Oh, my, what a wild and wonderful two weeks we had while Jeremy was home!
It did start off a bit rocky. I had expected Jeremy on a Tuesday afternoon flight. He had a layover in Atlanta which he was hoping to shorten. I was expecting that he could get here several hours earlier (or later) than anticipated. So, I got up and had a slew of things to do (including several errands to run before I picked him up) -- I baked bread and a pie and had a lot of last minute cleaning to do. This was the moment I had been looking forward to for months and I had an idealized vision of how it would be. I wanted to go to the airport alone so that I could have him to myself for a bit before having to share him with the kids. I had also purchased a special (though certainly not fancy) outfit for the
occasion. Around 8:00 (the time his flight was supposed to arrive in Atlanta), it occurred to me that I should get my phone (which had been on vibrate) from the bedroom, in case he called me when he got into Atlanta. To my horror, I realized I had missed a long distance call when I picked up my phone. There was a message from Jeremy -- he would be arriving at the local airport in 30 minutes time (from the time I got the message). At this point, I was still in my pajamas (covered in flour), there was a pie in the oven and the kids needed baths. Betty was with Hannah at swimming, so I couldn't even leave the kids at home. I was glad he was getting in early, but all my plans had been ruined. I had to call Betty and have her pick him up. Aunt Johnna came down (after Betty called her) to help, only to find me in an absolutely
hysterical and vile mood. I was MAD. And I was still mad when he got home, though that fizzled out quickly. It was weird for a couple of hours before things just settled back into place. I felt bad, but the first thing he got to do on his R&R was run errands -- we didn't want to be apart at that point, even if we were only together at the pool store.
We took the kids to the North Carolina Symphony concert and fireworks that they had here in town, which is one of my favorite activities of the year. The kids all had a good time. We were going to attend the Ft. Bragg festivities, but ended up taking a last minute trip to the beach. Instead we took the kids to the festivities at Camp LeJeune. They weren't nearly as big, but it wasn't the mass crowd that Ft. Bragg gets, so was a bit more enjoyable.
Here is the whole family together at the concert:
Since there are rarely pictures of me on here, I thought I'd throw this one in. This is Lucy & I enjoying an evening stroll at the beach:
Lucy really seemed to enjoy the beach. She didn't seem overly impressed or worried by the water. The sand was a lot of fun, though.
A shot of us being beach bums together:
We spent a good deal of time at home, just hanging out and doing whatever we fancied at any given moment. We did plenty of swimming. We also took the kids blueberry picking. We came home with about 10 pounds, which won't last us long. I'm planning on going back several more times to stock the freezer for the year. I'll have to be a lot more careful next time, as I managed to get pretty eaten up by fire ants (I swear, NC is one big anthill!).
Lucy was a sweet little girl and was kind enough to take her first steps while Jeremy was here. Of course, neither Jeremy or I witnessed them. Grandma & Hannah were there, though. She's still only taking a few steps at a time, but I'm sure it won't be long before she is off and running. She really wants to walk and practices a lot.
We had two of my
high school girlfriends and their families over one day. The boys were enamored of the little
girly who visited and keep asking when she is coming to visit again. They had a lot of fun just running around the backyard together. It was a really nice day.
Jeremy & I spent the second weekend in Charlotte, without the kids. It was a really nice time. We did a ton of driving around. I think we've decided that Charlotte is where we want to be long term. I'm really excited that we have a direction we're heading towards now and can start working on the details. Of course, we'll go where there is a good practice opportunity, so our final destination could always change.
We had dinner at The Melting Pot in honor of our 9th anniversary. We ate entirely too much food and thoroughly enjoyed it. We, of course, had to hit IKEA, too. That store is just fascinating to me. We haven't bought much there, but the kids have done well -- we have a load of their train sets that the kids use almost daily. I even picked up one of the boys Christmas gifts while we were there.
This was Jeremy & I on the way out the door for Charlotte. I'm wearing the aforementioned unused coming home outfit (which I was so mad about that I almost refused to wear at all).
On one of the last days of R&R, we took the kids to the zoo. The weather was wonderful -- sunny and very comfortable. We all had a really good time, though everyone was exhausted by the time we got home. Here is a picture of Daddy playing
pack mule while we were there:
And this was taken the last evening of R&R. It is virtually impossible to get a picture of all my children at the same time and have them all both smiling and looking at the camera.
We played a ton of Scrabble, ate entirely too much, drank plentifully and had a really great time. It came at the right time, because I think both Jeremy & I had hit rock bottom on morale. I was shocked the first couple of days how happy I was. I really truly had forgotten how good our life is and it seemed like AGES since I had felt happy. It was good to have a reminder of what is to come when Jeremy gets home.
I dropped Jeremy off at the airport on Thursday. I have no clue where he is, as I haven't heard anything from him since Thursday afternoon. It wasn't as bad letting him go this time as it was the last. I think it took 6 - 8 weeks, if not longer, after he initially left for me to stop being a basket case (seriously, going to the grocery store made me cry for a long time). I had my little meltdown on the way home and then picked myself up and kept going with what needs done here. My new mission is Christmas projects -- hopefully I can keep myself busy with them to help pass the time.
