Backyard

Our backyard here is tiny. I joke that it is postage stamp sized. We do miss our Fayetteville yard and the play set. But, as a result of size, it is super easy to mow and Jason bought a minimalistic push mower that I use. It takes me ten minutes. We also bought a sprinkler to water it. The kids are really enjoying that.

We also live two blocks from the community playground so the kids have that to play on.  It's a great area and we like it. 

Brendan in a Box

Brendan would not leave me alone until I proved to the world that he could fit in a box. Here you go world.

A few thoughts on the military

Jason here. I wrote this on Facebook and decided I wanted to blog it as well. 

This week the two West Point graduate women will graduate from the US Army Ranger School. 

First of all, congratulations to these two women. They are hard as woodpecker lips with large stores of determination, grit, and toughness. Reading the stories has caused me to recall the months I spent in ranger school way back when in 1999. I too failed and had to recycle a phase (Florida). I also wonder at my luck because I know that I was neither the best nor the strongest in my class (not saying these women aren't in their class though). I lost 35 pounds off what was then a pretty lanky frame to start with. I droned and hallucinated and dreamt of food. I recall eating straight butter in a DFAC in-between patrolling days (and loving it). I know that people smell sickly sweet when their bodies are breaking down. I know that people are ugly, unmanageable, and nasty when they are tired, hungry, and not graded. I experienced stress, frustration, exhaustion and finally elation during Ranger school. It stands in my memory as one of those things that has shaped and influenced me for better or worse. So again, I take my hat of to these two superb women. 

That's me in the top row, third from the right. 

Second, I have to temper that enthusiasm though. Forgive a historical aside to explain. During the opening stages of WW2 the British military was reeling from the German onslaught. From land, sea, and air the Brits were getting hammered. On one particular island a large number of troops were in perilous condition and needed evacuation by the British Navy. The only problem was that the Navy lacked sufficient air cover to protect the ships from getting pummeled by the Luftwaffe. The Navy went anyways and took heavy losses. 

When asked about his fateful decision, Admiral Cunningham responded (and this is the point) "It takes the Navy 3 years to build a ship, it will take 300 to build a new tradition." 

In 3 months the Army has minted out female Rangers and has inevitably undone, to some degree, years of tradition. Some regard this as a good thing. I hear the President is going to be at graduation to herald in this new era. I am not sure what it will mean. I hope that they have not watered down and cheapened the experience. Time can only tell in that regard. 

What I foresee though is are the inevitable calls to put women into the infantry and other SOF units. This is a grave mistake and one that will for reasons I will explain cost lives. First, good infantry units and many SOF units are basically warrior cults. This is a good thing for a unit whose mission is to close with and destroy the enemy, i.e. kill people and break things. I saw this first as an infantryman and later as a dentist assigned to 3rd SFG. In both instances I felt like an outsider, more of an observer than anything else. In the infantry I was the church-going Mormon who didn't cuss, drink, look at porn, etc. Even then I was still OK mainly because I could hang physically and I was fairly dependable. But I was still on the outside to some degree because I didn't party with the fellas, and they never quite brought me into the full fold. 

Over the years I have kept track of my friends I made in the infantry and they seem to be doing pretty well. I made the decision to become an officer before 9-11 and was in school during almost the entire war on terror. Most of my teammates served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some have died, and some have been wounded badly, and some are in the advanced stages of their careers. All of them have my utmost respect and I am not really worthy to count myself as a real infantryman because I simply have not been through what they have been through. 

After mission, college, and dental school I was assigned to 3rd Special Forces group as a dentist. It was my pleasure to work closely with Green Berets, the "quiet professionals" training medics and spending weeks with their teams before moving on. I was support and I never pretended to be anything else, but I watched and admired these men's spartan existence that came at great personal cost and sacrifice to fulfill a dangerous mission.

So as part of an infantry unit as a staunch Mormon and later as non green beret dentist in a green beret unit, I have always been something of an outsider. Its something that I have dealt with but it has given me a rather good perspective on the situation and the culture, the warrior cult which is embodied by and finds some expression in the rite of passage known as Ranger School.

By opening the doors to all comers, the mystique of the warrior cult will be forever changed. Anyone who has knows anything at all about it knows this to be true. Anyone who knows what the warrior cult values; size, strength, and frank brawny masculinity knows that introducing females into the mix will dramatically alter the dynamic, there is simply no doubt it will. In an era where a sexual harassment charge is ruinous, well, I can just imagine the havoc that is coming. Bawdy, inappropriate, and constant salty language is the natural expression of humor among the warrior cult. Its part of the reason I was on the outside. 

But that's the price you pay for having alpha male shock troops for your pipe hitting-door kickers. Integrate females there in today's army and that will come to a screeching halt. Who knows what will happen? I think that many of the best dudes will simply move on. 

And then there are the simple physical facts. I know a few really amazing women in the military. They are PT studs. They average about a buck thirty though, if that. Many of the dudes I have known in the infantry where easily over 200 pounds. Kitted out with body armor and ammo closer to 240 or 250. In the infantry casualties are almost guaranteed. Asking a 130 pound anyone to carry a 240 pound man is asking a lot. If you are going to rely on organic troops to perform buddy aid and buddy carries, then you are just going to have to accept that soldiers are going to die on those battlefields. 

I have three daughters. Call me old fashioned, but I don't want them to experience an infantryman life. I don't want them to go a month without a shower. I don't want them to share a communal latrine with dudes. 

And I think that's what this really boils down to: there are just people in this world who cannot accept that there are some things that men are better suited for and things women are better suited for. Front line infantry stuff and the like is better suited for men in my opinion. If you don't believe me, find someone who has actually served in the front lines with the infantry or marines or whatever and ask them for their honest opinion.

I think its a mistake to go down this road, but like so many other things in today's strange world, I think we are headed there anyways.

Government Island

Jason here.

So in Stafford, VA where we stayed while the house in Belvoir was getting ready there is an out of the way gem nearby called Government Island. Christine wrote earlier about it and the fireflies. 

I went jogging there and really liked it, so I took some pictures.

Household Goods

Our stuff arrived!!!! It's like Christmas. We haven't seen some of these belonging in almost 5 weeks. After five nights of sleeping on a glorified yoga mat on the floor I squealed with excitement as the moves brought my bed in. Sadly, the mattress topper was torn into pieces. Jason almost cried. We ordered a new one right away.

We started off with three movers. They were very nice and hard workers but with only three, things were slow moving. After lunch, however, anther crew came to join them and that picked up things significantly. One dude moved five boxes in at a time on his back!

Two of the five bookcases arrived broken so we could only unpack half of our books. A few other things were broken but nothing that could not be replaced (or that we weren't eventually going to replace anyway). Jason and I devised that now would be a good time to begin weeding out the particle board mismatched furniture and get lasting pieces. We decide to stop making due and only purchase things from now on that we absolutely loved.

The movers finished about 3pm. We waived our right to have them unpack since we had to replace key pieces of furniture in order to put things on them. We have many closets but no shelving in them yet so those areas couldn't be unpacked either anyway. 

It's so nice to have my belongings but now begins the tasks of organizing and decorating. Good thing I enjoy those tasks can :)

Crazy few days at work

Jason here.

So I finally started seeing patients at work, which is good. But man... what a crazy few days! My first day there I had three patients with facial swelling that required draining. The next day I had someone come in who said that the pain was so bad that they thought they were going to pass out. This individual is an officer and said that in the middle of briefing his boss, a wave of pain so bad came over him that he had to take a knee.

It is of immense satisfaction that I can help people in these situations. I love this aspect of my job.

Exploring the Neighborhood

It is very important to Jason that where we live have a good running trail as he hates to run on streets and through residential neighborhoods. Here on Fort Belvoir there are a few trails but the best is very close to us. It is called the Historic Mansions Trail. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that when he told me as it sounded like you'd run by old houses, which isn't what he likes. So he took the family there the first night we arrived. We had no furniture or household goods and staying in an empty house is not fun, so a walk was pleasant.

I was surprised and impressed at what he showed me. It was a beautiful trail that lead right up next to the Potomac River. There were signposts detailing what historic houses used to be there. George Washington's good friends, the Fairfax family, resided there starting in 1741. The mansion was called Belvoir ("beautiful view" in French). You can see the foundation of the plantation and a few of the outbuildings and the family graves are nearby. It is one of the earliest Northern Virginia plantations and General Washington used to visit Colonel Fairfax and his wife frequently from Mt. Vernon. I kept thinking, "I get to LIVE here!"

After the pretty little hike we started to make out way back. However, being new to the area Jason led us on a wrong turn and we ended up at a dead end. So we backtracked a bit hoping to find the way. Eventually Jason told the kids and I to wait while he went tromping off into the woods to see where we were. It was approaching sunset and I was wondering if we would have to hike in the dark. However, he came back quickly telling us that he found a way directly to our street but we would have to climb a low fence. So we set off through the woods. It wasn't smooth but we made it. Jason lifted the kids over the fence but I couldn't scale it in my current clothes (I was expecting a leisurely walk and had dressed for it). And so Jason had to hold up part of the fence and I crawled under it.

Quite an adventure for our first night. Now whenever I drive by that patch of woods (and I do so every day that I go out of the neighborhood), I think of this story.

Moving in

We moved in today!! Our stuff won't arrive for a few days but we are out of the hotel!! This morning we landed up the car, checked out and drove an hour to Fort Belvoir. We entered the gate and I showed my military ID (the first time of many). I drove across the post until pulling into our garage. I took this picture of excitement before we entered the house.

It's a beautiful home! I'll post pictures once its decorated. We do have one piece of decor that I picked up on one of our many trips to the store while in the hotel.

The kids ran upstairs to check out their rooms. I began to mentally plan furniture placement. We went grocery shopping right away so we could eat. The commissary here is really busy and nobody smiles. I may be looking for another place to shop nearby off post. Jason got out of work a bit early so we could go to the lending closet and get some kitchen stuff, table and chairs and mats to sleep on. It was nice to be able to really cook again but I will miss the hotel bed. :)

P.S. We are still using a rental car. It looks like it will be that way for over a week (blown head gasket, among other things). Then we will have to drive the hour back to Stafford to drop it off and get our car. Sigh, just another stressful thing to add to this move.

Yesterday

Jason here.

Yesterday was a doozy. First of all, let me just say that everything you have ever heard about Virginia traffic is TRUE. I mean, it doesn't even matter what time of day. Sunday morning? Traffic is bad. 10pm? Traffic is bad. Rush hour? Just stay home. We are staying 25 miles or so from my work and it is bumper to bumper for most of it. My drive home from work is at least an hour and has been as long as 2.5 hours. There is an application on the iPhone called Waze that helps forecast what the traffic is going to be like so that you can manage your expectations accordingly.

Well, on our hitlist of things to do was to go to Fredericksburg Battlefield which is about 15 miles from here. Waze showed that traffic was pretty heavy and I wasn't really feeling it. We tried to think of other things to do, but we decided to go with Plan A anyways. So we drive into traffic and sure enough its bad. While sitting there I looked down at the temperature gauge and saw that it was buried in the red. Uh oh. I pull over and lift the hood and check for leaks. Nothing. Check the fluid. A bit low, but not too bad.

I began walking to a gas station to buy some coolant while Christine hung out on the side of the highway with the kids. I wasn't too worried since I was walking faster than some of the cars were driving. A highway patrolman stopped me and told me how dangerous it was to walk by the highway. Then he asked for ID and all that. He saw I was military and from California and busted my chops for a bit and then called a service truck and sent me back to my car. So back I went and we waited in the car for the service truck which showed up and topped off our fluids.

Then we drove slowly to a service station. The car overheated twice on the way and we had to stop again. When we got it to the station we got the bad news after inspection that the car had a blown head gasket and was going to set us back a couple grand at least, and wouldn't be ready for at least a week or so.

Bummer. Glad that it didn't happen while we were driving from Fort Bragg though. So we went back to the hotel in a cab, which took an hour to get to the shop (traffic). Christine was wonderful about things in her usual awesome way. We found movie theater that was only a 15 minute walk away so we went there to watch Shaun the Sheep. I could write another post about the movie itself, which was genius. We all laughed and love it and went to Subway afterwards. Then we went to a little play place at a church next-door until Darby announced that she had to go #2.

We hit the swimming pool next and then it was bedtime. About that time Christine and I were able to step back from the fact that our beloved Mazda 5 was in the shop and going to cause a serious wrinkle in our plans and finances. All in all, it broke down not too far from our hotel, not on our drive from North Carolina or Shenandoah, and everyone was safe and sound. And aside from large setback were able to have a pretty fun family day.

Car Trouble

You know how there are times when everything seems against you? This is one of those times. Hotel living is really difficult with 4 kids in two rooms. And now that our HHG shipment is delayed, even when we get the house we will wait in an empty house for 6 days. But I'd made peace with that. After all, there's nothing I can do. Yesterday we were going to take a fun family trip to Fredericksburg. It was the highlight of this week.

First of all, there was awful traffic. Then Jason, who was driving, noticed that the engine was running hot. Then really hot. We had to pull over on the freeway to let it cool off. Jason started walking back to the exit to look for a place that was selling coolant while I tried to keep the kids occupied. They were unimpressed with the license plate game. Then Darby announces she has to use the bathroom. Soon Jason comes back to say that a highway patrolman stopped him and is sending roadside assistance. The roadside guy was actually quite nice and funny but could only offer us water for the engine so we could limp to a repair place. To make it the five miles we had to stop one more time to cool the engine. We ended up here.

Darby ran to the bathroom and we all crammed into the lobby of the repair shop. After being in the car for an hour the kids were a bit wild and eventually had to be taken outside before they destroyed things. The shop owner delivered the unwelcome news - blown head gasket, $2500, must keep the car for a week or more. Just great.

Jason called a cab (finding one that could transport 6 people was a feat) and then we set to calling about rental cars and getting our car seats out of the Mazda. There were no local cars available in the size we needed or the offices were closed on a Saturday. We smoothed in the taxi (about 45 minutes later due to traffic) and went back to the hotel. I reserved an SUV for Monday and Jason will have to pick it up after work. We move out of the hotel this week and we have to have a car that can transport us and our stuff to the new house. 

So, no church for us today (our ward is 30 miles away) and we take another budget hit. Things keep piling on. I was starting to feel depressed. One blessing is that our hotel is within walking distance of restaurants and a theater. So, to lighten the mood, we walked to see a movie. It was a welcome change. Shaun the Sheep was clever and we laughed a lot. Then we walked to dinner and even found a playground behind the hotel.

We will be going to that again since we have no car for 2 days and need to get out of our hotel room. Then the kids went swimming until bedtime. The day ended well enough but man, I need my life to return to normal soon!

Hotel Living

While we are in a very nice hotel, these days are about to break me. We are all just too close to each other with few toys and a loose schedule. The kids orbit each other, annoying one another as we all live in one room.

We watch way too much TV and play with too many screens. Quiet time is non existent. I have a teeny kitchen to cook in and I'm having trouble making food that is healthy and that feeds us all.  I have to use a laundromat. We try to get out daily but I'm running out of things to do. When the weather is bad we are stuck inside or we go to the store for some "entertainment".

Now that Jason goes to work it's just the kids and I in this fishbowl for hours. I'm grateful for the pool but Brendan has come down with a painful earache because of it. Bedtimes are hard since the girls all share a room and Brendan sleeps in the living room. One night I found Darby in Paige's pack-n-play. 

 I will be so grateful to be in my house soon. It brings perspective, I guess. 

Double Digits

I can't believe that my baby boy is ten now. Its crazy! Since we just moved here and he has no friends yet it was a family birthday affair. I let him pick several places that he wanted to visit in our new area. He wanted to go to the Children's Science Center Lab, Lego Store and have pizza for dinner. That's my boy. :)

The local science museum here is pretty cool. It is very hands on with an "experiment bar" that the kids sit at and order an experiment to complete. This particular day there was Magnetic Goo, Super Bubbles or a Floating Rainbow. Brendan made the goo (messy but loved it!) and the girls chose bubbles. I think Darby did the rainbow too, with her dad.

Paige most enjoyed the building block room which was filled with HUGE blocks. They made a whole building in there.  Paigey found a book and a nook to read in.

But the major winner was the Inventing Room. We spent the majority of our time in there while the kids created flying machines to use in the wind tunnel. Jason was like a kid in a candy store too. It was great family fun!

After lunch we went to the Lego Store and Brendan picked out his present. He was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any Lord of the Rings kits (they are being discontinued) but he got a Minecraft set and a small Hobbit set. Dad took pity on the girls and got them each a minifigure keychain.

Side note: I had no idea that Darby was scared of escalators. Maybe she isn't anymore but this may have been one of the only times she had been on one so far. We all hopped on and went down and I looked back to see her frozen at the top step. this nice lady offered to hold her hand and help her. It was so cute.

Dinner was Pizza Hut where Brendan ordered his own specialty pizza (with bacon, he insisted). He opened his cards there and got some money from family.

That evening was spent swimming in the hotel pool until bedtime. He had a great birthday and it was nice to see him so happy.

Happy Birthday Bubbs! We love you!

Fireflies

I have always wanted to see a firefly. Living in the West for most of my life never afforded me that experience. So when Jason went running on a trail near our hotel one night and came home to tell me that he saw fireflies, I was super excited. And so, the next night at dusk, we took the kids to Government Island, where the trailhead was, to see if we could view some fireflies too. We walked down the trail for a bit as it got dark. A park ranger guy told us he was going to lock up but we had purposefully parked outside the park so that our car wouldn't be trapped inside after closing time. He locked the gate and wished us good night. I think that was a hint for us to go too but we stayed. And climbed over the gate to continue the trail. I don't think we were supposed to but we did.

As it got darker, the woods got spookier and spookier. Darby started getting scared. I'll admit that I was a little worried that we would get lost. So we headed back, not having seen any fireflies. However, on the way back to the car I saw a little light buzzing around. My first firefly!! I saw only a total of 4 before we reached the car. I was a little disappointed but then I saw that there were a whole bunch in the field next to where we parked. It was a beautiful sight. It was just funny that we went through all that trouble to see them and we could have just stayed in the car.