Let it Snow!

Well, I am finally here in Washington! It took forever! But it was well worth it. Kurt arrived today and now we are hurrying to get everything finished before the day of the wedding.

Today we got a lovely surprise of snow! It is beautiful outside. Although, it took Kurt and his parents an hour to get home from the airport because of it.

My family and I played outside in the snow. Throwing snowballs and sledding down the driveway. It was alot of fun!

Hopefully the weather won't be too difficult for people to get through! The wedding is only a few days away and I would like some guests to show up!

Wish us luck as we continue on this adventure!

San Francisco

Well, it was a lovely day in San Francisco. A little chilly but that is to be expected. We started off going to Lou's restaurant near pier 39. I had a po boy sandwich that was ok, mom the fish and chips, elena noodles, and seth had food (i can't remember exactly).



We then headed off to pier 39 where I bought a shell and some art prints for the future apartment or house. I love pier 39 for the atmosphere but I wouldn't recommend buying most things there (tres expensive!).

We then went to Ghirardelli Square for some delicious ice cream sundaes. I love the traditional one. Mom always gets the foghorn (chocolate ice cream with a raspberry sauce. Seth and Elena both got the one with the brownie on the bottom. Elena loves the maraschino cherries (yuck!). She asked to get some more and the server gave her a cup full! She was in heaven.

Overall the trip was quite perfect. No complains. We even got free parking in our sercret spot! Woo hoo! The next time you want to go to San Francisco give me a call and I can tell you all the great places to go!

Substituting

Wow! I cannot believe how amazing kindergarteners are! I have been a substitute for two different kindergarten classes and they are soooo cute! I had a few tell me that they love me and will miss me when I leave. Aww....

Today the kindergarten class that I had went to the pumpkin patch with their third grade big buddies. I have to say that the third graders were more of a handful than the kindergarteners. At least my class listened to instructions the first time!

We walked about a mile to the pumpkin patch where the kids got to play and run around. They then got to pick a small pumpkin, gourd, and a mini pumpkin. The kinders loaded their bundles into a parent volunteers trunk, "Umm...what is your name again?" "Ms. Maley" "Ms. Maley, I got the biggest pumpkin out of everybody" "Oh! well good for you, make sure you put your pumpkins in the trunk and go back to the pumpkin patch."

We walked the mile back to the school and ate snack, a minute later the kids went to lunch.

I think the only meltdown I had today was when one of the students began hitting other students with a book. "Elliot! please come here!.........why were you hitting those students with your book?" "umm...." studnet bursts into tears, "I DOOOONT KNOOOOOOWWWWW!" waahhh. "oh, well it's ok! just don't hit anymore ok?" "OK"

Elliot proceeded to follow me around the classroom until he felt comfortable again (about 5 minutes). It was very cute and funny.

I really like kindergarteners now. They listen to you! Which is a hard thing to come by with older students unless you have been introduced to the class by the teacher.

I may or may not be substituting tomorrow. We will see! Wish me luck!

Elena's Equestrian Show

October 19th, 2008- I went with my family to Elena's riding show. It was Elena's first and she was quite nervous.

She mounted her horse and did a couple of moves around the arena. The piece de resistance was supposed to have Elena trot around the arena, something that she had practiced before and was fairly comfortable doing.

Unfortunately her horse had other ideas and began to canter (a faster version of trotting but slower than galloping).

Elena was quite surprise but was able to control her horse and get him to slow down. everyone in the audience was quite schocked! Especially Mom, she was in the way of the horse when it began to canter. The horse looked as if it was going to jump the railing for a moment and land on Mom!

In the end, I think everyone enjoyed the excitement. No one could stop talking about it afterword!

Military ID

I decided to backtrack a little bit and tell you about my experience getting my military id. It was definitely an adventure!

Mind you I had not been on a military base in 10+ years. I knew that they would give me a hard time because I am a civilian, but I didn't expect it to be too big of a deal.

After driving about an hour on the dreaded 101 highway (more potholes than actual road) I arrived at the Naval base. I can't remember what it is called right now but it is on an island right next to the city of Oakland. It was September 5th, right after labor day, and it was beautiful. The sun was blazing but a slight breeze made it tolerable.

I drove up to the entrance after crossing a small bridge (the only way to get on and off the island!) and was stopped by the "gatekeeper". hee hee, I know that is not what he is called but I can't remember their title. It took them about 15 minutes to confirm who I was and then I was allowed to drive onto the base. It was strange for me, like stepping into a dream. I had been on bases for so much of life but it still schocked me to see everyone in uniform. I felt so out of place there and I felt like everyone was staring at me because I was obviously a silly civilian.

I entered the building that had the office to process my application. It was air conditioned (yay!) and full of small rooms. I was so confused, there was no hallway or clear entrance. I was also scared that I would enter the wrong room and be accused of doing something wrong! EEK!

I eventually found the room and sat down in the middle of a row of chairs. I was surrounded by old people and watched FOX news.....

The most interesting part of my half an hour waiting experience was when a young man tried to talk to me. He asked me what service I was in and if I had just joined. I told him that it was actually my husband that was in the Air Force. I told him that he was at training at Lackland AFB. For some reason this ended all conversation. I don't know why but he immediately faced forward and didn't even make eye contact with me anymore. My only guess is that he either wanted to ask me out and when he found out I was married decided to remove himself from the conversation OR he didn't think it was appropriate for a private to talk to an officer's wife. Either way, it was really really weird.

I was finally called to the office where they would give me my id. The guy who helped me was sooooooo serious! I think he was cranky from not taking a lunch. But I eventually got my id and left the office without complaint.

Driving back to the house was just as uneventful as getting there, except for the potholes :).

Ultimately, I had a great time if only because of the beautiful weather.

Starting to Move

Today Kurt and I were talking about our future and how close it seems. There are only 57 more days until I leave for Washington. Kurt is leaving for Japan around November 15th. It seems far away but the days are going by so fast. At least Kurt and I use skype. I think without that we would go crazy! Hopefully, the fourteen hour time difference won't be too big of a challenge to overcome. Wish us luck as we embark on our new adventure!