We love you San Diego!

I'm sitting in the new house in San Diego as I type this long awaited (let's hope) blog. Let me fill you in on the events of the last month or two...

We began packing the house before Christmas. One box then another, as February drew closer we had everything in boxes but essentials (big thanks to Maam). We finally picked up the rental truck mid-February. Packed one day, cleaned the next, and the journey began. Since we didn't get on the road until later in the day, we drove several hours and stopped for the night. We started again fairly early on Day 2 and several hours later, the snow began. This was Gray's first snow and possibly his last for quite sometime so we took a few pictures.

We made it to Bastrop and got ready for Gray's 1st Birthday party (celebrated one month early). Gray had a HUGE turn out to his party and most of the attendees had driven some distance to celebrate with him! He blew out his candle and opened gifts with his Daddy. Gray had an amazing time and we were glad to see everyone that came to celebrate with us! I wasn't feeling so great before the party and within an hour or so of everyone leaving, I realized I had 102+ fever. Body aches, fever, you name it. We spent one more night in Bastrop then headed for Texas. We made it to Fort Worth then decided to stop because I still wasn't feeling well.

We pressed on toward El Paso the next night and stayed in a delightful motel on the East side of El Paso. We spent the next day sight seeing and driving West. We visited the White Sands National Monument, where I injured by a cactus. It was Fletch's fault. I have recovered, in case you were wondering. We drove into Tombstone that night and spent the day and next night there. After visiting the OK Corral, Boot Hill, and all of Tombstone's other attractions, we were off again. We stopped at Saguaro National Park (which was amazing) then drove into San Diego after one more full day of driving.

A good friend of Josh's invited us to stay with his family as we looked for a place to live. The Ryberg's were amazing and we were so grateful to have a nice place to stay with a super comfy bed. It was way more fabulous than a hotel and we are eternally grateful! We quickly found a place to live and moved in the week after we arrived in San Diego!

Since arriving in San Diego we have seen lots of sights! We have been to the beach a few times, the San Diego zoo, Sea World, Downtown, etc. We have booked a Whale Watching Tour for this weekend and have plans to go to the Wild Animal Park, LegoLand, a Padres game, a Chargers game, and take an Amtrack ride as time allows! There are so many things to see and places to go here in San Diego, and we are trying to take advantage of it!

That is our trip in a nutshell. We have unpacked almost everything in the house, but I'm still in the process of putting things in their place. There are still some pictures and curtains (which I'm planning to make) to hang but overall it is starting to feel more like home every day. I have about 4 million pictures from the trip, so I'll post again with some photos.

Getting ready for Big Move 2010!

We made our trip home for Christmas and celebrated with almost everyone! Gray was able to spend time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and most of his cousins! Santa came to see him in Jackson and since he was a good boy this year (except when actually meeting Santa-screams ensued) Gray got tons of fun things to play with and cute things to wear. Overall, we had a great trip but were glad to be back in our temporary home. Living out of a suitcase is overrated, unless you are on a fabulous vacation!

As soon as we got home, we started packing up the house. Josh finished his last two flights at 302, the same night I won a pair of diamond earrings at the 302 coffee for January! We took the MLK weekend to lounge around the house and pack some more. It was nice having Josh around without a flight and studying for the brief looming. We had a very uneventful weekend, but it was amazing. We have decided to move ourselves (referred to as a DITY move) after finding out how much money we could make doing it ourselves (I'm currently planning a holiday with the proceeds). I think this is a win-lose situation, but I'm the one that talked Josh into it. The win is the $$$. The lose is the expense/heartache of actually packing up everything we own and moving it across the country with a 10 month old. We actually have almost everything packed up already, so I'm just ready to find a place to live and actually unpack everything. I'm ready to drop the transient title and move some place for more than 10 minutes. I think Josh is more ready to be near consistently surf-able waves!

Our plan is to pack the truck and be out of North Carolina on the 11th. We are stopping in Bastrop for Gray's 1st birthday party on the 13th. We thought it would be nice to celebrate the big ONE with friends and family at home since he may not get to celebrate in a BIG way again for a while. We also thought it would be a great time for our friends and family to see us one more time before we go. I'm hoping people will make the drive because I don't know when we will be back in the area and we really do miss everyone!

Gray and I dropped Josh off at the airport one week ago today. He flew into San Diego for SERE school, where he is currently in the field, sleeping under the stars and most likely getting pretty hungry. From what I have gathered this training isn't the most fun training Marines attend, but you learn tons of useful information about survival techniques. I think Josh will love all of the information they teach because he is really into useful ways to 'survive' in the wild. I'm not sure what all they do at SERE school (mostly because you have to sign non-disclosure forms and Josh doesn't take that kind of thing lightly) and I'm almost glad that I don't know because I have heard horror stories including frostbite, black eyes, babies crying, and pine boxes. Most guys lose around 20 pounds while they are gone, due to the lack of food/sleep/etc. they experience in the last week. Josh isn't very friendly when he goes without sleep or food, so I'm interested in hearing the stories when he gets back! He has some super stories from TBS. Josh will be able to call me Thursday or Friday night to tell me he survived and how excited he is to come back home. Gray and I will be waiting by the phone, but until then we are praying for his safe return!

The day after Josh left, I spotted the beginnings of Gray's first tooth. He is 10 months old and I was beginning to wonder if we would have to fit him for dentures before kindergarden so he didn't get funny looks (mostly kidding). The white spot, which I will refer to as a tooth, is on the top left. I wonder if that means he will get top teeth and bottom teeth at the same time... That would explain his erratic behavior in the last month or so. He will have days of being really fussy or tired or clingy when he normally is a happy-go-lucky kid. Needless to say, we have had lots of ups and downs and there better be some teeth on the way sometime soon! 

Mom came for a visit, to help me pack up and spend some time with us before we move out West, a day or two after Josh left. She and I have done some shopping, ran some errands, packed lots of kitchen stuff, and done some sight seeing during her visit. Gray, Mom, Fletch, Silas, and I went up the North Carolina coast earlier this week to see some of the Outer Banks. We saw several amazing lighthouses, lots of beach communities, Serendipity (the house on Nights in Rodanthe), the Wright brothers memorial in Kitty Hawk, and shared some delish crab cakes. Gray rode on his first ferry (where Mom's van decided to die), made friends with a big white parrot, and rode on a luggage trolly in the hotel which he LOVED. We got lots of good pictures to share with Josh when he gets back. Gray and I were sad he missed all the fun, but I'm glad we were able to see some of those things while we were on the East coast. 

Considering this is the longest post to date, I think it's about time for bed as Gray has been out for at least two hours and will be up bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning waiting for breakfast. I'll try to upload some pictures soon and post the latest information. I can't promise much after we move, because we may or may not find a place to live quickly and may or may not have internet access for a while.  Please keep our family in your prayers for safe travel, uneventful days, and quickly finding the perfect house as we move to a completely new place on the opposite side of the country! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

If Josh completed his flights today (depending on the weather), he will have two flights left to complete his training in the 53! Once he completes this training, he will attend SERE school and we will be headed for sunny San Diego! I think we will be moving out there in late January or early February, but like everything else in the Marine Corps, we won't know until it actually happens. The move is pretty exciting, partly because North Carolina isn't very awesome and partly because I can't wait to finally be settled somewhere for a few years! I'm also excited about seeing the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Route 66, Santa Fe, the Pacific Ocean, and California in general. I'm not so sure about the actual move and the drive out there with Gray (surprisingly, he isn't that crazy about his car seat for long stretches of time).

Other than looking at possible places to live and wrapping Christmas presents everything has been fairly quiet around here. Josh and I are planning the trip home for Christmas to see our family/friends before our big move to San Diego. We should be home over a week, so I hope we can spend time with everyone while we are there. Gray has plans to meet some people for the first time and show everyone all of his new tricks!

This year has flown by! I can't believe it's already December! Gray will be 9 months old in just a matter of days and Christmas is next week. Where has the time gone?

Hope to blog again before the new year but if you don't hear from us, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Gray's First Halloween

Gray and I picked out a huge pumpkin at the pumpkin patch the week before Halloween. Little did Gray know, I had big plans for our big pumpkin. Josh and I cleaned the pumpkin out, but before we carved it, we put Gray in it.  I took several shots of him thinking he wouldn't like sitting in a cool/damp pumpkin, but he didn't mind it at all. He was mostly concerned with chewing on the rim, so I couldn't get any smiles out of him. Needless to say, I think some of the photos turned out pretty well which is nice, considering this time next year he won't be able to fit into a pumpkin... 

After getting in the pumpkin, Gray needed a bath. He got a bath then got ready for Trick-or-Treating! Gray was a monkey this year and we think he was oh so cute with his costume on! I'm sad you can't see his tail in these pictures, because it was my favorite part of the costume! We took him to a friend's house down the street from us, where he was able to get his own candy out of a witch's pot! He was very excited! I think Gray had an excellent first Halloween!

Gray has changed so much over the last two months. At 5 months he was just starting to sit up by himself, but now at 7 months he is crawling all over the place.  We have learned that he is drawn to electronics (cell phones, remote controls, computers, etc) as well as the dog food bowls. They all seem so enticing to Gray that we can't keep him away from them. He will crawl past his toys to get to any of these items.

He is also pulling up on everything! A day or two after he started crawling, he was sitting in his Pack-N-Play playing one second and when I turned around he was standing up. Now he can pull up on just about anything in a matter of seconds. I am a little fearful that he will be walking (also know as unstoppable) in the next few months! He is also saying 'mama' all the time. It's actually it's more like 'mamamamamamama'. I tell Josh it's because he loves me so much, but in reality it doesn't mean anything (just don't tell Josh) yet.

He finally got his 6 month shots yesterday (long story, don't ask) and the pediatrician told me he was in the 50th percentile. I was a little shocked because he was near the 90th percentile when he was born! I guess that's about all of the Gray news I have to share at the moment.

As far as our California move goes, I believe we have been postponed until January (at the earliest). Josh should be finishing up his flights before we come home for Christmas. Well, that is if the helicopters don't have mechanical problems, the weather is good, he is scheduled for the flights, he does well on the flights, etc.  Once he completes all of the flights, he will be sent to SERE school (which shouldn't happen until some time in January). If you don't know what SERE school is, just be glad you aren't going. I don't really know what all takes place at SERE school but all the stories I hear don't make it seem glamorous or fun at all. It is a school that lasts about two weeks where you are taught survival skills. This includes sending the 'students' out with virtually nothing and making them survive for about a week or until they get caught by the 'teachers.' I think most people are sent to Maine to complete the training, and if you think about Maine in January that might help explain why it is no joy ride. If you want more information, Google it or ask Josh when he gets back. I think I don't want to know until then! And as of now, we will be home for Christmas!

On a sad note, last week was a terrible week for so many service member's families. There were 6 aircraft that went down for one reason or another and many lives were lost. Several of these accidents included Marine planes and helicopters. The aviation community is so small that many families have crossed paths at one station or another. To put it lightly, these accidents hit close to home. We did not know any individuals who lost their lives, but several of our friends did. My heart breaks for each one of these families, and it also reminds me of how dangerous Josh's career is. It is easy to forget that an accident could happen any time he is in the air. Last week really made me thankful for Josh's safety thus far as an aviator and as a Marine. Please pray for those families who lost husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers last week as well as the military service members all over our nation and the globe as they fight for our freedoms and safety.

I was also told about another families' loss. My good friend Stephanie knows the family through the flight community, as both spouses are pilots in the Air Force. The Sullivan family has had a trying year, to put it very mildly. They found out that Sara had breast cancer in February of this year and then quickly found out she was pregnant with their first child. After discussing options with their doctors they decided to treat the cancer and continue the pregnancy. Their little girl, Chole, was born about 6 weeks early and after a week or so in the NICU, she was sent home. After being home 2 days, Sara begin to have seizures and went back into the hospital. Several days later, she passed away.

Her husband, Brad, has been incredibly strong and if you read their blog (bandssullivan.blogspot.com) you will see that his strength comes from God. All I can say is that he has an amazing testimony. Several people have formed a group (Sara Strong) and are participating in American Cancer Society fundraisers in Sara's name. I think this family is amazing and I wanted to share their story with more people, as Stephanie shared it with me.

I'm a failure...

Gray and I were super busy yesterday with errands and cleaning, so I totally forgot to blog my Wordless Wednesday pic. I guess this week we can do a Worded Thursday. Is worded a word? I don't think so, but I'm going with it.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the pumpkin patch:

Wordless Wednesday

Obviously this isn't a wordless post, but let me explain before you get confused...

A few weeks back a friend of mine (Hi Megan! ) told me about posting Wordless Wednesday on our blog. It's fairly self-explanatory, but the basic premise is you post a picture only on each Wednesday. I'm fairly terrible at posting anything in a timely manner, but I thought I would try this whole Wordless Wednesday blog this week.

After my post earlier today, Gray and I went to the pumpkin patch right up the road from our house with a friend of mine from Pensacola (Lisa) who lives here now. She helped me keep Gray from eating the pumpkins, tried to draw his attention away from the traffic, and made my life easier while I was trying to get some good pics. Naturally, I wouldn't be able to tell you this in a Wordless Wednesday post, but since it's still Tuesday I can prep you for what you may see tomorrow!

Well, The Hills and The City have concluded for the week, so Gray and I are headed upstairs to bed. Let's hope I remember Wordless Wednesday tomorrow!

Off to Pensacola

Gray and I are home alone for the next few days, because Josh and Pallas (the male roommate) were sent down to Pensacola with some other students and instructors to show a couple of CH-53s off to the people at Whiting Field. Luckily, Josh is getting several flights done while he is gone, but he is also planning to visit McQuire's without us! I asked him to bring me some Corned Beef and Cabbage back, but I'm not holding my breath...

In the mean time, Gray and I plan to stay busy by running some errands, having lunch with friends, attending a book club meeting in New Bern, sewing some baby gifts, taking some pictures in the pumpkin patch, going on a hay ride, playing, and squeezing in time for a few naps! I also have big plans to upload some pics, order some for Gray's album, and finally clean out our office (if Josh is lucky).

As far as our move to Southern California, we are still thinking we will be moving sometime in December. I'm hoping Josh detaches from 302 in enough time for us to get our stuff packed up and in a moving truck before Christmas so we can be at home this year, BUT that we stay here long enough we won't have to report in California until after Christmas. We will let you know as soon as we know, which (as usual) won't be until the last minute!

Well Gray and I are off to the pumpkin patch!