Sweet Home Alabama

Well my mom wanted to see where we were living at while down here so this post is for you mom! :)
Since we have a house back home we are renting an apartment here. Prior to this summer Amos has lived in two different town homes with some great roomies who were also in phases of flight school. With the girls and I coming down for the summer (longer than just a weekend or spring break visit) and a deployment around the corner we decided to venture out for our own place.
We found a nice 2 bedroom apartment that allowed us to do a 3 month lease and then go month to month until graduation. Below is a pic of the front our building. There are 7 of these buildings in our complex with a storage unit, club house and pool in the middle of the buildings.

We are on the second floor in the back of the building so other than our own girls, our place is pretty quiet.
It's your simple 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment but is spacious and has a deck. The walls are all white, which if you've been in our house, you'd know that I don't do white walls. I've decorated a little just to make it ours. Didn't want to do too much since we'll only be here about 4 months.

This is the girls' room. Since we are in and out of Bama so much, we just got them these kid couches that fold out to beds. They love them and will be fun to have at home when we're done here. They also have a huge closet with two doors. Since it doesn't have much in it, it has become a great place to hide! :)

This is our room. It's a little bigger than the girls' and has a walk in closet. It also has a door to the bathroom. It's nice that the bathroom has two doors, one from the hall and one from our room.

Here is the kitchen view from the front door. Behind the double doors are a pantry and the washer and dryer.

Here is our dining room, right off the kitchen.

And finally, here is our living room. To the left is the front door. To the right is a door that goes to the deck. The deck also has a small storage closet that holds quite a bit of stuff!
Special thanks to some special friends for lending us their extra furniture to make our apartment complete! It's nothing fancy but it's a place we can all be together and that's all that matters!

Disney World!

Yes, you read the title to this entry correctly...we just returned from a weekend trip to Disney World!
Now Disney World is a 5 1/2 hr drive away from us. I really wanted to take the girls since we were so close and I convinced Amos to go over 4th of July Weekend since he was off. I just had to promise to pay off the credit card once we quit paying for two places this fall.
Our deal was made and I began making travel plans. First I went to the travel center on post and found great deals on hotels, dining plan ( recommend it!) and park tickets. Thankfully they have a small play area for the kids so my girls were distracted while I made the reservations and got everything squared away. We were able to keep it a secret from the girls. I love surprises!!
I was able to pack and load the van without them knowing -- gotta love new movies and books from the library!
When Amos came home from class Thursday, I had sandwiches packed and we were off. We told the girls we were taking a surprise trip. They kept asking if we were going to Chuck E Cheese and they couldn't believe us when we told them that our trip was WAY better!
About an hour away we stopped for bathroom breaks and we told them. I have it on video of my phone...they were both pretty excited! It was cute, after I told them, Hailey turned to Amos and asked him if he wanted to go!! LOVE IT!
We arrived at our hotel, the All Star Movie Resort LATE Thursday night. It was all we could do to check in, lug our stuff in and crash. Here are some pics of our resort.

This was in the courtyard outside our room. Our hotel was split into several buildings, each had a theme to go with a movie. We were in the Dalmatian building. There was a Toy Story building, a Love Bug building, a Fantasia building and a Mighty Ducks building. The last day we were there we spent some time checking out the place.




This was our staircase at our building.

So let's back up to the first day we were there. Despite a late night we were able to get up and around and head out for our first adventure around 10. We headed to Magic Kingdom. I got a really cute picture of Hailey peering out the bus anxiously awaiting the views of the castle.

Once we arrived, our first trip was to the Castle.

We then spent the rest of the day visiting the park, riding rides and catching shows. Of course, it had to rain our first day there. Thankfully it didn't last horribly long! Lots of people took cover so we decided to walk the almost empty streets instead. :) We were able to capture a family photo in front of the castle.

After this we were able to catch the "Celebrate" Parade. I was so excited watching the girls, especially Briahna. She kept pointing out who she could see next. Her and Hailey both loved waving at the characters!



After the parade we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit for some R&R. Then we freshened up and headed to Downtown Disney. In our dining plan we each got one quick service meal, one snack and one sit down meal a day. We decided to head to to Wolfgang Puck since we've never been there before. Walking through Downtown Disney we found several shops and a really neat Lego shop. All of their displays were made out of Legos.


Once we finally made it to the restaurant we enjoyed a fabulous meal. Once we finished, we wanted to see some fireworks. We got a bus and headed back to the castle at Magic Kingdom. There we joined several others for an amazing display.

The next day we packed our things, loaded our van and then hopped on a bus and went back to Magic Kingdom. We rode a few more rides and finally found a few characters along the way.


For lunch we had reservations at the Royal Palace. This was a restaurant next to the Castle. It was buffet style (but really good I might add) and we got to dine with the Winnie the Pooh Characters! How fun!!

After our lunch, we let the girls each pick out something in the shops. They both settled on Disney World necklaces. After shopping we said goodbye to the Castle, jumped on the monorail and headed to Epcot.

There we got to meet a few more characters and ride a ride that included Nemo and his friends.


After a very hot afternoon at Epcot we stopped to cool off with a snack.

We wanted to ride the ride that goes into the ball of Epcot. The line was super short before our cool treat break. However, it nearly tripled in length after we were all cleaned up. We checked a few more things out and decided to call it a trip. We were all sad to leave. We grabbed one more meal at the food court at our resort, this helped us use our our remaining meals on our dining plan. We then hit the road.
We had a blast at Disney World even though it was a quick trip. We can't wait to go back, stay longer and check out more of the parks!

Road Trip

Nothing is better than a road trip with your favorite people! Last summer I was privileged to make the road trip to AL with my mom and we had a blast! This year, 2 of my besties; Crystal and Julie approached me and asked if they could make the drive, stay a week and then fly back. I of course said yes and we set out for another fun adventure.

We left Topeka Friday around 1:30pm. The van was LOADED with the luggage rack on top full as well. I had to move as much as I could down to furnish our apartment so that explains the full van.

Anyways, our destination for Friday was St. Louis. Once we arrived we drove circles in downtown St Louie trying to get to the arch! It was a bit crazy as the river was flooded and there was a wedding going on. We finally made it to the arch, parked and walked around a bit. While we couldn't go up because we arrived after they closed, we did witness a proposal and it felt good to walk around.


After we visited the arch we drove east out of St. Louis to find our hotel for the night. Once we checked in we grabbed a late dinner at TJIFridays. Once we got back to the hotel, it poured rain!! In fact, it poured all night long! I was thankful that we were at the hotel and not on the road!

Saturday morning we got up, got around and hit the road. Today's first destination was Nashville. I grew up on country music and was really excited to see some of the places I've always seen on TV. Well upon arrival we discovered that it was CMA Music Festival! While that was exciting, that meant everything was crowded and busy! After driving through downtown Nashville and finding a few sites, we decided to go else where for lunch. We had our hearts set on Hard Rock Cafe but that was packed. We ended up at Fazoli's across town.

Here is the Wild Horse Saloon. We also found the Country Music Hall of Fame!

Since we couldn't go site seeing in Nashville we hit the road as our next stop was Huntsville, AL. This is where we had booked our second night at our hotel. However, since we didn't site see in Nashville we were way ahead of schedule. We decided to cancel our reservations and make the drive all the way to Enterprise....our final destination. We arrived at 9pm and were hoping to surprise Amos. Well he surprised us as he as at Walmart when we got there. Since our new apartment is on the 2nd story (and I didn't have a key) we unloaded the van and carried everything up so that when Amos arrived, it would be ready to go inside.
That in short was our road trip. We had lots of laughs and a few u turns in the mix. I am so thankful for wonderful friends who each ave up a week so help me and the girls come down here. We spent the rest of their time here unpacking and showing them around. I took them to a few of my favorite local boutiques and Mellow Mushroom for lunch. Another day I showed them the post, the air field and everything in between.
The last day they were here we went to the beach. It's a 2 hr drive so we again shared some laughs as we drove. After a day at the beach I took them to their hotel. They booked one night at a place on the beach and then had a shuttle take them to the airport the next night.

That's all for now! We have a fun long weekend planned....better go get busy enjoying it!
Happy 4th!

Wowza....4 months to update you on!!!

Has it really been 4 months since I updated!!?? CrAzY! I haven't forgotten, I check my blog regularly to go to the blogs I follow links. I keep looking at my blog and saying, "I really need to update!" Now that summer is here I have time to do that I suppose! Let's do a quick 4 month update then I'll post later (I promise) of our summer happenings.

March
March 1 marked a year of Amos being gone! Hard to believe he has already been living in the South for a year! Does that make him a resident?? :)
For Spring Break the girls and I flew south to spend our week off with Amos. We arrived on a Saturday and stayed a week. It was incredibly hard to return to cold KS! Amos was in class during the day so we only got to see him in the evenings. But after our family spending most of our time apart, that time was cherished! Usually we'd eat dinner and then head to the park where we could walk the trail and talk, then the kids would play on the play ground.

During the day, the girls and I spent time with my girlfriend Desi and her two kiddos. It wasn't warm enough for the kids to swim so we threw them in Desi's big bath tub....the kids loved it!

One day we went to post during lunch and had a picnic with daddy and his friends.

The girls' favorite part of the trip - riding around in Daddy's new Jeep. He recently sold his motorcycle and bought a Jeep. It's really just for fun (as was his bike) but this fun can hold all 4 of us at once. They still talk about riding in it.


April
On April 1st(no foolin) Briahna attended Kindergarten round up! Sniff sniff! It's hard to believe that she will go to Kindergarten next year! She had a blast and is ready to go to mommy's school!

On Easter weekend, Hailey made her debut as a flower girl. Briahna has been a flower girl twice now so it was Hailey's turn. She was in my cousin Matt's wedding in a small town in Missouri. She did great and actually wore one of Briahna's old dresses. Not only did Hailey toss flowers, she stood up there next to the bride and bridesmaids the entire time. Of course she did win the hearts of many of the guests....not sure who got more attention during the ceremony, her or the couple!


May
In May one of my sister's Janel, graduated from college in Colorado. My parents, my sister Jeri, the girls and I loaded up and made the drive to Ft. Collins. I've never been there, which is sad because she has lived there for 4 years now. It is a gorgeous town and we happen to visit when the weather was beautiful! We even went on a hike. Hailey fell asleep on the way to the hiking spot (Horse Tooth Mountain)so my mom stayed with her while my dad, Janel, Jeri, Briahna and I set out to hike. We didn't hike up the mountain but went around it to the falls. So pretty! I was proud of Briahna, she did a great job and only needed a few piggy back rides on the way back. Thankfully there was four of us so we took turns.


Also in May I found out that I was moving to Kindergarten next year. On of our fabulous K teachers retired. Then we found out that our numbers for 1st grade next year are low -- so one of us had to move down. I eagerly volunteered because Briahna would be a kindergartener next year and I wanted to be close to her during her first year. I will miss my fabulous 1st grade team but I am going into a fabulous K team....just have some big shoes to fill from the teacher retiring!

June
June 4th Briahna turned 5!! My how time has gone! She celebrated in style with a Barbie birthday party...well 2 actually. She had some friends over for lunch and cookies and then had family over for dinner and cake. We had a busy day but enjoyed celebrating her birthday! She is growing up way too fast!


The first full week of June was VBS. I took on the role of directing or what I like to call delagating. :) It went off great and we ran around 120 kids a night with 163 being our highest night on Wednesday. Our church has fantastic members who are willing to help in any way!

Then June 10th came and we headed south with two of my girl friends. We are in AL now and will remain here for the remainder of the summer. Look forward to a road trip post with pics and updates on our summer happenings. As Paul Harvey would say..."Now you are up to date." (Or something like that!)

More than just a dentist.....

Last week the girls went in for their 6 month cleaning. While Briahna has been a handful of times and is a pro...Hailey has now only been twice. Last time she wouldn't have it....she would only sit on my lap so they did a happy visit instead of a cleaning. This time was completely different! She crawled in the chair all by herself and got all of her teeth cleaned! How exciting!!!

Like any appointment, after the cleaning the dentist comes in to check everything out. We did both of the girls cleanings first and then had him come back. Now Dr. Bob is more than a dentist to our family. He is a friend, my daughters are the 5th generation of my family to see him. My great grandparents came a few times to him when they had problems and were in town. My grandparents, parents and my siblings are all currently patients of his as well. Looking at these next few pictures reminds me of my childhood and puts a smile on my face!

Ice and Snow Days

Well the Midwest got hit hard with ice and snow this week. The ice came Sunday night and all day Monday in the form of mist and fog. It left things slippery as we went to and from work and daycare. Then Monday night the snow started to fall. While it wasn't heavy at first, it was blowing like crazy. We enjoyed a snow day Tuesday while it continued to get nasty outside. The day was so glummy, I took a pic from our living room window because we couldn't see much past our road.

To top off our snowy and icy day Hailey wasn't feeling well. It started Monday where she slept most of the day away at daycare. By Monday night she had a fever and Tuesday woke up with no appetite. By lunch though she asked for some spaghetti. She cleaned her entire plate, YAH!! :) Here she is with her messy face.

She took a great nap and was pretty much herself the rest of the night. She enjoyed lounging and watching movies with Briahna and I. Tuesday night we found out that we had another snow day Wednesday. WOOHOO! :)

So Wednesday morning we made cookies. Then the girls wanted tents. We made two, one for the living room and one for the dining area in the kitchen.

After making the tents we were all hungry so what better than to have lunch in the tents...right? It wasn't too messy and mommy needed to vacuum anyway.

While the girls took an afternoon nap my dad came over to help me shovel snow. Well he came over, saw how high my snow drifts in the drive were (thigh high in places) and decided to go get his snow blower. So he did, man did that go fast. I did the sidewalk and smaller parts of the driveway while he tackled the big piles. Then we shoveled what was left and voila...time for cookies and hot chocolate!

My dad working hard with the snow blower.

Briahna was super silly and random Wednesday. At one point she told me she was allergic to giraffes and peacocks. There goes our chances at having an exotic animal as a pet...right? Then she came out with random clothes on (see pic below) and told me she was an adult now. I think being inside for two days in catching up with her.

It looks like we'll have 2 more days of school this week and then the weekend. No complaints there! Take care, stay warm and bundle up when you head out!