Where'd Ya Go??

 Anyone asking themselves this question??  Sorry I guess I forgot to mention I was taking off for two weeks to vacay in NY.  Jack wanted to spend sometime with his grandparents!  But I'm back!  You can stop worrying now...

Jack and I had a ton of fun on our trip.  He was really great on the airplane.  I was so nervous.  He cried a little bit on the way up, mostly since it was naptime and he isn't used to falling asleep in my arms with like 75 people in the room.  But he charmed his way into the other passengers hearts with his big Jack smile and bright blue eyes, so they weren't upset by his little outburst.  Since pictures are much more fun, here is our trip photostyle.  Well you know Jack on our trip...

Eating his first piece of NY corn on the cob, so yummy!

Sharing my puffs with my great-great uncle jack!

Loving on my grandpa

Swinging with gramma

Laughing with grampa bb

In front of grampa bb's '67 camaro at Jack's first car show!

Driving the camaro!

Trying to be cute so Mommy will get him an ice cream at Papa Jack's Ice Cream Shop

Blueberry pancakes at the Country Club

Waiting for the T in Boston!

First time on the T!

Aunt Abbe loving Jack up

Passed out on the way home from Boston

Playing on the train table in Imagaine That!

My mom's friend Ginny owns Imagine That! and is just a big kid!

Jack meeting his future wife Miss Millie Louise

First time having Grandpa's lasagna!  Yummm!

Driving with the windows down does funny things to your hair!

Just went swimming at the cabin!

Waiting to get off the plane to see Daddy!

We had a great trip home.  I got to stroll around my favorite place on earth Wegman's.  We visited the Ithaca Farmers Market, one of my favorite outdoor markets.  I ate a lobster in Boston at Legal Seafood.  We saw all the family on both sides.  Went shopping at the Waterloo outlets, Jack of course made out like a bandit!  But it was so nice to sleep in my own bed last night.  Traveling takes so much out of you I could probably still be sleeping! 

We are gonna try to take a mini family vacay up to Atlanta this weekend since it will pretty much be Bobby's last weekend to do anything with us.  The deployment will be coming to an end in the next few months which means he will be super busy!  We really need to get going on my bucket list, so this little trip might help!

Ready, Set, Go.

 Waaaay back in February, I was invited to attend a luncheon for military spouses at a beautiful gated community in our town called The Ford Plantation.  This plantation was originally owned by Henry Ford and the homes are breathtaking!  We enjoyed a sangria cocktail hour and mingled with the plantation residents before watching a cooking demonstration.  The executive chef showed us how to make a delicious salad with grilled chicken and strawberries and a strawberry vinaigrette.  All during the mingling and cooking class, I noticed a woman taking photos of us.  Since I brought Jack along, she snapped a few of his adorable face.  No one can resist his cuteness.  I figured she worked for either the plantation or a newspaper and didn't really think about it too much.

A couple weeks later, I sat in on a VTC (video teleconference) with Bobby, the FRG (family readiness group) leaders and the guys in Iraq.  I noticed the woman from the luncheon who was taking pictures was there.  I asked Bobby who she was and he kinda shrugged his shoulders but said she was documenting the deployment.  She took a bunch of pictures during the VTC and got some great shots of Jack.  He was getting fussy, so I was playing airplane with him which always makes him smile.  Perfect photo-ops!

Later that night, Bobby came home from work and told me more about this woman.  Her name is Susan Weiss.  She and Bobby hit it off right away.  She is a retired investment banker who loves to road bike, take pictures, and travel the world doing both!  She has a special place in her heart for the military family which is how we have gotten to know her so well.  Since the beginning, she has been photographing our brigade's families during the deployment.  She attends every event like FRG meetings, our Walk to Iraq, tree dedication ceremonies, volunteer recognition ceremonies, R&R homecomings and even the birth of a few babies!  There is even talk of her getting to go to Iraq to meet the men and women of our brigade.  Her project called Ready, Set, Go. is being featured on military.com.  Susan would love for you to take a look and pass this along.  And if you go check it out, you might even see a familiar baby...

Princess Alexis (and Bobby)

Wahoo!!  We are all registered for this...

yes, Bobby will be a princess too.  I really wanted to run my first half with him.

So, next February we get to go to Disney again!  I just love Disney.  We love to eat there!  Our favorite place to eat is Jiko in Animal Kingdom, we had an awesome meal there!  Can't wait to go back!

Training has been going along, slow but steady.  It's still so daunting to think that I will be running for like 3 hours.  Getting out to run here is pretty tricky.  It's super hot.  Like we have had multiple heat advisories.  Since I run with Jack, I won't take him out if it's that hot.  And since Bobby doesn't get home till after dark most nights, my running gets thrown aside.  But going to NY for 2 weeks will be great cause I will be able to run every day!  And my mom is a huge runner, so I can get out with her.

Part of the registration process involves picking your favorite princess.  Easy for me, I love Sleeping Beauty, but when I asked Bobby who he wanted to be, he said "I don't want to be a princess."  Well tough cookies, cause it makes me choose one.  So who did I choose for Bobby?  Snow White.  Bobby has all these soldiers that follow him around and check in with him, so I thought that was like Snow White and her dwarfs.

One of the best parts about this race is that my two best friends from high school (and their husbands) are going to race it with us!  I see one of them a ton cause she only lives about two hours away from me, but the other lives in Maine and we always miss each other when visiting our hometown.  It will be so great to have a weekend (and in Disney) together.  I can't wait!  Also, I will get to meet a bunch of other military wives who will be racing! 

Oh and along the running topic, Savannah just got the approval for a Rock and Roll Marathon!  It will be November 5-6 2011.  Too bad we probably won't be here anymore.  Maybe that will be a little vacay back...

So wish me luck on my training!  I'll keep you updated!  And of course any and all running advice/tips is/are greatly appreciated.