back home....in hawaii!!!

the last few days have been truly crazy! we spent a couple of days in southern ohio with Grandpa/Grandma Stickley (see the pics below!), then boarded the plane for the looooonnnngg trip to hawaii. Nova and Juneau have been telling random people "we don't live in colorado anymore, we live in HAWAII!!". Although Juneau has made it known that one day she thinks we should live in Vietnam :)
the trip went fairly smoothly...i guess as smoothly as traveling for 20 hours with 2 toddlers can go! We thought we had the Airport Security Check routine down to a science....until it all got messed up by Sweetie Baby. Our very first bag through the scanner was stopped, so i had to go with the TSA agent to have it searched. he searched, and searched and searched, and finally told me he was going to have to run it back through the scanner because he couldn't find what he was looking for. I couldn't imagine what he could be looking for....until i saw Sweetie Baby's head sticking out through the zipper. Sweetie Baby is filled with water to make her extra life-like (which unfortunately also means she is TSA contraband). I talked the agent into letting me empty her, rather than confiscating her, and after lots of stares from curious passengers (I'm sure people were wondering what exactly we were trying to smuggle inside a baby doll), we were on our merry way.
On to some pictures from the AMAZING pumpkin patch Mammaw Stickley took us to.
Yep, our kids definately ride the "Cool Bus".... so does Grandpa Stickley!

...and Mammaw!!!

It was awesome to spend the day with Aunt Donova. The girls had soooo much fun, and i must have heard them yell "Aunt D, Aunt D!" about 100 times!

Juneau spent a lot of time in the Corn Box....I'm still trying to convince grandpa to ship 30 or 40 bushels of corn to Hawaii to make Juneau her own Corn Box. I'm quite certain it would be the only one on the island!

Mammaw "horsin' around"

Lucky for Juneau and Nova, Aunt D was willing to give lots and lots of Shoulder Rides!

The entrance to the corn maze (or should i say the Maize Maze? ohhhh geez, i'm funny!) The first 2 or 3 acres of the maze were pretty fun...i think by Acre 5 we were definately ready to see the exit!

Everyone reading the clues to find the way out of the maze.

Cris found a little Corn Hole out in the middle of the field....(if you're not from Ohio then you may not know that Corn Hole is a popular version of a beanbag toss)

Juneau tried the over hand technique

Aunt Donova with the girls

Mammaw Nova, Aunt Donova, Nova, and Juneau

Lot of Stickleys...

Lets just say farmkids know how to have some fun...here is a makeshift zipline (which i am certain meets all the safety ordinances of a zipline)

not sure it qualifies as safe for a 2 year old....but Nova really wanted a solo flight

she loved it :)

and speaking of farm kid fun...this "Monster Slide" was a blast! a little rickety, but super fun!

Cris can always find a way to entertain himself... as you can see, we had lots and lots of fun with the fam. then we had the long trip (which was not lots and lots of fun!), and we finally made it to hawaii. We stepped off the airpline, and out into the island air and Juneau enthusiastically announced "It's AMAZING out here!" Yes, i think these girls are going to love it here. The next day i FINALLY got to see our new house in person. The beautiful view immediately won me over, and i fell in love with our new house. I can't wait until i get back from afghanistan and actually get to live in it!

We have been running all over the island trying to get some furnishings together for the house, buying a car, and trying to get everything situated before i leave on thursday. Since i am technically still stationed in Colorado, the Army will not move any of our furniture our household goods until i get orders to move to Hawaii (which will hopefully be next summer, after i get back from afghanistan). so, cris is living on the bare essentials for the next 6 months.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Nelson and Katy (who just found out they will be having a baby of their own next summer!) on Monday.

There is lots and lots to do before Thursday rolls around.

the daddy doll

i am one tired mama! these girls are seriously wearing me out (but i am loving it!)

The girls and I drove down to my parents for the weekend, while Cris stayed up in the Toledo area to watch Alex and Lyndsey rock their cross country meet. My brother and his wife drove up to spend the weekend with us, and we've got 3, 2, and 1 year olds running around all over the place :) Juneau is quite the little rambunctious ring leader, and has made it her personal goal to be the loudest and craziest of the 4 of them. the cousins are definitely having a blast...it's really so fun that that they are all so close in age.

nova took washing Secily's hair very seriously. Secily was a good sport :)
These are my mom's new little puppies...aren't they just the cutest? They are Australian Terriers, and are seriously the best little dogs ever. They love hanging out with the family, do lots of tricks, never roam outside of the yard....and my personal favorite feature....they are bred to be snake hunters! which comes in very handy when you live out in the middle of a corn field in rural ohio...i really, really don't like snakes(another reason Hawaii is my personal paradise - there are NO snakes on the whole island!), and so i am quite pleased to have a bunch of these little snake hunters running around :) If you are looking for a nearly perfect little dog, check out their website....

I thought the kids would all go crazy for the puppies, but of the four kids, there was really only one who couldn't keep her hands off the puppies....

yep, Jbug....

The puppies were quite tolerant of the neck squeezing, and dropping :) They actually loved Juneau, and i think the feeling was mutual!

After we played with the puppies, we headed out for a jam-packed day. We started at the carousel....

And now, Enter Daddy Doll...

Nova loves babies. Her top 3 babies currently are Sweetie Baby, Tiny Little Baby, and Two Baby. Usually one of these 3 accompanies her on her outings. Today, however, she found this boy barbie at my mom's house, and was so excited. She kept telling everyone it was her daddy. She begged to take him with us....and i just couldn't say no. she misses her daddy so, so much, and it made her really happy to have this little daddy doll.

Nova loved the carousel....but i think she loved the popcorn even more....

I looked over to see her "Sharing with Daddy"

Cousins...aren't they just the cutest?

anyway, back to the daddy doll. Nova likes to stick her babies in her shirt like a front pack...It was a bit embarrassing to be the mom of the kid with a half naked ken doll stuffed down the front of her shirt...but what could i do?

Grandma with her grandkkids at the pumpkin patch.

horse drawn wagon ride - a big hit!

picking out the perfect pumpkin (notice daddy doll)

i had to include one more shot of the ridiculousness...The worst part of the whole thing is when she would announce to random people "This is my Daddy"....yeah, i got some funny looks today from strangers :)

We had a great time today with the whole gang...my brother tommy and his wife sonya, with my niece and nephew - secily and micah. best ever :)

OH -IO!

we are officially all out of colorado, and now together in Ohio! Cris, Grandma Stickley, the girls, and the dogs had a relatively uneventful trip cross-country. The dogs are now tucked in safe and sound at Grandpa/Grandma Stickley's farm. i'm sure they will love being farm dogs for the next few months.
My last day of outprocessing went surprisingly smoothly. i did have to give up 3 vials of blood, and get injected with Anthrax, Tetnus, and Diptheria (they held off on the small pox due to Juneua's eczema, and will give that to me in afghanistan). i have been walking around with 2 sore shoulders all weekend from the immunizations.
I am a bit behind on pictures...this was taken the last week in our colorado house... The Ohio State denim jumpers probably look a bit familiar to the Stickley gang, since they once belonged to a certain set of twin cousins :) All of their cute Ohio State gear is being thorougly enjoyed for a second round :)

The girls were thrilled to have Grandma's undivided attention while they worked on their coloring and sticker projects...

Just in case you were wondering how to fit a 3,000 square foot house into a 10x20 foot storage unit....this guy has the answers. Cris is a proud graduate of the Dennis Stickley Packing School, and, and he took it as a personal challenge to fit our entire house, yard, basement, garage, and motorcycle into this small rectangle of space.

Cris has told me about packing for family road trips as a kid, and his dad doing a "dry run" with the empty suitcases before the trip to see how they would best fit in the car. every stop after that involved packing the suitcases the exact same way as they were done for the "dry run" :) That genetic trait has come in handy many times over the last few years, as we have spent a lot of time packing, repacking, moving, and traveling.

We are spending the weekend with Aunt Coral and the gang in the Toledo area. The weather is nothing short of spectacular, and we are all enjoying the mild temperatures and sunshine.

Juneau in her first (of many, i'm sure!) basketball games with her cousins

Getting dizzy with Aunt Coral

playing some serious ball

Cris showing "he's still got it!"

Juneau's favoite part of the new 'wild things' movie was when all of the wild things slept in a pile. she loves to pretend like we are sleeping in a pile...

Nova loves when we all "wake up and tickle!"

Yesterday evening we also enjoyed a baseball game...

Grandpa was quick to join in the fun

The girls LOVED spending the whole day outside with their cousins

Grandpa and Junebug showing their matching hats :)

tomorrow i see my girls....

the last 5 days have been hard! i have been separated for a week from the girls before, but this time was much harder....i guess because the reality of how tough the next 6 months are going to be is starting to set in. i wanted to see them more than anything in the world.

today i went to the mall to kill some time (when was the last time i actually wanted to kill time?). it was hard to enjoy shopping because the girls love going to the mall so much. they love playing in the play area, and then throwing a penny in the fountain, then getting on the escalator all by themselves and heading up to the pet store. being without them this week has felt like i am missing part of myself. kind of like leaving home without your cell phone, and then spending the entire day reaching for the phone that isn't there....only about a 10,000 times worse!

but tomorrow i get to see two tiny little smiling faces :)

almost done in colorado....

tomorrow is my last day of "outprocessing"...which basically involves running around to every dept in the hospital and informing them i will be deployed for the next 6-7 months. Y0u would think there would be a better system that would notify all depts at once that someone will be gone, but i guess the Army hasn't yet discovered that system. Instead i carry around a 2 page checklist to approx 20 different offices, which gets signed/stamped (Assuming someone is in the office, and not at lunch or a meeting, in which case i have to come back to that office). also, all of the offices are not necessarily in the hospital building, which means driving around post and hoping people are available to stamp/sign my little paper. we're talking some serious fun.

tomorrow will be extra fun, and involves an entire morning of medical readiness...check my vision, my hearing, my immunizations, a pregnancy test, bloodwork/DNA testing, dog tags, ear plugs, life insurance policy (you get the point)....all of that with about 100 other people doing the exact same thing which means some very, very long lines. :)

BUT, after all of that is done, I am home free....i hop on a plane the next morning, and head to ohio for some serious family time. I got to skype with Juneau and Nova tonight (they are at Grandpa/Grandma Stickley's). They have been having a grand old time on the farm. Digging through soybeans, riding the tractor, picking peppers out of the garden, and being little farm girls. based on their conversation tonight, i think they love it! It's so fun to skype with them now that they are old enough to have their own little conversations. they told me about the ice cream they ate, and the purple peppers they picked. i can't wait to see them in 2 days!!

last night in our Colorado house

it's been an interesting year. Cris has survived (and rocked!) being a full time stay at home dady for over a year now. I have survived my first year flying solo as an OB/GYN out of residency. It's been a good year, overall.

today we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. and then packed. and then cleaned and cleaned and cleaned....jealous, aren't you?

Today we definately put to use our "secret weapon"....Grandma Stickley!!! I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to have her here for the last few days of moving out. She has spent the whole day entertaining the girls (who have been just a wee bit 'difficult', shall we say), along with cleaning bathrooms, microwaves, ovens, floors, and everything in between. i even learned all about the differences between regular and self cleaning ovens. :)

so, tomorrow the adventure starts....well, it is always an adventure around here, but i guess this particular adventure starts :) Everyone (except me!) loads up in the minivan and sets of for Grandpa and Grandma Stickley's farm...a mere 20 hours away :)