Out of town

So, even though I am in a foreign country I am still surrounded by US personnel. There is a very large US presence here. However, I spent a few days recently on a detachment to another country. There was almost no US here. Most things were not translated, making it difficult to get around and to communicate with others. I really feel for foreigners now, who don't know the language and can't read the writing. The people working in the hotel were great helpers though, and it only took a day before I could at least say "thank you" and "hello" in the local language.

Here's a large, outdoor strip mall we found. There were numerous signs in english here. I think it was probably for brand recognition more than anything.

I had to take a picture of some of these signs. This restraunt has a crazy looking pig, and the next one down has another character, heck if I know what it was. If you like fish, eel, squid and whatever else comes from the ocean, and the entire body, head and all, you would love the local food.

Went to a local market and found this, among many other things. I've seen lobster and crab before, but squid was a new one. I should have taken pictures of the numerous other items I saw. They had buckets filled with flounders, eels, rock fish, sea cucumber looking things, you name it. Heck, we even saw dried rays.

So the last two pictures are from the plane, one is right after leaving the ground, and the other we are probably around 800 feet up after taking off. The land was beautiful. I wish I would have had more time there, I would have gone exploring the countryside.

Big fish

It's been a long time in coming, but I finally managed to work 1/2 a day, so a group of us took the opportunity and went out in town. First we drove north to visit a brewery. Not really as good or exciting as the crew had hoped, but such is life. I was able to get a free drink from it though, a cherry juice soda.


Here is a particular style beer offered. Finally, a beer that tells the truth.




After that we went to the aquarium. Pretty impressive over all, but I still like the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta better. Here are some pictures from it. The whale shark was HUGE! I think the tank in Atlanta was bigger but I'm not sure. Either way, the sharks are huge, as were the rays. It was fun, I'm glad I went.

Poopy days ahead

Seeing Jennifer isn't putting in updates I guess I will for her.

She currently has family visiting. Her mom and brother are in, along with her grandmother, and now her sister, nephew and cousin.

The other evening the downstairs (main level) toilet became clogged. Try as she might, Jennifer could not get the water flowing again. The stubborn clog was resistant to all her methods, plungers, snakes, hands (OK, maybe not hands, but you get the idea). She told her grandma, who is sleeping in the room right next to the bathroom, not to use the bathroom that night. Her grandma brought up the point she might not be able to make it up the stairs in time, so they compromised. She could pee in the toilet, but no pooping and no flushing.

At the crack of dawn the next morning Jennifer was awakened by her grandmother telling her the downstairs toilet was flooding. Jennifer ran down stairs to take care of business, but was not prepared for what lay before her.

Keep in mind, Jennifer's grandmother had to climb up a flight of stairs to get to her bedroom. This is not a quick feat by any means. Let's just say the toilet had a head start.

Poopy water was flowing over the edges of the toilet. Some great home designer put carpet in 3/4 of the downstairs bathroom, so the carpet was getting soaked and the toilet had no intentions of stopping. Finally Jennifer was able to stop the brown fountain, get some towels to spare the carpet more punishment, and began the wet, dirty and stinky job of cleaning.

This was no job for the feint of heart. She knew she must break out the big guns, so out comes the carpet cleaner. Five tubs of dirty water later the carpet did not squish when stepped on, but you could not consider it dry either. Numerous attempts have failed to remove the odor and carpet removal may be the only viable option.

A plumber bill of $300.00 later resulted in a new toilet seal and enlightenment on the cause. It seems a Capri Sun juice box was flushed down the toilet. After lining up the kids and grilling them about the juice, one finally fessed up. The culprit admitted to drinking the juice and not wanting to get in trouble, so they disposed of the evidence down the toilet.

Work

So, seeing Jennifer hasn't put her numerous updates online (trust me, there has been a lot going on with her and the kids) I figured I would post one.

Here are a few pictures from work recently. We have been flying quite a bit lately, and somehow managed to end up on the night shift. We've been going out and flying all night long, hundreds of miles from the nearest land. One cool thing has been watching the sun rise each morning.

First, you can feel your body waking up with the sun.
Second, it is a pretty awesome view.
Third, you know it is almost quitting time!

In the second photograph there is another P-3, our relief. They were just taking over and we were about to head home. I took the second photo, but was flying during the first, so a flight engineer snapped it for me.

We are Back!

Sorry for the lag in posts lately. We have been busy.

School got out on June 18th. I was very sad, and the kids were so excited! They only had a half day, so after they got home we went and played at the park. It was a beautiful day. ( which have been rare this year) It was still a little chilly, I was still in a jacket.

Saturday the 19th was a rough day. It started off well enough, but after a few hours it was mayhem. I called a family council. We talked about things we wanted to do this summer. We came up with a schedule, and a plan. Since we are trying to save money, there is no long summer vacation planned. Each day we have a designated family activity to do along with chores and some summer type school. I think it is going to work out pretty well. Who knew kids ( and Me) need such a specific schedule. So far, so good.

As mentioned earlier, the weather has been horrible. Very cold and very gray. We decided to take a trip to Moscow, Idaho to see my sister and nephew. It was so warm and sunny. We were all pretty tired and wanted to sleep in our own beds, so our trip was cut short and we came home last night. We stayed 4 wonderful days. As I was driving over the pass to come home, I almost turned around and went back. It dropped 20 degrees in temperature, and was so gray and cloudy. What a welcome home. I think we may go back next week!

I didn't get a lot of pictures, we were having to much fun, but I did get a couple shots.

Brody with his cozy pillow
Mia with her not so cozy pillow
Fun times at the pool. We all really miss it!
Mister suave, he cracks me up!
So Scott sent me some pictures. He was finally able to go off the base and explore the town he is in. I thought I would share.

He took us out to lunch with him, so sweet!

Yummy!

Nasty tentacle, and stash! He thought he would try and see if he could grow one. He can, now he has to shave it before I will kiss him! Yuck! (and brush his teeth really good!)

So that is an update from us. Now we are off to the movies. See ya!

Update

So much has happened in the last week. We had a visitor for a week. Our friend Jude got back from the desert and stayed until he was able to find a place of his own. During his stayed he came down with the stomach flu. I swear it wasn't us. I think he had food poisoning. I just can't escape the pukes!

My garden has grown considerably. I have a huge bag of broccoli already with more still coming in. The funny part is that Emmi really does not like broccoli. When we were planting it, with each little plant she would say "I hope you grow big and strong, but don't produce a lot of broccoli!" I think it back fired on her because we have so much of it.



It has still been raining a lot, so I have been really grouchy. I think the weather plays with my emotions. I really miss the sun. It was really nice on Saturday, I was able to get so much accomplished. Took the dog for a walk with Brody, washed and cleaned out 2 of the 3 vehicles, mowed the lawn weeded the garden, took the kids to a primary activity, took Brody to a birthday party, lost the other 3 kids, had a panic attack, found the little stinkers, and made them weed the garden also, was so tired the only thing I could do for dinner was grilled cheese and wanted to just sleep. I wish summer would hurry and come so I don't have to do everything in one day, I could spread it out over a few days.

Funny story of the day. Last Friday before school Emmi thought she would try out Kaleb neckerchief tie on her finger. It got stuck, and she was supposed to be heading out the door already. I told her to try soap and cold water. I was laughing so hard, I had to get a picture, she was also laughing but did not want me to take her picture. But being the Mom I am I just had to post them. She did finally get it off, and made it to school on time.


I know that I have more stories, because I remember telling them to my sister in law and she was busting up laughing at me, but they escape my memory at this time. Maybe she will call again and remind me. I think they were more common sense stories. Anyways I hope you at least get a laugh today.

How do you teach common sense?

Today when I went out to take Myah for her run, I noticed the trash I had asked Emmi to take to the trash can was blow all over and had slugs crawling all over it. Can we say Gross! Yes the can was a little full, but it compresses really easy. Next, the boys are responsible for making their own lunch in the morning. I went to take a shower, and when I came down it was time for the boys to go to school. As they were getting ready to head out the door I ask do you have your lunch? Nope, Kaleb didn't make his. Really, this is not hard to do, he knows that every day if he wants lunch he needs to make it. As Kaleb was getting his lunchbox out of his backpack he hands me a bag that has his wet swimming clothes. They had been sitting there since Friday. What a wonderful start to a Monday.

So the question of the day is, How do you teach common sense to kids? I am really struggling with this. It seems everyday it is a new thing. Any suggestions would be great.

Since I last posted it has been pretty busy around here. All the kids ending up with the 24 hour stomach flu, that was really fun. I am so grateful for sister Missionaries who stop by and are willing to help me clean up after the kids, and to help me fold laundry.

My sister and her son came for the weekend. It was really nice to have them, I was really sad to see them go. I am sure she was ready to go. Our kids kept fighting because they were tired and grouchy. It wasn't all bad though. We were able to do some fun things.

Friday night was a Father son camp out and before Scott left he asked a Dad who was going if he would mind taking our boys. He was nice enough to agree, so he took the boys, the truck, and the pop up trailer I rented for them. I guess a lot of the Fathers were wishing they had a pop up trailer too. On the way home he told the boys that they were going to stop for lunch. Kaleb asked where they were going to stop, and he said McDonald's. Kaleb replied that McDonald's makes him puke. (It really does) So Justin asked where he would like to go. Kaleb said the Olive Garden. Justin said ok, only if you are paying. Kaleb then asks well how much is it? Well it was more than he had, so needless to say they had Wendys.