Peek-a-boo!

Out to Sunday brunch with the boys after church. We are a complete family now – Dave flew in yesterday and today we’re packing up the fam for the flight to Scotland. Funny, seems like such a short hop after doing the Hawaii-NJ leg. Had some real wintery weather here yesterday – even HAIL – so of course we had to go out for a run dressed in forty layers! I have adjusted to the weather already. Didn’t think I would – thought it would really take me a while, but all those runs in Washington weather came right back to me! See some funny movie clips in the album…

More sausage, please!!! These kids really like the German food!

We’ve had some beautiful weather here in NJ and are really enjoying some down time before the next phase of epic adventure 09. The kids were ravenous tonight at a German restaurant in Wrightstown. Check the album for more details on the adventures we’ve been having and some funny stories – some of which weren’t so funny at the time but after some vitamin B (Bourbon in my flask) they will really be enjoyable. Off to hang with Dad…hope to see Dave on Monday. He just bought a ticket – the only space-a flight back East didn’t pan out.

Getting their ya-yas out at the playground!

We had a great day today, starting with a good night sleep for the boys last night. I was up late, sorting through pictures and getting settled. I expected to be awakened at midnight by Ben confused still, but alas my waiting up was for naught. They both slept until 0730, but that meant mommy didn’t sleep too much so I was tired today while they were rarin’ to go! We went up to see Dad’s wife Marilou in the hospital (backstory in the photos in the album) and then after Ben (and Sam) napped we went on some errands. I also managed to get some work in this afternoon. I love being on Dad’s LAN – very fast. Dave is hoping to catch a C17 to Norfolk this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed. He is working hard wrapping up a report at work and getting school work done. Poor guy – not a moment’s rest even with us gone. Oh – in other minor news – I actually had to call tech support for my watch this morning. I got this super duper high tech watch from Campmor for the trip – it automatically sets its own time by checking with CENTCOM in Ft Collins or NASA or something. I thoguht it would be perfect for going through 11 time zones in as many days. Anyway – it wouldn’t cooperate and I screwed it all up. It was an hour and 11 min ahead of time when I got to the east coast. My watch was jet lagged, but now it’s all set. Doug and Mary are in Scotland doing final preps and hopefully finding time to unwind a little.

A slice of life in March.

I try to create new desktop wallpaper for Dave monthly, but it’s more like every 6 months! Here’s the latest edition. Click for larger view/download.

Our ticket to the east coast! (hopefully!)

 This looks like fun – will be a bit of a long trip with a couple layovers, but it’s free except for the cost of lunches for about $7 total. Looking forward to being on our way finally! Hopefully next post is from east coast 🙂 Dave will be following later in the week, destination unknown but hopefully closer than I managed to get!

He is risen!

We got another “found” day together this weekend with our space-a flight getting bumped to tomorrow (then cancelled altogether). Sam found a sword bubble-maker in his Easter basket – it was a big hit making HUGE bubbles. (You dip the sword into the plastic sheath and then squeeze a button to open the sword “jaws” and the breezes blow up huge bubbles twice the size of your head!) They floated gently over the palms, oozing into ovals then back into spheres while twinkling in the morning sun. As I gazed up at them floating into the clouds, it occurred to me that it was a fitting motif for the resurrection. This afternoon, Sam took all of us on a mountain biking adventure back at the trails we rode yesterday. This time we took all our bikes and Ben rode on the front of mine. Dave got thoroughly filthy riding through huge puddles, much to Sam’s delight. It was a wonderful day, capped off by a delicious (albeit impromptu because Dave thought he’d be a bachelor by now!) Easter dinner. Here’s hoping for a flight tomorrow… I managed to repack and condense more stuff into fewer bags. I even have a tent and several fleece sleeping bags in case we end up in a backyard in Memphis or an overnight in a terminal. Ready for anything! Just need to get to the mainland now. It’s funny when Memphis (16 hrs from NJ) looks like a solid consideration with two kids in tow…hey 73f (73 firm seats) looks mighty fine at this point!

Packed and ready to fly - just don't know when or where!

The boys and I are all packed, just keeping an eye on space-a flights to the east coast. Hoping one turns up soon! That big sea bag is the one Sam and I took on our last big adventure. This time I have stuff sacks inside, one for each of our clothes. So unpacking is easy – turn it upside down and dump. Sam can even pack and unpack his own clothes. My total payload (is that the right word?) is surprisingly right around 50 lbs, although it looks pretty bulky. The only things not pictured are Ben’s pigpen (play pen) and the stroller, which I do think I’ll take. I can run most places I need to go, and the boys are certainly used to sitting in it! We’re ready to roll, alone or with Dave. If we find a good flight this week, we’re off. If not, we will just keep waiting and work our way east with Dave, which will bump our category up to III (instead of V if we fly without him). This will make it easier to get on a flight if there are a lot of folks wanting to fly. Hopefully the next post will be from the east coast. From there we take a commercial flight from JFK to Aberdeen and back.

Sam charging downhill to jump over a sand pit at the beach park.

I was reading a new Babar book to Sam for bedtime while Ben was writhing and squirming in my lap, batting at the book, pointing to birdies in the pictures, and trying to bite me (he’s really into that right now and does not listen to “NO!”). He actually turns your head to the side, holds it there, then lunges for your neck like a vampire. He seems to do this most when he’s agitated, like today because he has a cold and I think he’s peeved that it’s slowing him down a bit. So after we finished the book, I said to Sam, laughing, “Man, he’s a load of trouble, isn’t he?! His middle name is Trouble! Benjamin Trouble…” I hadn’t finished when Sam came up with a much better name. He said “Noooo, I think his middle name is NO! Benjamin NO!” Toooo true! Very good Sam!

I was tucking Sam into bed last night and we were talking about how much we love each other, which usually is a comparison of stars, distance to the moon, number of galaxies, etc. We had just wrapped up talking about how big the universe is, and how it goes on and on, and he asked why it was so big. So of course I said because God is big and He decided to make it that way. Sam asked immediately, “Does God run?” I have no idea where that came from, but it conjured an image of a huge God with broad shoulders and cartoon-like pointy legs running fast. It was a fun image to take with me as I tucked him in. Sweet child. Ben…yes, I know I owe you a “Dear Ben” letter. It’s brewing, sweet love 🙂