Another Place to Call Home

At long last, we are in our new home. We have no furniture, mind you, but we are in it nonetheless. We left Meridian and our little, yellow rental house behind last Saturday and headed to NC, stopping for the night in Augusta, GA. Our friends, the Newbolds, were moving to NC the same day, so we stopped at the same hotel and let Abby Kate and their two daughters play in the pool together. It was a fun way to break up the trip and felt almost like a vacation. The Newbolds so graciously offered us a place to stay for three nights once we got here since we weren't closing on our home until the 26th. They have a beautiful new home with lots of space. Thank you, Colin, Sarah, Eden & Maren! We had fun!

As of yesterday afternoon, we are the owners of a beautiful new home in a great neighborhood. I have paint swatches taped all over the walls and can't wait to get some color in here. Right now, a guy is hooking up our cable, internet and phone. Our furniture arrives tomorrow morning (we hope). Abby Kate and Junah are loving all the big windows and open areas. And Mike and I are enjoying having a big bathroom with double vanities again.

Mike has been busy checking in and preparing to start work on Monday. He'll be really busy the first few weeks and then will slow down a bit after that. I'm not sure when his first flight in the Harrier will take place. He has a few weeks of ground school before they'll get in the aircraft. Mike is excited, and a bit overwhelmed at how fast they've gotten him into the mix here.

I joined Gold's Gym today. The one in New Bern is nice - it has a lot of great classes and best of all, free childcare... perfect! We are also planning to make many trips to the pool and the beach this summer. Atlantic Beach is only about a 30-min drive, I'm told. We're looking forward to checking it out! I'll be glad to get more and more settled in the coming days and get back to my routines with AK, my work and exercise.

More to come, including pictures... as soon as I find my camera and all associated cords for downloading. Hmmm, might be a few days. :)

Seven Years

Mike and I were married seven years ago yesterday. It doesn't seem like it could possibly have been that long ago. And even more unbelievable is the 15 total years we've been together. Wow! That says only one thing. That we're OLD. :) In the midst of our move, we didn't celebrate the usual way with a nice dinner out. We are trying to eat up all the food in our refrigerator before we move, so our dinner consisted of the last pieces of chicken we had, sprinkled with (no joke) a random box of Shake 'n Bake that we had in our pantry. As I shook, I had to say with my most childish, country accent "It's Shake 'n Bake, and I helped!" OK, now I'm just shouting my age.

I have and will love you always, Mike. Happy anniversary!

Father's Day

Abby Kate greeted Daddy with a "Happy Day!" this morning. I tried to teach her to say Happy Daddy's Day, but that's what came out. She gave Daddy a big kiss and then was off to more important things, like her Dora yogurt. Mike chose to play golf with his buddies today, so AK and I went shopping for a Father's Day present and we're going to make Daddy's favorite dinner - tacos! Happy Father's Day, Mike! Thank you for being such a great daddy to our little girl. We love you!

This father's day is an extra special one for me. I am spending today cherishing thoughts of my dad and all the times we've spent together and conversations we've had, knowing that I came very close to not having them anymore. Dad, I am so thankful to have you. You are the greatest, most loving and caring father. I can't thank you enough for all that you've taught me and given me. But most of all, I thank you for loving me. Happy Father's Day!!! Can't wait to spend time with you next month at the beach!

Updates

The Move to NC

First, I'm happy to tell you we found a home in NC! We love it. It is beautiful, brand new and located in a great neighborhood. I'm so happy to be owning a home again... looking forward to collecting paint swatches and fabrics for decorating. We'll actually be moving into it faster than we thought - Mike received his orders and they say we've got to be out of MS and headed to NC next weekend. So we're having the movers come and pack our household and move it next Thursday and Friday, and we'll be closing on the house on June 26. Busy, busy!

Dad

He's feeling so much better. He's been working full days, taking walks in the neighborhood, doing yard work, helping Brian with his yard work, picking up William (my nephew) and just being his old self. His only complaints are headaches due to the plates on the sides of his face. But the doctors say those will go away after a few more months. He's starting to get the feeling back in his teeth, and they are a bit painful, too. But all in all, he's fabulous! We are going to celebrate his health with a trip to Florida next month. I'm so excited!

Mike

Mike is doing great. He healed up extremely fast from his appendectomy. He's back to running, doing pull ups, flying and tossing Abby Kate in the air.

Abby Kate

This girl cracks us up every day. We love this stage! She is full of words and phrases and repeats everything. She sings the alphabet and counts to ten (however jumbled). She loves her baby dolls and likes to ask them if they're hungry or tired or if they want a cracker. It's so cute. I'm not sure how this move will affect her, but I imagine she'll be fine as long as she's with her mommy and daddy. I happened to see a little boy playing in the yard across the street from our new house, so hopefully she'll make some friends.

Me

Staying busy with my design work and busy with Abby Kate. I'm looking forward to our move, even though I will hate to leave some great friends that I've known for so long (we'll miss you Sommer, Chad, Grif and Maggie!) and many that I've met here in Meridian this past year.

That's all for now. I'll send out our new address through e-mail soon.

Wings of Gold

Mike received his "wings of gold" on Friday, May 30th. I pinned them on his chest at the ceremony in the chapel on base that afternoon. Abby Kate clearly wanted to participate as she ran up behind me from her seat to 'help.' (You can see her climbing the steps in the bottom right corner.) She was quite a handful during the ceremony. She had been up WAY too long! And you know how that goes.

Mike's parents came in town for the winging. We all watched as Mike got several awards and certificates. Thanks to Lee and Ginger for coming and for watching AK for us a couple of times! She really enjoyed your company... and Dillon's, too. :)

I am so happy for Mike for all his accomplishments. He's is glad to be done and we are excited to get to North Carolina!

We'll be house-hunting this week, so wish us luck!

Mike with his class on the wing of the T-45.

Just after Mike got his wings.

When Mike touched down on the runway after his last flight (the day before the winging), he was greeting by me and a fire hose. A crazy tradition... but fun! I didn't have it on full blast. I'm not sure I could've held it if so!

More showers from his classmates.

With friends at the winging party. The wives of the pilots that winged made our own t-shirts that read: (front) 'Their wings are made of gold...' (back) 'Ours are of the angel variety' (with big angels wings printed across the back).