In the past week:
Titan hurt his foot, and had to be taken to the vet for x-rays.
I started my first class for my Master’s of Political Science degree through Regent University…the class is Political Philosophy.
The Great Dismal Swamp has been burning for about 3 weeks now, sending smoke and ash all across Hampton Roads.
The Ease Coast had a 5.9 earthquake –the first in living memory.
Hurricane Irene dumped more than 8 inches of rain on the Eastern seaboard, and flooded Oma’s basement. (Hopefully the rain extinguished the swamp fire.)
Megan’s baby shower is set for 17 September, and afterwards we’ll probably buy a crib.
Tuesday is Lauren and Nathan’s 1-month anniversary!
Shaking off the Dust
On Your Mark, Get Set…
Megan had her first official craving yesterday. She sent me a text message on my way home from the gym asking for: Chocolate Teddy Grahams, Reese’s Pieces, and Cinnamon Graham Crackers.
In typical nerdy expecting-father fashion, I got very excited about it and rushed over to the Commissary on base to hunt down the snacks. It was fun –like the very beginning of a scavenger hunt! Megan makes the list of clues, and I run around like crazy trying to find them!
Here we go….
Cruise
Last Sunday marked our 1-year anniversary! Time flies…
To mark the occasion, we took a 11-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, FL, down through the Caribbean. We stopped in Labadee, Haiti and the ports of Cartagena, Colombia; Colon, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; and Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
To all of you out there who have never been on a cruise before, I highly recommend that you try it out, if you have the opportunity –they’re everything they’re cracked up to be! We got sunburned, fell asleep in deck chairs, ate delicious food, spent time in hammocks (under palm trees next to the ocean), toured Colombian churches and forts older than the U.S.A., ate more than we care to admit, held sea-turtles, took a semi-submersible ride through crystal-clear waters to see shipwrecks, stingrays, and plenty of barracuda…
And now we’re back to the comforts of our own bed, and our favorite dog and some unnaturally pleasant Utah weather! Ahhh…
January in Utah
Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., I have the day off from work!
This morning we took Titan to the vet to get his Rabies vaccination and his third Parvo shot. Parvo is a flu-like virus that Rottweilers are prone to catching when they’re young. We’re happy that he’s finally got his third shot, because that means after a couple more days he’ll be allowed to go to the dog park and be around other dogs! He’s getting bigger by the day, and more and more energetic, and we’d like to let him run and wrestle with other dogs before he gets big and becomes a bully. The vet also informed us that he has put on 6 pounds in the last 10 days -which is below what we expected, but we were told that being skinny at his age is better than being overweight.
Yesterday evening we had two young couples from our church over for dessert. One of them is a newlywed Lieutenant and his wife who just moved out here from Kentucky, and the other is a newly married guy who works on base as a civilian contractor (and his wife). We had planned to have rootbeer floats and play some games, but we ended up talking and playing with Titan all night instead!
Finally, last Wednesday, The base commander (a 2-star general) visited our Squadron on a meet-and-greet tour, and during his visit I was introduced to him and he asked me a few questions. During the course of that conversation he asked if I lived on base. When I replied that my house is down the street from his, he asked if I’d ever seen him out walking his dog with his wife, and then without waiting for an answer he began to “scold” me for not coming outside and saying hello! Next he turned to a Colonel next to him (who lives in the same neighborhood) and relayed the same story and “complained” about how unfriendly the new neighbors are!
Afterwards, his Chief pulled me aside and told me that the General was sincere in his comments and advised us to make sure we stopped to chat whenever we saw him or his wife around the neighborhood! I was very surprised, but told Megan later that day to keep an eye out for a middle-aged 6’8″ gentleman walking a beagle around our neighborhood.
We just have to make sure Titan doesn’t eat their dog!
What’s in a dream?
Last night I dreamed that I was a plainclothes policeman in England, trying to arrest a gang of football hooligans in a grocery store, who were wielding weapons and beating up bystanders…
Thanksgiving! (part 1)
It seems like this house-buying process will never end! As a result, Megan and I have spent our first Thanksgiving as a married couple living in a hotel room. Before you conjure up images of the two of us eating microwaved turkey and instant mashed potatoes over a candle-lit coffee table, let me assure you that although we never planned it this way, it hasn’t been that gloomy. Wednesday afternoon we had a half-day of work and a Squadron Thanksgiving feast. Senior NCOs and officers were in charge of bringing the meat. Although we have a small gas oven in our room on base, it’s extremely old, and doesn’t stay lit. After brainstorming solutions for a couple days, we both realized that there is a full kitchen in my office building, and since I just got my key to the building on Monday, we could prep the bird Tuesday night, and I would bring it in and cook it Weds morning before the feast!
So the unlucky bird spent Tuesday in the sink thawing, and Weds morning we woke up early and stuffed it full of pear and apple slices, and coated the outside with lemon juice and oil before taking it to work and popping it in the oven for 3 hours. Work is much more exciting when your whole office smells like cooking turkey! Later, during the meal, the guys in charge of carving all the meat informed me that our bird was the easiest one of all to carve -that the meat was moist and practically fell off the bones! Not bad for our first Thanksgiving…
Back on it
Hello everyone.
Megan and I are in Utah now, currently in a hotel room. We have been here for two weeks now, and are under contract, waiting to close on our first house!
As things settle down, I will make a valiant effort to be more regular on here. Thanks for your patience!
Brithday!
Hello again! I’ve got some catching up to do…
May 25th was Bella’s birthday. The night before, I decorated the kitchen with streamers, balloons, and a construction paper banner, but I she wasn’t allowed to see any of it until the next morning…a nice breakfast surprise while I was at work.
I was also arranged to come home early from work and surprise her. Her presents were hidden in the garage…
We went out to eat at a local restaurant where they gave us our own hot stone to grill various types of steak medallions…
We took a bunch of silly pictures to commemorate the evening
…and of course we capped everything off with cake and ice cream!
Soccer
The intramural indoor soccer season here at Spangdahlem is winding down. Thanks to my lovely wife, you all can see a couple pictures of the action!
