We're home!

Goodbye Tucson!

We made it home at 6pm and Kyle is now putting the kids to bed back in our own house.  Here are some highlights and things we learned from the trip:

*Kyle ran a 5K and came in # 161 out of 222.  He ran 1 1/2 miles in 16:46 (not bad when he hadn't been training at all for it!)

*I lost a toenail on one foot by kicking a suitcase...no surprise there, I'm always kicking something

*...and got a mega bruise on my other foot by dropping a peanut butter jar on it

*Benjamin took a nap on the sidewalk of Truth or Consequences (we let him out of the car because he was sick and we didn't want him sick all over the car)

*Kyle, true to form, came home with three nice bags jam packed full of hundreds of drug pens and other random drug labelled stuff (like a clock, stapler, pocket knife, toothbrushes, rubber duckies, otoscope)

*Johnny has become excited about potty training (see my last posting) and is still doing pretty well with it!

*Johnny had his first experience in a real swimming pool (our town in Oklahoma didn't have a pool) 

*Benjamin is learning how to swim and isn't afraid of the water

*Courtney started not being so afraid of the water

*Kyle got to sing and play his saxophone for the Acting Surgeon General and lots of his higher up underlings

*We learned that scotch tape is a byproduct of making cheese

*Kyle loves saguaro cactus

*We love the waffle makers at hotel breakfasts!

* One thing the kids enjoy on vacation at hotels is that they get to watch TV.  We're glad (meaning...Kyle and I are glad) that we don't have cable or satellite TV. 

*Lots of FFA kids and Maryland Air Force Reservists now know about the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

*Kyle's always going to bring an extra collar device or two on business trips (since he's glad someone else did...an almost disaster)

*Tucson has a pretty cool Children's Museum we walked to about a mile from our hotel.  The kids got to drive a sub, a police motorcycle, and a fire truck.  There was also this very cool shadow room where you could pose and then move away from the wall and your shadow was still there.  I had a lot of fun in that room!

*The kids DON'T like walking in the hot weather.  At all.

Our little dairy farmer, inspired by the hotel full of FFA kids we spent the week with:

Mom, these are the swim shirts.  You can't see it well, but Johnny's got his "muscle suit" on.  And Ben is wearing his "giggles".

Aunt Bethany, this is for you:

And to end, here is a video of one of our favorite areas at the Tucson Children's Museum.  There are velcro frogs on a velcro conveyor belt and a ceiling fan to help them take flight.  Enjoy!

Only three days to go...

Kyle has a conference this week in Tucson and we all came along for the ride.  We arrived Saturday and we leave on Thursday.  The drive was no biggie...only 8 hours.  Seriously, it went quickly; we are experts at long drives.  It's staying in this dinky hotel room that is miserable.  The kids get stir crazy all too quickly!  Sunday we went to church with a new friend (Bettie's sister and her family).  Then Kyle was gone from 2 until bedtime.  Yesterday we went swimming in the morning and then walked a mile to the Children's museum.  The kids were so worn out from walking, I don't think I can convince them to walk anywhere today.  We'll see.  There's a park I saw pretty close by--that might convince them.  We need to find something to do because even an hour holed up in this room is more than they seem to be able to handle.

On a positive note, Johnny is potty training himself on this trip.  (Courtney also began her potty training in a hotel room!)  He has never had success in actually going in a potty, until Sunday.  He has always said that "it doesn't work".  Well, guess what!  It works!  He went three times on Sunday and only used his diaper for, um, #2.  Yesterday we were out so much, we didn't get success, but he still tried and instead of saying it didn't work, he put a positive spin on it and just said there wasn't any pee in there.  

We called the grandparents on Sunday to let Johnny tell them the good news.  He said:

"I went potty!  My p_ _ _ _ works.  It had yellow on it."  Yeah, um, last week when changing his diaper, he pointed and asked what his male parts were called.  So I told him.  And he has been using that word ever since.  Joy.

Santa Fe Public Library

The SFPL is the closest thing to us and the only place remotely walkable from our house.  We don't have a playground, but we do have the library.  Here are a few posts from the library blog with pics of the kids:

http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/2008/04/hug-rug.html

http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/2007/09/dragons-are-real.html

We've been MACd!

Last week we finally decided how we wanted to stimulate the economy.  Our desktop computer is showing it's age and is getting obnoxious to use, so we decided to go all out and got a MacBook Pro laptop computer.  So far we have been able to figure out everything we want to do on it and it is so fast and so fun!!  

I love being able to use the computer and the internet wherever I want.  I love how fast it does things...especially when working with photos.

Speaking of photos, the Mac has a built in camera and some fun filters.  here are a few of our favorites.  Aren't my boys cute?  LOL

Wii Fit is in the house!

It was released this morning and I went and picked up my preorder right at 10 am when GameStop opened. It does a few tests and tells you your WiiFit age. Mine was 43 at first, but after testing again was only 37 (I'm 34, so that's not too bad). My BMI was right in the middle of the normal range, so that made me feel pretty good. Even better, it weighed me in at about 8 lbs. less than our scale, so I think I'll listen to the balance board instead of the scale. :) It lets you set weight loss goals or maintenance goals and tells you how you are doing and the other characters even cheer you on. Check this out if you have no idea what I am talking about... http://www.nintendo.com/wiifit/launch/

I think this game is definitely a keeper!

I just go promoted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kyle here! So what better way to end my work day than to get a call from ADMIRAL PITTMAN congratulating me on my promotion to Lieutenant Commander. WAHOO!!! It feels pretty good...working so hard toward a goal and achieving it. One of my hardest goals was losing 20 lbs. to meet the height/weight requirements. I'm keeping it off too! I love the Corps. I enjoy my job and the constant challenges that make me grow into a better pharmacist, husband, and father every day. Promotion comes with a nice pay raise too :)

'Til my next post whenever that may be.

Kyle.

The house was quiet yesterday

No messes from Johnny. Of course, that's because he was asleep all day and had a fever of over 104. It started Monday night and was 24 hours of feeling miserable, but gratefully there were no other symptoms. This morning we woke up to Johnny in bed next to me and he felt just fine. He only gets in my bed when he is sick...which then makes my day worse because I can't sleep with him there.

Anyway, today he was up an running around and back to himself. It's funny that when he is active, I can get so frustrated, but when he is sick, I miss his energy and personality. I guess it just goes to show that we do need the bad to help us appreciate our blessings.