...meet ava...

Hi! I'm Ava!! I just moved in...

I like to sit outside and watch everything that's going on...

Boy! Where do those kids get all their energy?

They really wear me out!!

Goodnight!

we're here :)

We arrived at Fort Bragg almost two weeks ago and have been busy acclimating to life on post. We were in a hotel for the first week which was..... interesting. We had connecting rooms so that we had a bit more space. The first night, as soon as we arrived, I locked the dead-bolts and put the chains on the doors (I don't do hotels with outside entrances very well). We had the doors between the rooms opened and we were rearranging bags. All of us were in the kids' room and Ben ran into our room and slammed the door behind him. Unfortunately, if the connecting door is closed, there's no way to get it open from the other side (just from in the room that Ben was in). And we couldn't get in through the front door because I dead-bolted and chained it. So Jacob spent half an hour unsuccessfully trying to pick the lock and then we called maintenance. They were able to open the deadbolt with the master key and Jacob broke the chain on the door. And poor Ben was sitting on the floor in the bathroom (in the dark) playing with his flashlight. :)

Jacob spent the first week here at Fort Bragg in-processing. He had to attend various briefings, check in at Finance, set up Tricare, register cars, etc. Then he was picked up by his unit for more in-processing there. According to his orders, he was supposed to be in a garrison law-enforcement (non-deployable) unit. But, as we've learned is the Army way, things are ALWAYS subject to change. He is now part of the 108th Military Police Company (Airborne, Air-Assault). It is the ONLY Airborne/Air Assault MP Co in the Army! He's very excited because there will be more "action" involved in this job (vs the garrison unit). However, that "action" comes in the form of deployment prep followed by a deployment in late spring/early summer 2010. So, I'll be up for any and all visitors from mid-2010 to mid-2011!! :)

Last Friday we signed paperwork and picked up keys to our house!! The people that were in the house before us completely trashed it so there was a big overhaul done right before we moved in. We have all new carpet and paint which is nice, but I am amazed at what people do to housing that isn't "theirs". For the record, bathroom sinks are NOT ashtrays, and cigarette burns do not come out of countertops!! But aside from a few cosmetic issues (damage), I love the house and it has a great layout and TONS of space. It's several hundred square feet smaller than our house in Colorado, but has much more usable space. We're just about finished unpacking and then there will be lots of pictures up!!

The kids are enjoying NC and Fort Bragg so far (we are too)! They are pretty amused by all the "Army Guys" that we see walking around. There are a ton of kids on our street-- once we're a little more settled I'm sure we'll be out front playing a lot. Ben and Lexie have been sick since we moved into the house-- Hand, Foot, and Mouth is not fun AT ALL!! They seem to be getting better every day, so hopefully we have a healthy house in a few days!!

And the most important news of all, our new washer and dryer just arrived!! We'd been going back and forth on when to replace our washer and dryer because the dryer takes two cycles to dry the clothes and the washer was leaving mystery oil stains. When our washer/dryer arrived in NC, the washer was leaking oil, which explained the mystery oil stains. It was definitely time to replace them!! So, we are the proud owners of LG front loaders, and I'm REALLY excited!! I don't think I've EVER been excited about laundry, but front loaders are fun, especially ones that sing!! So on that note, I'm off to do laundry!! :)

wilmington & wrightsville beach

Today we continued driving down the North Carolina coast to Wilmington. We had lunch at a local brewery and then walked down the Riverwalk along the Cape Fear River.

Lexie enjoyed the view.

This was the best out of about 70 tries!

After lunch we went and checked in at our hotel. They were overbooked so we got bumped up to the Honeymoon Suite, complete with a whirlpool tub!! :) After the kids took an afternoon nap, we headed to Wrightsville Beach. It's only about 2 hours from Fort Bragg so we'll probably end up coming here a lot!!

Surfers at Wrightsville Beach

Lexie was very unsure of the sand......

And Ben ran straight into the water as soon as he saw it.

But wasn't expecting the waves.....

And ended up falling over.

We found a dead jellyfish amongst the shells.

Christopher and Nicholas had fun running around-- Nick even went in the water this time!!

A daddy-daughter moment

All the boys playing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Nick had so much fun- who would have thought he was afraid of the water?!

A video of Christopher and Nicholas playing:

outer banks, nc

We've arrived!!

This morning we arrived in North Carolina. We drove south from Chesapeake through the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The boys were excited and asked repeatedly if it was our new home. They are amazed that we're going to be living so close (2ish hours) to the beach!!

We stopped for lunch at Dirty Dick's in Hatteras Landing. Everyone tried fried alligator-- and enjoyed it!! After crab cakes and shark sandwiches we headed to the Hatteras ferry over to Ocracoke Island.

My dream house.....

Traffic jam on the ferry. Nick couldn't figure out how we were moving when the car wasn't running.

We drove across Ocracoke Island and got out of the car to stretch our legs before boarding the next ferry to Cedar Island.

Ben running down the ramp.

"I see you!"

What a cutie!!

Girl on the go.....

The ferry ride off of Ocracoke is about 2.5 hours long so we didn't stay in the car. We headed to the top of the ferry to enjoy the view.

The Ocracoke Lighthouse-- the oldest in NC.

What a sweet brother...

Or not!!

Ben was all about the hugs!

All three boys!

Goodnight from North Carolina!!

fun in the car

We started our move to Fort Bragg on Monday by driving to St Louis. Ben kept us entertained in the car by hiding under blankets- preferably Lexie's. Then he would start laughing hysterically.

Silly Ben

We stopped at Taco John's for breakfast in Kansas. Everyone was ready for a nap when we got back in the car.

Ben stole Daddy's drink.

And then fell asleep.

On Tuesday we drove to Charleston WV. We walked around the mall to stretch our legs after a long day in the car. Wednesday we drove to Chesapeake VA. We drove past Busch Gardens (Williamsburg) but sadly, we didn't stop.

Videos of Lexie's newest (and favorite) word!!

goodbye miss kerry!

Before leaving Colorado we had to make a stop at Miss Kerry's (our Target Starbucks barista) house to see Hershey the guinea pig!!

Hershey eating grass

Christopher and Nicholas were so excited to finally meet Hershey and Ben was excited to see Miss Kerry again. All of the boys had fun running around Miss Kerry's house with her three daughters.

"I want one!!"

The boys with Miss Kerry

Lexie was very unsure of the grass and preferred to watch all the fun.

What a fun guinea pig!!

Ben and Hershey

"NO!"

happy (belated) 4th of july

Playing with sparklers.

last trip to the orange park

We made our last trip to the Orange Park today. We picked up McDonald's for lunch and headed over for a picnic. It was great letting the kids run around and be noisy-- it's hard to do that in a hotel!!

Such a pretty girl!! :)

Daddy and Lexie eating lunch.

Nick and Christopher-- Ben was running around playing

Ben spent most of lunch playing up here.

Lexie loves it when Christopher pushes her on the swing.

Silly Mater-Baby!

She loves the park!!

Ben had fun on the swings.... for about a minute.... and then wanted to run around again.

Christopher was pretending he was Sandman (from Spiderman 3)

Nick barely stopped for a picture.

Look, I'm a walker now!!

So sweet! :)