What's happened in the past two weeks....

First, I would like to apologize to anyone who read the winging/birthday post. I have had so much going on and made a lot of writing errors. I know that I fore warned those who dare to read that I am not a good proof reader nor a grammatical genius. So, thanks for hanging in there with me.

Well, after our family went home we got down to business. We began to get our house in somewhat order for the packers and movers.

After the the packers came on Thursday we stayed with our friends Bryan and Stefanie. We were so thankful to have a place to stay. THANK YOU BRYAN AND STEFANIE!!! For those who don't know Bryan and Doug are Jaron's childhood friends and best friends. While staying at Bryan and Stefanie's we played cards with Doug and Christina both Thursday and Friday. We did that often while living out here in Milton. We are going to miss these guys SOOOOOO MUCH!!! And Yea, what night would be complete without a game of guitar hero....yes, we are dorks.

Stefanie & Bryan

Doug & Christina
All of us!!!!

BEAUTIFUL!
Guitar Hero!!! Doug doesn't want proof that we plays.

Another THANK YOU to Bryan, Stefanie, Doug, and Christina for being willing to come to our house all the time to play cards and for watching the kids for us so we could go out from time to time. We were always so happy to have you all keep Elijah and Ava, because we knew you guys loved and cared about them.


PACKING DAY
The day the packers where there Elijah was across the street at our friends the Flinders. He loved going over there to hang out with their FIVE kids, yes that's right FIVE!!. Of the five Ethan (was Elijah age) was his best little friend. Ava was there too most of the day. But on the day the movers came to pack the truck Mary was not able to watch Elijah her littlest one was in the hospital for a high fever and suspected UTI and repository problems. She is much better now. :) Elijah was quite a handful though. He ended up pulling a heavy duty dolly on himself and conking his head. We ended realizing that we had our car DVD player and plugged it in and sat him in the emptiest room in the house and he watched Land Before Time. This solution helped relieve some stress of keeping him out of the way. Oh yea, I had taken the stove racks and cleaned them outside with the hose and well the movers packed them somewhere (I 'haven't found them and almost every box is has been opened). So we had to pay for those before we could check out of housing. So after a few complications the day was over.

Packed up.
It's not our home anymore.

THE TRUCK!!!
Eating pizza while on the move.
Movie and Pizza Elijah's favorites!!
This saved us. Keep him out of the way of the movers.
Thank you technology!!!

JACKSONVILLE, FL VISIT
So now the truck was long gone with all our stuff and we became officially homeless . So we packed up our car and drove to Jacksonville, FL to see my family. My Aunt Michele had a party with ALL my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We celebrated Jaron's winging and Ava's first birthday. Aunt Michele decided that since she was not there at Jaron's winging that she would wing him herself with a pair fire wings. Thanks Aunt Michele for a good laugh and thanks Jaron for being such a good sport.

We went to my Dad's house the next day and got to hang out with all my immediate family. My niece's Faith and Hope are growing like crazy. They have turned out to be such fun girls. GOOD JOB KEVIN. The cousins played and had a good time together. I wish we could do that more often. Thanks Dad and Lisa for dinner it was delicious!!! Kevin as always its good to see you. Miss you Ashley

All the family!
Jaron's second winging.
Hope can fly!!!!
Great holding Candice.
Ava's Great Aunt Michele Blowing some bubbles.
Faith & Jamie
Great toys Dad and Liza...

THE DRIVE TO JACKSONVILLE, NC
Well we got on the road Monday and wanted to be in NC before things closed for the day so we could get some things done. We left at 7am and arrived a little after 4pm. Wow, what a drive. Mapquest said it would take 7 hours and it took 9 hours. :( We finally got to NC and well while driving in I almost started to cry. All I saw was strip bars, lounges, laundromats, and pawnshops. After finding our hotel, which was in somewhat of a questionable area, but the only one we could find a vacancy. We then settled in for about 10 minutes and then we were on the hunt for a house. We met with a local Realtor who showed 3 houses that were available right away. The first had a torn blue tarp. Now all us Floridians know that a blue tarp is bad news. Jaron went inside for about 1 minutes and came out horrified. It was pretty bad. The next house was in a questionable area, stinky, and really really outdated. The appliances were like 40 years old at least. The third house was nice, but small and expensive. So we opted that we would try to get into base housing as soon as we could. Also, our household goods went into storage which meant we had to wait until we got an address before we could order it to be delivered.

So the next day consisted of locating MCAS New River (where Jaron is stationed), dropping off dry cleaning, and trying to stay out of the hotel. So in order to get base housing Jaron had to check into his squadron, the reason for dropping an uniform into dry cleaning. Oh yea, no Marine would check in unless he has had a fresh haircut. Jaron usually does this himself, but since we weren't in our own home we had to find a barber shop. Anyone who has ever lived near a Marine Corp base knows they are a dime a dozen. Well we drove past a lot and Jaron was not to sure about anyone of them so after about the twenth he settled on "Daryl's Barber Shop". Before he went in I was like you know this is going to be a black man's barber shop. So he went in and the kids and I stayed in the car. When he came out his hair looked great!! They were very nice!!

So Wednesday we got Jaron's stuff out of dry cleaning, he checked in, and then we ran all over the place getting stuff done and getting keys to our house. While our running around Jaron got a call asking "Where are you? You have a meeting with the XO." Jaron's response "What!?! No one told me that I had a meeting". So took him over to the squadron dropped him off, ran to house and unloaded the car by myself. Holy cow we had a lot of stuff in there!!!

So while I am unpacking the car the kids are in the house. So I walk in and Ava appears to have something in here mouth and she is saying "HUM". So I walk over and stick out my hand, "Ava spit it out". She begins to spit out a bug leg, then a body....YUCK!!!!!!! Kids are gross!!! Then Elijah is standing out of the front porch doing what he does best YELLING LOUD!!!! Our new neighbor is across the street laughing. Oh well...its all apart of having kids!!! They keep life interesting.

Ava kissing herself at the hotel

WE RECEIVE OUR GOODS
We finally receive our goods one week after arriving. I have never been so happy to see a truck. We have had our things now for five days and we are close to being done unpacking and putting things away. I managed to hang some stuff up the walls today. Tomorrow Curtains. :) I will post pictures of the house once I get things looking pretty and clean.

OUR NEW HOUSE AND AREA
The house backs to the woods right before the river. We have a breeze because we are so close to the coast. The neighborhood is about 1.5 miles or less from Jaron's work. We can walk to about 5 different parks. The runway is pretty much right across from the entrance to our neighborhood. So that is cool to watch Osprys and 53's helicopters fly overhead. The sound is not to bad, more like a low rumble. There is a post office, bowling alley, movie theater, gym, pool, and commissary all within a 2 mile distance. We live probably half a mile from the Marina, where we can rent boats. So we can keep ourselves pretty busy.

Our house is an older house, but in good condition. We have wood floors and great windows. Our stuff fits pretty well, though storage is limited.

A snake in our storage shed. What a greeting to NC?

Elijah boycotting sleeping on the floor.
This was before receiving our household goods.
This is usually Ava's bed.
One tired baby falling a sleep on the floor.

One of the five parks we can walk to.
This one is a little strange
because it is in the middle of a field.

So in closing we are happy for now to call Jacksonville, NC our home. Though it is for sure different then any where we have lived. We must embrace it for now. We hear that we will be here for no less then 8 month and even up to a year. There are long waits to get started. So Hawaii will have to wait until 2009 for the Nix invasion.

Thanks for reading!!!!