In San Diego with Jess

Yup I back from my trip. It was crazy and fun and I am very tired, but I do need to tell everyone about it (right?). So here it goes

In San Diego with Jess


-Day One (getting there is half the fun right?)-

Okay so I woke up early (6:30am) not being able to sleep any longer, and got everything started. I packed a few last minute things, and had some snuggle time with Olivia. My plane was leaving a 12:50pm, so I wanted to be at the airport by 11:00am. We got to the airport a little early (excited to leave), and I ended up sitting around and waiting. After checking in with security I got myself a snack, and sat down to watch the mythbusters on my Ipod. My first flight was to Newark, NJ and I had a 3 hour lay-over there (yeah fun). So I get to Newark, and I fly into the commuter terminal, and my other plane was going to leave from terminal C, so I have to take a bus (yes I HAD to do it this way) to terminal A, then take another bus to terminal C (yup FUN!). So I get to the gate that is on my ticket and on the monitors, and I sit for about an hour, then an announcement is made that the flight to San Diego has been moved to a different gate (at the other side of the terminal)(yup that's right). As I was getting there I notice a pigeon in the airport (just flying around)(interesting), and no one else seemed to notice him. I get on the plane (finally!), and it's full (completely), and because of that it took forever for everyone to get there stuff put away and sit down. After a long flight (that only had one working bathroom in coach) I land in San Diego at 8:35pm (their time), so on the east coast it was 11:35pm (I was super tired). As we were driving back to Jessica's place, the fireworks at Sea world were going off, and Claire (Jessica's oldest) asked "Why are they setting fireworks off momma?" and Jess said "Because Miss Randi's in town." (if only that were true) So I get to Jessica's place and crash, because I had been up forever and I tend to turn into a pumpkin after 10pm EST.

-Day Two (Shopping is fun, but you guys are grumpy)-

I woke up a 4:30am (7:30am EST) not being able to sleep anymore. I wonder why? That day we went shopping for Jessica wedding dress. We wanted to look in Ross, TJMaxx, Burlington coat factory, and Marshalls. It took looking in all of those to find it, and I was shopping with 2 very grumpy people (you know who you are). I guess I can cut them a break, they were stressed about the wedding and the planning. If it were up to them, they would just run off and elope. I kept telling them just to run to Vegas (just a 4 hour drive from San Diego), and I'd watch the kids. Back to the story.... We finally found one (yay!). I just needed to make a few alterations, and then it would be perfect. We got pick-up-stix for dinner (the only good Chinese on the whole coast that is west)(and they don't have any Pick-up-stix on the east coast). It was good, and I missed eating there.

-Day Three (Lets act like tourist, and lets all dress in Purple)-

Thursday was our day to play tourist (apparently Justin doesn't like that kind of thing), and see the things that I miss. First we went to Balboa Park, we played on the playground, walked through the Rose Garden, then all around the theater, we also played in some fountains, and saw some awesome Japanese Koi Fish. We also took some great pictures, and they are up on facebook. Next they took me to the Cabrilmo monument, on Point Loma, right next to the light house. We walked all around the monument and light house, but I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to walk all the way down to the tide pools. Next was Seaport Village. Where we looked at some cool hats, and I got some post cards for the boys, but I think I left them in Jessica's house or car (I can't find them, heads up Jess). Saw the bay, and it was beautiful, and nearly got run over by tourist.

-Day Four (Ocean, Beach, Water, Sand... ect...)-

Yup it was Beach day! We went to the beach on Camp Pendleton (Marine Base). I found the boys some rocks (I wanted to find shells, but didn't see any), and I got in up to my knees (yup I'm a wimp). Justin was mad, because the surfers were on the wrong side of the flag. Zoe decided to roll around in the sand after getting completely wet, so that was fun to clean up. We got Little Caesars for Lunch, and IHOP from dinner (yup I was living it up).

-Day Five (very last day, very long day)-

I got up and re-packed everything. I also re-charged my cell phone and Ipod. I altered Jessica's dress, and she looked beautiful in it (of course), and it's not just because I am master of the sewing machine. After lunch time we got in the van and went for a drive. We first drove by my old neighbor hood, and house (I miss that place). It looked the same, and so familiar, it also felt as if I had never left. My old house still looks beautiful, and they had flowers out front on the patio (just like I did). We also went to my old walmart. There I got some San Diego stuffed animals for my kids. Next was Mission Beach, and that place was crazy. After driving around not having any parking open, we found a spot up front (that was a freak accident). Jess and I rode the roller Coater, and then it broke down (yup I told Jess it was her fault). I got a Henna Tattoo, of the Starfleet symbol (if I was ever crazy enough to get a real tattoo, that is what I would get). We went to Jessica's Grandmother's house next (I had meet her before, and I wanted to see her again). Jessica's Mother and Aunt were visiting as well, and I had dinner with them. Jess dropped me off at the airport at 8:30pm. At the airport I got stopped by Security, because I had a water bottle in my carry-on, that I forgot about. Oops! I got on my plane at 10:30, it was not going to land in NC into 6am, so my plain was to sleep the whole ride, but I didn't get much sleep, because it was way to cold on the plane. I land in NC super tired and waited 2 hours to get on another plane to Baltimore (by that time it was day 6 I guess...).

-Home again-

So after Jeremy picked me up from the airport. He got me some McDonalds coffee (much needed at this point). We get home, and I snuggle with Olivia, post my last pictures, and I lay down to take a nap.

It was nice to get away, and I'm so proud of Jeremy. He took great care of the kids, and the house. He let me take it easy on Sunday, and made me feel like the most loved wife. Yup he's a keeper, and I love him with all of my heart.

Ready to go!

Yup I'm ready to go! I'm all packed and in a few hours I'll be on my way.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning, so I would leave Jeremy with a clean house (one less thing for him to worry about). Yup this is truly a test of endurance for him, because these next 5 days he will be Mister Mom. I'm sure he will do fine. The boys helped me clean yesterday, and they did a great job. This place looks awesome. I also gave them a pep talk about being extra good for Daddy and not giving him a hard time. I couldn't give Olivia the same pep talk so who knows what she'll get into.

Soon to come.... Adventures in San Diego with Jessica.... Should be posted on Sunday or Monday, so stay tuned...

We are celebrating...??...

Well that was my reaction when my husband came home with Sparkling Grape Juice and Hershey's Symphony bars (yup that is how we celebrate), and said "honey we are celebrating!" My first thought is "What could we be celebrating?" Now Jeremy had gotten home late, because his boss made chief, and they took him out, but we couldn't be celebrating that could we?

Jeremy: I have finally decided weather or not to re-enlist.

Randi: Really? That's great, so what did you decide?

Jeremy: I think it would benefit us the most, if I did re-enlist, so I am.

Randi: Okay then lets celebrate.

See we have been going back and fourth on this for quite some time, so it's nice that his mind is made up. It's a decision that I didn't want to make myself, because I could weigh the pros and cons for years and never get anywhere. Jeremy really feels that this is what God wants him to do, and this is also the path that is best for us. He also said that he felt so much better after he had decided, because he didn't have to think about it anymore. I myself think about 2 to 3 times a week, but Jeremy told me, that he thinks about it 2 to 3 times a day, and it's nice that it's over, and he knows what to do now. Yes a big load off of both of our minds. So where to next? Well who knows, but I look forward to seeing new places and meeting more wonderful people.

Home school

So every day with the boys I have been doing journal writing, and the last few days have been fill with Mommom's house and super Heroes and Villains. Tuesday I asked them to write about there favorite place to visit, and I really shouldn't have been surprised when they all wrote about Mommom's house. Well I guess going to see the grandparents and getting spoiled is fun. Yesterday they made up there own super heroes and wrote about them. Darien's was Bright Man, Zach's was Spaghetti Man, and Nathaniel's was Apple Worm Man. Today was make up your own super villain (and tomorrow we are supposed to write a story about the hero fighting the villain), Darien's villain was Darkness, Zach's was Pizza Man, and Nathaniel's was Hot Dog Man. Yes they should all be interesting fights.

First day as Teacher Mom

Okay so first day of homeschooling... And how did it go? Pretty well actually, and I'll tell you about it. I started us off at 8am with morning devotions we have the book God's little Devotional Book for Boys (great book). The lesson was about making new friends, and how sometimes we have to make the first step (a lesson I should put to use as well). Darien prayed at both the beginning and end of the devotion. Next was journal writing and cursive practice. The journal subject of the day was, who is your favorite super hero and why. Darien wrote about Link (not sure he has super powers, but he is a hero), Zachary wrote about Spiderman, and Nathaniel picked Ironman (he didn't do much writing, but drew a great picture). Reading was after all of that, then we took a snack break, pretzels and tea (yum). Math was next followed by Language and History. Both Darien and Zachary are learning about America. Darien's is about important people with a chapter for each person (first chapter being about Christopher Columbus), and Zachary is learning about flags and symbols. Then we had science, spelling, and art (art is on mondays, PE on tuesdays, Computer on wednesdays, and Music in thursdays). Our art project was making a fish from paper plates. Darien's was green and purple, Zach made a rainbow one, and Nathaniel's was all red (mine is the one in the picture). I was going over their work and my pen broke, and I got ink on my hand (as seen in picture) (fun!!). All in all a good day and a good start, we finished right in time for lunch (sooner than I expected). Can't wait to do it all again tomorrow...

Married for 8 years and one day!

Yup Yesterday was our 8 year anniversary. Wow 8 years, I can't believe it. It doesn't seem like 8 years. Our life together has been fill with a lot of good times, and some bad times, but always with a lot of love. I'm so thankful for our life and our wonderful beautiful children, so here's to 8 wonderful years, and many more.

So Shape-ups...

Okay so I got a pair a few weeks before Olivia was born, so I've had them for a little over 6 months, and I love them.

About 2 months ago I started to notice a difference with my leg tone, and the only thing that I have changed is yes, my shoes. So they do really work.

Jeremy brought them for me, because my old tennis shoes (running shoe, walking shoes, whatever you want to call them) were falling apart, and I wanted to try these and so did he (Jeremy has a pair as well). Now since summer vacation started I haven't been walking as much, but I use to do about a mile a day (back and fourth to the bus stop). I have four kids, so walking and running I don't really make time for, so these are perfect.

The first few days, it did fell like I was walking on sand, and that they were harder to walk on, but after that, it felt normal, and they are very comfortable. They are also well made, I have worn them almost everywhere and they only a have a little wear on them.

I got the MaryJane looking pair (like in the picture), because they are so cute, but they have a lot to chose from, and fix any ones fashion style . Yup I would totally recommend them. I got mine for $110, but they have since been marked down, and some pairs you can get for $80. Also I have seen them in the Exchange (for you military people), and I'm sure you can find them for $75 there.

Birthday post!

Yup today is my birthday! " ♪♫♪ Happy Birthday too me, Happy Birthday to me. ♪♫♪" I'm 26, and to me that is kinda crazy. I'm not mid twenty anymore, but I don't feel old. I don't see age as a number, you're only as old as you feel, and I don't feel old yet. I feel like I have a lot to be thankful for, God has been good to me during my life. When I was little I didn't expect to have to much, I wanted kids, but not so many, and I wanted to be a cartoonist, that changed to a cosmetologist in my teen years. I finished beauty school, and I have my license, so I did that. What really surprises me, is that I enjoy raising my kids, and spending time with Jeremy more then anything.

So what have I been up to lately? Well Thursday my two good friends Dawn and Becky came over. We went to the community pool for a few hours. We ate chili and corn bread. We watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Dawn had never seen it), and we stayed up late and talked and laughed, and it was so much fun. Yup I love those girls.

Friday Olivia was sick, poor baby. She had a low fever and yucky diapers. At first I thought it was because she was teething, but since the yucky diapers kept coming and she was really fussy, well I realized it was more than that. Nathaniel had something similar a week before, so that made me think it was the same thing. She was over it by Saturday, but that's when I got sick. Yup Saturday evening I started to get body aces, really bad ones. So I fed Olivia, put her to bed, and took a bath (Jeremy was playing with the boys)(he is so sweet). The bath helped but it all came back after I got out. I woke up the next morning and still felt the same, so Jeremy took over and took care of the kids for me. By lunch time I was feeling better, and by night I was completely better. I'm still not sure what it was... I only had body aches nothing else... It's okay, I'm better now.

Today has been good so far. Jeremy took me out to lunch, and he gave me a really sweet card. I love that man. I'm spending the day with my wonderful kids, and listening to my favorite music.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Books all ordered!

Yay, all of my home schooling books are ordered, and the last 12 should be here any day. Okay so I told you before that I had about 51 books to get for this school year. Yes that is a big number! Its big because I need to get the teacher's editions along with the test and answer books, and of course student work books. The number was also high because the reading curriculums were comprised of 5 books (for each kid), that have short stories in them, and questions following each story. So yes 51 books. I'm going with the Abeka curriculum (not sure if I mentioned that before), and if I ordered all of those off of their website it would have cost $673.50 (yeah WOW), but I didn't ordered all of them from there, in fact only 12 came directly from their website. The other I obtained in different ways. I got 25 from ebay (most of the time you can find them for half the price on there). I got 14 from curriculum fairs and other people (each book only costing a few dollars). I got 12 from the actual Abeka site, (yes I already said that a few lines up) these last 12 I couldn't find any other way. All in all I only spent $314.74. Yup less than half (I'm very proud of myself).

We are going to be starting soon, on the 9th of august in fact (I moved it up a week, because of my trip). I have them starting in august to give us plenty of time to finish everything. Since this is our first year, and I'm not sure how everything is going to go, I thought it best that way. Last week I went through the books and figured out the pace that we need to follow, how many lessons we need to do each week... how many test we need to take each month... (ect...). Lots of figuring, but I'm really confident that we will be able to keep our pace, and work on any problem areas.

Okay so on family news, Olivia is trying to crawl and can almost do it. She has become very talkative and makes a lot of noise (but in a good way)(most of the time). Zachary is now master of the swings and monkey bars. Before he didn't like ether. He couldn't quite get the rhythm for the swings, and he was always scared of falling while hanging on the monkey bars.

A few weeks ago I told him to hang onto the bar, then let yourself drop, and see if it hurts (yup scary). He ended up trying it, and realized it didn't hurt at all. Wow mom knows what she's talking about. Well I don't have anything else to report, so thanks for reading.

Best birthday present ever!

Yes it's still about 2 weeks until my birthday, but I did get a birthday present already, or I guess I should say I'm going to get one, and it will be the best gift ever. Also to say that I'm getting it early would be wrong as well, because in-fact I'm going to get it late, by a few weeks. Like I said, it will be the best gift ever, and not because of what was spent, because it was more of a gift of understanding. What am I getting? Jeremy is letting me go see Jessica for a few days! Yup down in sunny San Diego! I'm so excited!

How did this all start? From a break down and crazy crying (that's how all things start right?), I'll explain. Well Sunday I was getting ready for church, and I asked Jeremy why he wasn't ready yet. He didn't want to go, because his ankle (that he sprained really badly), was still bothering him, and he wanted to get some house work done. Along with all of that, he mentioned he wasn't comfortable with the people there as of yet. This got me worried, I'm tired of trying out churches, and I just really want to make some new friends, and I was just starting to get use to this new church. This also got me thinking on how unfair it is that I have to find new friends (so to say), I miss my old friends, and it's not fair that I don't get to see them anymore. So I started to get upset. Jeremy who is very perceptive realized why I was crying. I miss my old friends and most of all Jess. She and I were really close, mainly because during Jeremy's last deployment she and her 3 lovely girls came and stayed with me. We both were going through a tough time in our life. I was lonely because Jeremy was gone, and hers was a totally different situation, but we were there for each other, and we became really close. We enjoyed watching Star Trek and the Mythbusters together, we spent days listening to Relient K, and we ate a brunch of baby oranges. We always had an on-going argument about how the laundry should be done, and we traded favors and chores. Yup good times! I consider her my sister (by love if not by family). After a long hug from Jeremy, I when to church in hopes that it would clear my mind, and put it on track. When I got home from church, Jeremy had shown me, an e-mail he sent to Jess, and told me to set a date, because I was going.

Aug. 17 - 21, From the east coast to the west, and back again, all in under 5 days (wow). I can't wait to see Jess again and San Diego. I really miss that place, it's my second home. I feel in-love with that place and I'm excited that I get to see it again. I have missed it so much, and sometimes I wish I could have stayed there longer.

I know God brought me back east for a reason, I think it's because I need to work on my relationship with my family. I have fallen away from them, and that's mostly my fault. When I gain my independence (back when I moved to SC), I stop depending on them all together, and I need to find the right balance. God has shown me a lot of reasons why He did all those things in my life, and why He sent me all of those places. He sent me to SC to teach me how to be independent, and to teach Jeremy and I how to be a married couple (yes nothing is ever easy). When he sent us to VA when Jeremy was stationed to the Hampton, that set in motion His plain to bring us to San Diego, because the Hampton ended up doing the home port change there. I believe he sent us to CA to get us back into His word. We found a great church there, and met friends that would change us, and make us see things differently. He has been so good to us, I still can't believe how blessed we are. I am so grateful (beyond words) for my kids and husband and our life.

I will fill you in on the trip after I get back, and tell you all of the wonderful things I got to see again. Please pray for a safe trip, flying by myself makes me a little nervous, even though I've done it before.

You're Not My Mommy!

Last monday I when to a bible study (women only), and I left the kids with Jeremy. When ever this happens he turns into mister mom, and does a wonderful job, in a manly sort of way. Last monday however, his job was made a lot harder my our wonderful daughter Olivia. I was only going to be gone for 2 hours, so no big deal right? Wrong! She was very upset, and Jeremy said it didn't matter what he did, she was just so upset. Finally she just ended up crying herself to sleep. She woke up not to long after I got home, and she was very happy to see me, so my guess is she just wanted me. Try as Jeremy might, he is not the mom, even if he is a super fantastic dad.

A few days later I decided to deep condition my hair. It really needed some softening. When I do this, I wash my hair, then put in the deep conditioner, then put a shower cap on my head, and then I top it off with a towel (to keep the heat in). I walk around like this for a few hours, to let it all sink in. However, about 30 mins after I put the towel on, Olivia started to fuss, so I picked her up. She took one look at me, and started to ball. Apparently I did not look like mommy with a towel on my head. This started the whole really fussy and no one can make me happy stuff again (just like last monday). Needless to say, I ended up washing the conditioner out sooner then I wanted to. Yup, but everything was better after that. Life is fun, isn't it.