Lord, but it is so good to be home. I'm so glad I didn't spend a week trying to get a space-a flight. There is a lot to be said for having an itinerary.
I was bubbling over when I got off the plane in Orlando... I all but ran once I got off the tram between the terminals and the main part of the air port. I did run once I caught sight of my mom, and then we both cried. I'm pretty sure I surprised her, 'cause I don't think she saw me until right beforeI slammed into her and wrapped my arms around her neck. I missed my momma so much!
Once we got outside the airport, the humidity wa like a solid wall. It was wonderful. And I never thought I would be so damn happy to see a palm tree! I said that so many times yesterday. It's the little things like that that I really missed, and that made me so glad to be home. Like my mom, with her little travel thermos of water that she ALWAYS has with her. This one is new, I'd never seen it before, but it didn't matter. It was Momma Blue, and it's her water cup. And on the way home, we had to stop at an auto parts store so Wade could get what he needed to tune up mom's Malibu. A seemingly tedious detail, but that's Wade. A normal part of the life and reality that I more or less left behind when we moved to Germany.
I got my smoothie yesterday...Very Blueberry. And I got to go to Valentino's, my very first day back!! I went with Mom, Aunt Monica, Merryn, Alanna, Gramma and Veronica. (Good grief, but that baby was being grumpy last night, but even that was cute!) Next on the agenda is El Leoncito's. I'd thought I would drive over ans see Daddy and Gramma today, but I think I'm going with Monica and Merryn to Universal Orlando...woohoo! I've never been to Islands of Adventure before, and I'm super excited. They're running this special for Florida teachers, so Monica will be able to get me in for $40, about half of normal admission. And, it's a park hopper pass, so we'll get to do Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I just hope I don't lose steam too early in the day.
Tomorrow is Alanna and Veronica's joint birthday party. It looks like I'll be surprising Daddy there. Then I'll drive over to see Gramma Honey on Sunday. Hopefully, since Bran will be gettting in from Virginia today, he'll go with me. No biggie if he doesn't, though. I know he's been gone a month longer than I have.
I've already started taking lots of pictures. I'll try to keep up with posting them to photobucket. I'll have to, since I know I'll be running out of room on my memory card. So, keep an eye out for great pics!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
space-a nightmare
Except that it wasn't night at all, but 3 long, grueling days of sitting in a hot, overcrowded air terminal in horridly uncomfortable chairs, with the sounds of screaming children incessantly battering my eardrums.
Ok, I dramatized a little, but really, only a little. The concept is a good one, a really good one. And I could see that it would be great, in the fall or spring, to save some money and fly back home for free. It's a large air terminal, with a lot there to help make things easier on people. There's a Subway right there in the terminal, and a kid's play area, and a family play area for parents with very small children, and a USO with snacks and computers and stuff... But the chairs are still uncomfortable, and it was still devilishly hot.
And, since school just let out only a few weeks ago, there is a mass exodus of people trying to get back to the States. Most of them are the spouses of soldiers down range, who want to spend the summer at home with their families instead of staying alone in Germany with the kids. Who can blame them? And, who can blame them for not wanting to have to purchase air fare for themselves, and each of their children? And almost all of them had at least two, most had 3 or 4. But the end result was a madhouse of grumpy people waiting in a stuffy room for a chance to get on a flight that may or may not come.
It was not pleasant.
When I got there, I found that some of the people waiting had been waiting for a week, sometimes more. There were a pair of girls that had been waiting 9 days. I was there for three days, and about lost it. In that time, I'd only gone from the middle of the bottom half of the third page of the waiting list, to the middle of the top half of the third page. Why? Because anyone with higher priority than me--and that was pretty much everyone--got plugged into the list ahead of me, and got called to board ahead of me. And that's how it should be. An active duty soldier with only 9 days of leave should get to go first. The same goes for someone who has had a death in the family, or any other emergency. But it still sucked for those of who simply stayed at the bottom of the list.
*sigh* It was just one frustration after another, really. I hit a nasty patch of traffic on my way to Ramstein AFB, extending a 2 hour drive into one that took 3 hours. When I did get there, it was only to be informed that all flights to the States for that day had been canceled. So I got the info on the area hotels, and called to book a room. But of course the one on RAFB was full, so I had to drive to one of the others back in Kaiserslautern. One that happened to be so convoluted and confusing, that you had to have a map just to get off the base. But before I even got the chance to be boggled by that, they shut down all exits to RAFB for a good 30 or 40 minutes, so I got to sit, gridlocked in the traffic trying to get off base, for that period of time. Luckily I found my way to Vogelwey (the other base) easily enough, and was able to follow the signs to the Inn.
It was simple, definitely old, but it was just what I needed: a bed, a bathroom, and a shower. The main frustration there was that my room, the only one available, was on the 4th floor. And there are no elevators. So I got to haul all of my luggage up 4 flights of stairs that night (and back down again the next morning). Luckily for me, I was able to get a room on RAFB last night, and it was only on the 3rd floor, instead of the 4th. And, there was plenty of choices of food for me on base, so that wasn't a problem either. Enough for variety, even.
As for my time at the airport itself, it was a mixed experience. I'd brought a lot of stuff along to keep me occupied. In the time that I was there, I crochet a scarf start to finish, read 2 books, and made a new friend. Andrea is a little older than me, kind of soft spoken, and very sweet. She had her 10 month old daughter there with her, and that child is just as cute as can be. We chatted a little Monday, and I helped her keep her speed-crawling youngster from escaping the area. Today, she came and sat by me, which I thought was really cool. We spent the day talking, taking turns with babysitting the luggage, and with entertaining the baby. Anja (An-ya) is the sweetest little baby. She's petite, with big hazel eyes, long eyelashes, and a head full of golden brown hair. She took right to me, and I loved it. She might do that with everyone, but still, it made me feel special. I don;t know if I'll see them again, but I gave Andrea my e-mail address, so hopefully she will drop me a line.
And....I have spent sooooooo much more time on this than I had intended to. Really, I was just going to say, "summer space-a sucks" and leave it at that, but then, I can never be succinct, can I? So yeah, I'm going to bed.
Oh, did I mention that I bought round trip airfare to go back home, and that I'm leaving in the morning? Well, I did. Hooray for an itinerary!!
Ok, I dramatized a little, but really, only a little. The concept is a good one, a really good one. And I could see that it would be great, in the fall or spring, to save some money and fly back home for free. It's a large air terminal, with a lot there to help make things easier on people. There's a Subway right there in the terminal, and a kid's play area, and a family play area for parents with very small children, and a USO with snacks and computers and stuff... But the chairs are still uncomfortable, and it was still devilishly hot.
And, since school just let out only a few weeks ago, there is a mass exodus of people trying to get back to the States. Most of them are the spouses of soldiers down range, who want to spend the summer at home with their families instead of staying alone in Germany with the kids. Who can blame them? And, who can blame them for not wanting to have to purchase air fare for themselves, and each of their children? And almost all of them had at least two, most had 3 or 4. But the end result was a madhouse of grumpy people waiting in a stuffy room for a chance to get on a flight that may or may not come.
It was not pleasant.
When I got there, I found that some of the people waiting had been waiting for a week, sometimes more. There were a pair of girls that had been waiting 9 days. I was there for three days, and about lost it. In that time, I'd only gone from the middle of the bottom half of the third page of the waiting list, to the middle of the top half of the third page. Why? Because anyone with higher priority than me--and that was pretty much everyone--got plugged into the list ahead of me, and got called to board ahead of me. And that's how it should be. An active duty soldier with only 9 days of leave should get to go first. The same goes for someone who has had a death in the family, or any other emergency. But it still sucked for those of who simply stayed at the bottom of the list.
*sigh* It was just one frustration after another, really. I hit a nasty patch of traffic on my way to Ramstein AFB, extending a 2 hour drive into one that took 3 hours. When I did get there, it was only to be informed that all flights to the States for that day had been canceled. So I got the info on the area hotels, and called to book a room. But of course the one on RAFB was full, so I had to drive to one of the others back in Kaiserslautern. One that happened to be so convoluted and confusing, that you had to have a map just to get off the base. But before I even got the chance to be boggled by that, they shut down all exits to RAFB for a good 30 or 40 minutes, so I got to sit, gridlocked in the traffic trying to get off base, for that period of time. Luckily I found my way to Vogelwey (the other base) easily enough, and was able to follow the signs to the Inn.
It was simple, definitely old, but it was just what I needed: a bed, a bathroom, and a shower. The main frustration there was that my room, the only one available, was on the 4th floor. And there are no elevators. So I got to haul all of my luggage up 4 flights of stairs that night (and back down again the next morning). Luckily for me, I was able to get a room on RAFB last night, and it was only on the 3rd floor, instead of the 4th. And, there was plenty of choices of food for me on base, so that wasn't a problem either. Enough for variety, even.
As for my time at the airport itself, it was a mixed experience. I'd brought a lot of stuff along to keep me occupied. In the time that I was there, I crochet a scarf start to finish, read 2 books, and made a new friend. Andrea is a little older than me, kind of soft spoken, and very sweet. She had her 10 month old daughter there with her, and that child is just as cute as can be. We chatted a little Monday, and I helped her keep her speed-crawling youngster from escaping the area. Today, she came and sat by me, which I thought was really cool. We spent the day talking, taking turns with babysitting the luggage, and with entertaining the baby. Anja (An-ya) is the sweetest little baby. She's petite, with big hazel eyes, long eyelashes, and a head full of golden brown hair. She took right to me, and I loved it. She might do that with everyone, but still, it made me feel special. I don;t know if I'll see them again, but I gave Andrea my e-mail address, so hopefully she will drop me a line.
And....I have spent sooooooo much more time on this than I had intended to. Really, I was just going to say, "summer space-a sucks" and leave it at that, but then, I can never be succinct, can I? So yeah, I'm going to bed.
Oh, did I mention that I bought round trip airfare to go back home, and that I'm leaving in the morning? Well, I did. Hooray for an itinerary!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
flying out
Ok, I'm finally headed out to Ramstein today. I got up early so that I could drive out there bright and early, but when I called to get the day's flight schedule, there's nothing useful leaving until this afternoon. So, I figure I might as well wait at home, and be comfortable, instead of waiting there. Now I'm planning to leave around noon. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could get on the flight this evening? Wish me luck!
(Oh, and by the by, the picture thing didn't work out the way I'd hoped. I only got one pic, and I can't find the cord to upload it, so....pics will have to wait.)
(Oh, and by the by, the picture thing didn't work out the way I'd hoped. I only got one pic, and I can't find the cord to upload it, so....pics will have to wait.)
Friday, June 20, 2008
I'm a lazy bum...
...for not posting, like a good little blogger. :)
My Fire Mountain order FINALLY came in last night, so I have lots of new necklaces and such to bring with me. I think I'll ask my lovely co-workers model them for me, so I can post pictures of them later. "And here is Mrs. Kelly Sarles, sporting an elegant shades-of-gray pearl necklace from Designs by Adie International. Beautiful, Kelly!" hehe.
Ok, back to the real world. I am supposed to be leaving for the States tomorrow, and I am super excited. BUT I still have so much that I need to do before I go, because I spent all night making jewelry instead of taking care of those things that I need to do. So, since I am going space-a and have no set schedule, I might push it back to Sunday. After all, I might as well take advantage of the fact that my itinerary is flexible, right? I hate to wait a day, but I think I will be less likely to lose my mind if I do.
Stay tuned for lots of cool pictures to follow!
My Fire Mountain order FINALLY came in last night, so I have lots of new necklaces and such to bring with me. I think I'll ask my lovely co-workers model them for me, so I can post pictures of them later. "And here is Mrs. Kelly Sarles, sporting an elegant shades-of-gray pearl necklace from Designs by Adie International. Beautiful, Kelly!" hehe.
Ok, back to the real world. I am supposed to be leaving for the States tomorrow, and I am super excited. BUT I still have so much that I need to do before I go, because I spent all night making jewelry instead of taking care of those things that I need to do. So, since I am going space-a and have no set schedule, I might push it back to Sunday. After all, I might as well take advantage of the fact that my itinerary is flexible, right? I hate to wait a day, but I think I will be less likely to lose my mind if I do.
Stay tuned for lots of cool pictures to follow!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Free Week
Brandon is gone for the week, so I have all of my time this week to myself. Not that this is a good thing. I've gotten so spoiled, having him around all the time for so long. Right now it just feels like he's gone to work, like he does every Monday, but he won;t be coming home tonight. I think that's when I'm going to start to miss him. I love our time together in the evenings... It's a good thing that I have work to keep me busy, or I'd be nutso by the time he gets back on Friday.
So anyway, I'm catching up on some girl time this week. I'm going shopping with Jennifer this afternoon (Yay! Emily and Eva time!) and then I'll be getting together with Sarah and Peguy for some Sex in the City. You see, I've never seen a single episode, and both feel that this is complete sacrilege and must be rectified immediately. Especially if I am going to see the movie with them. I've been kind of neglecting them, shame on me!, so it's good that I'm getting a chance to spend some time with them. I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and speaking of movies, we saw the new Indiana Jones flick Saturday night, and it is AWESOME! Totally in keeping with the tone set by the previous movies. And Harrison Ford stepped right back into the character as if it had been only 2 years instead of 20. Wonderful! Even Brandon said that he would pay to go and see it in theaters again, and from him, that is the highest honor available. So, if you haven't seen it, then you need to!
PS: I'm in a much better mood now. :)
So anyway, I'm catching up on some girl time this week. I'm going shopping with Jennifer this afternoon (Yay! Emily and Eva time!) and then I'll be getting together with Sarah and Peguy for some Sex in the City. You see, I've never seen a single episode, and both feel that this is complete sacrilege and must be rectified immediately. Especially if I am going to see the movie with them. I've been kind of neglecting them, shame on me!, so it's good that I'm getting a chance to spend some time with them. I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and speaking of movies, we saw the new Indiana Jones flick Saturday night, and it is AWESOME! Totally in keeping with the tone set by the previous movies. And Harrison Ford stepped right back into the character as if it had been only 2 years instead of 20. Wonderful! Even Brandon said that he would pay to go and see it in theaters again, and from him, that is the highest honor available. So, if you haven't seen it, then you need to!
PS: I'm in a much better mood now. :)
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