Ft Benning, GA and the trip that got us here :D

The day we left Hawaii - which seems like it should be a week ago not just yesterday - we got the new kennel/crate for the dog only to discover that there was no hardware or door for it! So we had to hit up K-Mart to get ANOTHER crate. There were only two lines open and of course I ended up in the line where someone was making an exchange..

We got to the airport about 2 hours pre-flight but because of having to return the one day (more like 4 hour) rental car and check the baggage and get the dog all checked with the flights - we were practically running to the gate. Made it just a few minutes before they started boarding the flight. Of course the military, when booking our flights, didn't pay attention to whether or not our five seats on each flight were close or together! So we get on the first flight and thanks to a lovely Delta flight attendant were able to swap seats with some people.

Halfway through that flight I realize I didn't have my camera bag - the one with my 'spensive, shiny Nikon camera! I went back to the row I was originally in with Anya and found it tucked way under the seat where I must have stowed it and forgotten in the scramble to get switched. We landed in LA and Robby is collecting all the carry ons while I arrange the kids and I noticed one bag missing...our "quick change" bag that had shoes, socks, changes of clothes, etc for when we arrived in the slightly more chilly Georgia. Near as we can figure - during boarding it was accidentally left behind in the gate area in Honolulu Airport. If there was a TSA shut down of the airport as a result of our forgotten bag - I extend my apologies lol.

Anyway, for whatever reason, we're all standing about waiting to off load from the plane and it takes like 30 minutes before they even open the doors (mind you we were already at the gate so it's not like we were still being pulled in or anything). We finally get off the plane and start to hunt down the gate for our next flight since our 2 hour layover is now more like an hour and fifteen minutes. After a couple elevator trips, a LONG walk through the "Steel Curtain Tunnel" of LAX and an escalator trip, we find out new gate and have about 20 minutes to feeds ourselves before boarding. If it were just Robby and I - 20 minutes would be no problem but the girls aren't speedy eaters lol.

On board the next flight (this one from LAX to Atlanta), once again we swap a couple seats with people so Robby is sitting with Jadzia and I'm sitting with Inara and Anya. This particular flight is a red-eye flight and I should note here that Anya has MAJOR motion/spacial issues. She HATES elevators, escalators, etc. Flying was no different. I also suspect she might have slight claustrophobia issues. Every time we boarded a flight she would start freaking out when I tried to get her to move into the row and sit down - just what I want to deal with when trying to stow luggage and get three kids settled. She did this even on the flight from Hawaii to LA and she'd never flown before. Anyway, since it was a red-eye I felt the need to get her calmed as soon as possible - the last thing the sleeping people wanted at midnight was a screaming, crying two year old. With a lot of soothing and holding, she calmed down and clutched onto me through the take off and then conked out.

De-planing from this flight is where we lost another item of marginal importance - one of Anya's Kai-Lan dolls. Now, Anya has a mild Kai-Lan obsession and has what we call the "Kai-Lan Army" of like 6 different stuffed Kai-Lan dolls. All but two of them were snatched by packers before I could rescue them and are currently in a crate somewhere between Hawaii in Georgia. Now one of them is probably sitting in an airport lost and found or something but trying to get back on the plane to retrieve it simply wasn't worth it at that point so she'll have to deal with one for now. (I know, I know - this trip will probably cement her need for like years of therapy lol)

Now in Atlanta, we have about a three hour layover until we are supposed to get on our short hop to Columbus so we take our time getting to our new gate (which requires more escalator trips to traumatize the smallest spawnling and airport train trip). And then we wait...at this point, though it's like 8AM Atlanta time, it's about 3AM Hawaii time and my children are all WIDE AWAKE while Robby and I are desperately trying to keep our eyes open. I was doing great until we stopped moving lol.

So our little 30 minute hop flight is delayed first because of a late flight crew - several flights were delayed for the same reason during our time in the concourse so either the flight crews in Atlanta do not feel the need to be on time - ever - or that's Delta's standardized reply initially lol. After it had been delayed almost an hour they changed the reasoning to maintenance. We finally get boarded...and then we sit. Apparently the radio isn't transmitting or something so we sit and we sit and we sit. Anya spazzes out and eventually falls asleep on my lap while we sit. Another hour or so later, we are de-planed and told to "talk to the gate agents about making arrangements...". Nice plan! The passengers scatter - some jump onto another flight to Columbus, some I suspect go rent a car and just plan to drive from Atlanta to Columbus (it's a couple hours by car). We're waiting for them to work their way through the line and Robby steps up when they announce that they "think" they fixed the issue and will be continuing the flight as planned (a couple hours late). So we reboard and take off. The Fasten Seatbelt sign is off for about 3 minutes before they turn it back on and announce that we are landing! 3 hour layover, 2+ hour delay...for a 30 minute flight!

But finally we're in the tiny little Columbus airport and Robby goes to secure our rental car while I wait with the kids for the baggage to start rolling. Nearly an hour later it finally DOES start rolling and we get everything - except one duffel bag...oh and our DOG!

Thankfully Jasper (the Dog) was NOT lost somewhere between Hawaii and Georgia or taking a mini-break in like Aruba without us. The duffel bag, on the other hand, took a bit longer to track down. Thankfully it was found a while later and finally we were off - only we really had no idea where we were seeing as we'd had no internet for a week and no real means of mapping or familiarizing ourselves with the area lol. It took a couple wrong turns but we found the rather large Ft Benning AND our hotel and then we all fell down lol.

Oh and we saw a few signs for restaurants and such that we have missed during our time in Hawaii so woohoo lol

A Three Hour Tour...

*humming the Gilligan tune*

Today I wanted to go to Costco, that was honestly my only goal. Because we needed a couple things...

I felt the urge to take my camera with me because I haven't been using it much lately. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to take a picture of but I knew I wanted to take a picture (or several). Since there isn't much between the base and the nearest Costco, I decided to head in the direction of the other one on the island, hoping I'd figure out what I wanted to take pictures of in between.

I took the wrong exit for the Costco and ended up driving through Waikiki and Honolulu a bit and eventually ended up at the Bishop Museum after a series of turns. While I do want to return to the Museum on another day, today I didn't figure it would be worth the money given Anya was on the edge of meltdown. If I kept moving, I figured she'd fall asleep after awhile.

Once again I found myself not entirely sure where I was but it's an island, eventually you have to turn or you end up in the ocean, and I was on a major road. So I kept driving. I found myself wedged between the mountains and eventually passed through one of the tunnels (where I got no radio signal by the way) and on the eastern side of the island.

By this point, it seemed a little foolish to turn around and back track - it would take just as long to get back to Honolulu and loop up to base as it would (probably) to take the coastal route. So we kept on driving along the coast...

The coast of Hawaii...it was one of those days where I thought "I live in Hawaii! How did this happen?!" Yes, over a year later and I still think like that. It's completely baffling to me some days. At this point I still hadn't taken any pictures because I was too busy trying to figure out where exactly we were. I pulled over a few times to take pictures though once I was oriented.

Almost four hours after we left the house to go to Costco, we got home - never having gone to Costco. Oh well, another day perhaps.

These first two are actually from a trip to North Shore a couple weeks ago.



The rest are from today.

One Year Ago

One year ago today the girls and I arrived in Hawaii. Robby got here in December but it took us a couple months to follow along. My mom, Julye and my mother-in-law drove us to the airport and helped us get checked in. Gimli whined the whole way through the airport while in his carrier. We checked in the humans first and then took Gimli over to the oversize baggage area to check him in. we had to take him out of the carrier so they could check out the carrier for any security risks. That made him excited that he was going to get freed - unfortunately then I had to put him back in the carrier and send him on his way. Aside from the 9 hour flight ahead of him, he also had a 4 month quarantine when we landed in Hawaii.

Because we were traveling on orders, we were able to get security passes for our escorts which was a huge help. I had decided to check Jadzia's carseat but was bringing Inara's on the flight with us. Dragging it, our carry on luggage and two kids would have probably been more than I could handle alone. Security didn't take long to get through so we still had a few hours to kill before boarding the flight. We all had lunch at one of the airport restraunts together. After lunch my mother-in-law left because she had things to do. Mom and Julye escorted us to the gate and stayed with us until they called for us to board. Unfortnately they couldn't help us on the plane itself but a nice man behind us volunteered to carry the carseat for me.

I was doing okay emotionally until I boarded the plane. Then the fact that I was leaving Texas, leaving my friends and family, leaving everything familiar -even to be with Robby - hit me like a ton of bricks and I started to tear up. I managed to hold it back in order to get the kids settled and our luggage stowed but when my mom called to make sure we'd got on board and I could hear HER getting choked up, I was ready to lose it. I was also 5 months pregnant which probably didn't help my emotional stability at the time. It didn't take long to calm down and get back to the excited "being a whole family" again state. Since Robby left for basic in June we'd been apart for 8 months with only a few short visits in between. Moving to Hawaii meant we'd be together again even if everything else was left behind.

While I miss my friends and my parents and Texas - I would follow him anywhere the Army let's families go. All that being said, I can't wait to get back to the mainland. Hawaii isn't paradise for long - after awhile it's just Hawaii.

On a side note - we're one month out of twelve down. Robby left one month ago today.

Mother Nature

In case you weren't aware - and I'm pretty sure you're not - the big bad wolf is huffing and puffing and trying to blow us all down here in Hawaii. All the schools and public offices were pretty much shut down for the day due to high winds and rain. I keep hearing noise from the doors like they're opening but it's just the wind hitting them hard. The wind pounding against the window last night woke me up a couple times - in case you haven't been keeping count - I didn't get much sleep last night.

I watched P.S. I Love You last night which was the Netflix movie we'd just gotten. When I went to drop it in the mail box it wasn't raining. As I started to walk back it started to drizzle a bit. By the time I was back to the house it was POURING and I was soaked through to the bone. At that time I didn't think much of it except that I was wet. When I went back to the mailbox to check the mail for the day, it was nice and dry. So I got my mail and felt the first drops hitting my head. Once again I got home feeling like a wet rag. This time, however, I'd dressed accordingly and worn a jacket to shield me from the wind and rain hitting me. Apparently Mother Nature didn't think I needed to go to the mailboxes today.

P.S. Those trees don't normally look so slanted. Just in case you were curious.