How could this be comfy?

Kids sleep in the strangest positions! By back and neck hurt just thinking about sleeping this way! Awww...there is something very sweet and "baby like" about it. I can't believe my "baby" is barrelling towards his 3rd birthday (March 31st). Where did all the time go?

Back to the grind today...

Julia went back to school this morning after having 3 weeks off for the holidays. She did great. We had talked about it quite a bit last week so I think that helped her be prepared to go back. She is a bit of a "homebody" so I was thinking she would have a difficult time going back, but she was a trooper.

Of course she got to wear a new outfit and has a new hairstyle (she has bangs now!) so I'm sure that helped!

Kenneth is having a sad morning, he really loves Julia and enjoys her companionship so much. I am missing her too, it was wonderful to have them both home for 3 weeks.

15 Days of Joy

I'm sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport at the USO, waiting to start the long arduous process of returning to my deployment location in the Middle East. It took over three days to get to Fresno, with stops in Kuwait, Ireland, Maine and Texas along the way, but it was more than worth it. I'd do it again in a second, but the Air Force won't let me :) .

Words can not express how amazing it was to get to hold Denise, Julia and Kenneth in my arms and to see all my friends and family. I was feeling really down in November, work not going well and each day dragging on and all I could think about was getting home. My tank has been filled, my cup runneth over, and I can't wait to get back to finish my tour - so I can get back home for good (well, hopefully for good, I don't see another deployment on the horizon).

Some highlights (see Denise's posts for pics) were Julia's Christmas Program at school, building a snowman with Kenneth in the snow at Shaver Lake, Christmas Morning with the kids (Santa nailed the presents - Julia LOVES Floppy the puppy and Kenneth LOVES the Thomas the Train set), Christmas get-together at Joyce's, Monterey Bay Aquarium & Cannery Row with the kids, and New Years Eve with friends and family. Special thanks to Joyce for hosting Christmas, Mike & Dianne and Cindy & Dan for New Years, and my Dad for giving me a ride to the airport at 0530 in the morning today.

Biggest thank you of course goes to Denise, for continuing to be supermom while Daddy is away. She continues to be the love of my life, my rock and my reason.

New Year's Eve/Day

We had a fun, exciting, and exhausting New Years Eve. We started out by visiting with our great friends Mike and Dianne, and their daughter Rebecca. We were treated to some of their gourmet cuisine and the kids had so much fun together. It is always so great to see them.

We left their home shortly before 10 pm, and then drove to Clovis to the home of Kelly's sister Cindy and her husband Dan. They always have a New Year's celebration, and it was so much fun to get to participate. The kids were wound up and insane, but it was New Years, and it just wouldn't be complete without overtired, sugar crazy kids. Thank goodness they slept until 10 am this morning, I didn't have any alcohol but it sure felt like I had a hangover.

December 29-30th - Monterey

We decided to take the kids for an overnight trip to Monterey this week. Some of you probably know that Monterey was where Kelly and I first lived after we were married, so it is a very special place for us and we wanted to share that with the kids.

Highlights included dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp and the Aquarium. It was such beautiful weather while we were there, it was hard to believe it was the end of December since we were enjoying 60 degree sunny weather. Once we got home , it was cold, foggy, and gray just like a Central Valley winter day should be.

Dec. 26th - Snow Day!

The day after all the Christmas festivities, we decided it would be nice to get out of here and take a trip to the snow. We drove up to Shaver Lake. We actually had our snow fun all the way down by the lake! It was so deep we were all falling in. Kelly and Kenneth were much more adventurous than Julia and myself. Eventually we found a nice area where the snow wasn't so deep and we were able to play. The kids had such a blast, it was such a great day.

Christmas Day - Part II

In the afternoon we had Darice and Deon Ami and their families over to our place. It was a lot of fun. We ate, played games, and the kids ran around like crazy.