tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26333732828805922372024-02-19T07:33:57.036-08:00High Life FamilyFor our friends to see what we have been up to.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-58475944239229193062008-10-13T11:02:00.000-07:002008-10-13T11:07:35.781-07:00Which One?With it getting closer time for us to PCS back to the states Bill and I have been tossing around the idea of getting a new vehicle. We sold his POS on Friday and ran with the money back to the bank. It was a blessing to see that thing leave. It needed a lot of work but it now also leaves us down to one vehicle. With me going back to the states for 2 weeks and as soon as I get home he leaves for a TDY for the month we can do okay with one vehicle. With that said, we decided that yes we were going to buy a new vehicle. We were going to get a Dodge Caliber but after him test driving it and me sitting in one we realized that it was not the vehicle for us.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5k0SvFytqDrPhv8-4cB7R7zSzugPHinM8TLRYUgjRJ6B6LWQHCFU9A5SY4EzkfYRifyogiuSiLUGjU8geBwClloJZe7X30BwJu1qSq8UTgt4rXflqSgjTN3XcJK-dhAl1N8y9etwCxXc/s1600-h/04_phtgal_cal_09.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5k0SvFytqDrPhv8-4cB7R7zSzugPHinM8TLRYUgjRJ6B6LWQHCFU9A5SY4EzkfYRifyogiuSiLUGjU8geBwClloJZe7X30BwJu1qSq8UTgt4rXflqSgjTN3XcJK-dhAl1N8y9etwCxXc/s320/04_phtgal_cal_09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256701085648486306" /></a><br /><br /><br />With the kids getting older and not in the need of a mini van anymore we want something that had plenty of space. We looked at the Dodge Journey and also test drove it that same day. After building one to our own specifications we still didn't know for sure if that's what we wanted. We talked about it for an hour or so and decided that yes this is what we are going to get. We have now placed our order and it's now all about waiting. We won't be getting it until January so it's Merry Christmas to Bill and I. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM3tJzWxQRJqJUqxOqRzrlwESI3zaQ5UuFL7PRlBO3XTwbJ2Sa5nwXkumUctyx5Sf2BbpoDlmKUCwH0FfRcWl8Je1c9ou7RFAKZilIH0sIQnzvojGvwlz7BvdNHG6sVH7xFe_AOdcJHJs/s1600-h/journey_photogal_ext03.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM3tJzWxQRJqJUqxOqRzrlwESI3zaQ5UuFL7PRlBO3XTwbJ2Sa5nwXkumUctyx5Sf2BbpoDlmKUCwH0FfRcWl8Je1c9ou7RFAKZilIH0sIQnzvojGvwlz7BvdNHG6sVH7xFe_AOdcJHJs/s320/journey_photogal_ext03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256701352884520146" /></a><br /><br />Not only will we have to wait but we will also be arguing over the fact of who gets to drive the new vehicle. Bill hates driving the van but on the other hand now that we will have a DVD player in the new vehicle I want to drive it so Tristan will have something to watch in the mornings on the way to the bus stop but I guess we will have to learn how to take turns now too.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-21231170975743841942008-10-06T10:16:00.000-07:002008-10-06T10:53:33.398-07:00Air Force Ball '08 and Family Photos<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTp2fKt4ChDqYRXBVt50iadnz9JNWgu-Sr5Oj9_neTnHuwIOzZoFpIqQfv625oQ14FG2srTg-puenzaARLnIGbQCKOkBQbPAL4AQJRGM0sM-rjH5ThS_U2zvwO0M3JS3vVdBWRbxzeqY/s1600-h/DSCN0780.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTp2fKt4ChDqYRXBVt50iadnz9JNWgu-Sr5Oj9_neTnHuwIOzZoFpIqQfv625oQ14FG2srTg-puenzaARLnIGbQCKOkBQbPAL4AQJRGM0sM-rjH5ThS_U2zvwO0M3JS3vVdBWRbxzeqY/s320/DSCN0780.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254094954587663826" /></a><br />Here are the pictures that we took from the AF Ball this year. It was our first time going and I'm glad that we went but I'm also glad that we went with some friends. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMsTVgArkY_LR_hmzcNMgKgBUN-xkccfAM9vzpurgq1KInHTXx6EJb7S4WrOYdrZmyyhPkfdxVfxrkU-42R6YWxVCyrAmb7gcCyMz3EirmGEXalpLDan5gTihZtZ8SA1OIZTbz8ZVkRE/s1600-h/DSCN0786.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMsTVgArkY_LR_hmzcNMgKgBUN-xkccfAM9vzpurgq1KInHTXx6EJb7S4WrOYdrZmyyhPkfdxVfxrkU-42R6YWxVCyrAmb7gcCyMz3EirmGEXalpLDan5gTihZtZ8SA1OIZTbz8ZVkRE/s320/DSCN0786.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254095106538708962" /></a><br />The rooms were decorated from the Past, Present and the Future but I didn't take any pictures of the rooms. I don't know what I was thinking but I do know the drinks tasted really good! <br />For the second time we actually got rid of the kids that night and they spent the night at a friends house and it was great! We didn't have a worry in the world and we were hoping the kids were having fun which was guaranteed. We stayed out until about 1am and had to grab a taxi home which was even more interesting. We got the taxi and spent 25euro to get home! The price we pay to have fun and not live on base anymore. But the most important part is that we had fun. <br />The next day we had family pictures to take. Yes, what in gods name was I thinking but thank god we didn't make pigs of ourselves with the drinks. We went and picked the kids up after a wonderful nights sleep and got them ready. The kids didn't want to come home with us and wanted to stay there but that wasn't happening because this was our only weekend to take pictures. <br />Enjoy the pictures because I don't have to much more to say. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ8NCUdddMQPOaWXdd_lepUHXmFG-c3CBzgMzS6JvCHCxCgfowdZWQOUEQC3ccxq5oJCcmjhyjVJSi8_qw70fd3rYQ_rrbdzGGwpRtA0ia_B2xV0PwWDqLbyuWsCsRYMJdYdkJjrpD24/s1600-h/shanke+8bw.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ8NCUdddMQPOaWXdd_lepUHXmFG-c3CBzgMzS6JvCHCxCgfowdZWQOUEQC3ccxq5oJCcmjhyjVJSi8_qw70fd3rYQ_rrbdzGGwpRtA0ia_B2xV0PwWDqLbyuWsCsRYMJdYdkJjrpD24/s320/shanke+8bw.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254096066041973506" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTQwsp_AO983v1bGGUFJ2xZwdkkieej3-Md2EYTl-SqTeAUrCh5LpcEELaHEV1iwdE4XvcjWcBre39iI3vOFK8Rmft58IyTNJXgqgIOktawdTcpqpwFCIaATJKrgX1AiM1vQRrLT6G54/s1600-h/shanke+bw1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTQwsp_AO983v1bGGUFJ2xZwdkkieej3-Md2EYTl-SqTeAUrCh5LpcEELaHEV1iwdE4XvcjWcBre39iI3vOFK8Rmft58IyTNJXgqgIOktawdTcpqpwFCIaATJKrgX1AiM1vQRrLT6G54/s320/shanke+bw1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254096412584247634" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuhuHo-pHim36r4fKIBj-6YePyuFs4Vqb3jHUW20oGp2FuQBBoC6Q0lM_Qu3BM_mnDqncUnw9njiYjAg4CdC4T4h9r0rRaE_0OZtbbd_7r4F2lXod78KmdKtuVl44d0Jsjj6k3EG2AZA/s1600-h/shanke+bw7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuhuHo-pHim36r4fKIBj-6YePyuFs4Vqb3jHUW20oGp2FuQBBoC6Q0lM_Qu3BM_mnDqncUnw9njiYjAg4CdC4T4h9r0rRaE_0OZtbbd_7r4F2lXod78KmdKtuVl44d0Jsjj6k3EG2AZA/s320/shanke+bw7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254097919785282082" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcejU1BGkhxJE6U_MCKgcwBQkHsyAcEod3CVbaDJ9sDrJFHLXu_ilOk0pmqCYTSROcFrI1uzrOMnvBieUqHqyyMmJnN_UsoFHVkKr0FGZ6nMcz2i8XFFW3foQBucET22gO8QZcZGKjPoM/s1600-h/Shanke+Sept+2008+(15).JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcejU1BGkhxJE6U_MCKgcwBQkHsyAcEod3CVbaDJ9sDrJFHLXu_ilOk0pmqCYTSROcFrI1uzrOMnvBieUqHqyyMmJnN_UsoFHVkKr0FGZ6nMcz2i8XFFW3foQBucET22gO8QZcZGKjPoM/s320/Shanke+Sept+2008+(15).JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254099197585469122" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VfUkAmECaBZ7-nt8v3DOrfyWY0vQ3IdT7hyphenhyphenMenNGq5ouONdoCaWmKyNyTeLjwN2tN8oQ9M3_ZfIZVyRPEIiMGi67ZGLcI61P9g5g4EAykms5Y1SAwDltWd5vKOVSwgV9TvlmYq-_wY8/s1600-h/shankefix2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VfUkAmECaBZ7-nt8v3DOrfyWY0vQ3IdT7hyphenhyphenMenNGq5ouONdoCaWmKyNyTeLjwN2tN8oQ9M3_ZfIZVyRPEIiMGi67ZGLcI61P9g5g4EAykms5Y1SAwDltWd5vKOVSwgV9TvlmYq-_wY8/s320/shankefix2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254100318420548514" /></a>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-44293799327555159272008-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:002008-09-19T11:26:21.237-07:00It's amazing!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvk7m3bzhBHEsZEYofwYW04_XQ03pl2gIFzmyEKQgE_cSoV1phVl0U_zhO2gLYUX0VCflY7JrPxJ_-oGAYpM5s1qwCD9ry1RnF7ccwugBtCJRXitr4eY-uY47U1_jH4_-svxm9YbRtT_s/s1600-h/IMG_1544.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvk7m3bzhBHEsZEYofwYW04_XQ03pl2gIFzmyEKQgE_cSoV1phVl0U_zhO2gLYUX0VCflY7JrPxJ_-oGAYpM5s1qwCD9ry1RnF7ccwugBtCJRXitr4eY-uY47U1_jH4_-svxm9YbRtT_s/s320/IMG_1544.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247798489662114226" /></a><br /><br />This is only going to be a small post and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. Today was a great day to say the least. Jordan and I came home today and went into the craftroom where Lisa and Tristan were. Jordan and I finished helping Lisa paint some leaves for fall and Tristan has been bound and determined to write his name. Well today was the day and he did it! <br /><br />I can't believe how good it was and it didn't take him very long at all. Lisa wrote it on the board first and then had Tristan copy it and this is what it looked like. We were so proud of him and Jordan was even more excited for him. These kids are just growing up too fast and I wish they would slow down. But that is all for now.<br /><br /><br /> <br /> I will post pictures tomorrow of Bill and I as we are going to the Air Force Ball. I'm so excited but I'm not looking forward to freezing my butt off since it has been so cold here. But hopefully we have a great time. <br />The kids will be staying with a friend for the night and then we are off for family pictures Sunday morning. It will be a very busy day but that's okay. I will post pictures on Sunday.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-43454143725631155492008-06-13T12:19:00.000-07:002008-06-13T12:22:17.633-07:00Friday the 13th!!So my day starts out okay as usual and then it all goes downhill from there. Jordan is going to a friends house for the night and that just leaves Tristan and me for the rest of the night. Jordan's friends picks her up at my work in the morning. Mind you the night before I was asked that Jordan bring her bike so they can ride it out on the farm. Okay, sure, no problem I think. Well, WRONG!! Jordan isn't even gone for 2 hours and she has already had an injury. Funny in a way. So there she is riding her bike out on the farm with the family that she is with and she has an accident. She is riding her bike as fast as she can peddle and some how she manages to ride it right into a barbed wire fence and to top it off one of the fences is the electric ones. I couldn't help but think of when i was younger and I remember a couple of my cousins dared me to crab the fence and my dumbass did just that. So boy that takes me back to the days! But everything is fine and she wants to stay. So I got her taken care of and then later on in the day I receive a phone call from our wonderful nanny Ms. Lisa, what I wouldn't do without her! Well she calls to tell me that little Mr. Tristan has some how given another little boy a black and blue eye. We still don't know the full story and probably never will. But oh well, in a way that's kids. So we talk about that and get that problem solved. Everything is okay from there. I manage to get home tonite after picking him up from a friends house and I start cleaning. As I'm cleaning I manage again yes again, to fall down the fricken stairs in our house! This isn't the first time but it's the first time that I wasn't able to catch myself falling and manage to fall half way down. Oh yes and these are tiles floors so it's going to hurt like HELL tomorrow and I can feel the pain starting already. <br /><br />I think tonite is one of these nights that I just need to get DRUNK off of my ass. But wait I can't too drunk because I'm working in the morning and wait there is one person missing from this picture. I have no one to take care of me or the kids if I would get drunk off my ass. So I will have to settle on a bottle of wine and wait for my other half to get home from his TDY so I can get wasted and not have a worry in the world. <br /><br />So I now ask myself can this day get any worse??!<br /><br />The one good thing I can even remotely think of is that Bill will be home soon and then July will be here and I am looking forward to my taxi run in an F-16! I can't fricken wait!! I'm so extatic about this that I couldn't sleep the first night I found out. I will post pictures for sure on this one. Hopefully come this summer I will be able to take the time to blog more. I know I've been horrible and I do appologize for this one. <br /><br />Until then wish me luck on not getting drunk tonite!THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-13694396734069787322008-04-09T10:28:00.000-07:002008-12-11T11:18:24.681-08:00I love little vacations!I recently had the opportunity to take a little trip and boy am I glad that I went. Me and 2 other spouses decided to make a trip to Poland and the Czech Republic last weekend. I had a blast! We decided to leave at 2am Friday morning so we could get to Poland early and shop for the Polish Pottery. We arrived in Poland about 9:30am, checked into our hotel and off we would go to shop. I found it very odd that when we checked into the hotel that they didn't take any of our credit card info and went strictly by trust, now that is something. Why can't more people be like that but I guess it's completely different from liveing in the states. So we shopped all day until the last store closed which was at 6pm. We decided to drive around the town a bit to check it out and talk about hearbreaking. I knew that going to Poland that they are a very poor country but nothing could've prepared me for what I saw. It was very hearbreaking just driving around and seeing how these people lived. It was an eye opener for not only me but for the people that were with me also. It just made us sick to see some of the houses. They were so run down and looked like they didn't have any room to move in them. It's almost like you would have to see it to believe it. Pictures just don't even do justice. But you can get the idea for the most part. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSL7yfwnfkJzNcTtPYuN4KaBzmwMi14GiAGN4U4VnsGf8Lu0gkxFHLBk7G4SgnyLshsn2TP0spufQ6dcNXloOCWesPzjiGCscHTMxVhyphenhyphenozXnMkTRX17IutQRXtI_Y8sRLWYNtlJp9ic0/s1600-h/IMG_1125.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSL7yfwnfkJzNcTtPYuN4KaBzmwMi14GiAGN4U4VnsGf8Lu0gkxFHLBk7G4SgnyLshsn2TP0spufQ6dcNXloOCWesPzjiGCscHTMxVhyphenhyphenozXnMkTRX17IutQRXtI_Y8sRLWYNtlJp9ic0/s320/IMG_1125.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187311192597606050" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1HPwB5oAzlmBDTqVSKvOsGbV1Ds3X_n3dFabl8U8bPHxPESisEUUHQa2cxT318Mu_Ng1a8iEhCUsQMypLOOTVLgmoCkD2zyduKB9mtYVcJmZ9fG89bAeqOWwATlpDag86gg22g_tGCEA/s1600-h/IMG_1117.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L0pry01H_JY/R_0ICc4wLoI-oAAlec/s320/IMG_1117.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187311184007671426" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtD9AMNpMFfWqw8dZ8EYBwPGoPzxkijuEgJQIB3BrNhzKRl_iHsbmdpNxfmTJQg5yCEiCEjBgOrldwjEkz0sohc4tCdq3jv0MD5V-2VHFMTJgSKGroawN9Us5AQxOj3CTktw2kap_rJ0/s1600-h/IMG_1118.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtD9AMNpMFfWqw8dZ8EYBwPGoPzxkijuEgJQIB3BrNhzKRl_iHsbmdpNxfmTJQg5yCEiCEjBgOrldwjEkz0sohc4tCdq3jv0MD5V-2VHFMTJgSKGroawN9Us5AQxOj3CTktw2kap_rJ0/s320/IMG_1118.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187311188302638738" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />After we got done driving around we went back to our hotel to eat supper. It's a good thing we were only there to eat and sleep. These were the smallest rooms that I have ever seen. Good thing we all had our own room because I don't know what I would've done if I had to share a room. Again, the pictures can only tell so much. However, I must say the food that we had was really good. They have some weird combinations but they do tast good. I decided to have some wine along with my supper but I wasn't content with just one glass, instead I had 3 and for that matter I could've had the damn bottle, but everything is so cheap so I guess I didn't care. After our excellent supper it's off to bed for we are getting up early Saturday morning to head to the Czech Republic but not without hitting one last store. We got over to the store at about 7:30am and did a little shopping. We came out of the store and there were 2 kids wiping my windows on the van for money. These kids were no older than 12, this broke my heart and put me into tears. I couldn't help but give them money. All I had on my was Euros so I haded over 8 Euros which is $12. Even though I handed them some money it still just didn't feel like enough after seeing how poor this country is and what there living conditions were. But enough of that.<br />Off we go to the Czech Republic, there we hit an Asian Flea Market. Thanks Thuy for working your magic! Boy what fun we had there, you name it and you could buy it. I managed to get myself a few nock off purses and billfolds to go with them and Jordan a Hello Kitty Purse for her birthday. After not finding a Chandeleir off to Karlsbad we go, which is only a 45 minute drive or so. We get there and Holy Shit we came along the Grand Hotel Pupp, from the movie The Last Holiday. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-n_ucQP6CPhSmKWS6X4hHwV_3jJBbuRPkbdxG5T9QhMf9VvhfXcafNjnBvUJaQNKDksBuwvyPEQZXZpMRMni2dQaJgbfWzIVf6iwK46aErewDHmJt_vPgjsXTRnijOHG4MnRWTZ1aM0/s1600-h/IMG_1141.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-n_ucQP6CPhSmKWS6X4hHwV_3jJBbuRPkbdxG5T9QhMf9VvhfXcafNjnBvUJaQNKDksBuwvyPEQZXZpMRMni2dQaJgbfWzIVf6iwK46aErewDHmJt_vPgjsXTRnijOHG4MnRWTZ1aM0/s320/IMG_1141.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187312627116682930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Adr9nunXgE_UeClxHc3X0N0MMtWEJMzxcdKc0ch77bDU9Vs_VVy5cIwNdKJFq3qCEOulLqh-3MyaBOwEXnWQR_StHLcp7Ac6-mwzc0QMlWrfxR5bh5QAl0zpaphAiOQBLiIsr6D16YA/s1600-h/IMG_1143.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Adr9nunXgE_UeClxHc3X0N0MMtWEJMzxcdKc0ch77bDU9Vs_VVy5cIwNdKJFq3qCEOulLqh-3MyaBOwEXnWQR_StHLcp7Ac6-mwzc0QMlWrfxR5bh5QAl0zpaphAiOQBLiIsr6D16YA/s320/IMG_1143.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187312627116682946" /></a><br /><br />That right there made my trip to the Czech well worth it. Who in a million years would've thought that I would get to see that hotel, sure as hell not me. But anyways, we got the Czech and check out one shop in particular and decided to go downtown to see what they have to offer and found nothing to Thuys liking so back to store one where she found a chandilier that she loved and the rest of us really liked. I must say there are not badly priced for what I was imagining, but they are all crystal and they are beatiful. While there I managed however to avoid a stop light that was intended for us to stop behind due to construction and managed to get cussed at from one the natives there. I was laughing so hard along with the other people in the back because of this mess up. But oh well, I loved my trip and look forward to another trip to Poland to buy some more presents before they switch over to Euro and I loose out tons of money. Before we left the Czech though we had to at least have dessert at The Hotel Pupp before we continued home and the food there was great! The one thing I did manage to take was a napkin with there Name on it. <br />On our little journey home we managed to get off on the wrong exit even with a GPS and had to get rerouted and ran into snow, rain and sleet! But we managed to make it home safe and sound and I crawled into bed at 2:30am Sunday morning. <br />I took a few pictures of my little vacation so I hope you enjoy and look at all the stuff I bought! <br />Enjoy!!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmsC8SLgOD8uCYJMXVLW-6EtLOVlAGL70x4_UEE2PpSOKN9pKpHgw77zQVmaD2ljwsQ0GHWiTD5YN-xdsGjmt_w5bpFV_vZGDu53eAZRb3BoCNFqT_jLGOByzulLJdIivdSOhpzWv6Ro/s1600-h/IMG_1150.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmsC8SLgOD8uCYJMXVLW-6EtLOVlAGL70x4_UEE2PpSOKN9pKpHgw77zQVmaD2ljwsQ0GHWiTD5YN-xdsGjmt_w5bpFV_vZGDu53eAZRb3BoCNFqT_jLGOByzulLJdIivdSOhpzWv6Ro/s320/IMG_1150.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187313516174913234" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5oIppbZGuimusjLlM2GaIVGFcmK8wV22Cs5ouqVIAJqhJhIK1f-puOOjdErFGPMdyGxRlwo9PDqzyhwgKXKyMg9wVRIAbhXhkiz8HLvzFDodixudrBJ7MFOLIUKrEEAElXuYnBTC2wA/s1600-h/IMG_1147.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5oIppbZGuimusjLlM2GaIVGFcmK8wV22Cs5ouqVIAJqhJhIK1f-puOOjdErFGPMdyGxRlwo9PDqzyhwgKXKyMg9wVRIAbhXhkiz8HLvzFDodixudrBJ7MFOLIUKrEEAElXuYnBTC2wA/s320/IMG_1147.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187313516174913250" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL3k9fm8nsT1GpnGKESHj-g3I9Q6f1aJBdqceDsFBzQxVehsOPicXtNG9PBqsyL9N_m0xa3EiDzwyOr9CzjZpAFcxgJXJzkJNrTtUqhWjYyvLtTtPGyP8R09qjU-vhGyYq3deLl8rGDk/s1600-h/IMG_1148.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL3k9fm8nsT1GpnGKESHj-g3I9Q6f1aJBdqceDsFBzQxVehsOPicXtNG9PBqsyL9N_m0xa3EiDzwyOr9CzjZpAFcxgJXJzkJNrTtUqhWjYyvLtTtPGyP8R09qjU-vhGyYq3deLl8rGDk/s320/IMG_1148.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187313520469880562" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnnlpbkvnq1t-vjTGvDRqKbwetL4f8jpaIS35GNh_D3F6GJG3Koj5AzgtMTGDHRApRfgXi-AaFANGiqKIPPygE_A6Ob1sQbA_0w88Cwt-qZgiEZotf0h5DGnGyvth-nhS2SOEEmlCyBs/s1600-h/IMG_1145.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnnlpbkvnq1t-vjTGvDRqKbwetL4f8jpaIS35GNh_D3F6GJG3Koj5AzgtMTGDHRApRfgXi-AaFANGiqKIPPygE_A6Ob1sQbA_0w88Cwt-qZgiEZotf0h5DGnGyvth-nhS2SOEEmlCyBs/s320/IMG_1145.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187313520469880578" /></a>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-35778670341055808192008-03-22T15:25:00.001-07:002008-12-11T11:18:25.096-08:007 things about meI was tagged by Stephanie SJS Falter and lets see what I can say about me.<br /><br />1. I hate to iron! And when I say hate to iron I mean HATE!! If it doesn't come out in the dryer then I better pray to god that Bill is home to iron because otherwise it's going to be worn wrinkled or sent to the dry cleaners, or as a last resort Downy Wrinkle Release and the dryer will normally always work. <br /><br />2. I never use to get sick when driving until we moved over here. What the HELL is up with that?? This crazy ass place! But that's okay because I like to drive for the most part.<br /><br />3. I can be a huge procrastinater! I don't know why I do that to myself but I do. I guess I have my parents to thank for that one! If you have questions just ask my husband, he knows that all too well.<br /><br />4. I LOVE to SHOP!! I love Partylite and Pampered Chef. But if I'm going shopping on the economy I think I need to just stay at home and shop online instead. It's too damn expensive now! But I love to shop for good deals so shop on!<br /><br />5. Laundry....need I say more. I wish I could find someone to do it for me. Actually I don't mind the washing part of it but the damn, folding, sorting and putting it away. Can't there just be a genie that magically appears and does it for us?? I know I'm crazy but I can wish right?? LOL<br /><br />6. When I go to bed at night I have to make sure that the sheets and the comforter are straight and that they aren't croocked. Is there something wrong with that? I hate it when one side is longer than the other. I know weird or don't I have something better to think about rather than the comforter not being on straight?<br /><br />7. I hate heights and I hate flying! Bill's damn lucky he got me over here. We just got back from vacation and we went to Garmisch, Germany and we went to see the tallest mountain peak in Germany. In order to get to the top of the mountain you had to take a cable car up. You can imagine from there what I was like. I didn't want to go down at all but I had no choice. All though it was worth the trip I don't think I will do it again because we were to far up in the air for my comfort. And with the cable car coming to a complete stop before reaching the top of the mountain I thought for sure we were going to be going down. By that time I was about ready to loose it. Cramned in a cable car with about 25 people was not my idea of fun. But I'm glad I did it. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UR4F3nDFjQ5ooM-gmQK5begvXTs6S1roR6hXiMkrDek9Gxrtct866evRlRvgVnTq_cJPUDxaAiwCYd5RMzqeX58j0Ul9MEn_fYHdQOf-x0_3i3HpH08-9Md7Prfc0ykzEYspAMYfIEk/s1600-h/IMG_1037+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UR4F3nDFjQ5ooM-gmQK5begvXTs6S1roR6hXiMkrDek9Gxrtct866evRlRvgVnTq_cJPUDxaAiwCYd5RMzqeX58j0Ul9MEn_fYHdQOf-x0_3i3HpH08-9Md7Prfc0ykzEYspAMYfIEk/s320/IMG_1037+-+Copy.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180705688687183362" /></a><br /><br />More pictures from our vacation will be posted soon.<br /><br /><br />And now that is that the end of the 7 things about me. I now tag My 3 Sons and whoever else would like to share 7 things about themselves.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-25949211930441989832008-03-17T14:50:00.000-07:002008-12-11T11:18:25.809-08:00Vacation Day 1Well let me just start off by saying this has been an interesting few days prior to us leaving for a little family time vacation. On Friday I decided to go to the NAF sale on base and WOW that is all I can say. I went there not knowing what the prices were going to be so I figured I would be walking out with only a few things. YEAH RIGHT!! I LOVE it when the CDC and YOUTH CENTERS clean out their buildings!! I spent about $40 and walked out with a ton of stuff (pictures to come). I could run my own daycare center with as much stuff that I walked out with, oh but wait my house is like a daycare center....LOL.... The doors opened up at 7am and I couldn't get there until 7:30 because I had to drop Jordan off at the bus stop. But as soon as I walked in there my mind was about to explode because there was so much excitement. I got chairs, tables, a big coat rack cubby type thing, shelves for the toys, easels huge lego type blocks and god only knows what else. I couldn't believe all of the stuff I got. Although my husband was ready to kill me because he had to haul it upstairs but I couldn't control myself. I had to call Lisa to come and help me because of all the stuff I had. But it will pay off in the long run. Okay now that I talked about that, now onto our vacation portion.<br />I happened to look at the weather for Tuesday in the Garmisch area and found out that it was suppose to snow so I figured that we would leave a day early. We with that in mind it was Sunday afternoon and we hadn't even packed and I was going to play BUNKO no matter what! Well I called Billeting in Stuttgart and booked us a room for Monday night and wow I'm glad I did. We didn't get going like we had planned on and we ran into a few delays but we managed to get here by 9:30 or so. I was figuring that the room we were getting would be a normal room but it wasn't. To our surprise we got a 2 bedroom which is nice so Bill and I can have to down time. The kids have their own room with 2 twin beds and then our room has the queen. I know from now on we will be driving half way and staying here. This is not what I pictured it to be by any means but now onto something a little more interesting. We get checked in and Bill comes out to the van and informs me that we have to be out by 10am!! Who in the HELL wants to be checked out by 10am! Sure as HELL not me, I want to sleep DAMNIT! But whatever, maybe it's a good thing. I have plans and I guess that will make me get up and get our butts busy. After we get T a haircut it's off to Munich to the Haufbrauhaus. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLc_i84ccb-Muu7uGcm-twbSbPi_qyfFR-zIYSBRDrhvOV9JSP57ACMyfQKo0AUwwH4tYgnZAaqKxwTxX4Bjeu1c5FdtxXbeKKwaUxv7WdbUFldzbiFs1wKG3y198XuSqPKKWTV7fGhw/s1600-h/IMG_0995+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLc_i84ccb-Muu7uGcm-twbSbPi_qyfFR-zIYSBRDrhvOV9JSP57ACMyfQKo0AUwwH4tYgnZAaqKxwTxX4Bjeu1c5FdtxXbeKKwaUxv7WdbUFldzbiFs1wKG3y198XuSqPKKWTV7fGhw/s320/IMG_0995+-+Copy.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180706938522666514" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZk0YEBVv3dPABE94-HAkTVUmbTlw-WeTUHOm3BTidYAgnfqlyvNgCKMFKy9skR6UkFxbKpCniWdajRggcSnT1R7IYCGMdPTPihESonseMXhFWL3NSXGSZ1Fzso5cqL7Is3ZZedXJE2qE/s1600-h/IMG_1001+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZk0YEBVv3dPABE94-HAkTVUmbTlw-WeTUHOm3BTidYAgnfqlyvNgCKMFKy9skR6UkFxbKpCniWdajRggcSnT1R7IYCGMdPTPihESonseMXhFWL3NSXGSZ1Fzso5cqL7Is3ZZedXJE2qE/s320/IMG_1001+-+Copy.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180707990789654066" /></a><br /><br /> I can't wait! I've been looking forward to this family vacation for sometime now and we are hitting the Hard Rock Cafe! Oh my god I can't wait!! Yes, I know I'm excited, I feel like a fricken kid again! Then off to Edelweiss we go! I started my vacation off in the right direction, after we get there we will be going swimming of course but come Wednesday morning I am getting a foot reflexology, whatever that is and then come Thursday both of us are getting massages! Hell Yah!! I can't wait, I'll be so relaxed I won't want to do anything but relax after that then I guess we will have to go back home come Friday but we might stop and stay in Stuttgart again if they have room. According to our GPS we should've been here in less than 3 hours! What the HELL is that thing thinking!!?? Between the road construction and the F'd Up rest stops it took us almost 4 1/2 hours to get here. GPS is so over rated! I can't wait to get back to the states and have actual signs that we can read and they actually make sense! But it's getting late so I had to post something about our vacation. Look for pictures tomorrow night, hopefully I'll get some posted! I can't wait!!THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-11393001829832680692008-03-01T03:03:00.000-08:002008-03-01T03:05:26.597-08:00Our date night and beyondLet’s start this one out with a recap from our “Date Night”. We dropped the kids off at Give Parents a Break and headed out for supper. We had a place in mind so we went out there and decided that we didn’t feel like sitting and waiting for a while for our food so we left and went out to eat the Thai place that we all love so much. We got there ordered our delicious food of wontons along with the main course. It was delicious! Glad that we went there because it hit the spot for both of us. It’s been awhile since we had eaten there so it was worth deciding against our first decision. After we got done eating we still had over 3 hours to kill before the kids had to be picked up. Now what do we do? Well we decided to go home and play the damn Wii. Seriously people, how many married couples do you know that go out for supper and then go home and play the damn Wii??! Not a whole lot I’m guessing. But we went home played the Wii for a couple of hours and then started to watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I get a kick out of that movie. Before we knew it, it was time to pick up the little monsters. Bill thought for sure that Tristan would be asleep but I thought other wise. We picked up Tristan first and low and behold that mom was right! He was wide awake and was excited to see that we were there to pick him up. He made a puppet and did some drawings to help pass the time. Thank god for the CDC! But of course it all depends on the care takers also. If it would’ve been someone else in that room from the other CDC I would not have left him there. After Tristan then came Jordan and she was so hyper that I seriously didn’t think she was ever going to go to bed. But as soon as we got home the kids went to bed ASAP and mom and dad headed to bed after they were tucked in. All in all we had a nice and peaceful evening with just the 2 of us. I can’t wait for the next date night!<br />Sorry if I’m jumping around but I should keep up with this a little more often rather than all at once. This week has been another busy week. With us being down to one vehicle until Bill’s gets fixed it has been early mornings for us. When I mean early, I mean early but in a way its good because then we can get up and stay up and bedtime is even earlier. We have been waking up at 5:30 every morning this week and it’s killing me but I have to stay awake and not go back to bed after Bill is dropped off at work and Jordan at the bus stop. Monday we were suppose to have company for supper before she left for Korea but that didn’t happen. Scheduling ended up not working out which is okay I guess. I was making a great supper that night but that’s okay. I still made it and boy did it taste good! I made Chicken Lasagna (Thanks Tricia!), Classic Creamy Cheesecake or something like that from Pampered Chef, and of course Salad and Garlic Bread. The kids loved it and wanted more of everything and Bill enjoyed it because he hasn’t had it in almost 6 months so it was an excellent supper for us, it’s just too bad that Nikki didn’t make it over. We will always remember her and the kids will miss her dearly now that she is in Korea. <br />On Wednesday we went out for supper with our friend Mark. We took him out to eat for he is also moving to Korea in less than a month. We would’ve had him over for supper but I wanted to go out and enjoy having an adult conversation with just the 3 of us and have no kids running around and climbing all over him. I managed to find a sitter but since we don’t have our Airmen anymore we have had to resort to a teenage sitter. Thank god for our Nanny Lisa who lives next door and helped out the sitter. I’m not big on getting teenagers just because we have had bad luck in the past and just prefer the Airmen that we get since Jordan especially likes to give them a hard time. I picked her up at 6pm and got home and the kids I swear had lost their minds but I’m sure it’s because someone new was in the house. Lisa came over in the nick of time to settle the kids down for Kailyn and we snuck out the door. We met Mark at the restaurant and got to the table. I can’t believe we went out for supper twice in peace and quiet too. I love to cook but going out is nice especially when it’s just the 2 of us or even when we got out with friends. After sitting down and enjoying our meal of course one always wonders what the kids are up too when you aren’t home and if they are behaving. But I was told not to call because Lisa would handle it for us. Boy, am I going to miss her when she leaves. Hopefully it’s in 2009 and not this summer. Just as we suspected though, Jordan was a little stinker and had to test her boundaries. Kailyn called Lisa to see if we would mind that they kids had popcorn and a movie before they go to bed and she said that it was fine. Jordan decided to tell her that we don’t make her share and that she gets a bag all to herself. But that’s not how it goes in the house and Jordan being the Drama Queen that she is played it as much as she could. Finally Kailyn got smart and called Lisa again and Jordan got on the phone and was told that if she didn’t listen that she was going over to Ms. Lisa’s house until we got home and then she would be in even more trouble come that time around. But I guess kids will be kids but she is testy. I wonder where she get’s that from. LOL After we got home from supper we got filled in on what took place and decided that we were done with teenage sitters for now. Tristan was of course excellent and didn’t give anyone a hard time. He was still awake when we got home though, which is what we expected and Jordan was sound asleep. Thank god because it would’ve been nothing but drama for us. But we did have a nice time getting to go out and enjoy supper with a friend before he moves. We will have to remain in touch because I need a new purse from there. Can’t wait to send him my first list shortly after he gets there. <br />Now comes the weekend. We were thinking about going to Ramstein this weekend but that got bumped back to the following weekend since my husband is such a nice man and volunteered to be on standby to give his troops some down time. Not everyone is like that though. But I’m glad that he is looking out for them. Granite they also have had 2 weeks off also he wanted to let them have a little longer break especially since there was a couple that stayed back and had to work all the time. He had to be to work at 8am and I have no clue when he will be home but since he is gone I’m stuck at home without a vehicle. I have things to do and I’m not use to staying home on the weekends. I’m use to running around all the time just to pass time. I don’t know if it’s just me or what but I’m having a hard time adjusting to my husband being back home. I love him to death but I wasn’t expecting to go through this. I like my quiet time or so called quiet time and I’m not use to being home every night and on the weekends. I’m use to running errands and go to the gym and hanging out with friends during the day. This is very challenging. Did or does anyone else have that or felt that when there husband came back from downrange? I feel bad because he’s the one that’s supposed to have these issues not me but it’s the other way around. I got set in my ways when he was downrange and now all of a sudden I have someone else here invading my space or what ever it should be called. Hopefully this passes soon and I’m not so moody. So honey, if you read this I’m sorry but I need some advice and I hope you understand. But I will figure something out because I’ve been very moody these last few days and couldn’t put my finger on it until I talked to a couple of other spouses who are going through the same thing I am. They didn’t think it would be them either but hopefully it will pass in a few days or a week and I will be back to normal. Until next time have a great weekend!THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-25200347348678781582008-02-22T02:47:00.001-08:002008-02-22T02:58:13.517-08:00UpdateOkay it's been 2 weeks since Bill has been home and we are loving every minute of it. When we had the reintegration briefing we got a Give Parents A Break voucher for this month only and boy was I happy. Tonite is the night that the kids go to the CDC and the AYA for the evening. We get to drop them off from 6:30 to 11:30 tonite! I can't wait. Bill and I are going to go out for supper and probably go and pick up a movie to watch in piece and quiet for the evening. Since all of our sitters are gone due to PCSing and our last Airmen leaving 1 of March we are left with the Parents night out until we can find someone else. But that's okay. I'd rather leave them there while we find someone else suitable for the job. <br /><br />Yesterday we came home with a Wii and talk about having a blast. We let Jordan pick out a game that she really wanted for the Wii and she was shocked to find out after getting the game that we were getting one. She had a blast with her new game and then came Tristan's turn and we let him bowl. He had a great time and was so excited that he had to tell Grandma about it over the phone. Good thing that Grandma could understand him because his mouth was going a mile a minute. After Bill and I got the kids put to bed it was mom and dad's turn at the new game. Bill and I bowled for 3 hours straight! I kicked Bill's butt on all of the games and he was bound and determined to win at least one game but that didn't happen. After telling him that 5:30am came early and that we needed to go to bed. But I was informed that he is going to kick my butt the next night but we will find out tonite what the real deal will be. I will post more tomorrow to let everyone know who won that game. <br /><br />Sorry that this post is short but I have work to do before we go out tonite. I can't wait! Finally we get to have a supper together in peace and quiet with no kids!THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-24378435458250235582008-02-08T01:40:00.000-08:002008-12-11T11:18:26.688-08:00He's Finally Home!Monday<br />Well this week started off great. Monday the 4th of February the 22 Family got together for our last dinning out while our spouses were gone. It was nice to meet up again and just hang out and share all of the excitement that we all had about our husbands coming home. Excitement was in the air but no one had said anything to their kids so they wouldn’t get heart-broken if plans would happen to change. After an evening of excitement and the kids all wore out it was time to go home and finish last minute cleaning before Bill came home. After the kids went to bed I went to town attempting to finish things. I stayed up until 3am and had to get up at 6 to get Jordan ready for school, when that alarm went off boy I was not a happy camper but I had to get things going so I could keep myself busy so that time wouldn’t go by so slow. <br />Tuesday<br />Got Jordan ready and put her on the bus and came home to get ready myself for today was going to be another busy day planning with the 22 Spouses of how to decorate and where to get Helium at for the balloons. Thank god we had planned to eat first and then go looking for Helium off base. Talk about a pain in the butt trying to find things in Germany that you could find any place in the US. I so miss the states some days. But anyways, we had found the Helium and had that taken care of. Now the decorating. We had ordered banners, balloons and things to keep the kids busy until their mommy and daddy’s arrived. We decorated the Hanger that our husband would meet us at and went home for a night of no sleep. Stayed up again until 3:30 and got up at 5:30 to get things ready because this was the day that Bill was coming home. Kids still had not been told and I went on with the day as usual. <br />Wednesday<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwpzo6snUnLdSyMkuEje4-Shy50M1rQ3x6V_F1qpdfsM4-WIo-Z-bMIYjfc26YMO2Hz4SvryN0FQFTyw80WwvXeCcvnWeyyiNtyl4E6wW0_Hk2JM-o0STmEAwHl3GzdeB0gU4st5Jqg0/s1600-h/212.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwpzo6snUnLdSyMkuEje4-Shy50M1rQ3x6V_F1qpdfsM4-WIo-Z-bMIYjfc26YMO2Hz4SvryN0FQFTyw80WwvXeCcvnWeyyiNtyl4E6wW0_Hk2JM-o0STmEAwHl3GzdeB0gU4st5Jqg0/s320/212.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165092856761885874" /></a><br /><br />I got Jordan ready for school and sent her on her way and Tristan got ready and I took him to get a hair cut and back to the nanny so I could finish with everything else. I’m glad that I sent Jordan to school because they delayed the landing for 3 hours so that would have been torture on the kids. I picked Jordan up from school at 11am and still didn’t say anything until we got to my friend Kim’s house and I made her change into her t-shirt that we had made. After making her read her shirt she realized that daddy was coming home. I thought she was going to run me over she was so excited. So Jordan was taken care and my nanny was bringing Tristan on base to meet up with me to go and get daddy. I got his t-shirt on and we went into the hanger. I told Tristan after we got inside and he had seen everything from the balloons to about 200 people waiting to see there special someone. He was then told that daddy was coming home and he was running around telling everyone that his daddy was coming home. This little boy’s eyes were about the size of baseballs when he heard that dad was coming home. Finally about 12:30pm they announced that they guys were now waiting outside the door to meet everyone. The hanger doors opened and everyone was trying to find that special someone. I had lost Tristan and thankfully he was within arms reach. After charging through of 100 people we finally got reunited and boy did it feel great to see him again. The kids were ecstatic and at first Tristan didn’t know what to think and gave his daddy a huge hug and then back to mommy he came. But that didn’t last very long, after all of the reuniting Tristan was back in his daddy’s arms and didn’t want me anymore for awhile anyways. Jordan just about made her daddy fall because she had hugged him so hard and she was running towards him. She couldn’t get their fast enough. So we picked daddy up and home we went. The kids have not left his side since he got home and Tristan the first night fell asleep next to Bill and then had to be carried into his bed. But before he fell asleep Tristan told his daddy that “he never wants him to leave again”. Well that’s okay for now but he will have to leave again but hopefully not for a couple of years. And with the way that our luck goes, we will get back to the states and he will be hit with a 1 year tour to Korea and that means us being separated for a year, no family can go with. But by then Tristan will be older and hopefully will understand it better but we will have to wait for that one. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-5Kof026XNZbKN41KxAziu9uhJsUmAqEDC4Qqxxnt9oXlBEwdS2zZ9l_AN5Qgk0Ie_8d-wZLXYX_RYR9OL41GAFSI4FHUN0PIhHg_WyIhC0WjN1aZNiZ8vXoaHjNv-iK929kNsrYCpw/s1600-h/241.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-5Kof026XNZbKN41KxAziu9uhJsUmAqEDC4Qqxxnt9oXlBEwdS2zZ9l_AN5Qgk0Ie_8d-wZLXYX_RYR9OL41GAFSI4FHUN0PIhHg_WyIhC0WjN1aZNiZ8vXoaHjNv-iK929kNsrYCpw/s320/241.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165090434400330914" /></a><br /><br />Friday<br />So Friday is here and now we are getting up early so we can greet the rest of the 22 Family coming home! Bill ended up having a Re-integration meeting and Jordan and I stayed back to welcome the rest of the family home. It was great to see that everyone is now reunited. It’s been a long 4 ½ months for us. But we have managed to pull it off. Thank god for the Chief’s wife Thuy for getting the 22 Family together and having a special bond that I will forever cherish. With her and the rest of us this has been a great experience and a very short deployment. We would get together at least 5 times a month and have suppers, play games and even go shopping and out to lunch. Everyone made sure that we weren’t staying home and avoiding everyone. With this being said I am wrapping it up and looking forward to Bill and me going out for supper without the kids. Thank god for friends that don’t have kids. With everyone that I have met over here it has really became one big family, one that I will never forget. Kim, if you read this I want to Thank You for everything that you have done for me and the bonding that we have done with our families. Thank You just isn’t enough. You have been there when times have been rough for me and have helped me out with my kids so much that I really appreciate it. Thanks for taking my phone calls at 2am when Tristan has been sick and taking care of Jordan for me and with everything that you have done. I don’t know how to every repay you for what you have done. Thanks! P.S. I will post pictures soon!<br />And WELCOME HOME 22 AMU! BEND OVER AND FEEL THE STING!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzE2-1jqmRJv9-lQUU3EwHr-qzJ7kxoM6lw4xC6mClpo2tLTvokJ4STzSxKlRziK-724HY9iuErUVltVMHcl9g7Uu-3PBGbp0YRfUGz_Gacbwj2wVo8FAHnl6D_uSVyDX63HgYH5Zk_CQ/s1600-h/456.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzE2-1jqmRJv9-lQUU3EwHr-qzJ7kxoM6lw4xC6mClpo2tLTvokJ4STzSxKlRziK-724HY9iuErUVltVMHcl9g7Uu-3PBGbp0YRfUGz_Gacbwj2wVo8FAHnl6D_uSVyDX63HgYH5Zk_CQ/s320/456.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165093153114629314" /></a>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-50040982156537193742008-01-28T23:38:00.000-08:002008-12-11T11:18:27.078-08:00Finally!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOvHbdFsK9II8qz1UyqkiIJ7USgOLDDZILpWyOUwCpkgAo7To8QyzOGhHFXu0IfPsiUb2FEikAFZXfT0OdND1zJcfG7G5B9_gKcx6DgdLsuFAaEppElWFQ30H0dkHAvkjWbd505KRl84/s1600-h/The_Big_22...We_Rock!.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOvHbdFsK9II8qz1UyqkiIJ7USgOLDDZILpWyOUwCpkgAo7To8QyzOGhHFXu0IfPsiUb2FEikAFZXfT0OdND1zJcfG7G5B9_gKcx6DgdLsuFAaEppElWFQ30H0dkHAvkjWbd505KRl84/s320/The_Big_22...We_Rock!.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160805676708754066" /></a><br />Okay so I figured it’s been awhile since I last posted something so I thought I’d update it a little. Bill will be coming home soon and I can’t wait! I’m ready for a break and to get him back home so we can be together again. The kids have missed him dearly and Tristan asks every night and even in the middle of the night about when daddy is coming home. These last few weeks have been rough but we are almost there. Thank God! We had our last get together for celebrating the day they left and we all had fun. Let’s just hope that he is home in the beginning of the month rather than the middle but I won’t complain because he will be on his way home. <br />We managed to make it through the holidays even though it was quiet. Kim and her kids came over on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had a good time and the kids all played well together. Kinds of surprising considering the kids are together almost every day but it has also helped pass the time along. I’ve managed to stop calling my family because I’m also sick of dealing with everyone else’s damn drama back home. I have enough drama here for my whole family if they would like it. <br />Since Jordan went back to school I’ve managed to start going back to the gym and I’m enjoying it now more than ever. I just wish that the pounds would keep shedding instead but we will see how this week turns out. I’ve adjusted to what I’ve been eating and I very rarely snack on anything except for a small dish of yogurt ice cream at night once in a while. It’s amazing how much better a person feels after they’ve been to the gym and for me it gets all of my frustration out of my system. I love it!<br />And oh yes, can you believe it since Bill has been gone we’ve managed to make only 1 trip to the ER. If it wouldn’t have been for Tristan and his bead that he stuck up his nose we would’ve been alright. Leave it to a little boy to do something like that one. What a joke. The Bitburg after hour’s clinic wouldn’t see us so we had to go off base. We went to the Krankenhaus in Bitburg and they wouldn’t see us so instead we had to drive our happy asses to Trier to the children’s hospital there. Got to love being over seas! But to top that off, they wouldn’t even see him in the children’s department so we had to go up to the ENT floor and be seen up there. I was not happy by this time and Tristan thought it was hilarious. I’m glad Kim came with me so I had some help because he was everywhere while I was trying to fill out paper work. But we got the bead out with no problem and the little sh*t did it again the next day. Didn’t he learn from the first experience but I’m glad I could get that one out. Jordan never did anything like this one but I guess they each have their own way of expressing things. Jordan was obsessed with cutting her hair and Tristan is obsessed with putting things up his nose. With that being said I’m off to get ready for the gym. Need to relieve stress and burn those caloriesTHE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-49434480437386996652008-01-25T11:40:00.001-08:002008-01-25T11:40:40.579-08:00Check out my Slide Show!<div><embed src="http://widget-01.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188090733825&site=widget-01.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:320px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&ad=0&id=144115188090733825&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-01.slide.com/p1/144115188090733825/bb_t043_v000_a000_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&ad=0&id=144115188090733825&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-01.slide.com/p2/144115188090733825/bb_t043_v000_a000_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-10189435438088019652007-12-11T14:34:00.000-08:002008-12-11T11:18:27.363-08:00Still hasn't HAPPENED!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFnU428mZzuZ9zqAIwNh1r-r3XFVXYe4ViENgdXKpUSoWs6E5uD1jmcdPt5zzgR8xCtEdZwgQ-yAaZv6qLfmkkBo50v5eV1dNWKDBUOPG7aAxeYir1NRCEwedg5uttln3gPzRUyXlnjg/s1600-h/IMG_0824.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142852550199237394" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFnU428mZzuZ9zqAIwNh1r-r3XFVXYe4ViENgdXKpUSoWs6E5uD1jmcdPt5zzgR8xCtEdZwgQ-yAaZv6qLfmkkBo50v5eV1dNWKDBUOPG7aAxeYir1NRCEwedg5uttln3gPzRUyXlnjg/s320/IMG_0824.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>So its 14 days until Christmas and my house still has no decorations. As a matter of fact the containers are still upstairs in the spare room. Now that’s sad, but hopefully with a little bit of help from my friend Kim and her kids my house will be decorated by this weekend. Fingers crossed because it sure as HELL isn’t going to happen over night with me. I really need to get out of this mood and I just can’t seem to budge. Maybe I need a mini vacation but oh wait, that’s not happening either. Damn deployments! But that’s his job and someone has to do it. I’m sure if Bill knew that I still didn’t have the tree decorated he’s be on my butt about it, I’m sure he understands though and I wish the kids did too.<br />Tristan is still asking about his daddy and today has been one of those days where he has asked that same question over and over and over again. Does it stop anytime or at this age will he just keep asking the same thing? I guess it’s something for me to ponder on for awhile. And then besides the whole asking of his daddy, I can’t leave his sight for a minute again, thank god Lisa starts watching him again on Monday and I can get back to the gym and hopefully I will start feeling better and less stressed. I know that’s part of my problem with him and this whole Scrooge feeling.<br />Jordan on the other hand has also been something else to deal with this last week. She’s already had to go and stay at Kim’s for one night and at the rate she’s going I need at least a 2 day break. I just can’t deal with her right now. Is that bad of me? Am I a horrible mom for saying that or for that matter sending her over to a friend’s house on top of it to give me a break? I feel like the worst mother in the world saying that but I’m so burnt out that I’m to the point I don’t know what to do anymore and I really don’t like telling Bill because he has enough to deal with. I have told him a few things from time to time when I’m in one of those moods but I haven’t told him even half of it. But wait and now with Jordan, her fricken biological retard of a dad all of a sudden starts calling again and is going to send her a present this year. Jordan has asked him finally why he has never sent her anything, and when I mean anything I mean he can’t even mail her a fricken $2 card. Well we will see this year if he actually follows through. But get a load of this one; he wanted to send her a fricken IPOD Touch for Christmas! People have you seen the price of these things??? There over $200, and a 7 year old with an IPOD Touch, now give me a break! What kind of an idiot mails a 7 year old that for Christmas, you might as well wipe your butt with $200 and watch it go down the toilet because you know that’s not going to last very long. IDIOT!! But enough with that subject, I could go on all day.<br />Oh yes, lets not forget about the Christmas cards, I still haven’t started on those either. People, please kick me or something to get this going, at this rate I’ll be lucky if they are out by Valentine’s Day. I really need to get in gear.<br />Enough for now, I’m done going on and on about nothing. Maybe this could be considered therapy??HMMM…..I’ll have to think on that one too. </div>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-43315549194701941682007-12-08T16:34:00.000-08:002007-12-08T16:46:42.894-08:00Scrooge....Okay, so I realize it’s been a long time since I have posted anything but in all reality I’m completely clueless as to what I should even write about. The only thing different right now is that well, I finally put our tree up but needless to say it’s still not decorated. Anyone up for helping me decorate a tree and having a drink or two??? I’m not in the mood to decorate at all and I still have a crap load of presents to wrap which I haven’t even started on. Jordan has been bugging me about the tree but Tristan has been sick for the last week and I’m starting to get a cold. I feel like crap, no energy or for that matter I’ve been extremely crabby. I have been doing some baking but all the baking I did went off to the squadron so we could send it downrange and now I did some more baking and that is getting sent off to Bill on Monday. I have no more ambition to bake anymore. So with that being said, I ask again, “Is anyone willing to bake, decorate, wrap and well take care of my house while I’m off in never land?” I really need to get out of this rut that I’m in because pretty soon it’s going to start rubbing off on other people. Oh but wait there’s more, I need someone to do my Christmas cards for me. Stephanie, you are too productive for me. I took the easy way out and bought picture cards but I still have to pick them up. At this rate I’ll be lucky if they are out before Christmas. I think I need a good kick in the ass to get me started.<br />So with this little post that I just did, it’s going to have to do for I need some sleep and a little someone who won’t go to bed that needs my attention. Maybe since it’s a new week I can start being productive right?? We will see about that one.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-751901295107467852007-11-20T14:39:00.000-08:002008-12-11T11:18:27.495-08:00Supper with the 22nd Spouses<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAhqwvXYjQwmdtI1H_6UEIOFWUwausKCdYUu7YA7ffEXpQG8tUmWKkjkws9KTzsqju8FgUtctisZul87LPYwM5n_H4Bl7BKGi44kaosYONz6H_uzTBgnFIDQerqs7nao95sYW2FhstZ3Y/s1600-h/IMG_0805.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135065107596697378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAhqwvXYjQwmdtI1H_6UEIOFWUwausKCdYUu7YA7ffEXpQG8tUmWKkjkws9KTzsqju8FgUtctisZul87LPYwM5n_H4Bl7BKGi44kaosYONz6H_uzTBgnFIDQerqs7nao95sYW2FhstZ3Y/s320/IMG_0805.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Well it was your normal Monday like another except would end even better. Monday evening we had supper at JR Rockers with the rest of the 22nd Spouses and what a good time I had. It’s always nice to get out of the house and go out for supper with other people especially when you don’t have to cook. The kids had a great time and ran around like they normally do. Although T was a little stinker, they must have been having a drawing for a 4 wheeler because that’s all the kids kept going for was that damn thing. But they eventually found other things to keep them occupied. Not much was happening in the squadron to report but a good time was had by all, just socializing about how fast the two months have already gone by. But I have attached a picture of all of us having fun at JR Rockers Monday night. A great time was had by all and the kids, well they were tired by the time we got home.<br /><br />Looking into the week I’m even more excited for yes Thanksgiving! The 22nd is getting together again not only for Thanksgiving but for the Countdown of our spouses being gone. It will have been exactly two months to the day! We will be shooting an AFN holiday greeting and AFN will be at our even for awhile taping it so the guys can see that we are trying to make the best of our situation. So while everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving this year please think of the troops that are deployed during this time of year. I know this year will be more challenging than ever for us. We have never been separated over these major up coming holidays before. I can’t wait to get them over and done with and soon after it will be time to start planning their homecoming! YEAH!! I can’t wait for that one. But enough said for now. Look for more upcoming photos from Thanksgiving.</div>THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633373282880592237.post-53863369170582875572007-11-18T16:56:00.000-08:002007-11-18T16:58:00.281-08:00Last weekWell, let’s just start off by saying Damn you Stephanie and Anissa! Look what you made me do. After a lot of convincing you guys finally got me to start a damn blog. I’m not into writing normally but maybe I will find stuff to write about. I will just off by saying that my week sucked! Maybe everyone will find the humor in it though, at least I did. Monday went great; Tuesday however was a completely different story. All was going well until it was time to get Jordan to the bus stop. I had the kids out the door and was on my way out to get into the van, as I shut the door and was buckling Tristan in when I shut the door and went to grab my keys from my coat pocket. But I’m missing one thing, my fricken keys, where were they??? In the house on the other side of the door, but they were still in the door. Let me remind you, it’s cold as can be out and well Tristan and I were still in our pajamas and I had my flip flops on. What the hell was I thinking dressing like that?? Thank god our landlord’s son lives next door and I saw his girlfriend walking out, I told her what had happened and he had to call his mom to come over and see if they had a key. But, since my keys where still in the door on the other side it wasn’t going to help me much. We tried though and no such luck. But being the smart person that I can be there were two people that had spare keys to the house, Nikki being one of them but come to find out she was at school at another base and well Lisa, she’s back in the states, however her husband Stephan is still here but he was at work. I got a hold of him but he was having an inspection so I told him that we would just wait until he got home from work and we would figure something out. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that it was also raining out??! If Bill would’ve been home this probably never would’ve happened but then again who knows. So since I’m out of luck with that one I pick the cell phone up and call Kim, wake her up and have here come and get us. Thank god for her otherwise Stephanie, you were next. Since I locked us out of the house Jordan didn’t make it to her bus stop on time and was going to be late for school, which she was not happy about. We get on base and well we have to bring J to school, and I had to sign her in, by this time I was not happy, I had to sign her in, while I was still dressed in my pj’s people! I was so embarrassed but couldn’t do anything but laugh. J didn’t want to walk up to her classroom by herself because she was in a way embarrassed because she was late. I told her that she had to go anyways and that there was no way in god’s green earth that I was bringing her to her classroom in my pj’s. So we get back to Kim’s place and I had to take a shower, but of course I have nothing, so what was I going to do for clothes??? Yes, people I had to go to the BX in my pj’s to get clothes. I had to buy it all right on up to the underwear and bra. Not a whole lot of choices on Spang for clothes. You should’ve seen the looks I got when I was walking through the store. But, after I saw a few people and told them what had happened they thought that it was hilarious and laughed right along with me. I’m sure security loved that one, when they saw me walking into the store in my pj’s. I was going to buy a pair of shoes but seriously how many pair of tennis shoes can one person have?? I’m not kidding when I say I have 5 pairs. I don’t really need that many but hey they were on a good sale. But I held myself back and figured I would just stick with the flip flops. But man, were my feet freezing! Again thank god for Kim, she let me use her van so I could run my errands that I had to get done, what would I have done? I guess I could’ve drove Stephanie up the wall and we could’ve done some stamping, that was a good reason too, I should’ve thought of that one sooner. So anyways, the day had past and I was going back to my place to meet Stephan there at around 4pm since that’s when he was getting home. Mind you it was still raining out and yes cold, how was I going to get in, he tried to use a hammer and nail to move the key out of the way but that didn’t work and after doing that for awhile I was considering breaking a window but with the Euro rate would it really be worth it??? Probably not, so option B call a locksmith but do either one of us have a phone book? Nope, we don’t speak German so we would be SOL on that one; luckily I had a tweezers in the van. Who in god’s name would ever carry a tweezers on them in a vehicle right, well I do, Stephan bent the tweezers and YEAH got it to work, he moved the key far enough out that he could open the door! So with that being said I got into the house and put different clothes on since my other ones were wet. God did that ever feel good… But just for the record people living in Germany, don’t keep your keys in your door when you’re walking out of the house because you’re guaranteed to get lock out… Other than that my week has gone by okay for the most part. Let’s just see how this week turns out, hopefully better than the last.THE HIGH LIFE FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02780894507071037710noreply@blogger.com3