…see below) and it's a joyous occasion where everyone comes out to congratulate you on a job well done and enjoy the free food that we provide.  Not so free for us but still really fun!

Of course it was pouring rain on the day of Mike's fini.  What other way to say goodbye and farewell to England than with a proper British winter day in December?!