Good times!

Today was a great Saturday. For some reason Jack slept late, which means we got to sleep late :-), then we had cinnamon buns for breakfast, built a fort, lounged around, watched the Penn State game (YEAH LIONS!!!!), Tom went for a motorcycle ride, we video chatted with Oma, then had a great dinner at home. Oh yeah, the best part of the day....the fort. It so took me back to my childhood. How much fun was it to build a fort out of rearranged furniture and sheets? Good times!! Hahahah. This was Jack's first fort. Tom insisted I had more fun in it but I think Jack liked it too! Sadie sure loved sitting on the fort and digging out the corners of the blanket from the couch cushions. She was a party pooper. Anyway, lots of fun was had in the Murtie house today! I'm thinking we should build a fort everyday.

Tears

Since I'm about to start working full time we decided to get Jack started with going to day care every day. We're using an FCC provider who we love! Ms. Liliane is sooo great! We've been taking him for 2 hours randomly before, not every day. Since I'm not working full time just yet we're taking Jack from 8am-2:30pm everyday. He needs to get used to eating and sleeping there. The times before it's only been when he's wide awake, fed and ready to play, otherwise known as his HAPPY mood. :-) hahaha. So last night Tom and I were talking about everything new that's going on and how I feel like I'm stirring everything up. Jack had a schedule, we had a system and know it's all getting rearranged. I'm all about change and I'm very excited to work but I realized last night how much I love being a mom! I'm having a little bit of a hard time (understatement) coming to terms that I won't be with Jack everyday all day long. I know he's going to be safe and well taken care of and I really do believe that day care is great for social development but it all breaks my heart. Today I dropped Jack off to Ms. Liliane's around 8am. He was all excited to see her house and knock on the door. As soon as she opened the door he got this super sad look on his face and I broke. I'm crying and then he started crying and grabbing on to me for dear life. (Now I know this is normal. Tom's mom told us that all of her boys, Tom included, had to be peeled off of her for the first month of going to day care) It's just the saddest thing. So I'm a big believer in saying good bye and not sneaking away so I give my screaming tear filled child a kiss and I head towards the door and they head towards the kitchen for breakfast. The funny thing here is that once Jack saw that he was heading towards the kitchen for some food, he calmed right down and stopped crying. Me on the other hand....I cried until I was half way home. I think I shed more tears than he did. Pathetic, right?? So now I'm sitting here trying to make myself be productive and not stare at the clock waiting for 2:30 to come so I can go pick him up. I miss my crazy kiddo!!! I guess I need to start this job soon because I need to be busy!

A walk to the park

So our little development of Del Rey Oaks has its own little playground and dog park. It was in the high 70s today and we thought why not head to the park. Jack's uncles (Luke and Bruce) bought Jack a wagon for his birthday this year. I love this wagon. It's come in handy on a few occasions. We can load it up with more stuff than a stroller and Jack loves to ride in it. I recommend a wagon for every family with a kiddo. So out the door we went and we headed to the park in the wagon. Notice what came along for the ride....Sadie was with us of course, and the fly swatter. Oh yes, we still have an undieing love for the swatter. Some kids have lovies that are stuffed animals but we have a fly swatter. Hahahahah. You have to love the mind of a child!!! :-)
Hope everyone had a great long weekend!!!

Bringing home the bacon...

Well, it happened....I got a job! YEAH! It's a great job too. At least right now I think it is. It hasn't started yet. :-) It's one that's important and pays enough to cover the cost of child care and justifies putting Jack into day care. I will be the new CLEOS director for CYS here on post. For those non military people who read this I'll explain. CLEOS stands for Child and Youth Liaison for education and outreach services. Here in Monterey the job entails managing central registration. If you want child care or for your kiddo to play in sports you have to register them through this office. I will also be in charge of organizing the classes for the CYS staff members for their continuing education. And my favorite part of the job I'll be managing all the FCC homes. FCC is family child care. It's when the military gives you everything you need to run your own in home child care business. We're actually using this child care for Jack. Ms.Liliane will be watching Jack full time once I start working. I have to wait on background checks to come back so hopefully it won't be too long. She has 6 kids, and one on the way and is really nice and loves Jack. So the chips fell the right way and I have good child care for Jack and a great job! YEAH!!!
This is pretty big for me. Career options are limited for military spouses. We're always moving, not able to establish any seniority in jobs we have and are always starting over. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining or whining I'm just saying how it is. I wouldn't change anything in my life. I love my life and every where it's taken us. It's just that it's pretty damn expensive out here and I want to work. Since we've been here I've applied for 14 jobs and only had 2 interviews. On one of those interviews I was asked if I was military. They aren't allowed to ask this, it's discrimination. Now I could be completely in the dark with what job I could really do but I'm thinking that once they saw on my resume that I was all the over the place for the last 10 years because we're military and they put 2 and 2 together that if you come to Monterey you'll only be here about 2 years total, they just passed right over me. Who wants to spend their money, time and resources on training someone for them to just have to do it all over again in 2 years. ARGH! Anyway...all is well and I'm entering the working world. YEAH!

Adventures Finale

We finished out Umpa & Boobie's trip with roasting marshmallows with a fire on the beach and trip to the San Fran Zoo.

Carmel is my favorite beach out here. You can take your dog there and not have her on a leash, you can have fires, and glass bottles with whatever you'd like to drink, and it's so clean and the sunsets are beyond words. We've been to Carmel for a "meet and greet" picnic with Tom's class and once by ourselves. This time we built our own fire. We packed subs and lots of marshmallows. Tom and his mom and of course Jack got in the water. I chose to stay dry this time even though the waves and Jack's soggy pants seem to find me every time. We even had Sadie along. I wish I could say we got her to get in this time but it was a BUST again. She is not a water lover. Weird since she's a RETRIEVER!! Anyway, the night was so much fun. We sat around our fire, roasted marshmallows, and watched the sun set. I think that is my favorite thing to do. Sit on the beach and just be!






We also headed to the San Francisco Zoo for a day. This wasn't our best trip. It was off season for the zoo and there were a bunch of exhibits closed. No snakes (sad for Tom), no hippos (sad for me) and no elephants (sad for all). How can you go to a zoo and not see elephants??? It was a little depressing, then we remembered that this is the zoo where the tiger mauled those teenagers. That was a "HOLY CRAP" moment since it dawned on us as we were looking at the tigers. Hahahaha. It was still fun though. Jack really loved it when he saw the giraffes and the monkeys of course! He did great walking through the zoo with us. We're working on the hand holding. He's very independent. One cool thing was they had a petting zoo. You had to feel so bad for these animals, but it did make for some nice pictures. :-) There was a goat that kept harassing Sandy and a llama who was pretty greedy when it came to feeding, at least no one got spit on! Jack's highlight...not the sheep, not the horses, not the ducks (although he did attempt many times to get into their pond), his highlight...the little rakes they had laying around. Why not! It is tons of fun to stir up a lot of dust.