...Vent...

Dear Cool Kids,
(I don't know if you re actually kids or not but for the sake of my sanity, I'm just going to pretend that you are) I guess you have nothing better to do with your night than to break into peoples cars and cause major damage, and for that I feel sorry for you. I mean I guess you haven't succeeded much in life which is why you go around doing this, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you didn't actually succeed in steal the navigation system/stereo that you broke into get but let me just say this. Next time you are really that desperate, I'd much rather you walk up to me and say "hey lady, give us $500 or we'll make your day hell" because lets face it, I was doing okay with the whole "had Geoff for a while, now I don't" thing, until today when you caused me to have one of THOSE days. I guess I shouldn't complain too badly, I mean instead of taking Grant to his Little Gym class and playing outside, Grant got to see a police car up close and personal and learn what a "report" was and pretty soon he'll get to spend a day or two exploring the ins and outs of a body shop, fun stuff!
Now since you didn't actually get what you set out get I get the joy of sleep with one ear open as I worry that you'll be back again to undo any of the repairs I make to finish off the deal, so Cool Kids, THANKS you made my day!

"Lets Start at the Very Beginning"

I know I already posted about the airport arrival, Geoff was very excited to get home and get a nice shower after being in the same clothes for several days. He also was eager to give Grant his Christmas present... a HUGE camel. We had been at an airport once when a soldier was coming back with a huge camel obviously for his child and the idea was in the back of Geoff's mind. He wanted a big reminder that Grant would always have for the time that he was away. Well after 25 laps around the beast, Grant finally gave in, gave the camel a huge hug and kiss and let him into our family! it was too cute

Friday we went to over to Elon and a Vesuvios run. Lindsay and Darris joined us and a great time was had by all! We took Grant around campus a little bit but he was traveled out and wanted to have tantrums instead so it was a short visit.

Saturday was Game Day! The Rates (Ryan and Kim), Soult and Schroeder join us as we cheered Jim and the Ravens on as they made their playoff run. It was so fun to see Geoff truly relax, hang out with his guys -no offense Kim- and talk about something other than work/war. We indulged on some wings, threw back a few beers and had a GREAT evening!

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurabchilds/RRpart1#

Back to Life, Back to Reality

The saddest part about R&R is that eventually it ends and you have had a taste of the life you want and there comes a point when you have to say "see you later" to that life and "oh, crap, its you again" to the life you've been leading for the past 6 months. Geoff, Grant and I had a wonderful break from our reality over the past few weeks, lots of smiles and laughter, lots of reminiscing and story telling, lots of hug and lots of kisses.
Geoff is boarding his plane in Ireland right now (thankfully there wasn't as much drama this time around) and should be in Kuwait by our night time. I'm getting by knowing that Nadia finally got her Patrick home for a while on Sunday and now gets to have as much fun with him as we had with Geoff! Savor it all because we now know just how short 18 days really is!

Family Again!

He's Irish Today

Geoff is in Ireland, waiting for the next leg of the trip!
"I want this guy's job...air force chief master sergeant and military attaché to the US embassy in Ireland. If we have to stay longer than a few hours we go to a hotel and he briefs us on the specific elements of the sofa in the UK" (not sure about the sofa part)

But they are going to be there for atleast 24hours. Its against iriah law to waer a foreign military uniform on Irish soil so the embassy has coordinated police escorts to take them to hotels where they will be put on lockdown.... craziness, but a pretty cool adventure. My international relations brain is loving the stories~

Heartbreaker

The cutest thing ever has happened over the past couple of days. Grant is giving Geoff kisses! I said "wheres Daddy? can you give him a kiss?" and he walks over to the picture hanging on the fridge and kissed it on Geoffs lips! he even does the little pucker sound! it was so freakin' cute. I can't wait til he can do it in "real life"~

A Weak Week Updates

yes, yes, I have been slacking, so heres my attempt to capture all that has happened in the real world over the past week in blog world in one post! I know I can't possibly do it justice but here goes...

Grant and I headed down to Atlanta on the 26th to see the crew down there. I have discovered the trick to a 6 hour car ride with the monster... start with all of the toys in the front passenger seat and as he gets sick of one toy and tosses it on the floor you simply pass back a new one. He constantly sees new toys and you can reload the front seat with arsenal at every pit stop. Granted, when toys run out he tends to get creative, this trip it was the destruction of the window shade.

We had a great visit, had round 2 of fun gift giving and lots of laughs. The cutest part of the trip was when Geoff's extended family came over to do gifts. Yhey had all put Grants presents under the tree in the living room and were seated waiting for him to open them on the couches in the den. Grant walked through the french doors, grabbed a present and proceeded to "pass it out" to Terry, he then went back to the presents go one and passed it out to Patty, on and on until everyone had one of "his" presents. He got a little confused when everyone was holding a gift but there were still more under the tree for him to pass out. Leisa finally took a second one and he proceeded to play Santa until all of his gifts were dooled out. Hes pretty generous!

He was feeling a little under the weather but we managed to the in the Atlanta classic of the Rich's/Macy's Pink Pig.

New Years I got the chance to hang out with some old Elon girls. It was wonderful! We had a super yummy dinner at an Asian resurant in Brightleaf where we laughed and joked and the guys wondered who in the heck they were dating, engaged to or married. We celebrated the actualy countdown at Emily's with even more yummy food and the next morning Grant and I went over to Lindsay and Brian's to play some more. I stupidly forgot to take pictures but heres a precious one of Grant giving Zaxby a huge hug!

I'll go ahead and warn you now that there might be a lack of posts coming up. GEOFF HAS STARTED ON HIS WAY HOME TO US! I'll try to keep people posted but just stay tuned til the last week of january when I'll maybe be ready to recap the wonderful but way-too-short 18 days!