The Drive Home

After we dropped Buck off at his work, I took a few pictures of the driving conditions on the road.

Do you see the center line? Me neither. On days like this, you haveto follow the tire tracks of previous vehicles and hope they knew what they were doing.

Pic of our house covered in snow.

And so it begins...

Buck, Bucky and I have a couple of rough months ahead of us...after enduring some previous rough weeks. Typical Army life :( Right after his Christmas break, we had to put him on a plane for 5 days to DC for class. He was back for two weeks and then we put him on a plane to DC again on Feb. 1st for 2 weeks. This was cut short because of the horrible blizzards they were having so instead of returning on the 13th, he came back to us on the evening of the ninth. Thank goodness for a few extra days because on the 16th he was supposed to go to the field for 3 weeks. He ended up getting to come home the first few days but as of today, he will not be home until the 5th at the latest. Not too bad except that Bucky and I will not be here. We are leaving on the 26th to go to PC for my brother's wedding (YAY!) and will not be back until the 11th. On the 12th we take Buck to the airport for a 2 week training somewhere in the US. After he gets back, his unit is flying to Louisiana for a month for pre-deployment training. So to sum it all up, we aren't going to be seeing much of him any time soon. :(

This is an example a friend's husband took of their

current sleeping arrangements.

This is how they have to sleep rather than coming home

before deployment.

Snow is Falling...

Yesterday it started snowing as we were getting ready to go to Lowe's. When I opened the door to the garage, Bucky ran out and started jumping in the snow trying to catch it. He was overjoyed and so funny to watch. When we got to the store and got him out of the car he continued jumping and then stuck his tongue out to catch some snow. It was one of those moments when you look at your child with wonder and amazement and say to yourself "How did you know to do that?" I love those moments!!

I Finally Did It!!

Buck has been after me to at least try skiing. So, on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010, I gave in. We headed to Loveland at about 700 after picking up our friends Will and Jackie. Bucky had his ski equipment and I was on my way to lessons. I had intended to take ski lessons but I joined Jackie for snowboarding lessons instead. I wanted to do both so I just figured I'd join her so I'd know someone in the class. Well, the lessons were all good until those dreaded words "Now let's get on the lift and head up the mountain." I think my response was "I'm sorry...what?" and "I think I'm gonna throw up." I was able to get on the lift just perfectly after being hit by the chair in front because the guy had me too close to the lift but this was followed by me falling on my arse at the top of the mountain. The fall was only a small sign of things to come. I fell about 10-15 times on the first run and we were tempted not to go back for another run...but we did. We were assured this time we would fall forward rather than backward. What a lie!! I fell yet again when getting off the lift and landed directly on my tailbone, bruising it. I confirmed this a few times when I did, in fact, fall backwards a couple more times. Our instructor didn't want me to seriously injure myself so he pretty much held my hands the whole way down the mountain. We went inside for lunch and then Bucky fell asleep at the table. The AM skiing wore him out. I talked Buck into going back up for more runs after convincing him that I was done for the day since I could barely sit down. I did, in fact, bruise my tailbone and mildly injure my wrists/hands from falling too much. I got to see Bucky ski and everyone had a great time. Hopefully next time, I'll be able to stay vertical long enough to enjoy snowboarding :)

Ready to Go!

Snowboarding Lessons

Naptime and Watching for Daddy

Skiing down a small hill for the first time by himself.

Going Skiing with Daddy

Will and Buck very happy after final, and very fast run

Jackie on the way home

Zoo...again :)

We worked really hard cleaning the house yesterday and rewarded ourselves today by going to the zoo. All Bucky could talk about on the way were the giraffes and elephants.

The meerkats were all huddled by the heat lamp and the hippo was actually out and walking around.

Bucky enjoyed looking at all the monkeys inside. We bought him a painting done by one of the orangutans, Sumagu. We were prepared to buy a big one but he picked the little one because of the colors. He still loves Red.

Moon Sand

While it is not as clean as the box says, Bucky loves playing with it and making "mountains."

Christmas Break

For Buck's Christmas leave, we flew to ATL to visit his grandparents and some of our friends. From there we drove to Panama City to visit my family and Buck's aunt and uncle in Valparaiso. We were able to visit with a few friends while in PC. All in all, everyone was doing very well and it was great to see everyone.