Life the last several weeks has not been normal. It's been fun, frustrating, cramped, adventurous, annoying, awesome and full of memories all rolled into one. Remember when Brandon surprised us last month? Well, he wasn't set to come home for a couple more months, but he wanted to see us sooner and didn't care what it took. I apparently ruined some plans for a couple people in the process, but hey, when you surprise me you can't expect me to change my plans for no reason! Anyway, I ended up being even more thankful that Brandon came home early because he was able to go through a ton of stuff that we had in boxes that I really didn't want to send to Guam. He and his dad also rearranged a few things in the house that I was unable to do myself and they made it much less confusing when the movers arrived. Then Brandon left and headed to Ohio, I sent the kids to my parents for a couple days and I headed to my in-laws. (In case you haven't heard me say it before, I have the greatest parents and in-laws in the world!!!) The next 3 days my father-in-law and I sat around and stared at people as they packed up and loaded up all our belongings. I don't think I have ever felt so guilty and lazy in my life! Do you have any idea how guilty you can feel sitting around playing games or painting your toes or watching tv while people are working their fingers to the bone all around you? Yes, they are paid to do it, but it was so hard for both of us to not jump in and help. My mom dropped off the kids the afternoon of day 3, my mother-in-law picked up a pizza for dinner and then we crashed in our "new" beds. (Thank you Jennifer and Trey for the extra bed and the pull out couch! And a shout out to The Khans who gave us a bed when we got back so I didn't have to sleep on a pull out couch anymore.) 

The next morning our adventure began. We loaded up the truck with bikes and luggage and games and snacks and headed up to Nashville (my van has been shipped to Guam already... Christopher and I miss it terribly). We spent the afternoon with my brother's family and we were all so excited to meet our newest cousin, Ty. We swam, had supper and played. 

The next morning the kids found all the doughnuts that both Caroline and I had bought (out of either simplicity or desperation, you can decide who had which excuse. hehe!) After a nice sugar high, I got the kids loaded up and we headed to Ohio to meet Brandon. I was an idiot and thought the drive was about half of what it was actually. Let's just say that pulling into Cincinnati at rush hour... in the rain... while driving what feels like an 18-wheeler... and exhausted... not the most fun. I felt bad for Brandon when we arrived because I was not in the best mood. The Tom Tom wouldn't tell me how to get to where he was and instead dropped me in the middle of an intersection on the other side of town telling me I had reached my destination. Um, no I haven't! I was not looking forward to spending the next several weeks in a hotel room. Thankfully a good night's sleep and a nice, cool day with the family at the coolest air museum made me forget all about it. 

I bought this suit for Sophie because #1, it was too cute and #2, she said she "had to have it". But it was kind of tight when buckled around the neck. So... I cut the clasp off and sewed some ribbon on it. I like it better this way and plan to do it to another suit we bought her as well. : )

Dinner at Red Lobster ended with Daddy and Sophie making funny teeth with her left over orange slices. Now they match Christopher's mouth! 

Then off to Young's Dairy Farm for some ice cream.

 

 One day while Brandon had class, I took the kids to the mall and they were so well behaved (extremely rare when these two go anywhere Mommy wants to go) that I treated them to a train ride.

One night after going to see a movie on base we were headed home and heard the train. The kids have been trying to find it all week long and so we pulled over into an empty parking lot and watched (and felt) it rush past. The kids faces were priceless!!

Young's Dairy Farm had an antique car show one Saturday so we loaded up and went. It had rained all morning and so it was really humid (not normal in Ohio) and steamy and hot. This was Sophie's favorite truck. Any guesses as to why? :) She keeps telling Brandon that when we move to Guam we need to get a purple jeep with pink flames. Um, no.

Feeding the goats. We got a hilarious video of Sophie laughing while the goats were eating out of her hand, but I couldn't get it to post on here.

The base pool was within walking distance of our hotel and so we spent many, many afternoons there. Sophie had to go to the bathroom a lot while swimming, something about water and little kids, and so I told Christopher to lie down on the chair to dry off while I took her to the restroom. When we came back he was sound asleep. I almost hated to wake him up.

 Our best friends, The Ramages, moved here the weekend after the kids and I arrived. We saw them a lot while we were there. Brandon had to fly one night so they met the kids and I on base at the bowling alley. It was awesome! Then we headed to dinner and to get yogurt.

Our kids are totally normal.

 That night Christopher decided he would read to Sophie. He got a little hung up on the girly words, like "princess," "castle," "pinkalicious," etc.

Sophie making a crazy face while watching a movie on the way to King's Island. Not sure if this was supposed to help or not.

 We spent hours in the kiddie section and probably could have spent all day there. 

While the dad's and the boys went on a spinning ride, Tiffany and I took the girls to ride something else. We saw Snoopy on the way and the girls were happy to pose with him.

Later, Sophie and Brandon found Sally. Sophie ran up to her, gave her a big hug and next thing we know, these three are walking over to meet us in line for ice cream.

 Sophie waiting for the boys to finish up on the log ride. 

 On another day, Brandon told us to meet them out at the airport and we could see all the planes. Sophie was the only one who would climb in. 

 One of the acrobatic planes that they flew in to do some tricks.

Christopher is happy to pose with both feet on the ground.
But he loves flying on a passenger plane. I don't get it.

 At Target just killing time.

 Sitting out during adult swim. It was overcast and the kids were freezing!!!! It's funny how 83 degrees and only 20% humidity can feel cold when wet.

 At Target the other night we were looking for t-shirts for Brandon and Christopher saw this one and said, "Look Daddy! This cheese is talking!" Love it.


 Trying on shoes at DSW. Killing time.


 Christopher earned his 60 stars for the books he read during the summer and this was his prize. I was SO proud of him! He still won't admit it, but I think he's enjoying the fact he can read signs now and the other night he didn't want me to stop a chapter book we'd been reading so we finished it.


 We had dinner at a friends' house and their neighbors cat had kittens. The kittens were out and all the kids in the neighborhood come over and play with them. Christopher loves cats (we will never have one though) and had the best time playing with them.


 Sophie and Reagan hanging out before bed time.


 Christopher playing with the train set we bought for their cousin, but he was having major withdrawals and so we let him open it all up. Jason's only 1 and won't care.




 We went to a Reds game with The Ramages. It was awesome, right up until I started feeling really nauseous and thought I was going to lose my ballpark lunch that I happily consumed. Thankfully we made it about 6 or 7 innings, longer than we thought we'd last, so nobody cared that we left early.



 Brandon getting pinned on by our good 'ole friend Matt.


 So proud of Daddy!!


 Brandon wanted to take a day to have a date with each kid. He was going to take Sophie to Target to buy some new tennis shoes, but she had seen this Rapunzel hair at the Disney store a couple days earlier and she talked him into buying it instead.


 So when he dropped us off at the BX we took care of buying tennis shoes.
And since we had about an hour to kill we learned how to tie them too.


Sophie and I had a girls night.
With our Rapunzel hair.


 We went to the model plane air show one afternoon.
It was miserably hot.


 Back in Nashville again and holding baby Ty.


 He has no idea how much he is loved.


 Hey look! There's me and baby Ty!
I posted this one because it's just blurry enough you can't see the wrinkles and the age spots and everything else that's wrong with my face. Or the numerous grey hairs that have popped over the last year. I wonder why that is.....


 Meet my nephews, Hip and Bottom.
These boys are hilarious. Half the time they are running around playing and the other half they are up on top of a counter or a table (along with one or both of my kiddos) playing some kind of device. I adore them and I'm so glad we had the chance to see them, twice, in the last 5 weeks.


 Christopher and Drake made this sign.
"No girls allowed" is what it's supposed to say.
Hey, we are working on the spelling. Baby steps people.


 This poor little guy lost his breakfast less than a mile down the interstate and we had to turn around and go back to my brother's house to clean up. I gave him some Dramamine and he took a nice little nap and then ate more than I did for lunch. He was perfectly fine the rest of the day. Whew!

It was an awesome 5 weeks and I'm so thankful that we were able to go up to Ohio and spend that time with Brandon. At first I didn't think I was going to handle living in a hotel that long with the kids. (We love each other so much that sometimes we just have to take a break from all the love. That sounds good, right?) But I realized that after this year I can handle it. Of course having two rooms to sleep in helped. But honestly, living in a hotel with our family together was way better than being apart and in a nice, big house.