August/September Recap

This was shaping up to be a quarterly recap but I'm gonna squeeze in a dual month recap while I can still remember our goings on...


Ben - While the wife and kids are away, hubby will... go tanning? This really deserves a post all it's own but I have to do a little more investigative reporting on the subject. Those fresh tan lines appearing while nary a UV ray in the sky raised suspicion, among other evidence - at least he had the decency to tan so as to have tan lines. More on that later.

In other news, Ben has informed me that he will no longer be taking call at the hospital. This info is 50% 60% a relief and 40% a disappointment (it would be proportionately more of a relief if he had taken a lot of overnight call before but in Hawaii they had a good system to avoid it - a month of night float). I actually enjoyed the occasional evening alone and I think Ben actually got a better nights sleep at work. Now he will be subject to home call and the dreaded second pager - and nothing is hotter than a man with two pagers on his belt. I know I shouldn't be complaining because it makes him more available at home but it can also be quite disruptive. Now if they want to do something about those ultra-long work days, that's another story.

Miles - Besides giving us a warm-up to the terrible-twos, which for M. means saying all day and all night I hungry followed by go mommy go (who does he think I am - Diego?)and then refusing every morsel that is offered to him, actually he will say yes he wants a pb&j or whatever else and then once it's made he will refuse it. That's going to get old very quickly. He is learning how to string words together in sentences, especially if it to argue with his sister but he is following a more verb-subject-object or object-subject-verb sequence which makes him sound like he is a little Chinese boy learning English as a second language.

In more exciting escapades Miles has his first girlfriend (in WA at least). I always thought he would go for older women like his dad but apparently the youth of one pretty little lady has caught his eye. And perhaps her forwardness. If you have a few seconds (24 to be exact) you can check out our little man in "action" HERE. As Ben says, he's not allowed to sleep in our bed anymore.

Avery - She started AWANA cubbies again this month. She has also enjoyed getting started on a fall/winter wardrobe with a jacket and some new boots "like aunt Brittany's", which makes her feel very sassy. They are Ugg-like boots. Don't tell her they are knock-offs. She wears them well. And it's a good thing because her flip-flop days are quickly coming to an end.

Me - Besides our fun visit to California and the wedding in St. Louis I have just been trying to move our house building forward. Some days show promise of progress, others just promise delay. We wanted an education and we're getting one.

Perhaps the highlight of my month, however, was discovering the gym on base. I say "discovering" but really I have been led by fabulous friends who know the ropes and are willing to share (like Sarah for instance who clued me in the whole bus to the airport thing, among other tips). So to add yet another reason why I love being in the military (the only downside I think are those polyester pants) - there is a gym on base with free child care. Not only free but they have ample, trained staff who play with the kids, do artwork and they even change diapers! The only drawback is that they have a cap on how many kids can come in at a time so potentially you might have to wait till a spot opens up. But I go at off-peak times so I haven't had a problem yet. The classes they offer are good too and they play P90X and kettleball training videos in other areas of the gym which I am a big fan of. See ya later *unnamed gym* with your expensive childcare and caregivers who couldn't care less.

Home sweet lot.

Today we became land owners. There is officially no turning back - we're building a house.

Brrrrrrr....

It must be like 70 here or something. On the night we got here we could see our breath it was so cold, and we were so underdressed. So alas, we have arrived in Washington. For those of you counting types, yes, we have been here a few weeks. In fact we are in our fourth temporary residence since we have arrived. This one we will call home for at least the next six months as we figure out what our more permanent arrangements will be.

The new picture above is of the south slope of Mt. Rainer - which April reminded me is called Paradise. Hence us still being "just another day in..." I like that thought. And we like it here. That being said, I was never so happy to see fleece as I was when we were unpacking. That box I had labeled and set aside of "Fall/Winter" clothes for the family, just got opened.

There's really no need to make a list of the things I'll miss in Hawaii (although I still have a few thoughts on our previous life that I'll have to get out I'm sure). I'm following the advice of inspirational cards, motivational plaques and dear john letters everywhere - if you love something, set it free, if it was meant to be, it'll come back to you. We love the islands. We will go back. But this is our home now and we are going to love it. Am I trying to convince myself of that? Maybe.

One thing I do love about Washington that I need no convincing of is the friends we have here. But they deserve an entire post and pictures so more on that later. But have they made the transition easier for me and for Avery. Absolutely.

All right so what else do I love about Washington so far:

- Loooonnnngggg summer days. We flew in at 10pm and it was still not quite completely dark. Although it gives you plenty of time to do fun stuff and it's nice for B. to come home in the daylight, it makes it tough to adjust to a new time zone. It will start getting dark and that is an indication to us that it's dinner time. Only it's 9pm. I realize to that there is a flip side to these long days known as winter.

- No frizzy hair. No sweating.

- The mosquitoes here are bigger and slower. Not only did living in HI make me an expert mosquito squisher, I got bit so many times that I became immune - this is completely true. The ones here must have diluted juice cause I don't even feel the slightest itch.

- The grass is softer and unlikely to have thorns in it. Not that you are likely to be barefoot in it.

- Greater variety of fresh produce and bread.

- Good Mexican food. There's also bad mexican food here, but we have found at least two places that are legit. I think Ben has tried every one. If it has Los or El, any reference to a location in Mexico or any form of 'berto in the name he's there - He even braved a place with Tijuana in the name. Never again.

And for good measure - a few things I'm going to have to get over:

- What seems like nearly 10% sales tax. Double what we paid in Hawaii. Where we live it's around 8.8% but enough to discourage me from shopping anywhere but on base. (Why doth I love the military - let me count the ways...) Okay, so there's no state income tax - we weren't affected by that anyway.

- Wearing shoes. This mostly applies to A.

- People not driving with Aloha. I could write a whole post about this. And I just might.

- Pineapples are expensive.

- Butter takes longer to soften.

- The music. I'm not sure exactly which category to put this one in, because although it's fun to hear bands that remind me of high school - Candlebox, Soundgarden, Nirvana etc. On continuous loop it loses some of it's charm. Not that I liked Reggae any better.

The best news about us moving to Washington for all of you (since you just lost your free vacation home in the tropics - need I remind you) is that you are no longer subject to pictures of me in my bathing suit or Ben shirtless. Although, I can't guarantee the latter. Oh wait, yes I can. It's July and it's freezing.

It's a girl!!

Brady and Theresa are parents to a new 8lb 5 oz. little girl

Lily Mae Westbrook

Check out Theresa or Sara's blogs for more pictures of my darling neice.