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

100 Truths About Me

100 Truths about Cami

1. Last beverage - water
2. Last phone call - Hubs
3. Last text message - Hubs
4. Last song you listened to - Vanilla Twilight by Owl City
5. Last time you cried - Not really sure; last major time I remember would be when my dog died.

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice - yes, didn't end well either time lol
7. Been cheated on - no
8. Kissed someone & regretted it - no
9. Lost someone special - yes
10. Been depressed - not exceptional, sad sure but I wouldn't say depressed
11. Been drunk and threw up - no
LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Purple
13. Blue
14. Red

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2010)
15. Made a new friend - yes
16. Fallen out of love - no
17. Laughed until you cried - yes
18. Met someone who changed you - yes
19. Found out who your true friends were - no
20. Found out someone was talking about you - no
21. Kissed anyone on your fb friend's list - yes, hubs lol

GENERAL:
22. How many people on your Facebook friends list do you know in real life - maybe an eighth of them
24. Do you have any pets - Yes, a dog named Jasper
25. Do you want to change your name - no
26. What did you do for your last birthday - not a whole lot I don't think
27. What time did you wake up today - 7AM (thanx kidlets)
28. What were you doing at midnight last night - watching NUMB3RS
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for - Moving off this island! :D
30. Last time you saw your Mother - a year ago
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? - location, but that's up to the army lol
32. What song do you love listening to - How to Save a Life by They Fray
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom - yes
34. What's getting on your nerves right now - my dog lol
35. Most visited webpage - TS3 forums, FB, SiManiacs
37. Nicknames - Cami, Cameo
38. Relationship Status - Married with Children
39. Zodiac Sign - Capricorn
40. He or She? - She
41. Elementary? - 6 of them
42. Middle School? - Strack Intermediate
43. High School? - Cypress Creek HS
44. Hair color - Brownish
45. Long or short - Long
46. Height - 5' 9"
47. Do you have a crush on someone? Does Johnny Depp count? lol
48: What do you like about yourself? Everything! I'm just that awesome ;)

49. Piercings - ears only
50. Tattoos - one, a jeweled crescent moon on my shoulder
51. Righty or lefty - righty

FIRST:
52. First surgery - c-section in January 2007 with 2nd spawnling
53. First piercing - ears when I was too young to remember
54. First real best friend - Michael K. in Kinder ;)
55. First sport you joined - Swimming
56. First vacation - heck if I remember lol

RIGHT NOW:
59. Eating - Nothin
60. Drinking - water
61. I'm about to - tackle an enormous pre-packers list
62. Listening to - Michael Buble
63. Waiting for - Mental Health

YOUR FUTURE :
64. Get Married? - Again? Oh heck no! lol Once it enough for me
65. Want Kids? - More than I already have - no thank ya!
66. Career? - I already have like five careers; teacher, photographer, writer, cook, maid, sports coach, nurse - I'm a mom ;)

WHICH IS BETTER :
67. Lips or eyes? - Eyes
68. Hugs or kisses - Hugs
69. Shorter or taller - either or
70. Older or Younger - older
71. Romantic or spontaneous - romantic
73. Sensitive or loud - sensitive
74. Hook-up or relationship - relationship
75. Trouble maker or hesitant - hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER :
76. Kissed a stranger - no
77. Drank hard liquor - yes
78. Lost glasses/contacts - no
79: Broken a bone in your body - yes
80. Broken someone's heart - not that I know of
81. Had your own heart broken - yes
83. Turned someone down - yes
84. Cried when someone died - yes
85. Fallen for a friend - yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself - yes
87. Miracles - sort of
88. Love at first sight - yes
89. Heaven - no
90. Santa Claus - I like to believe in the magic yes
91. Kiss on the first date - yes
92. Fate - yes to some degree

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
93. Had more than one bf/gf? - yes
94. Is there one person you want to be with right now? - yes and I'm with them all
95. Did you sing today? - no
96. Ever cheated on somebody? - no
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go, and why? - Jane Austen England - just cause I could
98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be? The day Robby came home from his deployment
99. Are you afraid of falling in love? - nope
100. Did you have fun writing 100 truths? - yes

Pokemon Platinum

Among my many other geeky tendencies, I am totally hooked on the Pokemon games for the various Nintendo handhelds. I've played them all the way back to Gold and Silver (and have bought Red/Blue used just so I could play it too). I have no interest in watch the show or collecting the cards - only the Gameboy games.

Anyway, I preordered two copies of the new game a few weeks ago from Amazon and they came today. One will be going in the mail with a new DS Lite for Robby (who is also hooked). The other I've been playing for the last 7 hours or so (on and off as the kids occasionally drew me away).

Gotta catch 'em all!

Homesick

I miss Texas.

Hawaii is beautiful but it's not home, it's not Texas. Right now vivid bluebonnets have sprouted over fields and on the sides of the highways during the grass into a beautiful sea of bright blue flowers. When I was a kid, my dad would take us out to take pictures in bluebonnets and I did it with the girls. It was a Texas tradition. And I miss it this year. I missed them last year too but moving to Hawaii was still so new at that point I didn't think as much of it. This year, however, I miss everything.

I miss Austin.

I love Texas in general and should it decide to secede from the Union I would have a hard time not returning and publicly declaring myself a citizen of the Republic of Texas. But Austin, Austin is the heart for me. It is weird, Austin is Weird. And proud of their Weirdness. So much so, they embrace it and live by the motto of "Keep Austin Weird". What makes Austin weird exactly? Leslie - the cross-dressing mayoral candidate - for one. Austin is an artistic, indie haven for culture and free-thinking. It's full of art, music, literature and history. While it continues to expand and sadly loses some of that, it is still home for me. It's a small bastion of liberalism against a great state of conservatives.

And my friends are there.

Mind you I have friends here - well I have one friend here at least - but most of my friends are in Austin or in Texas somewhere. I miss my friends. I miss hanging out with them and rolling dice to create characters for a game we'll play once if that. I miss watching Jeff go into the purple zone and laugh at everything regardless of how funny or may not be.

And I miss my family.

Pretty much everyone is somewhere in Texas. We used to meet to have lunch with Dad in Giddings once a month. It was just a couple hours on a Sunday but it was nice to see him regularly. I miss seeing my mom, even though she came with her own annoyances. No matter how much her actions or words might annoy me, I know how much she loves us all. And I think we reached a new level of our relationship shortly before we moved here.

So I miss home. I'm thrilled to get a chance to see places that aren't Texas but there's a small part of me that aches for home I think. And Texas is home to me. Growing up, I couldn't wait to leave Texas. I wanted to move to California and do, I have no idea what exactly, but I wanted to move to California. I had no desire to stay in Texas then. I applied to the University of Texas because my parents encouraged it. As chance would have it, I ended up at UT and met Robby and Jeff and Mary and all my dear friends. I fell in love with Robby and Austin and Texas and now it's home.

I'm feeling rather nostalgic tonight and thinking of friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile. Thus the somewhat depressing ramblings about my homesickness.

Restless

Some might call it island fever, others might call it boredom, most days I just call it the blahs. I'm not depressed or sad, which is the conclusion most people seem to jump too - I'm just "eh".

One moment I think I want (or need) to get out of the house to do something. But the more I tried to figure out what that something is, the less I want to actually get out and do it. I make plans to go to the beach with the kids or go to the zoo or something and when it comes down to it end up making excuses or just ignoring those plans. I'm just "eh".

I think part of the problem is how I'm handling the deployment. I almost feel like I'm coping TOO well if that's possible. I expected to be sad and unfit for humanity for at least the first couple weeks but after the first day I've been pretty okay. Yeah I miss him, yeah I worry for him and yeah I'd love for him to be home right now but he's not and it's just how it is. I keep thinking I should be feeling more or maybe that I'm repressing the feelings or something. I don't know - maybe I am just handling it well. I felt worse when he left for basic training and then I knew he was safe. What's with that?

Also when he left for basic, I wrote him letters every day. I found cards to send him and was constantly trying to find little things to make the mail more exciting like ordering him Star Wars stamps or stamps from Zazzle.com with the kids' pictures on them. It took me three weeks to sit down and write him a single letter this time (of course it was like 6 pages long but still!). Granted this time I generally get to talk to him more often than we got to talk in basic but it still seems like I'm just not ... right. I don't even know how to explain it exactly because I keep coming back to just being "eh".

I think I really need to get out of the house and off base - do something different. Obviously my choices are limited given that I live on an island but considering we don't generally go anywhere beside the commissary or PX lately, anything would be a change of pace. For now though, I'm gonna go read my book! The "ehs", island fever, restlessness will pass sooner or later (though I'm hoping for sooner).

25 Things About Me

This tag game has been passing around facebook lately and I was tagged by about 10 people before I finally decided to do it and be done with it. I figured it would make good content for a slow day, so here you go - 25 random little things about me that I'm sure you're all dying to know. The only one altered from my facebook note is number 25 (which linked to this blog on facebook).

1) I broke my ankle when I was 10 months old. I walked off a small stage at an amusement park. My parents didn't realize it was broken until hours later.

2) I love looking at and buying earrings - I only wear them once or twice a year. Same with other jewelry, I rarely wear anything beyond my ring but I like having it.

3) In junior high, I was officer for Speech and Drama Club. The three years at Strack were far more fun than high school.

4) In junior high I wanted to be president of the United States - I suppose there's still time but I just don't see it happening. lol

5) I love to read. 7 or 8 months ago I had no pile of to be read books and now I have over 50 with many more on my wishlist.

6) I don't remember much of my childhood before age 11.

7) I used to swim on summer swim team and loved it. I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer - I wasn't that good but it was fun. Now I don't have the stamina to swim more than a couple laps.

8) I hang the kids clothes in outfits as much for mt benefit (speed) as Robby's (knowing what goes together). Plus then I know the kids will be dressed "right".

9) I like to do digital scrapbooking but haven't done any in awhile. I did annual albums for Jadzia the first couple of years and haven't done anything for Inara or Anya. Seriously need to catch up.

10) Jadzia was born on my mom's birthday, the one day I didn't want her to be born at the time.

11) Inara was born between Robby's birthday and our Anniversary. She was a week late and at that point I didn't really care WHEN she was born.

12) I wanted Anya to be born on my dad's birthday but she wasn't.

13) Anya was named the same name as a cat we had. She was NOT named AFTER the cat but the name came from the same place for both. lol

14) I miss my hubby (okay that's a given but my mind is starting to wander lol)

15) Robby called a couple days ago and he was sick as well - at the same time as me - on the other side of the world. That just seemed weird. lol

16) I don't really like living in Hawaii. It's okay but it was only paradise for about 3 months. Now it's like the longest vacation ever (and that's not in a good way). I don't DISLIKE it, I just don't like it too much either. Maybe I'm just over it.

17) I was an English major in college - I almost never turned in a paper that wasn't a first draft (or a just barely edited second draft).

18) I think Inara's "Terrible twos" are punishment or revenge for Jadzia's being relatively easy. I shudder to think what Anya's will be like. I think Inara is more and more like my brother in law everyday and that terrifies me.

19) I hate mustard because Outback put too much on my burger once, I also dislike Outback as a result. It was a one time occurrence but it stuck. I hate tuna because my mom's girlfriend made me a tuna sandwich once with just tuna and bread, I was a kid and it also stuck. I don't like bananas either but I don't remember why. lol

20) I can trace my dad's side of the family to the early 1600s; they came to America before America was America. They settled in Pennsylvania at the time. There is a town in PA called Royersford that was named for the family who owned the land where the town bloomed. I have no idea if they're related but my maiden name is Royer....

21) I want to live somewhere with snow and seasons and winter. Y'all might think I'm crazy but I hail from Texas - no real winter. And now I'm in Hawaii - again with the no winter.

22) When I was a kid/teenager, my mom let me pick any other month to celebrate my birthday since it was so close to Christmas. I picked August. For my 13th "birthday", my friends kidnapped me and took me horse back riding. I haven't been riding in so long and I want to go again soon. Jadzia is almost old enough if I can find a babysitter for the other two.

23) Anya won't take a bottle so I can't leave her with anyone. She isn't on a schedule or routine yet so I can't even try to leave her with someone for 30 minutes that she "should" be happy or sleeping.

24) I've very particular about who I have watch the kids - which is why we haven't gone out much since Jadzia was born and they go with me everywhere - even if it's crazy.

25) I love my husband but on the rare occasion he drives me crazy. I love my girls but sometimes they drive me nutty. I love my dogs but often they drive me batty. I'm a Crazy Nutty Bat. ;)

Me, myself and I

I am Cami. My husband joined the military in June of 2007 - at 29 years old. We already had two little girls at the time. It's not your "typical" start in the military but it's how it worked out for us. Girl number 3 came along after a 4 day weekend reunion and then we got our first duty station assignment - in Hawaii.

Living in "paradise" was great for the first few months - now it's just Hawaii. It's nice but I wouldn't say paradise exactly. I miss being near family, I miss Texas, I miss Sonic and Red Robin and Fry's Electronics.....oh yeah, and now I miss my husband seeing as he just left on our first deployment.

I originally started this blog when he was in Basic and AIT and then I did nothing with it. I suspect the first deployment will be a big Army challenge so it seems a good time to start back up.

So here I am, one day at a time. Thanks for reading