Surprise, PARTY!

Even though they make me crazy, I'm convinced that I have the best family ever. Family also includes my bestest best friend, who also happens to be my sorority sister.

Saturday, before we left Miami, my mom and best friend put together a Hawaiian themed going away party for Hubster and I. They invited our group of mutual friends, which happen to mostly be Hubster's fraternity brothers. These guys have pretty much become part of my parents' family as well, since they're always at the house when we're home.

There was lots of food and TONS to drink. We had planned on going to Texas de Brazil that evening, but scratched those plans since everyone had eaten so much. Normally Texas is one of those things that I must do in Miami, but since there is one in Hawaii, I'm not to sad about missing out on it.

We're in Orlando this week visiting Hubster's mom before we fly to Hawaii over the weekend. We have a few things planned here to keep the time passing quickly. We've got to get our car cleaned out so that we can ship it at the end of the week. Someone also needs a haircut and shave desperately.

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Trick or Treat!

How was everyone's Halloween?!

The Hubster and I (mostly him) spent the morning packing up our suitcases to make sure that they were all within the allowed weight limit for the airline. We'll be checking ELEVEN suitcases.

In the afternoon, Veronica, Husbter and my dad went for a swim. She is doing great in the pool. The floaties that we put on her hardly have any air in them, and she's swimming like a little fish. Even in the deep end!

I picked up some Chinese food for dinner. It had been a long long while since I had some good Chinese. I was never able to find the good stuff in Missouri or Georgia. This place by my parents' is delicious, fast, and cheap!

After dinner, the girls got dressed up, and we headed out around the neighborhood. I was so excited since I remember always having huge trick or treating success, but the neighborhood has gone down hill. I guess everyone is like 20 years older now and not about celebrating Halloween. Thankfully, we went a block over and were able to get a bunch of candy. I had a lovely time with my coffee cup of mommy juice.

The girls were so adorable in their costumes! As much as I didn't want to do Disney princesses again, they turned out cute.

How was your Halloween? See any cute costumes?

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A Visit to the Firestation

I've been wanting to take Veronica to visit my dad at work. After the fire department visited her at school a while back, she's been all about fire fighters and their dogs. He visits the house during his shift sometimes, but he drives his own little personal truck, which isn't nearly as exciting as the real big fire trucks.

I'm pretty sure yesterday was the first time I've taken the girls to visit my dad at the station. It's a totally different experience when you get to tour the station. There were a few guys having lunch, but my dad showed us around the sleeping areas and offices.

The girls climbed up in the truck and tried on some gear. Adri wasn't a huge fan and mostly clung to me. The guys unloaded some of the big gear along with an ax pick thing and a ladder from the side of the truck.

Although I wasn't all that excited about spending so much time at home, I'm glad that we've gotten out and explored some while we've been in Miami. As much as I don't like this big city feel, it totally beats being stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Have a happy hump day!

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What We've Been Up To

One week down, one week to go, in Miami. We've been having a really great time hanging out with the family. Somewhere along the way, we all got a little sick, but it passed over the weekend.

Last Friday we headed to the Miami Children's Museum with the girls. After reading some negative reviews on Yelp, I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun we had. Although it wasn't exactly what I think of when I think museum, it was a great place for the kids. It was a million times more museum like than the museum we visited in St. Louis. V was able to dress up in all sorts of fun little outfits and shop at Publix, direct highway traffic, and take care of me in the ER. Adri kind of just followed along.

The Miami Children's Museum also offered a military discount, which was great! Hubster got in free, and four family members were half off .

 
On Saturday night we went to this salsa concert, where Hubster's uncle's band was playing. We had fun, but I was a little annoyed that the music didn't start until midnight, when we were told that the band would start playing at 10:30. I'd hate to have been one of the people who arrived when the doors opened at 9:00.

Sunday was spent with family. My dad grilled some burgers, and some of Hubster's family came over. We met his brother's girlfriend, who was very nice. She had a daughter who was about seven, and got along great with Veronica.

We've already got a pretty packed schedule for the rest of the week. We're going to have to take a day or two to repack our suitcases, and make sure they're not too heavy. It'll be like a giant mean mind game puzzle to get everything within the weight limit.

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Out in Miami

The girls have been having a blast for the past few days! Yesterday we spent the day out on the boat. We visited two different island beaches, before heading out to the club house for the group that my dad belongs to.

 

Everything has been going great except for the fact that Caesar hates my brother. We have no idea why, because they were fine last time we visited, but he goes insane barking every time my brother makes a noise. It should make for an interesting two months, before he goes to Hawaii.

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We Made It

We are in Miami! After three long days of travel, we arrived at my parents' house.

After our final walk through on Friday, we went and picked V up from school. Her teacher made her the sweetest little book, with hand prints from all of her classmates. I broke down in tears in the middle of a preschool. Go me!

From Fort Leonard Wood, we drove until we were in Tennessee. We spent the night around Fort Campbell, and then hit the road once again towards Fort Stewart. I've always hated driving, but these seven and eight hour driving days didn't seem to bother me as much.

At Fort Stewart, we spent the night at my battle buddy's house. Our husbands deployed together, and so for the second half of the deployment, one of us was always sleeping at the other's house. It was just like old times.

While in Georgia, we also passed by our house. Hubster was horrified to see that our tenants installed a satellite dish on our roof. Gasp! I get it though. Some guy that works for a TV company, came and drilled holes into our roof. Hopefully there is no leaking or water damaged caused. We're almost positive it violates the lease agreement, but we're waiting on the property manager to get back to us on that one. Either way, I'd say a good chunk of their security deposit is going to be put towards repairing the roof.

So far, our time in Miami has been spent catching up. The girls are having a blast with my parents, I've spent a considerable amount of time with my best friend, and Hubster has made a calendar full of plans with his fraternity brothers.

They just opened a HUGE Target about two minutes from where my parents live, which I expect to occupy plenty of time at. Not having easy access to a Target for the past six months has been damaging. This new Target has EOS balls in colors that I've never seen. I had to stock up since I'm trying to grow my rainbow collection.

The remained of our Miami time will be pretty low-key. We're trying not to spend too much money, since we had to pay our entire way down here. Today we'll be heading out on the boat, to one of Veronica's favorite spots. The rest of the time? I have no clue.

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