Jake and PeePaw in a field of Texas Blue Bonnets

 Port LaVaca, TX on a very windy day.

 At the Alamo in San Antonio

 Gruene, TX under a super awesome tree

 Peepaw in a field of blue bonnets

The Alamo by night. Interesting fact- San Antonio was built in such a way, so that during no part of the day is there a shadow cast on the Alamo.


Jake, PeePaw Nielsen and Adam all took a 4 day motorcycle tour around south central Texas over St Patrick's Day weekend. Jake left Saturday morning and met Bill and Adam at the Round Rock Harley Store where Bill and Adam rented bikes. From there they headed to Houston. Sunday they rode down to the coast to see the Gulf of Mexico. Monday they made it to San Antonio just before a big storm hit us up here in Killeen. They made it back to Killeen Tuesday night. I'm not sure on all the stops that occurred in between but they had a really nice time just riding around. Jake was the second one to dump a bike that weekend (the other person shall remain un-named). He only had a few minor scratches on his knee and arm. The bike had a couple of scrapes but the real kicker was that our camera got crushed because it was in a soft case on Jake's hip and he landed and slid on it. Had it not been there I really believe he would have done more damage to himself. It is a small price to pay for him being ok.

Wednesday I went to work and they all went up to Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, TX. All the rain from Monday's storm had swollen the river to 9 feet above its normal depth. They made a quick stop for some pie at the Koffee Kup near Hico, TX. and then headed home for lasagna that had come out of the oven only minutes before they got home.

Thursday I had an easy day since I had my phase I physical for getting out of the Army. When that was done I had the rest of the day off. We went to MR Snow and then on post to check out the Phantom Warrior in front of the III Corps BLD.

Friday the boys headed home and it was back to normal for us. Tuesday marks the 70 day mark for us and it feels so amazing. We will close on the house 10 APR now instead of the 2nd. However, the repairs are completed on the garage and there are really no hurdles left in our way. SO exciting.

Can you say PRODUCTIVE!?

Jake left for his bike trip on Saturday morning and will be gone until Tuesday evening.

It has been interesting being a "stay at home mom" again. Being home alone with the kids for 3 days has afforded me time to see all the little things that I think women naturally think to clean but never occurs to guys. I have re-arranged ALL the cupboards, and washed them inside and out. I scrubbed the walls, the floors, under the stove and the fridge. I had no idea how gross things could get in 2 years with no deep cleaning.

I do feel very accomplished as a result of the fact that now EVERY closet in the house has been emptied, sorted, and cleaned and is ready to be packed if it hasn't been already. We have taken bag after bag of stuff to good will and it feels SO good!

The kids have had fun going out with mom doing thing. They even "got to" go to work with me at 5:30 AM this morning to turn in some work. Thor was not happy to be awakened in the middle of the night as he put it. I kind of felt like it was payback for all the times he has woken me up at 6AM on a Saturday. lol. Baleigh on the other hand was so happy to get up and get moving. They are going to sleep hard tonight.

We washed siding and cleaned up the yard and the only thing left to do is wash the windows outside. We are paying a cleaning company to clean the house after we leave so I have no idea WHY I felt the sudden desire to deep clean like this when we are 72 days out from moving .

Tomorrow I have another day off work so I am pretty sure that I will be able to finish up all the loose ends and then take it easy when Jake , his dad and brother Adam get here. I want to put together a few meals so we don't get lazy and end up going out to eat.

I must now go forage for food - I kind of forgot to eat today. lol.

90 Days!

Wednesday was my 90 day mark until we are back in Illinois. It was a very good day to say the least. It started with my computer at work deciding to stop working- when I turned it on there was nothing on the desktop and when my tech guy checked it there was nothing on my hard drive either. Normally I would have freaked out that this had happened but instead I just enjoyed the fact that I could neither send nor receive emails. I think it was one of the best days I have ever had at work. I got delayed at work over lunch and was late to a class that was supposed to take all day - however, in the Army when you are later you are not allowed in class at all. So I decided that I would take the remainder of the day off and go home. We went and walked the mall and had a nice relaxing afternoon while everyone else was still at work. I am perfecting the art of zen while distancing myself from my job. I have to say it feels good to be under 3 months from being done. : )