So happy together....

We are so happy to have Allen back home! It was an exhausting day for everyone yesterday but he's home! And for all the exhaustion and craziness, to see Juliet when her Daddy came down the escalators, she stood on top of her chair yelling as loud as she could "Daddy, Dadddddddy!" arms stretched out as wide as she could.

Everyone around us smiled wide at her excitement.

Her Daddy swooped her up and she was so happy to see him she wouldn't let him put her down.

Today we had lunch at a local cafe and sampled their fried pickles. Pretty tasty.

HOME!!! (Kinda) FINALLY!!! (Sorta)

Well, I'm finally home... Kinda... Not "Home" in our dream home in Arkansas... But "home" in the rental house we are in til closing...

The trip was frustrating to say the least... Got to the airport in Norfolk WWWAAAAAAYYY early... Like 2-3 hours early... Got the full screening at the airport, which took 10 minutes to repack my bags after TSA's continuing search for Bin Ladin in my luggage...

And even though I was SUPER early, the guy at the check-in counter said, "We don't have a gate never yet, as that plane will be a few hours late..."

But the plane was in Norfolk on time, fully fueled and ready for take-off!!! Which it did, about 2 hours late... "The weather in Chicago is pretty bad... We're trying to miss a storm..."

And storm indeed!!! We finally got to Chicago about 90 minutes from my next flight, the weather was CRAZY!!! Crazy boring that is... No snow... No rain... No winds... Perhaps it was one of those invisible storms?!?!

Anyways, sitting at my final gate, waiting for my next flight, I was thankful the weather was good, so we would have no problems leaving...

Yeah, right!!!

About 20 minutes before the listed take-off time, they announced that the plane we were waiting on still hadn't left Madison yet... Why?!?! The Bad weather in Chicago? Myself and about 20 other people looked outside the giant windows, looking for this mysterious storm... "I think it might be drizzling..." was the harshest weather we could find...

So, about the time I should be landing on Little Rock, the plane finally took off from Madison... We finally lifted off around 8pm, and got to Little Rock at about 9:30...

HOME!!! Well, after a 3 hour drive... We finally got here at about 1AM... Tired, exhausted, beaten...

I took the dogs for a walk, hand-fed Loko, and crawled into bed...

A scant 6 hours later, I hear someone singing, "Daaaaa-Deeeeee!!!"

And that's when I knew I was home!

Airport

We're trying to kill time while waiting for Allen. They should have cots I here you can rent to catch a nap.

Juliet's been pretty good, she's exhausted. The last pic is her using my Starbucks cup holder thing as binoculars.

Airport

Allen's flight is (of course) delayed so we're trying to kill some time. Here Juliet surprised upon hearing a loud voice over the PA system.

Waiting....

Having a little to eat as drink at the Little Rock air force base before we head over to the airport to pick up Allen.

"Here Kitty, Kitty"

Juliet found some ribbon then the cat found Juliet. They've been playing and running around chasing each other for a half hour now.

Hello, old friend.....

So the new house has limited shopping nearby. Today we went exploring the major shopping in Jonesboro and it didn't disappoint.

Within a few square miles there are major restaurants and all kinds of shopping. The best part? The huge mall has a TARGET attached! A-TARGET-ATTACHED! With a Sams Club just down the road from that and Lowes around the corner, I think we'll have all the shopping we need.

So after a fun day of driving and window shopping we're back at home resting. Tomorrow is another day of driving as we will be heading down to Little Rock mid-day to do some shopping at the base and then over to the airport to pick up Allen.

Cristy

More Exploring

Today Juliet and I are headed out to our closest large "city" Jonesboro, AR to check out the area and shopping. It's about 1 1/2 hr drive and has pretty much anything we could need: Target, Sams Club, Lowes, A Mall, etc.

Should be a fun day of exploring and window shopping......if we can get out of the house. Juliet is determined to get herself dressed this morning- which is great, but takes 3 times longer to get ready. Oh well, that's the beauty of things right now, we're in no hurry and have no where else to be.

Oh and did I mention the best part of today? Allen returns from Va Beach tomorrow so Juliet and I are VERY excited to go pick him up tomorrow night!

Cristy W.

VeggieTales

Juliet has been putting up a fight at dinnertime lately, as two year olds will do. Tonight I decided to go easy and give her a tortilla with melted cheese just hoping she would eat.

I stepped away from the table for a moment to deal with a dog situation and came back to find her stuffing herself with the veggies. Um, ok, awesome!

Upon further inspection you will note that she has opened all the snap peas so she can eat the "baby peas" lol.

Go veggies. Hey, why mess with what works-I will now be making her veggies the main dish and the main dish the side dish (though you know as soon as you do what a toddler wants they change their mind again!)

New Look

You probably noticed the blog looks a little different. I'm working on changing a few things and the look of it so it may change again soon till I get it just right.

Hope you enjoy.

Cristy W.

PARTING GIFT...

So, at my Farewell Luncheon today, the senior Officer in my career field gave a nice speech about me... At the end, he gave me a Challenge Coin (a military tradition).

Birdies, oh Birdies

Eat!

Juliet was mad at first that the geese weren't eating the feed. She kept calling to them "here geese, treats" & "try it you'll like it" so funny. They weren't having any of it though so we decided to just feed the birds.

Love this....

Near our new house is this abandoned building. It used to be some sort of general store. I love the look of it.

Having fun

Taking a pic of us is so hard. She's camera shy right now and won't hold still!

State Park

Juliet and I went back to the State Park this morning so she could feed the ducks & geese. Unfortunately they wanted nothing to do with being fed so we fed pigeons instead and both the pigeons and Juliet were happy campers.

Sleepy Morning

Juliet took awhile to wake up this morning. She only cuddles with me when she's sleepy so I took advantage and snapped this pic.

FAREWELL...

Sent off in style!!!

Hair-rific!

This morning Juliet requested I put as many clips as possible in her hair.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Juliet sat over in the corner and put her shoes on all by herself. The right feet, closed the Velcro and everything. She didn't want me to take a picture so this is all I could get.

Ice Cream Shoppe

At a local ice cream shoppe to get Juliet a treat. Even though it's cold out she insisted on ice cream so we're sitting down inside enjoying ourselves.

Another Beautiful Morning

Corncob cornbread

I decided to try out my cast iron cornbread mold. Was kind of hard to get out once cooked but turned out pretty well.

Resisting!

Someone is resisting her naps so she's tired and watching a DVD while I get dinner ready. Holding on to her newest favorite toy, a small red fire engine.

Tamed hair!

This was the only pic I could get of Juliet with something in her hair. She is not a fan of letting me touch her hair in any way these days.