Walk for Autism

I have a few wonderful mommy friends who have kiddos with Autism. They have different versions of it, but none the less, they still have it. This past Saturday, Connor and I walked with my friend Debra in the Walk for Autism at Dell Diamond. It was awesome! We walked that day as Team G-Force for her son Garrett who is 8. It really made you realize how many wonderful kids there are out there who need help with funding. There are so many things I didn't realize until I started talking with people who work with autistic kids. I encourage all of you to at least read up on autism because the chances of you knowing someone who knows someone who has it, it very real.

Oh and here is a little video of my daredevil climbing a rockwall. He has NO FEAR!

Have a good week

Iraq or bust

I talk to Ray every other day due to the fact that when he calls from his cell phone, it's a whopping $2.49 a minute! So, we say what we need to say and then hang up. All is well, they are on track to go to Iraq in the next 10 days or so. They went to the range today and he said it was hillarious because they were shoulder to shoulder when shooting and all of Ray's casings were bouncing off if his friends Kevlar. He said he has taken tons of pictures, so when he gets to Iraq and the network is better, he will send them to me. He said that when they got done at the range this morning, they were greeted by a couple camels that felt the need to be friendly!

Only in Kuwait.....

Ray has landed!

Just a quick note to let you all know that Ray has left Ft Stewart and is in Kuwait. They went through Maine and Ireland. He has the next 48 hrs off so he said he's going to sleep while he can. His cell phone is working over there so he has been calling with quick updates. They are expected to be there no longer than 10 days. I will let you know more when I know. Here is a link that My Fox news station did on the 56th. If you look at all the pictures, there are some of Ray training. You have to look carefully! :)

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7140492&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

From coast to coast

Well, we are back from our fantastic vacation! I ended up with strep throat the day before we left for Califonia, so I spent that friday going to the dr, getting my medicine while my awesome friend Debra took Connor to Chuck E Cheese so he wouldn't get sick. I ended up taking him to the dr anyway so he could get started on an antibiotic asap so he wouldn't be sick in California. So, with all that out of the way, we were off. Connor did great on the airplane, minus the annoying 4 trips to the potty. He watched a movie and ate some lunch and then we were there!

We hung out with Brad most of Saturday, then woke up Sunday and went to Brad's graduation! WOOHOO!!! Connor loved watching Brad walk across the stage. After a reception showcasing all of the students pictures, we went back to Brad and Angelina's to have a surprise graduation party! I got to meet Angelina's parents and her brother and they really enjoyed meeting Connor. He played football with the big boys and loved every single minute of it. In fact Brad kept asking when Connor was going to sit down and rest. All I could do was laugh at him. He finally got it!

We went to the beach where Connor was the only one to brave the cold, cold ocean. Brad took some really great photos and Connor had a blast playing in the sand and ocean. We took a really nice trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo which was awesome because it wasn't too big. We saw all the animals, rode the little train they have there and Connor ended up with some fun stuff from there.

As most of you know, Ray ended up with a 4 day pass in the middle of all this, so I left Connor in California with my parents, boarded a plane at 5 am bound for Jacksonville, Florida. Ray has been at Ft Stewart in Savannah, Georgia so we decided to meet in Fl and enjoy the coast. That made it a really long day for me, but he greeted me at baggage claim with a smile and a vanilla latte from Starbucks! Could it get any better??? Off we went to Ponte Vedra right outside of Jacksonville. We did a whole lot of nothing and we enjoyed every minute of it. Ray caught up on some sleep and really enjoyed the fact that he got to sleep in a real bed and I enjoyed some uninterupted TV time. We went out to eat alot, sure beats those MRE'S according to Ray. We walked on the beach and found an Irish Pub that had 36 beers on tap. So we walk in the front door and this guy comes at Ray and gives him this huge hug. Um, ok, then we realize it's 3 guys from his section and they all ended up at the same bar! Guess all military minds think alike, pass=beer. :)

I found this place that makes chocolate and begged Ray to take me. He did and for those of you who know Ray, you know he doesn't do sweets, until now. He loved it and we ended up with quite alot of chocolate after it was all said and done. We went to Best Buy and probably gave them their biggest sale of the day with video games, adapters, dvd's, blah blah blah. I gave up after awhile and just smiled as I wrote the check. It was sad to say goodbye AGAIN, but this deployment is going to go by pretty quick. He should be home for mid-tour around April/May. In case you were wondering, we choose not to bring Connor to Florida because the deployment, long training times and all the other long months Ray is gone have really taken a toll on him. It's very hard for me to help him readjust all the time and he doesn't understand how long a year is and just keeps assuming that daddy will be home in a matter of days. So instead of putting him through all of this, we just decided to make it an adult only weekend.

Here are a few pictures of all the fun we had. I hope you enjoy them and you can look at the rest at here http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=247621582/a=74738824_74738824/fromupload=true/imagecount=238/videocount=0/t_=74738824

Have a good week!