Deployment Life

It's been about a month since I've blogged and it's been busy as usual. In fact, I've felt pretty overwhelmed this past month. Bryan left the for Senior NCO Academy the day I blogged last and he comes home this Friday. I cannot believe it's been over 4 weeks since he left. It doesn't feel like it. It flew by. Where do I begin... I've been working the same three jobs (Value of a Veteran,  Military Child Education Coalition, and Pixie and Pirate Destinations). In fact, July was a great month at PAPD! I booked some awesome vacations for some awesome folks, and a few for myself. I also trained on Universal Studios Orlando vacations this month and should be booking them soon! I'm also heading to Disney September 8-12 for a training trip with PAPD. I'm super stoked to learn new stuff, meet my coworkers (who live all over the country) and, well, go to Disney! I'll be splitting my stay between Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter wh...

Well, it's been a few weeks and it's been extremely busy! The month of June flew by and today Bryan hit the road for Montgomery, AL for the next 5 weeks. I'm hoping I'll be able to visit, or that he can drive home some weekends, but it's still quiet and lonely in the house without him, especially since we've had tons of people around us the past month. After my work trip to Colorado, Heather and the family came to visit for a week. We had a great time taking Ethan and Jacob to the local beaches. We went to a Blue Wahoos minor league baseball game, where it was so hot that we left in the 5th inning, but not before I got this selfie in the semi-cool bathroom: We spent lots of time at the beach, both on the gulf side and the soundside. They got a tour of the base, and went to the zoo where we got to feed giraffes and alligators. While Bryan and Eddie were golfing, Heather and I took the boys to the Naval Aviation Museum on NAS Pensacola. It was amazin...

I'm sitting in the Fort Walton Beach airport waiting for my flight to Colorado Springs for work, so I figured I'd type up a quick update blog. Since Bryan has been home, I feel like we are constantly on the go. We're trying to make the most of his time before he leaves for Senior NCOA in a couple weeks. For Memorial Day, we waited for a tropical storm. I was kind of looking forward to it. Dreary days filled with good food, wine, and Netflix marathons. We put away all of our yard items that could become projectiles. We went grocery shopping. And then... nothing. In fact, the day the storm made landfall, we did a Memorial Day Murph. We had to run in the rain, but there was no storm. Kind of disappointing. After Memorial Day, we had some beach days and some parties. We started to get into a bit of a rhythm with our schedules, but that didn't last long. We decided to buy a condo as an investment property, so we are in the thick of all that. Trying to get it done...

It's been a little over 2 weeks since I've posted a blog, and with Bryan home I'll probably be posting more sporadically, but I'm going to keep blogging. The past 2 weeks have been fun, but exhausting. Reintegration is always a sketchy time. On the surface, it's fun. But underneath, it's stressful and confusing. I tried to limit our plans while Bryan was on his 2 week R&R, but somehow we ended up jam-packed with things to do. After Bryan got home, we spent some time getting him unpacked and doing a few home maintenance things that needed to be done (changed out some faucets and got the yard cleaned up, etc.). We spent a couple days in the gym together and a few more hanging out at the beach and crab island. The Capitals made it to the conference finals against Tampa, so we made a last second decision to drive to Tampa for a game. I mean, who knows when they'll get this close to the Stanley Cup again, right? We made the 6 hour drive and only st...

He's back! Finally! 8 long months, and it's finally over. Until next time. But let's not talk about that now. Bryan came home on May 3rd after a good 24 hours of travel time from the Middle East. He's home for a solid 8 weeks and then he's off to Senior NCO Academy for 5 weeks in Alabama. At least he'll be driving distance away and not an 8 hour time difference. The days leading up to Bryan coming home are always hectic. I spent the days mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, bathing the dog, doing laundry, and cleaning the house and cars (well, someone came and cleaned the cars because I was just tapped out). The homecoming was really nice. We had over 160 deployers return so everyone came out to welcome them. We had USO volunteers handing out cookies, water, and American Flags. And a local brewery donated cases of beer! Since Bryan has been back, it's been hectic. He's got 2 weeks off from work for R&R and we're staying home (not travel...

Nope, he's not home yet. I know that's what everyone is checking for, but it hasn't happened yet. Soon though, very soon! This was another BUSY week. And it was my BIRTHDAY! It was also 3 of my friends' birthdays this week too, so we celebrated all week long. On Tuesday, we had sushi and sake for Jill's birthday: On Thursday (my actual birthday) we had trivia as usual. The Dependas sucked royally this week, with a 5th place finish, but we had fun! The girls bought me an awesome cookie cake and my neighbor left me a gift on my doorstep: On Saturday we went to dinner at Ye Old Brothers brewery to celebrate Shelby's birthday and then we headed out to Destin for our last Girls' Night before the boys come home. We started at Tailfins, moved to Lucky's and then ended on the bar at Coyote Ugly. In professional news, I launched my new venture in travel planning with Pixie and Pirate Destinations. If you're planning a trip to Disney, I...