details, details, details

this is the post where i bore you with all the gorey details of our upcoming travel. but i can't help it because i LOVE details. and i love planning, and i am so happy to actually be able to plan now because i have deployment orders in my hot little hands. This is going to get a little crazy, and my make your brain spin just a bit, so feel free to skip it.

Oct 1 Grandma Stickley flies to colorado. This is a new development in our little plan. It came about because Cris was planning to go ahead and drive with the girls to Ohio on Monday, giving me a few days in colorado to tie up loose ends and "outprocess", while allowing him to get everybody (including dogs) settled in Ohio. You might think i am married to a clinically insane man, who willingly was planning to drive 20+ hours in a minivan, pulling a uhaul, with a somewhat finicky 2 year old, a quite rambunctious 3 year old, 2 full grown huskies, and a little lap dog. Yes, i think he might be crazy too. but he was willing to do it. However, in her infinite generousity (and i'm sure getting to spend a few extra days with her grandbabies has something to do with it) Cris' mom volunteered to fly to Colorado and then make the drive with Cris and the entourage back to Ohio. We are beyond thankful for this blessing, to say the least.
Oct 3 - Cris, Grandma, Juneau, Nova, Sherpa, Summit and Denali set off for Ohio
Oct 8 - Em flies to Ohio
Oct 21 - Cris, Em, Juneau and Nova fly to Hawaii (this is a surprise as of yesterday, since my deployment date is actually 2 weeks later than i initially thought!!!)
Oct 25 - Nelson and Katy arrive in Hawaii!

I don't think i am supposed to put any exact dates for official travel, but basically i will get to spend a little time in hawaii, then head to georgia for a week or so, then to afghanistan.

ha! does it all sounds just a little bit on the crazy side? you should see me packing suitcases and boxes. I have an Ohio stack, a Hawaii stack, a deployment stack, and a storage stack.

anyway, since i am getting all crazy excited about getting to spend a week in hawaii, i guess it's about time that i share our next piece of exciting news....

this, my friends, is the view from our new bedroom....in our new house....in hawaii!!!!

sorry the picture is kinda dark, but you can see the good part...the ocean! we are technically not officially home owners just yet. We are hoping to finish closing by the time we arrive in hawaii at the end of october. But getting to see the house is person is really exciting (Cris already saw it when he was in Hawaii last month).

And, if any of our friends and family are planning to visit us in Hawaii, this will be the view from your bedroom :)

The other thing were are so excited about is having a yard! When we lived in Hawaii before we basically didn't have any yard at all, and so we are super excited that the girls and the dogs will have a great outdoor space to play. the house is built into the hillside, and so the back yard is tiered into a small upper yard, and a larger lower yard. it's kinda neat :)

so, the last 24 hours has been packed full of finalizing plans, making flight reservations, and the usual packing and cleaning. we are EXCITED to see our families in the next couple of weeks!!!! i am really looking forward to spending lots and lots of time with cris, the girls, and our ohio family before i head out for the deployment.