Home Again Home Again

Jiggity jig...

After our site seeing in Arizona we were off to California where we stayed in Malibu with Bro's inlaws, the nicest folks.  They are Korean, and told us a lot about Korea and Seoul, and what to expect.  Uncle Bro (aka Dustin, Dean's brother) and Auntie Patti came from Oregon to see us before Dean flew out from LA. 

We also shipped the minivan from LA.  We spent a day hanging out around the Santa Monica Pier, Dean and the boys at the pier having loads of fun on all the rides, and Tristan and myself strolling around the area enjoying the sights and doing a little shopping.

There was a random African Grey sitting on a perch near the pier.  Dean, who loves birds (the reason he became a veterinarian), couldn't resist communing with it.  The bird was left alone as far as we could tell.  There was a sign below that said people could take pictures with the bird for a donation.

We had dinner near the pier at an Italian restaurant.  Kyler was so tired from all the excitement, that he could hardly stay awake.

After we left Dean at the airport, I drove with the boys to Sierra Vista, AZ to visit my brother and his little family.  We ended up staying five nights there.  The boys got their first taste of Nintendo and Donkey Kong, and played it tens of hours.  I managed to lose more maternity clothing, namely my swim suit (I could just cry) when we went swimming at the municipal pool in Tombstone, AZ which is nearby.  I still wear it since I still also wear the baby fat I haven't lost yet from the Trist-man.  Not sure what happened to the suit.  But it's gone (not to mention that almost all of my other maternity clothing accidentally went into long-term storage instead of going to Korea with us)! 

Tombstone is a tourist trap if ever I've seen one, but it was fun, and we spent almost nothing.  I always pat myself on the back when I can say that.

We were also able to visit my Aunt Joan and Uncle Si while there, and cousins Michael and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth and some of her children were visiting from Rio Rancho, NM.  We used to like to visit them when we were New Mexicans as well.

Next we went to Mesa, AZ where I stayed overnight with my Aunt Carol in her lovely home.  I went to a 5:30am temple session while she was home with the sleeping kiddos.  The boys loved swimming at her house. 

Then we went to see Grandma Burnham, who is 95 and still busy as a bee, living on her own.  She was playing the piano when we knocked on the door, and has been entering family history data in her computer, among all her other many projects...  She is most amazing!  We also got to see Aunt Dawna and Uncle Jimmy and his family, then we headed for Ramah, the last 300 miles of this long journey.  My faithful Dodge Intrepid has now passed 130,000 miles and is still going great.

So, Dean has gotten adjusted to the 15 hour time difference and is getting into the swing of things there at Seoul/Yongsan.  He attended the temple there on Saturday, and took the subway system to get to it.  The subway system is five floors beneath the ground, each floor a different line.  I'm glad he is there figuring all this stuff out for me!  He has been in classes and in processing, and will begin working this coming week.  AND!!!  He got us housing on the base (actually a satellite location off the main base, but complete with a small but adequate commissary, swimming pool, playground, etc.)  He will move in July 8, and we are flying out about July 12.

We are excited, and are enjoying the pleasant weather here in Ramah in the mean time.  Today the boys went with Grandma and Grandpa to the farmers market, where they sold live plants and produce from the garden (spinach, radishes, rhubarb, etc).  They all had fun.  I called up my BFF Ronelle and we went to Gallup to do errands and shop shop shop.  I've taken the advice of a lady at Yongsan and have been buying clothing, since I likely won't have many options once there.  I always feel so guilty shopping for pleasure, but OH WELL!

We made it!

After moving out of J-ville, we spent four tedious and unremarkable days driving west and made it to Grandma D's in Albuquerque.  She always goes the extra mile to spoil and pamper us.  Apparently I didn't manage any pictures of her...  We spent several days with her and visiting friends and relatives and seeing the sights in Albuquerque like we were tourists.  Dean's friends are awfully smart and it's always fun to meet up with them.  I only managed to get pictures of some, namely Dave...

We went on the Sandia Tram - the world's longest continuous tram.  Being sea level folk now, the 10,000 ft altitude royally winded Dean and me.  We hiked around a bit up there, but got light headed.  Hunter is mildly afraid of heights, but braved the tram and did fine. 

Kyler has a new picture face - namely to stick out that long tongue, which can touch his nose.

The boys were particularly excited to see their cousins.  I hadn't yet seen miss Krisanne, who is nearly two.  Jaelan, who is six months younger than Hunter, has quite outgrown him. 

We were all excited to eat at Bob's Burgers.  Yum!  I didn't even get the hiccups until the end (I get those

when the food is particularly spicy hot).

The Adams Family is always fun, and Tristan and the J-man liked sizing eachother up.

Then, it was on to Ramah, my home town of about 400 people.  We saw my nephew Nathan for the first time.  He was born ten days before Tristan.

Here is a four-generation shot with my grandmother, who is in her 90s, and my dad.

We brought my sister Nikki's kids to Ramah with us, or three of them anyway.  They had a ball at Grandma's, and playing with the cousins.

We went to El Morro National Monumen, also known as Inscription Rock.  Juan de Onate, the first governor of NM, as well as many other people as far back as the 1600s wrote on it, including a relative of mine in about 1916, Ezra Merrill.

Really, it's graffiti, but it was long enough ago to qualify as historical, so they preserve it.

There are cliff dwellings on top of the monument, and apparently up to 1000 people lived there at one time, I think in the 1200-1300s ish.  We hiked the two-mile trail with five kiddos.

Then, we had to get back on the road and start the trek to California.  This travelling business is getting old, and I'm getting grumpy.  Just ask my Darling Husband.

We went to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert today, which were grand.  We drove the 28 miles into it, and walked around some. 

Here's Tristan next to a lovely bit of petrified wood.

Last, we went to the big crater/meteor site in Arizona.  I had seen it before as a kid (as well as all these other sites in AZ), and didn't feel like paying $15 for just myself to get in, so Dean took the boys.  It still added up to $23 for them, for being there about an hour, which is outrageous to me.  It was $10 for the car load of us in the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, which is reasonable.  While I waited in the car (and fed and changed Baby and all that) I watched a number of people who also were sticker shocked and left without seeing the crater rather than pay that much.  One such group was a man with five women and a couple small children.  The women were wearing the long pioneer dresses and their hair in the encased buns.  Hmmm.  That group would really have cost a fortune, and they didn't do it. 

Tomorrow - on to the Grand Canyon, then to L.A.  All tomorrow.  Ugh.

So Many Goodbyes

The major came down to make an appearance for Dean's farewell, as well as the retirement and PCS of two other soldiers.  The soldiers had the nicest things to say about Dean and his work.  He was given an Arcom medal, a plaque, and a certificate detailing his achievements.  Tristan and I were proud of him!

Tristan and Tristan played surprisingly well together. 

Kyler will surely miss his buddy Kadance, with whom he spent many exciting hours.

And I will sorely miss Liz, he handiest, craftiest lady I know!

More sweet kiddos that are ever so fun and will be missed. 

Their moms are uber fun, and shining pillars of service!  Summer, Shayna and Kristen are out of this world.

Candice is a wonder from down under, and Brisbane is a "model" baby.

Heidi is hands down the most fabulous host I know!  Amazing, inspiring, angelic!

Brynn  makes the most incredible quilts, and is ever brimming with knowledge.

Michelle and Ethan are wonderful neighbors.  "Mr. Tim" didn't make any of my pictures.  Life in the cul-de-sac wouldn't have been the same without him!

Adriane is the most tirelessly devoted mom I've ever seen.

Matt has the best backyard ever, and the cutest Kloe. 

Kristi has been most studious and even braved cleaning the teeth of Master Kyler as part of her hygienist training, not to mention my visiting teaching companion, neighbor and friend.

Haylee has been the best friend I could have asked for. Somehow her husband Nate ended up babysitting for us on a few occasions...

Goodbyes are always so hard!  We will certainly miss all the wonderful people we got to know in North Carolina.

Screeching Banshee

This is Day 2 of our current move.  Some of the worst days of my life have been moving days.  I am most grateful that the military moves us now.  It's a large part of why I have been so enthusiastic about being an army family.  No DITY (do it yourself) moves for us!  So today there was just a bit of humor to lighten things up.  Pancho, Dean's bird that he's had for 15 years and got as a hatchling, has a few, let's say, eccentricities. He happened to be sitting on his perch in our room.  He is terribly afraid of large items that come into the room with people seemingly attached to them, such as a rolling computer chair that someone is pushing from behind, or a hand truck/ dolly.  The movers walked in with the hand truck to retrieve a large dresser and Pancho freaked out, screaming like a Banshee, as they came through the door.  If you've never heard a Macaw screeching, be grateful.  They are deafening.  Pancho flapped his clipped wings all the way across the room, which the movers ran out of quick as a flash.  Dean had to remove Pancho from the room for them to be willing to go back in.  He had to bite his tongue to not laugh his head off.  This picture is from Dean's convalescence several months back.  Pancho loved hanging out with him all day, Hunter loved playing games on his phone, and Tristan is always happy to be included.

Funny also is how movers often under estimate the weight of our dining table and piano.  The table is solid marble, and pretty big.  I mentioned to the main dude that it was very heavy, and a few times queried him about how much weight he estimated that we had so far on the truck, as we are limited and have been worried about surpassing the limit.  He kind of blew me off and guessed "oh maybe a few hundred pounds" for each of those items.  Later he told Dean that the piano and table probably added up to a ton, once the table was crated.

The computer will be packed up tomorrow for our "express shipment", so I'll be mostly off line for a while.  We'll be headed to NM late next week for a little pre-Korea visit with the families.  I have been most amazed by people's generosity in serving us here.  A couple of dear friends have been taking the younger boys for the entire day, two days now!  That is no small feat!  I can't begin to express how much I appreciate it.  When we moved from Albuquerque to Astoria, OR, Jernon Kelly took Hunter and Kyler and kept them all day, overnight, and much of the next day until we were ready to leave.  I was floored.  That move we did ourselves and was the most abominable of all moves.  I am humbled by the spirit of service all these ladies have, and hope to be more like them.  Hunter is still in school, which continues until June 10.  He'll miss the last few days.  Today was "Fun Day", or what we would have called "Field Day".  He had a lot of fun, of course.

Fatty Lipkid

Kyler recently took a fall on his bike.  His story was that Hunter covered his eyes, causing him to crash and burn.  Hunter was sitting on the lawn, nowhere near Kyler's eyes.  They always blame each other for their doings and misfortunes, and even Baby Tristan has been accused by now.  His plight was pitiful though, and we let him administer the bandaids himself.  He had a fat, wounded lip for a couple of days.  His bosom buddy Kadance had a very similar tumble on his bike a couple of days later, and knocked a tooth out.  Ouch! 

In other Kyler news, I've been thinking for some time that he needed a chore of his very own.  Hunter has been doing a lot of chores since we moved here, and has been pretty good about it.  He needs to be reminded of them all, but that's not a big deal.  I despise sweeping, and Kyler creates most of what needs to be swept around here, namely on the dining room floor, and seeing that he is capable of it, I declared that it was now his job to sweep up the dining room floor every day after dinner.  The first few days there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and demands that Hunter do it.  But, a marvelous thing has happened.  He generally does it now without complaining.  I do have to remind him, and it's often the next morning, but he usually says "OK", and does it!  Yay!  I think he is becoming a bit more cooperative in general.  I'll take baby steps!

the Talk

I've been filling in playing the piano for primary (children's Sunday School) for a couple of weeks, so I happened to be in there today when the primary president asked Hunter if he had his talk ready, to which he nodded, so she had him sit up front with the other participants.  I was certainly not aware of any talk, and you can guess who writes such talks around here.  I snuck over to the primary president and looked over her shoulder to see the day's topic.  It was repentance.  So, I went back to the piano and quickly looked in the Children's Songbook (the available resource I had to work with) under that topic, and found a song called Repentance.  Soon the primary president told Hunter it was his turn, and he said "I don't have a talk", so I ran over and helped him. 

I had him introduce the topic, which he did very well on his own, basically saying that "If we repent we can live in Heaven..."  Then I opened the songbook to the Repentance song, and told him to READ it.  He proceeded to start singing it.  He doesn't know that song, and neither do I.  I again told him to READ it, but he just kept singing away. I tried another time or two, then finally gave up and he finally got through it.  So I proceeded to tell him what to say, and he started singing that too.  ARRGH!  I finally got him to knock that off and just TALK.  I had him throw in an example of how he can repent after he fights with his brother, yada yada.  Then, thankfully, if was over.  I mentioned the scenario to Dean, and he said "oh yeah, the primary president told me last week that he had a talk, and Hunter had a paper saying so..."  That's pretty much the story of my life.

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!  The boys were very excited to wake me up and give me the presents that they bought me with their own money.  Daddy took them to the store and they each picked out a pair of  earrings.  I wore one of them to church.  He said he had to guide them in that direction, as they wanted to buy me a TV - must be because they broke ours and are going without, as I'm in no hurry to replace it!  Hunter had a handful of gifts he had made at school as well.  They were very sweet and excited to give them all to me.  Dean made me an omelet and toast, which they all served to me in bed.  It was wonderful!  

o-photo

I took my little man to Sears today to get portraits done.  He is adorable, of course, and I want to savor his adorable-ness.  I sat and waited for our turn while the folks before us checked out.  Their baby was also about ten months old.  Their total came to more than $300.  None of their credit cards had enough available credit for the full amount, so they had to spread it over two or three cards.  I am always stunned when the people who cannot afford such luxuries are the (only?) ones who spend that kind of money on them.  I "could" afford to do that, but wouldn't dream of it for all the obvious reasons.  Included in their package were "fine art prints" and "more pictures than we have wall space for; we'll need a bigger house just for the pictures", said the mother.

I am all for people spending money that they have, but the reason for our recent economic collapse is because of scenarios such as this (along with people not having any savings, not to mention planning ahead for retirement, college for the kids, etc.).  I recall an episode of Roseanne where Dan got a job selling hot tubs.  He quit the job after his first sale because the buyer made very little money, but insisted that he "deserved" one, and would buy one from someone else if not from him.  Dan couldn't live with himself selling overpriced hot tubs that people obviously don't need, to people who really can't afford them.   By the way, my mom was scandalized by Roseanne, but she rarely reads this blog anyway, he he.  She did say more than once while I was growing up that "A fool and his money are soon parted."

I politely declined all the enhancements, packages, collections, excessive poses, etc. and spent a total of $17, and got what I needed to preserve our memory of this precious baby at this age.  Oh, and I used a coupon.  So in a couple of months I wonder if these folks will be back to buy $300 more of portraits...