An Update & Another Friday Fill-In

The boys at Black Canyon Park. We're so happy to have a season pass this year!

The summer continues to speed right by us, only now, reality is definitely setting in. Camden has had some struggles (with the idea of Steve leaving) over the past couple of weeks, but seems to be in a good spot at the moment. I think this is causing Steve and I to be more protective of him than we usually are - - it is so difficult to see all of this weighing so heavily on a 7-year-old's mind. We've also both been eating Zantac like candy lately, if that tells you anything!

About a week ago, I was sat down to organize our summer schedule and calendar, and saw in plain print that after company and a couple of drill weekends, we only have 4 weekends together as a family before Steve leaves. Yikes.

Tomorrow Steve and I have Yellow Ribbon, which is where we spend the day at a conference, filling out all our deployment paperwork, attend seminars, update Steve's will, power of attorney, etc. Fun, fun! I've looked at the agenda and am looking forward to getting some new information that I hope will be helpful to us in the coming weeks.

In other news, we are going to an Army Ball on August 7th. I haven't been to one in a couple of years so I can't wait!

Here is this week's meme, "MilSpouse Friday Fill-In". I have to admit, the questions don't really interest me this week, but here they are anyway...

1. What food reminds you of your spouse? Sushi, because we always use to go out for sushi whenever I'd come to Idaho to visit Steve, before we were married. Gala apples, because he eats one every day. Coffee, because he can't function without it.


2. Who would you rather sit next to in a cross-country plane ride: an irritating non-stop talker, or a quiet stare-er? Definitely, a quiet stare-er. I love to talk to new people, but since I'm usually travelling with two little guys, I don't have the luxury of gabbing cross-country!

3. What are your best tips on how to save money? Steve would laugh at this one because he thinks I am bad with money. I like to think I'm quite thrifty. If I need something, I usually check the thrift store first. You would be surprised what you can find there. It is great for finding new appliances because people get new appliances all the time, never use them, and end up dumping them at the thrift store.

4. What is your favorite summer memory? Probably going to the beach with my mother and brother. I think about that a lot these days.

5. Do you believe in ghosts? I wouldn't say I believe in ghosts, per se, but I've always believed that people who have passed away can hear you when you talk to them.

Stop!

I can seriously feel the summer slipping through my fingers already...I can't believe how quickly the days and weeks are speeding by. Steve is just finishing up two weeks of training, and we are getting ready for a two-week vacation to Maine this month. It will be so nice to have the four of us together for two whole weeks, with spotty cell-phone coverage (i.e., the Army cell phone won't be ringing as much!). After Maine, we have the entire month of July with minimal interruption, then we'll be heading into August where things will really get crazy. The deployment will be here before we know it, so we are going to concentrate on enjoying the here and now.

The boys are doing well. Surprisingly, it is Griffin who is asking the most questions about the deployment. He will randomly make statements out of the blue, such as, "Mummy, when Daddy goes away to Iraq, we won't see him for a long, long time." He has been making that statement, and similar statements about three times per day for the past few days. Hard for me to hear, but on the same token it tells me he is grasping some of this.

Not many pictures to share for the next little bit, as my laptop battery has died, and all of my pictures are stored there. For now, I'm using a clunky old desktop that doesn't have any photo sharing software. Drats!

Playing Catch-Up

I thought I would post some links to military-related posts that I've written for my other blog, in case anyone would like to have a look.

Memorial Day
Freedom Salute
Freedom Salute, Pt. 2
Home
A Wonderful Weekend
Army Perks
Proud
Change of Command

A Little Background

I thought I'd provide a bit of background about our military story. Steve is in the Idaho Army National Guard. He also works full-time for the Guard, so I suppose it is sort of like being active duty, without having to relocate. He works very, very hard, and I couldn't be more proud of him. This upcoming deployment will be his third in the eleven years he's been in the Guard, although one of those deployments was in-state, where he was part of a back fill. That being said, he was far enough away that he couldn't live at home, but I still was able to see him at least once per week. I suppose that "deployment" was good practice for his next one, which was an 18-month deployment to Iraq. He left when Camden (our 6-year old) had just turned one, and returned when he was 2 1/2. Now, we are gearing up for deployment number three, which will be 12 months total, and begins sometime in September. For me, reality finally set in last week, and I am feverishly making lists, making plans, and thinking about all that we need to accomplish before he leaves. Of those 20-something weeks, Steve will only be here for about 10 of them, with training and what-not. Ten weeks goes by so quickly! Our main concern is how to properly prepare our children for this big change. They are very close to their dad so his absence will have a huge impact on them. We are hoping to make it to the end of the school year before broaching the subject with them (another month), but I'm thinking that may prove difficult, as word of the deployment has now been in the news, and people tend to ask us about it quite a bit.

My second concern is for Steve - - I know how hard it is going to be for him to be away from his boys. The way I look at all of this is, yes, it will be hard for me at times too, but at least I get to be with the boys. I can't imagine being in Steve's shoes (for all kinds of reasons), so I will most certainly be directing a lot of my energy to keeping him feeling as close to home as humanly possible.

Although the Army is certainly part of our every-day lives, gearing up for a deployment has me feeling a little apprehensive about "deployment" Army life. During Steve's last deployment, I didn't really become involved with FRG activities, because unfortunately there were a lot of women who seemed to possess a "victim" mentality about the whole thing, and for me, it didn't prove to be the least bit helpful for me in coping with Steve's absence. I'm going to approach this deployment with an open mind, but if I encounter the same thing this time around, I will look for support, when I need it, in other areas.

My biggest wish is that our boys will have a transition that is as smooth as it can possibly be, and that the 12 months will go by quickly for all of us.

An Introduction

**Edited to add: Just stumbled upon the Milspouse Bloghop over at Riding the Roller Coaster, and wanted to join right in. I have already found so many great milspouse blogs there...what a great idea! If you would like to read a bit more about our military story, then please go here.

Hello! Welcome to my new blog, Way Out West: The Deployment Chronicles. Steve has been mobilized to head back to Iraq in the fall, so I wanted a space to chronicle all things deployment/Army/military, separate from my regular blog.

If you are a regular reader of my other blog, then you know I like to write about my boys, crafts, decorating, vintage, cooking/baking, and the like. You won't often hear me complain about much of anything - - not because I don't have struggles and/or complaints like everyone else, but because I really don't enjoy reading other people's complaints, so I choose not to write about them myself. That being said, I'm going to allow this particular space be a place where I document the ups and downs of pre-deployment, deployment, separation, and all the things that inevitably go along with it. I had kind of wished I'd been better about documenting our last deployment, because at this point in time I can't really remember a lot of the details.

So, if you want to read about what we've been baking, cooking, crafting, and doing, then keep on reading my other blog. If you have always wondered what a deployment is like, or have a love one who has been, is, or will be deployed, then please join me here on our journey.