Monday = Ugh.

Sometimes, home ownership is for the birds.

Like today.

We knew before we left that something was wrong with the compressor for our a/c unit - it wasn't working. And, luckily, we left town just as the heat was almost unbearable in the house. But it wasn't until Ben took the cover off of the unit yesterday when we got home that we realized how extensive the damage was.

Needless to say, we're thankful for an emergency fund and an expected tax-refund to replenish it!

Home.

We spent the morning just playing around and enjoying the company.

And we headed back home just after lunch.

{Nick and Lendy, thank you so much! We love you guys!}

Ellie didn't sleep a wink on the way home. Noah slept for 30 minutes.

We were all going to go to GroupLink at church tonight, but knowing that the kids, without naps, would not make it through it, I stayed home and put them to bed... an hour early.

We had a ton of fun, with family, each other, and with friends. But it's good to be home.

♥

Part Three of Our "Vacation"

Mom, we can't thank you enough. For taking off of work to watch the kids and for letting Ben and I have some time together, just the two of us, before he deploys. We will forever be grateful!

Camp Nana-Papa was a huge success! Thank you, Nana, Papa, and Aunt BB, Aunt Jessie, and Uncle Bryan for loving on the little ones while we were gone. It was so hard to leave them, but knowing that they were with ya'll and were absolutely enjoying themselves made it much easier on me.

I know that they already miss you... several time on the way to Nick and Lendy's, Noah said he wanted to be in "Papa-Nana's car" or asked if we were going back to your house!

Thanks again and we love you!!


We left Oklahoma city early this morning and moved into part three of our trip - an overnight visit with the Kurth's. They are planning to move back to California soon, so we wanted to make sure we got at least one more visit in before they moved and Ben deploys. We made it just in time for lunch, so once we got back to their house, we put all three kiddos down for a nap.

Once they woke up, they were ready to play.


Jerod, Elaine, and Cana {and Harrison too!} came over for dinner and to hang out for a little while. We attempted to let the kids have a pizza picnic:

... which resulted in all four being put in the tub. Ben later told me he couldn't believe we put all of them in the tub together. I asked him, did you expect anything less? ♥

A toddler dance party soon erupted in Mack's room after every one out of the tub and dressed:

And this is how you know you love and trust your friends... you ask one of them {who is not professionally trained} to give your daughter her very first haircut.

Lucky for them {and me... I'd have felt so bad!} it turned out very cute... and a few on-purpose little layers simply added to her cute little curls.

And, in lieu of the usual group shot, we tried for some of the kids, the girls, and the guys. Kids? Not so much. Girls? Well, the kids wanted in on our pic.

But the guys?

{PS Sorry for all the funny colors in the pics... I had no desire to go through and edit!}

We missed 'em.

We arrived in Dallas last night around 11pm and made it to my parent's house in OKC at around 2am.

We. were. exhausted. this morning.

Noah was not too pleased to see us at first and ran back to his bed when we tried to get him to give us kisses. Ellie, on the other hand, flung herself onto me and laid with me for a few moments, popping her head up every few seconds to look to make sure it was me, smile, and then lay her hear back down. UNTIL she realized that Daddy was lying next to me. At which point she immediately started saying, "Dadadadadadadada..." and climbed over to lay on him.

At least one of them was excited to see us.

After a few groggy hours in the morning, we all got ready and went up to see Aunt BB's third grade class. She talks about us, particularly the kids, so her class was anxious to meet us. They were so sweet to give a "celebration" to Ben for his award - a firework!

Aunt BB had been telling her class about how smart Noah is, so she had him demonstrate some of his skills for them... naming shapes. One little boy said, "Miss Akers, he IS smart!" {haha}



Aunt BB had a short lunch break due to recess duty, so just Nana came with us to eat lunch - Noah loved the "painting" game at McDonald's.

Fillmore has a lot of renovations going on right now, including a new wing being built - it was weird to see a building there in the middle of the playground, home of my childhood recess memories!

Noah woke from his nap ready to color. He also told me that he wanted to go back to Aunt BB-Nana's school. {heh!}

After baths, Ellie modeled her flowergirl dress for Ben and I in person. And let me just say, she's even cuter in person in it than she is in the photos.

Melt my heart.

Melt my heart, times two.

Until I looked more closely at the photo and saw the string of slobber connecting them.

And, just before bed, Noah modeled his new look for us too - he calls it "the Pinny".

Las Vegas/Camp Nana-Papa {Day 3}

Today was exactly what Ben and I needed. We got to sleep in, we ate breakfast at the buffet downstairs {okay, so maybe we didn't need THAT}, and we got to have some fun-just-us-though-we-miss-the-kids-and-are-ready-to-see-them-we're-glad-we're-not-chasing-down-sippy-cups-and-toys time.

We walked down the strip a bit after packing up and dropping the luggage off at the luggage service in our hotel. Madame Tussauds? No way. I got a little freaked out just standing next to the wax Mr. Ford... too real for my liking!

We have decided that if we ever come back to Las Vegas of our own accord {this was our third time, first to stay on the strip} that we are staying at the Venetian. Hands down our favorite. And, if we do, I'm totally making Ben take me on a gondola ride.


After lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, we picked our luggage up and headed to the airport. We were suppose to be on different flights, but we managed to get it changed so that I was on Ben's flight, with no layovers. It also meant that we had a couple more hours to kill since my flight was going to leave earlier than his. We spent most of that extra time in the Las Vegas USO.

We've been playing quite a bit of Yahtzee on the Wii lately, so we were excited to see that they had the actual game. Final score: Sam-1; Ben-1.

So happy to be on our way to the kids!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Eating cookies and enjoying a movie {Thomas, probably? ha!}.

While Ellie was napping, Noah got to decorate a few train cookies that Nana had set aside for him.



Mom said he ate one and she ended up tossing the rest because there was too. much. icing. on all of them.

Grami came by and read with the kiddos.

And Cousin Mae-Mae came over for some play time too. {She looks SO much like Amanda here!}

I'm pretty sure the kids had a blast!

Las Vegas/Camp Nana-Papa {Day 2}

While today's total tour time was a little shorter, we left the hotel much earlier and toured more areas {if that is even possible!}. Today we went to Nellis AFB, which is about 20 minutes or so from the strip. Nellis is home to Red Flag {Ben went about this time last year}, the Thunderbirds, and one of four Air Force Red Horse squadrons.

Our tour started off at the Nellis AFB Threat Training Facility, also known as the Petting Zoo. If you ever go to Nellis, BE SURE TO STOP HERE. Seriously. Amazing. It was actually classified until 1993 due to many Soviet pieces. The petting zoo is used to research enemy weapon systems and to find the weaknesses in them so that our guys can better fight against them.

We also got to tour the 820th Red Horse Squadron. Red Horse is actually an acronym that stands for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers. And these guys can do. it. all. The building that we ate lunch in? They built it. New airstrip in the desert? They built it. These guys are phenomenal and the ultimate DIYers. They have everything they need within their squadron {as in medical, etc}, making them practically self-sustaining and able to go and do anything within a moments notice.

But probably my favorite part of the tour today was getting to see the Thunderbirds. I mean, what is more American than the Ambassadors in Blue?

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel at which point I got to take a nap {no house to clean or kids to care for!} while Ben went to a practice for the awards ceremony and played a little Black Jack.

Before dinner and the ceremony, there was a Medallion Ceremony in which Ben was given his medallion by Lt. General Spears, Commander of the 12th Air Force. I wish I could say I had a photo of this, but I don't... they had their photographer taking photos and I was in it too... so. Hopefully we'll be able to get our hands on a copy {hint, hint, Ben}.

After the introduction of the nominees and dinner, (ret.) Chief McKinley, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (#15) provided a few words of wisdom.

And, even though he didn't win CGO of the Year for the 12th Air Force, we're extremely proud of him and his accomplishments. {Benjamin, you make me proud every. single. day!}

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The kids were giving Nana a run for her money. Or at least, that's what I imagine when I see the photos.

Hopsotch with Aunt BB.

Imagine my grins and giggles when I saw Ellie dressed in her flowergirl dress for Jessie and Bryan's wedding this summer - it was a happy surprise to see when I woke up from my nap!

Building and playing tracks with Uncle Bryan.

Isn't it funny that you can just imagine what is being said in certain photos? I'm quite certain that Noah was saying, "Oh bummer... Noah doesn't need blue x." and Aunt BB and Jessie saying, "Look Noah! You do need it!" ha!

I miss that silly goose and the ornery little sister.

Las Vegas/Camp Nana-Papa {Day 1}

Oh man, were we tired this morning. But we managed to crawl out of bed and get ready so that we could enjoy a {free} buffet breakfast downstairs and then head off to start our day of tours with a briefing on the 12th Air Force from Chief Clark, Command Chief of the 12th.

Now, honestly, we were a little annoyed when we found out how many tours we were going to have to go on while we were here. Lame was our my exact word. This was suppose to be a fun little getaway for us! But, the tours ended up being much more interesting that we had originally expected.

Today, we went to Creech AFB. It's about 45 minutes outside of town... and we had to ride a bus. Seriously, it wasn't looking good when we first started out, though the view was gorgeous.

The highlight of the tour today was getting to see the RPAs {remotely piloted aircrafts}: the Reaper and Predator.

Just don't call them drones or unmanned aircraft in front of the Wing Commander, Brigadier General (S) Gersten. He doesn't like it. Gives the impression that a human is NOT in control of it... which they are.

{I didn't - he told us not to!}

They are really pretty impressive - I wish I was allowed to share some of the stories on here! I've got to say though, it's nice knowing that our guys at least have these babies on their side while deployed to the desert.

After we got back to our hotel and went to an "icebreaker", we headed across the street for a quick, late dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in the Mirage and then down the strip to see the fountains at the Bellaigo.

On our way back, we walked through Ceasar's Palace where Ben put Daddy-Man's five dollars into a slot machine for him.

Once he hit a jackpot, he cashed it out. Daddy-Man did better than we did!

We headed back to our hotel and crashed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Noah and Ellie were having a good time at Camp Nana-Papa. Grami and Papa Snow came over for a visit.

Nana, Papa Snow, and the kids then went to visit Aunt Jessie at work and eat lunch at Taco Bueno.

After naps, popcorn and Thomas time.

And a walk around the neighborhood.

Art time with Aunt BB.

Bedtime stories with Papa.

And, while Ellie gets to sleep in the pack and play in the closet, Noah crashed out on Nana and Papa's bed before being moved to his own Lightening McQeen bed.

I don't think they missed us... but we sure missed them!