Jen's visit to N.C.

During my friend Jen's visit this last weekend we decided to take a weekend trip to Wilmington, N.C. to see the historic homes in the downtown district (see earlier post of what happened at the house when I was away). Of course many pictures were taken by both of us - yes she actually loves to take more pictures than I do - so I am going to try my friend Beth's idea of putting a link to a slide show of the pictures. That way this post doesn't turn into an epically long one. The pictures are quite small so you can't see a lot of the detail but here goes anyway.....Enjoy:



The next day we went to the Oakdale Cemetery ~ very cool cemetery designed to have a garden type feel to it. Pleasant to be in. A lot of Civil War era tombstones. It was a rainy day which adds to the ambiance of the pictures. I think they turned out pretty well:

10 months old and he can walk - our lives just got er....more challenging...

My friend Jen came into town this past weekend and we decided to spend a day and night in Wilmington. Dave was nice enough to take over baby duties for me which was so very very nice. It was the first night I had been away from Brenden since his birth. It was also the day he decided to take his first steps - go figure. They say it's a big milestone and they are right. We caught it on video the day I came back:

First Steps:


Dave is always finding new ways to entertain our little adrenalin junkie. This one cracks me up:
The Chariot Racer:

What is the wierd green and brown stuff called grass and sand?

In Texas the weather is HOT and there are bugs everywhere - so much so that one's lawn is full of chiggers, ticks - you name it. I never went outside in my bare feet let alone have Brenden crawl around (o.k he wasn't crawling yet) on the bug fest there. Now that we are in North Carolina, the grass actually looks inviting so we decided to have Brenden crawl around outside for the first time today. He loves being outside but is usually in the stroller or being carried. Spoiled, I know.

The weather is so nice right now that I can't help but go outside with my camera. I haven't seen daffodils bloom since I lived in Utah. Here are some pictures:

He can't figure what this green stuff is:

The Cute can stand all by himself:

Having fun on the beach with Dad and Noble:

Showing off his four pearly whites: Dave found a ladybug in the grass and then Brenden it picked it up out of his hand. It then started crawling on his hand and he sort of freaked out:Shoes are OFF and he is ready to rock and roll:

A quick trip to D.C. (with more to come)

Dave, Brenden and I piled into the car and headed to Washington D.C. on Monday. I wish I could say it was for a vacation but alas we were actually headed to Walter Reed Army Hospital for the beginnings of IVF #4. I have debated on whether or not to mention the whole IVF process on the blog because after doing three of them, I am acutely aware of being excited about it and telling friends only to have the treatment not work. You are left with explaining over and over again that maybe we will have better luck next time. I certainly don't mind talking about it afterward but there is something sort of jinxey about broadcasting it before I do it. I know ~ call me weird.
So there you have it - IVF #4. This time we aren't going through a civilian provider but using the military. The military has four programs all of which have wait periods of one to two years which is why we splurged before and went to civilian clinics. I didn't even know about Walter Reed's program until the woman who runs the program at Lackland Air Force base told me about it when we moved from Texas to North Carolina. I got on Lackland's program before we did IVF #3 which resulted of course in Brenden October. When they found out I was pregnant, they wanted me to wait one year from his birth to start again so we had in our sights May of this year to try for baby #2. When I called a few months back, I was told if I got all the tests in, then I could actually start in April at Walter Reed. No wait. WOW! That being said, the program is still pricey but at half the cost of a civilian clinic, we decided it would be worth the seven hour drive up there (of course doing that multiple times in three weeks, right)?

So we were told we had to go to an orientation on the process of IVF. I thought "seriously?" I am no Doctor but I am pretty sure I could give a good speech on the process and it's risks, etc. O.k maybe not give a speech but I am quite aware of what the process is and what to expect. The orientation was mandatory though so we got to have an extra trip up there and back just for a three hour talk. Hmm. I will leave it at that as to my thoughts on the worth of the orientation. We do have that box checked off and are good to go for April/May for the baseline appointment.

When we got to the small hotel that the hospital has, we were told that our reservation had been eliminated due to injured Soldiers and Marines having priority. I was told that would be a possibility when we made the reservation but I guess I didn't think it would actually happen. After a long seven hour drive with a cranky ten month old who at that point had a leaky diaper with soaked clothes, we were ready to put the day behind us but in fact had to find another hotel. My annoyance at the man at the front desk was interrupted when I saw a soldier with both legs gone come up to the front desk in a wheelchair and ask to see his room. Walter Reed is one of the main hospitals caring for the wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I then understood - there are a lot of hurt men and women there that need a place to stay and recover. I ate my humble pie and we turned to look at hotels outside the hospital complex. We found a room at the Comfort Inn which was o.k and I will leave it at that.

The next day, I dropped off Dave at 8:00 a.m. for his appointment and realized Brenden had fallen asleep in his car seat. I thought I would drive around for an hour and see some sights while he slept since my appointment wasn't until 12:00. Well D.C. is pretty urban with twisty roads and crazy drivers. It had been a few years since I drove in an aggressive city but Southern California has nothing on these crazies! While I was trying NOT to get run into and/or run over all of the j-walkers running about, I had apparently run a stop light that comes on in the morning when school kids are going to school. Mind you there were six roads that intersected at this intersection (and we are talking small city streets not multiple lane roads) and I was at a crawling speed but soon I heard the siren and knew that I was in trouble. I was in David's car which is a magnet for police. A black Mercedes SUV with California plates. Not a car that the police is thinking a boring Mom from North Carolina is going to drive. The cop came up very slowly with his hand on his gun (I am guessing he thought I was a member of the Russian mafia) and when I rolled down the window he stopped and shouted at me to give him my license, registration and insurance. I simply asked what I had done because I honestly didn't know I had done what I had done and he barked that he would tell me when I gave him what he wanted. When I gave him wanted, he went back to his patrol car and then came back ten minutes later with a warning and not a ticket. I told him I thought the drivers there were crazy and he said "Welcome to D.C." What an awesome way to start a morning off!
After Dave was finished we literally had one hour to look at all the city has to offer. We decided to walk the National Mall. Last time I was there was when I was in 15 or so. I remember pretty much what we saw except for the World War II memorial which had been erected since. Here are some of the pictures I took. The day was cold and overcast so the pictures aren't what they could be. The reflecting pool was drained and so that definitely doesn't add to some of the pictures either. I was also told by my friend Jen to make sure I was actually in some of the pictures so I made a conscious effort to follow her suggestion. I took all of these pictures and more in exactly 1:07 minutes. Enjoy:

Washington Memorial. Construction began 1848 and finished 1884.

The World War II Memorial commemorates the sacrifice and celebrates the victory of "the greatest generation." Friedrich St.Florian’s winning design balances classical and modernist styles of architecture, harmonizes with its natural and cultural surroundings, and connects the legacy of the American Revolution and the American Civil War with a great crusade to rid the world of fascism.

The fountain at the WW II Memorial:

Nice bronze reliefs:

In this picture "HERE WE MARK THE PRICE OF FREEDOM"

The Lincoln Memorial as seen from the WW II fountains:

The Jefferson Memorial as seen with my mega telephoto lens:

The Lincoln Memorial. I think this is my favorite. I have great memories of visiting it with my Mom and Dad:

Just an awesome feeling inside here:Looking out the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington with the ugly drained reflecting pool. Hopefully in a few weeks when we go back they will be full and the day with have better lighting:The Capitol as seen from the Lincoln Memorial:The Vietnam Memorial:

The House of White (again with help from my mega telephoto lens):

Luck o' the Irish

We finally got out and met some friends at the St. Paddy's Day festival in Emerald Isle. We hadn't been over there before so we were excited to see what it was like. We met Jeremy and Allyson Lee who are friends from Camp Pendleton and are now stationed at Cherry Point. It was a lazy day of Guinness and bad Irish music. The weather was cold but we escaped the rain so it wasn't too bad. A perfect excuse to drink beer at noon right? Brenden was very content in the beer garden tent listening to the variety of music.

You can see his stroller was a great beer holder for us: T'was a bit on the cool side. Good thing beer warms one up!
Can't go anywhere without Brenden's trusty koala:
Jeremy, Allyson and David. Note the beer mug necklaces that the men wore. Jeremy tested them out by drinking out of one of them. Quite functional actually if you want to drink beer in 2 oz. increments:
At the end of the day there is nothing as good as a cup of ice from Mom's drink:

Dad is my Disneyland and misc updates

Not much new the last few weeks besides Brenden getting more and more mobile by the day. He can now stand for a few seconds on his own. We are enjoying the video camera a lot and catching some pretty funny stuff as seen here in these clips below. Dave is a natural at entertaining Brenden. I can't compete but that is more than o.k with me.

The laundry basket roller coaster:

The bottle game:

One step closer.....

As for Dave's work, he continues to practice learning to fly the Harrier jet on the simulator and will start to fly the actual jet soon. We are enjoying his ability to spend some time during the day with us. When we move to Arizona and he gets attached to a squadron there, the dreaded deployments will start and this time probably to Afghanistan. I feel so lucky to have had him here for two and a half years now without a deployment. Hopefully we will have one more year before it starts again.

The weather was very cold last week but has warmed up to 70 degrees. It's the weekend now and hopefully we will be able to get out and about. Apparently the summer's here in North Carolina can be as 'pleasant' as South Texas. Oh boy I can't wait! I am enjoying taking my digital SLR camera out and photographing the sites around here before the heat and humidity make life unpleasant. President Obama landed here on base last week in Air Force One and I caught the plane on the flight line.

Here is a shot outside our backdoor showing that Spring has sprung:
We took the auto ferry over to Minnesott Beach and Brenden loved it:
Our beach out our backdoor - makes exercising the pups easy:

It was really really cold here last week: