Thursday, June 30, 2011

Our Last Weekend Stateside (Friday and Saturday)

On our way to the airport to get Mike I got a call from his brother Nick telling me that their cousin Kyle had just been in a major car accident and was being taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. His condition was unknown. Nothing like welcoming your husband back to the USA after being gone six months with that kind of news. All day Friday was touch and go as far as Kyle's condition and whether or not Nick would be coming to see us for the weekend as planned. Thankfully Kyle is a fighter and made huge leaps and bounds toward recovery. In about 48hours from the accident he went from ICU to dodging the need for surgery to getting to go home!

Friday afternoon was Giulianna's rehearsal for her dance recital. Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gerry and Gee arrived while we at rehearsal. When we got back we all went out for dinner at S.S. Lobster. After dinner we just hung out, all 9 of us in Mom and Dad's apartment. Giulianna got to play an intense game of Candy Land with her Daddy and Grandpas!
After the kids were in bed and everyone else left or went to bed, Mom and I stayed up and waited for Nick (kyle told him he should still come) and Liz to arrive. They got there around 2am.

Saturday was Giulianna's recital. Everyone came over for breakfast in the morning and we all just hung out until it was time to get ready and go. Here are some of the recital pictures.
Everyone waiting for the show to start, we were very early!
The two little kids classes combined and danced to "Hot, Hot. Hot".
Ballet class. Danced to "Doe a Deer".
That's the teacher, Miss Melissa,  in red. All the little kids got awards with their names on them.



Giulianna and Olivia
After the Dance Recital, everyone went on a tour of Wachuset Brewery, while Mom and I went to Dairy Queen to get a cake to celebrate Rhyon's 1st Birthday. The kids came with us an had a nice nap in the car. It was nice to be able to get the chance to have everyone all together for this occasion (even though it was a month early). I still can't believe he is almost a year old already!




After our party, we cleaned up and got inside just before it started to rain. We spent a little more time together, this time with 11 people up in the small space of the apartment. This would be the last time we would all be together since Mike's parents and Gee were leaving in the morning. We got a large group pic to commemorate the occasion.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Father's Day and other stuff

So as of today we will officially be on our way to Korea in about 5 days. That just seems a bit unreal! I am looking forward to it though. I am glad Mike has already been there for six months and can hold our hands through it all a bit rather than all of us taking a giant leap into the totally unknown.

Here's whats been going on over the last 2 weeks. Lets start with last Monday... I don't know why but I was having just a bad day. The kids were driving me nuts, I was trying to get packed and get priority mail boxes of stuff together to send Mike, and Mom and Dad never got home til later than usual. I should have had a really big stiff drink! Then Tuesday I got up and had an email from Mike saying that his leave was being screwed up. So I was even more frustrated and really needed to talk to him now. Finally he came on Skype and he told me what was going on. Apparently he was trying to get all the paper work for his leave and trip finalized and they discovered his leave form hadn't been signed for approval. He was told that he would have to reschedule his leave for 1 to 2 weeks from the original date because the unit had allowed about 24% of its personnel on leave and only 10% are supposed to be allowed at once! So it seemed there was nothing we could do. I was so frustrated and stressed out I even emailed our congressmen to see if he could help. (He still hasn't emailed me back yet.)

Wednesday was just a day of waiting to see what Mike could do to fix the situation. On Thursday Mike told me all was well once again and he would be on the way as planned. (Thank God, I was really praying hard!)
The rest of the week was pretty normal except that Sunday was Fathers Day!. Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there and especially my Dad and my husband Mike. I am adding a picture of the kids in there special grandpa shirts. It is very hard to find shirts that recognise grandpas, they all say things about daddy (like daddy's fishing buddy), or mommy (like mommy's little sunshine) or Grandma (like what happens at grandma's stays at Grandma's). Well I found Grandpa's little lady and Grandpa's little helper. So Happy Father's Day Grandpa!

This week Monday Mike picked up our plane tickets and picked up our new car! We purchased an 1997 Sonata for our use in Korea. His trip here is however going to be somewhat interesting. He has to leave a day early for his flight so he can take the bus which runs every other day only at 1pm to Osan. Then he gets to sit there until his flight the next day at noonish. (Thankfully when we go we fly into the international airport which has regular bus service!) From there to Japan, then Seattle and finally Boston. I am finalizing this post at about an hour before we are heading to the airport to get him!!!! This weekend will be very busy but will be time well spent together as a whole family which includes my parents, Mikes Parents and Grandmother, Mikes brother Nick and our Friend Liz. We are also hoping to catch a few people via skype and have dinner with the neighbors and hopefully take a trip to Greenfield and see Megan and Isabelle.

Well I am off to get the kids to bed and then the loooooonnnnngggggg ride to the airport!!!! Have a good weekend everyone!

P.S. Post is dated wrong due to attempting to start it Wednesday the 22nd but not finishing it til Thursday the 23rd. LOL

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Through Giulianna's Eyes

Today's post is going to be a bit different. All the pictures I am including were taken by Giulianna with her camera she got for her birthday from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Doug. She is definitely on the way to being a photographer! Enjoy!

 This was only the second picture she took and it wasn't blurry at all.
                    


                     Giulianna's self portrait.
 A picture of Mommy taking a picture of Giulianna.
 Close up of Rhyon.
Interesting use of angles...
 Aunt Hilary and one of the wonderful camera enhancements.


                                            Papa!
 Taffy's!!!!

                                   Nice view of Aunt Rose taken from the back seat.

Funky Effect!
 Uncle Jeremy.


Amanda giving Rhyon some love.
 Grandma Sue.
I'm not sure whats going on here...
 Aunt Lizzy (holding Tim Hortons!!!).
Gee.
                                                  Getting skilled at using the effects! LOL
 Giulianna and Uncle Bob!
Aunt Adelle.
 Barron.
                                                           Regan, Giulianna's "best friend"!!

Mommy and Grandma Sue
 Auntie Liz and Rhyon

Cousin Matt
 Grandpa Schuster
Grandpa Jerry

 Caitlin

Cheri and Cassandra
And Finally Augustus.




Sorry there are so many pictures but this really is only a few of what she took. Sorry about the placement I am still new at this and trying to figure out how it works, didnt work out quite as planned but it will be ok! I hope you all enjoyed them.