we finally were able to make it to the beach!!! we took off one saturday and headed to the beach on base... they have a section for officers... its a really nice beach and only takes us about 40 min to get to it. and wow is it pretty!!! that day we went was completely overcast and the water (which is way warmer than pacific ocean!) was still a little too cold for me so we didn't get in too much. but daniel got to touch the water a bit. then we mostly sat around read books and played with the baby who laid in his little blow up pool/ bed covered in a blanket...
he even kept his shades on really well since the overcast clouds were too bright for him to look at while laying down.. we thought it was cool how well we could see our reflections in his sunglasses so we had to get a pic of that...
we were then joined by our friend shelley whose husband is a resident with chris. her husband was out of town so she came down and met us with her little baby davis. we just sat and chatted and enjoyed the scenery. it was an awesome day!
it has rained here almost everyday since we moved here... and i mean rained. it pours and sprinkles and pours again... with crazy thunder and lightening. the worst it when it happens in the middle of the night... thunder scares me half to death and then the lightening is like a strobe light outside my window... no fun! which is fun are all the little creatures that seek shelter on our front porch. this little frog joined us the other day....
once the rain stops you can hear the frogs singing away out in the backyard... there are hundreds of them... so crazy!
little man loves to eat!!! the second you put the bib on him he is fussy and whining if you don't feed him soon!!! he's also really great at opening wide... and i mean wide....
i currently make a huge bowl of oatmeal and add one jar of food either fruit or vegetable to it... he eats that twice a day... he's hungry and loves to eat! haha its a work out just shoveling it in his mouth fast enough.
military life so far isn't so bad... we have parties and other activities that come around often. sometimes chris goes to work in in regular civilian clothes, sometimes in his pt clothes (physical training), and sometimes in his marpat.... as seen here...
he's very scary. haha but in august we got all dressed up and fancy for the dental battalion 100 birthday celebration ball. i frantically bought a dress when we first got here knowing we had this coming up. i got lucky and found this one for $45 bucks! not bad eh?? chris put on his summer dress whites... along with his mini medals they wear for fancy occasions... aren't they cute. haha we dropped little man off at the cdc (child development center) where they were providing free child care. it was our first time leaving him with a stranger or anyone other then my mom. it was scary and exciting but we all walked away with no tears. daniel was un phased.
we arrived to the ball in time for cocktail hour and i got a diet coke :) then we headed into one of the ball rooms for a presentation... it included a brief history of dental battalion and the coolest part they shared the story of the bombing that took place in beirut 30 years ago which killed 270 us marines. when the bomb went off, immediately 2 dentists ran over from the building next door and immediately began triage on everyone they saw. it was pretty amazing what these two dentists did in taking charge of the situation. they had both dentists here at our ball and honored them with some awards and other things. they were touched and honored... they hadn't seen each other in a long time and never really talk about what happened. the bombing was a huge blow to the city of jacksonville as this is a huge marine base and most of the marines killed were from here. way sad.
after the presentation we headed over into the other room where we had dinner and toasts and cake. we sat at a table with 2 of the other residents, the dransfield family, and the reed family. we know ebony from dental school in las vegas and her husband is always a hoot. and the dransfield family has been really fun to get to know and we get to see them at church all the time too. we also saw my new friend kristen and her husband and had some good laughs... including the picture with the older dentist below... he's apparently always the life of the party.. haha
the navy has all these traditions and ceremonial things they do the whole night... they have a prayer said by the chaplan and toasts are said to everything... navy, army, airforce, marines, etc... and "their wives and sweethearts... may they never meet" haha... and then the cake cutting ceremony... they even had people on cake duty... that had to ceremoniously walk the cake to the front. then the oldest dentist and the youngest dentist cut the cake together... the old dentist tells the younger one how to cut it... haha our friend sam was the young dentist so we had a good laugh watching the whole thing. and yes... they cut the cake with a sword.
the whole night was interesting and fun and we had a good time... picked up little man who was sleeping when we got there and slept the whole way home...
the flight over was not too bad... we left at midnight and i was able to get the baby to sleep before takeoff and he slept through most of the flight... i kinda slept. it was really cold and so i only half slept. changing planes was hard because i had the baby, a backpack, and a diaper bag. the next plane ride was interesting as it was the smallest plane... 2 seats on each side and barely an isle. when i went to sit in my seat some lady was sitting in it because she and her 8 year old son had been split up so the flight attendant told her to go there... but the didn't tell me and it was towards the back of the plane and her seat (which was now mine) was on the front row... so now i have all my stuff and nowhere to go with everyone trying to get on behind me. i handed daniel to some nice looking lady while i shuffled my way up to the front of the plane with all our stuff and then once people were all on the plane i went and got my baby. luckily it was a very short flight... less than an hour. once we landed in jacksonville we had to wait 3 hours for chris' plane to come in. so i parked all our bags and stroller and everything in the corner of baggage claim... a tiny tiny room.. haha but whatever. the worst part was we had planned on renting a car when we got word our car wouldn't be there till monday... and of course there were no available cars. i felt like crying from being so tired and just wanting something to go more smoothly... after a while out of nowhere chris comes strutting around the corner... sadly the baby was asleep or that would have been much more fun. but it was a welcome relief for him to show up!
we headed out and got a cab... pat the cab lady quickly became our new and first friend in NC. she took us to our hotel and was so nice giving us all sorts of info about jacksonville. she also picked us up the next day so we could go get the keys to our house and go see it for the first time! here is our cute little home...
the whole neighborhood is really cute and nice. and we have met a couple neighbors and they are all really nice and kind. welcome to the south! everyone waves and says hello... and i have never had so many conversations with strangers while shopping.. mostly because they see daniel's hair and want to have a conversation about it... i really don't mind... he is super cute!
did i mention it rains here a lot??? like almost everyday? sometimes it is so heavy it looks like a car wash on our windows. these pics can't even do it justice...
daniel is also very fun! he smiles and babbles all the time... here are some of my favorite shots lately
he also loves his feet!!!
he makes lots of funny faces when he's talking to us...
he has also done some big boy things like... go on a swing for the first time... he kinda liked it
also first shot in front of home and laughing with dad
and first time in shopping cart
speaking of his hair... in case you are wondering where he got it from... here is a pic of me as a baby... along with daniel.... please not the similarity in hair style...
after we arrived here we ended up having to wait a week for our shipment of goods to arrive as the driver had messed up and gotten the arrival date wrong... so the company paid for us to stay in a hotel and food and rental car...since i wasn't unpacking a house i had nothing to do.... so we went shopping. all for things we were planning to buy in the near future... we just ended up taking care of it all with in 3 days. we bought a dryer (already had a washing machine), a bed (we really wanted to upgrade to king size), a lawn mower (cause this grass grows like crazy!), and a car!!!! (we sold chris' in vegas and needed a second car). the car was the most exciting and scary purchase and we decided in the end to go for a minivan and have it be our family car as long as it will last.
here are some super cute videos of him as well... nothing special but for those grandma's that dont get to see him in action in person... i know they will enjoy!
here he is laughing with daddy...
here he is just chatting and then kicking his crazy little feet... he never sits still. especially since i put these little shoes on him and he hasn't stopped kicking his feet since. haha sorry the first one is sideways... i keep forgetting to keep my phone on its side...
all in all we are adjusting well and have made some friends. military life is interesting and different but we are having a good time. more on that later :)
our last week in vegas was bitter sweet.... i was excited to see chris after 5 weeks... but very sad to leave my mom and family. she has been my shopping partner forever and we have fun going to ross and trying on hideous dresses till you find that one gem... we also loved going to olive garden at least once a month with grandpa sam and meesha and gigi and my mom... grandpa sam mom and i went one last time the thursday before i left.. it was fun as always and grandpa had fun saying his little good byes to daniel vern. i know grandpa is really going to miss this little guy of ours...
we also spent a lot of time with amanda since she was staying at my moms for a couple days. she was so cute and just wanted to play with daniel the whole time. it was fun staying at my moms since our apartment was completely empty and our stuff was moving across the country... my mom also got a big kick out of watching daniel eat because he half cries the whole time if you dont put food in his mouth fast enough...
here's our empty apartment and them taking my car away to meet us in NC.
it was a good week and i tried my best not to cry as my mom left me at the airport... i just walked away fast... goodbye las vegas... hope to see you soon!!!
the fourth of july was actually very uneventful for us at home... we didn't do anything... the baby went to bed early and i couldn't fall asleep since the neighbors.. and my uncles family around the corner were firing giant fireworks till 11 pm... it sounded like canon fire! haha
the next morning we loaded up the car and headed for laguna beach for the 2012 vern christensen family reunion. since chris was gone to boot camp i went with my mom and roomed with her... it was great fun to spend the time with her especially since we were moving away the next week. we drove down with grandpa and my cousin james and his fiance... daniel was pretty much amazing the whole way down there ...hardly ever fussing or crying.
we had a lot of the rooms right next to each other which was great fun and meant a lot of congregating outside the rooms at all times of the day...
it was so fun to see a lot of my cousins... many i have not seen in years. we also took a bunch of pics with grandpa... in his old age he's a big softy and he teared up in almost every single one...
one day we spent at the beach. it was fun but cold... since i am red headed and fair skinned and daniel was only 5 months at the time he couldn't wear sunscreen so we sat under the umbrella the whole time... and without sun on you the ocean breeze is cold... we were all bundled up but still had fun. i brought this tiny pool to blow up and use as a play mat and bed for daniel. it worked out really well!!
the little kids had so much fun playing in the sand.... gigi and amanda and zach and cody had great fun playing together... and i had a great time watching creepy man with bum showing.... not really but he stood in front of us for over an hour... not fun.
the next day we spent riding the free trolley around laguna beach. we went to the farmers market and got some yummy fruit and then we went to the saw dust festival which is this giant art/craft festival. it was fun to walk around and look at everything and amanda had a ball. she got her face painted, made a flower, and got a balloon animal. i was in everyones way since i had the baby on front and backpack on back... i kept hitting people. woops. but daniel was very good and even enjoyed reading the map with grandma.
one morning daniel was being very cuddly... doesn't happen that often... but it was super cute.
my sister was going to church sunday morning and forgot to pack a dress and was going to go in capris till my mom remembered she had brought this gem.... doesn't it look so good on em?? hahahahaha and yes she did wear it to church... its california... you can get away with that kind of stuff.
the trip was so great and i loved being able to spend all that time with my mom and family before i moved across the country. i love my grandpa and am always grateful he does all these family trips and helps us out with so much! love my family!!
