Short but sweet in sunny San Diego

I decided to stop in San Diego on my way to Salt Lake City with The Cute. It was the first time my friends got a chance to meet him and it was so wonderful! We were only there two days and I wished we could have stayed longer - there are always too many people to see and too many places to go to catch a recharge on my So Cal batteries. Unfortunately Dave and his Dad are driving our cars across the country to North Carolina so the family unit isn't together for the Thanksgiving holiday ~ such is life with military moves but we will be all back together in a week. Here are some pics that I thought worthy of publishing:

Brenden with cousins Jordan and Conor: Jen, Aunt Kristen, and The Cute:
Pita, Brenden and Jen. I love this picture!Jen, me, Brenden and Pita:
The Cute and Pita:
Debbie, Brenden, Kailey and Jen:
Brenden was mesmerized by the fountains at the Irvine Spectrum:
Aunt Katherine, Brenden and Nana Slay at Javier's..oh la la he is so O.C. :
Now its off to Salt Lake City to see my family for Thanksgiving. Wishing David could join us. So long SD.. below is a shot I took from the plane of Coronodo - specifically NAS North Island where David and I got married.. good times!

A lovely farewell dinner

My friend's Adrian and Krystal had us over for dinner tonight along with Mallory for a little Seinfeld trivia, baby chat and tasty food. It was great to see them all one last time but also a bit sad. Our time here was short and it flew by quickly. It's hard to believe a year ago we were having Thanksgiving dinner at their house with no babies!

Brenden loved all the new toys and was captured by the bongo light up toy Kailani had. Here are some pics ~ as usual I hope you enjoy them:

I was a bad influence and was tempting Kailani with the Sav. Blanc.... atta girl!

one last time:

At the end of the night.. there is always room for a good laugh in bed ~ Dad can do it like no other:

After a good rain....

....the Texas oddities really shine. The bugs come out in hoards, the flowers bloom and the citrus fattens. I love walking around with my camera and catching all of those oddities. Here are some from my walk in my backyard:

The spiders here are simply unbelievable. Weird, creepy, you name it. These particular ones look like they have shells on them and they are all over the place. In the mornings, we walk outside and right into the webs that we just tore down the day before because they love to drape themselves across our entrance gate. They are determined little buggers:

One has to stop and smell the roses sometimes you know. Here is Brenden a.k.a The Cute with his first whiff of beauty (well besides me).

Morning dew. I love it!

The Cute smelling not quite ripe lemons (alright I am shoving the lemons in his face but it makes a good picture, no)?:

Lulu ~ always by my side wondering what I am doing:

and Noble who hates wet grass and is such a princess that he has to wait by the door until I am done:

I am going to miss some aspects of this place I do believe.

A day to give thanks!

Oh Jesus it's a glorious day! The day I tried to put Brenden in the shopping cart sitting up by himself. I wasn't sure he would make it because he is still an 'assisted sitter'. But to my surprise (and with the help of those wonderful shopping cart covers with toys and teething rings attached to it) he lasted the whole shopping trip in the cart! That means my back can rejoice today at the thought of getting a break from carrying a 22 lb tot! Hallelujah -put your hands together!!

Captain Adorable turns six months old

We were all taking bets on how much "Captain Adorable" would weigh at his six month well baby check up and we were all wrong (some over guessed and some under guessed). He weighed in at 21 lbs 15 oz which was enough for the nurse to check and double check the growth chart with much confusion until I said "Is he off the charts?" To which he repied "Well yea.. big time!"
He fell into the 100% for weight and at 30.5" tall, charted a mere 110% for height. Maybe "Captain Bruiser" would be a better name? I am going to go out on a limb here and predict a tall boy.....

Above is a before and after pic taken today. He zonked out after all the shots that he just loved. The last picture was after he had a nap and was ready for a walk in the neighborhood with the family. A side note: his hair lately has grown enough to part in the middle on his forehead. We call it Olde Tyme hair. It reminds us of the 1920's guys hairstyle.. Cracks me up!

I have to give a thank you shout out to Shirley for giving him the cute onsie which I do find quite adorable.

Wings of Gold

On Friday we all piled into my car and drove one last time to Kingsville, TX for Dave's official (re)winging ceremony. His parents came into town from San Diego which was really nice. They dote on Brenden and are great babysitters! Thankfully Dave's Mom and Dad held Brenden during most of the ceremony which freed me up to take some pictures.
I do have to add that about 3/4 of the way through the ceremony, I looked down on the floor where Shirley was holding Brenden and saw a giant puddle of pee. Maybe him sucking down 13 oz. of formula on the way was a foreshadowing?? His outfit was soaked but magically Shirley came out unscathed. Pretty remarkable - I still don't know how that happened! Here is a pic of everyone after I (re)pinned Dave's wings on. Brenden was flirting with the ladies in the front row and making the whole audience laugh with his giant smiles. If one looks closely the evidence of the puddle incident can be seen on his left leg:

Below shows the wiley face of the baby who just created the slipping hazard on the hardwood flooring:

Here is a picture of all the Aviators and Dave's Dad Bill reading the Navy Flyer's Creed. His was a Naval Aviator so they asked him to read it at the ceremony which I thought was very cool.

Below is a picture I took last night before Dave went to the Marine Corps 233rd Birthday Ball. I stayed at home with his parents and Brenden. I think he looks smashing! Makes me want to watch my Top Gun DVD (I know Dave hates that movie)!

We are set to go to Cherry Point, North Carolina where Dave will train for Harrier jets and about nine months after that we will be going to Yuma, Arizona where he will join his squadron for three years. Adios Texas ~ it's been memorable!

FET don't fail me now

It has been a long week and it's only Wednesday. Yesterday was a memorable day for more than the election but I will post more on that in a few weeks time.
Right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at what lies ahead in the next two weeks. We have our wedding anniversary today, Dave's parents coming into town today, the social evening with the Kingsville NAS Commodore tomorrow, Dave's winging ceremony and party on Friday, and Marine Corps Ball all by this Saturday. Above and beyond all of that, we should find out today where our next duty station will be and have to drive across country to said next duty station, find a place to live and fly back to Texas to pack the house up and move all within next week. YEP that is right ~ we have all of next week to finish up here.
I would say that will be a solid two weeks worth of FUN activities wouldn't you? Not that I am complaining mind you. It's just that my camper level isn't set on happy right now. More like tolerable but I am trying to not get caught up in the details. Yea, right. For those that know me well I am a very detail oriented person. I am an Architect for crying out loud. Things make perfect sense in my world. If they don't, they fall down. My brain doesn't do well with uncertainty you see. Such is the life of being in the military although they usually let you know what your next duty station is six months or so ahead of time giving a family some time to house hunt in another state and wrap things up at home. When one comes out of flight school though (even for the second time) you get to find out where you are going the day before you graduate. It brings a whole new meaning to the word suspense and patience.
I will post further about our madcap adventures in the next few weeks. Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!