Back at it!

Its been over two years since my last blog.....so I'd like to give myself a warm welcome back and update everyone as briefly as possible! Since my last post, I've had two birthdays (I'm now 32! aaaaaah), learned that my sweet Finn has Autism, given birth to my second child, Owen (who is an adorable little ball of energy), moved from Fallon to Reno where I have successfully kept a new (paying) job for over a year(This is hard for a girl to do when she shares her hubs with the US navy), taken the boys to Lake Tahoe, North Carolina, and Mexico (do not recommend with toddlers), bought two new cars, a house, planted a garden, ran 3 half-marathons, and have officially embraced soccer mom status (Yes I attend pilates on the reg and have considered botox).

I will just fast forward to our most recent adventure though.  Finn is OBSESSED with city buses, trains, cars, bull dozers etc--basically any episode of mighty machines on netflix.  So Jake and I decided we should spend Memorial Day  weekend in San Francisco where he could experience all of those things hands on!  Last minute accommodation on a holiday weekend in San Francisco can be quite pricey so I immediately sent a message to my friend Gosia to see if she had any ideas for affordable places to stay.  Of course she did! Why don't we just stay in her friend's 2-bedroom fancy downtown condo?  So thats what we did.

Day 1: The boys surprisingly snuggled in the spare bedroom and woke up saturday morning raring to go.  First we hoped on the "F Train" which was a cable car type train that we rode down to the Fisherman's Wharf area.  Finn was mesmerized by the boats "ships" and all the water (the bay).  Of course there was a person with a bubble machine making huge bubbles for the boys to catch.  So cute.  They could have chased bubbles for hours.  But of course we couldn't just stay there catching bubbles.......jake and I had the bright idea to rent bikes with the toddler trailer and bike across the golden gate bridge with those little guys.  All I can say is that we made it.  Beautiful bike ride but make sure to PACK SNACKS if you plan to take little munchkins for a ride that long.  (MOMMY DADDY FAIL).  Once we were across the bridge and in Sausalito we had a blast.  We ate at a Greek restaurant- Owen threw his pita bread with chunks of hummus on it at everyone in the restaurant and Finn announced that he made a "BIG POOP!"--Everything was back to normal.

Day 2: On my friend Gosia's recommendation we took the "J train" to Dolores park where there were some amazing slides, sandboxes, and overall good kiddo fun.  The boys had a blast.  Owen really loved running and screaming at the pigeons.  We took the boys out to eat lunch in the Castro neighborhood.  Very colorful but could definitely tell no one wanted kids in their restaurant -- "Oh no, no high chairs here, sorry"  "Oh no we only have these high top tables, sorry" and of course the eye rolls and stink eye glares.....but Ok fine we found a cute little cafe that had a grilled cheese for the boys and a pastrami melt for jake and me. After lunch we hopped on the "L train" to the San Francisco zoo.  It was a pretty sad zoo.  Having visited the San Diego zoo, my expectations were quite high.  Even Finn was unimpressed.  He was extremely concerned that alot of the animals didn't have any friends.

Hes such as compassionate child.  Ironically, its Finn that struggles to understand the importance of having a friend...He is taught that its important so he can point out the absence of a friendship, but he continues to mostly play alone.  Still working on this with his teachers.

Day 3: HOME SWEET HOME  in Reno.  LOVED the city, but its nice to be back in the mountains and the familiarity of our "biggest little city."

Jake left today for a 2 week detachment so I'm single momming it (with the help of two very competent and caring babysitters) for the next two weeks.

Hopefully I will start updating my blog more frequently.....until next time...stay healthy, happy and hydrated y'all.

Sunny California

Well we left Top Gun land for sunnier pastures :) First stop was a night in Reno at the Silver Legacy Casino ($37/night!) because I was too sick/congested to drive any farther. Finn had a blast! He ran all over the casino and got kicked out of every bar he stumbled into (you have to be at least 21 to enter the bar and gaming areas). The happy hours were all over the place so we took advantage of those as well. We returned to the room around 8 o'clock and Finn fell fast asleep in his crib, worn out from his exciting day.
After Reno we pressed on to San Francisco. Jake and I had both been before on separate trips with friends so it was nice to tour the city as a family. We stayed in the Marine Memorial Club which is a hotel conveniently located downtown for service members--(only $70/night!) They offered a free happy hour every evening on the top floor overlooking the city from 4-6 which we took advantage of and also a buffet hot breakfast every morning with everything you can imagine- including strawberry blintz (spelling?) One day we strolled around the city 8 and 1/2 miles! Our legs were sore from climbing all the hilly streets! We walked from our hotel on lower Nob Hill, up to Coit Tower (best views of the city), over to the Golden Gate bridge, down to Alamo Park to see the "Full House" row of houses, then finally took a bus back to our hotel. Finn was a trooper--we found as many parks and patches of grass as possible for him to run around on. The second evening we were there we met my friend Gosia for dinner and happy hour and caught up with her.
Yesterday we made it to Lemoore, CA where we will stay for the remainder of our trip until we move to Fallon (I will go in 2 weeks, jake in 6 weeks). Lemoore, CA is a pleasant place (if you can get past the cow dung smell lol) with a pleasant climate. Today was sunny and mild so Finn and I went to the park to play while Jake went to take care of some things on base. We bought groceries at the commissary last night and my goodness its such a better commissary than the one in Meridian!!! Better produce, sushi station, bakery! I was in heaven! We even met a really nice lady there who had a couponing spreadsheet pulled up on her ipad--she was explaining to us how she took a free class on base and now her grocery bills are cut in half! I immediately signed up!
In two weeks Ill head back to Fallon, NV, picking my parents up along the way. I will receive the move on March 1 and unpack everything into our new house! I couldn't be more excited about our house and our proximity to the beautiful mountains and hiking/skiing/sno shoeing etc opportunities!

Top Gun Land

We finally made it to Fallon, NV or what I like to call it, "Top Gun Land." Seriously, just as we passed the "Welcome to Fallon" sign (which I failed to snap a picture of for my album), there was a "Top Gun Car Wash" and "Top Fun Day Care." I mean, it was a pretty cool movie and all........but wow!
Finn was SO excited to arrive--he had been in his car seat a total of 7.5 hours today--half the day he was wet because he dumped two juice boxes all over his jeans and carseat :( he never cried though. As soon as we pulled in to get gas in Fallon, he started squealing, clapping his hands and pointing to Jake saying, "Diddy! diddy!" Too sweet.
The landscape here reminds me of Napoleon Dynomite or where cousin Eddie lives in one of the National Lampoons movies where they make a stop at Eddie's house. Lots of desert with sky scrapping rocky mountains in the background. There is ALOT of jet noise as well. I will make some videos to post soon so you can get an idea.
Tomorrow we are shopping for houses! Wish us luck!!!!

We have found our happy place!

We have been in the Denver suburb of Golden for 5 days now and I still cannot get over the majestic beauty of this place! Waking up and seeing snow capped mountains out your window or elk roaming in your back yard just creates a positive vibe for the start of your day. The people here are the friendliest I have EVER met as well. Forget southern hospitality--thats a myth I long ago debunked. People here are genuinely interested to get to know you and help you in any way they can. For example, Allison's upstairs neighbor brought us homemade cinnamon buns while her next door neighbor came by to give us his cell phone number in case we ran into any trouble etc driving in the snow--or if we just needed anything. Imagine that happening in Mississippi where people are so obsessed with their kids and church they rarely lift their heads to say hello much less welcome you to the neighborhood. I really think this is where Jake and I would like to settle--another option to put on the table at least!
Yesterday was just awesome! I got to catch up with my friend Allison during a run through the scenic mountains while Finn napped and Jake rested at the condo. After that we showered up and headed over to Boulder, CO for a superbowl party at Jake's cousin Dena's house. Again, the picturesque, snow capped rocky mountains that lined our 30 minute drive seriously took my breath away. No city has ever captured me like this. Today we have another exciting day on tap. We are headed on another run through the mountains, then to breakfast burritos at a local spot that has a playground for Finn, then Allison and I are headed to a spa to get mani/pedis, and finally she will take us to some of her most favorite scenic spots so we can break out or new camera and try to capture some pictures of this heavenly place-(not that pictures will ever be able to do it justice).

"Massive winter storm to clobber Denver"

Cranked out 8 hours of driving to make it to Denver today and beat the snow storm expected to "clobber" Denver tonight! The trip was as smooth and uneventful as one can imagine with a 16 month old...until we stopped for supper in Golden, CO. We had researched and picked out a quaint little vegetarian hole-in-the-wall deli for supper so we could get some much needed roughage in our diet. We pulled into the parallel parking spots right around 5:20 only to find out that the deli closed at 5 :( FAIL #1. Since it was freezing out (winter storm blowing in etc), we scurried along to the next available eatery which happened to be a typical American Shaq-portioned plates tavern--but we were starving! We ordered our meals while Finn drew on the kid-paper-menu with the crayons. Dinner was delicious and to our surprise, our little man who has RSV, a fever, an ear infection and therefore no appetite, ate a whole half of grilled cheese! Things couldn't have been going better. As we paid our bill and were about to leave, I decided to check Finn's diaper as we had a 20 minute drive still until we reached my friend Allison's house. I peeked in the back of his diaper and sure enough, there it was, the smell hitting me in the face with force--a full diaper of butternut squash soup diarrhea.....I quickly dashed to the women's room to change his diaper--travel wipes and single diaper in hand. Of course there was no changer (Restaurant FAIL #1) so I laid Finn on the counter hoping no one would come in. The soupy mess spilled onto the counter and as I frantically ran out of wipes (FAIL #2) I started wetting paper towels to clean him up. And of course it had to be one of those sensor activated paper towel dispensers and not the hand crank ones I could better control grrrrrrrr. Finn survived...I tripled washed my soiled hands and carried him back to our table--he was all giggles as usual :)

After that fiasco, I am sooooo looking forward to relaxing at my friend's house. We are staying put for a few days and checking out this beautiful mountainous metropolis!

on the road again

Day1 of our cross country adventure we made it swiftly and safely out of Mississippi (whoooo hooooo!), quickly across the corner of Tennessee, and into the fine town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Finn was such a trooper--never complaining or even crying! We booked a Holiday Inn with an indoor pool (pricey b/c its a luxury in the south--Arkansas is still considered the south) so that Finn could splash around in the pool. Of course he was too exhausted (and sick as well) to enjoy it so we let him run back and forth down the hallway til he was tuckered out. Since he was sleeping in the room with us, we had to turn the lights down and snuggle him in his pack-n-play then sit in the hallway for about 30 minutes until he was fast asleep. Then we sneaked back in for some much needed shut-eye ourselves. 6 hours of driving down--7 on deck for day 2.
Day2 of our cross country adventure we made it quickly out of Arkansas and into Oklahoma which I describe as vast expanses of absolutely NOTHING.....except for maybe some cows, horses, tumbleweed.......I would rather live in Meridian :) Finn was not as happy this time. He figured out that each time we put him in his car seat that he was going to be there for a while---a concept he was definitely not happy about. Every time we pulled into a rest area or a spot to eat, he started babbling and clapping his hands lol. If only I could understand what he was saying. We made Wichita, KS our final stop for the night--a surprisingly eclectic town with quite a few options of ethnic food which made me really happy! We decided on a Medditeranean restaurant for supper--(Finn even ate hummus!)
Tomorrow we are planning to make it to Denver, CO if everything goes smoothly. More updates to come.

Farewell Meridian!

Annnnnnnnnnd, 7 months later I'm back lol. It's finally time to bid farewell to our wonderful friends here :( As much as I complained about Meridian, I have to remind myself how convenient and easy my life was here--working 2 days per week, training on the Bonita trails with dependable running buddies, day care 5 days a week literally across the street from our house, fun friends our age who are always up for a dinner party or poker night. We had it pretty good here. We moved out of our house on Thursday and have been staying on base in the equivalent of a hotel suite (called a BOQ) on base so that I could finish out my last day of work on Monday--TODAY! Tomorrow morning we are headed out to the wild wild west. Unfortunately Finn has a fever of 103 and RSV (a bad respiratory virus) which is going to make the trip so miserable for him :( All that I can do for him is make sure he is hydrated and drinks pedialyte. How frustrating to know that nothing can really be done to make your baby feel better.
Our plan is to make it as far as Little Rock tomorrow. We have booked hotels with indoor swimming pools and in towns that have children's museums so that Finn will have something fun to do after each 6 hour car ride--sadly I think that he might not be up for those things. Then hopefully we will be in Denver by Friday and spend a week with my friend Allison and her fiance!

Stay tuned--I'll keep updating about our move out west.