Thursday, April 16, 2009

Latest News

Here are some of the latest happenings in our life all compiled into one post. I'm sure I'll highlight some of the exciting things with posts of their own in the future, but the list is all I've got at 0239 in the morning.

~We found out that Matt is deploying down range in May. So, along with the news came 1,000 new things to do before he leaves (both work and family related). As of today, we're at about 25 days and counting until he leaves us for the summer.

~April started with us going to Tennessee for a relaxing trip with my family. We all had a wonderful time and Ava really changed in the 7 days that we were there. Her vocabulary expanded and she seemed to grow up even more right before our eyes. On this trip, Ava got to watch Veggie Tales on a little portable DVD player for the first time and she was obsessed. All she wanted to do was sit on top of a giant pillow with Hambone the cat and watch Bob and Larry on a 6" screen. While home, Ava also got to participate in the giant Allen/Chambers Eggstravaganza at my parent's house. We had both sides of my parents' family over for dinner and a fantastic egg hunt. Fun was had by all and Ava L-O-V-E-D hunting for eggs. We were actually surprised at how good she was given that she was a rookie this season. In addition to the egg hunt, Ava got to dye her first Easter Eggs. Following the dying, Ava ate her first hard boiled egg (yuck). She loved the white part (yuck) until she got to the yolk (even more yucky) in which she gave a sour face and spit all the egg out of her mouth. I'm still disgusted. In the following days, we managed to spend some time at Starbucks (it's tradition), hit up the Nashville Children's Museum, go to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, ride my parent's Harleys (okay, so I sat on the back and did nothing), and visit with my all my grandparents a little. We also got to spend some time with my brother, Brent, and his wife, Julie, and their kids, Maura and Tristan, and we finally got to meet Tristan, which was so great...after all, he'll be a year old in May! Overall, it was a fantastic trip and we hated to leave.

~While in Tennessee, we also got the unfortunate news that Matt's grandmother, Mema, passed away. Although it didn't come as a total surprise, it was still hard news to accept. Mema was laid to rest on Tuesday, April 14, in Lewisville, Texas. Matt flew home to Dallas Monday afternoon to be with this family for a few days and celebrate the life Mema had lived.

~Now it's technically Thursday and Matt is coming home tonight from Texas. In addition to going home for Mema's funeral, Matt went to San Antonio for a visit to the altitude chamber at Randolph AFB. His trip to San Antonio has been planned for some time now, so the timing was a bit uncanny for his extended trip to Texas. Not that a family member passing ever falls under the column of "good timing," but Mema's passing over the weekend was almost a blessing..as this past Monday and Tuesday were the ONLY days Matt could have ever gone home to Texas before his deployment. Up until he leaves, Matt has to sit in mandatory pre-deployment training during the work week and each weekend has already been dedicated to a trip or activity of some sort.

~So, that gets us to the coming days and weeks. Here's what's on our plate and what you have to look forward to reading about in the weeks ahead:
  • A weekend trip to Denver (Matt has to go up to the Buckley ANG for their drill weekend)
  • A long weekend trip to Chicago
  • The Garrison's are here to visit Ava (Matt and I have come to accept that no one really wants to see us...)
  • My Iron Girl triathlon
  • Matt leaves

It seems like April is already over and we're only barely 2 weeks into the month. I guess that is technically half way, so maybe it's all in the way we see the month: half started or half over.