We got to celebrate our first holiday as a family in over 6 months as well. Even though we aren't particularly religious or go to church anywhere, we still made a big deal out of Easter. Last year, Elise was too little to really participate in any egg hunting/gathering. This year we had a blast hiding eggs and watching her find them! We put teddy Graham's and goldfish in them and she ate them all up! She loved this new game and continued to play with those eggs long after Easter passed.
This month Elise also started and completed her first ever swim class. We have been trying to get her into this class for over a year. It was either booked, not full enough, or Josh was deployed. I knew this was something he really wanted to be a part of and I wanted him to be a part of it too, so we chose to wait. Each Saturday morning we looked forward to this class. Elise LOVED it and so did we. She will be swimming like a fish at her grandparent's house very soon!
Before we knew it, it was time for our trip back to Oklahoma to visit our families. I realize its not the Costa Rican trip we took after our last deployment, but this year, its where we both ached to go after being apart for so long. We really craved family time. I asked my husband what he wanted to do the most when he got home his words were : Go to Oklahoma. Absolutely! I really was worried we would feel a little cheated out of alone time together, but that feeling hasn't come up at all. Plus, my parents gave us an amazing anniversary gift of keeping Elise for the night so we could steal away to the Bed and Breakfast where we first stayed as Mr. & Mrs. McVay. We both had been counting down the days to that night and it was the best 15 hours ever. We both agreed to forego our phones/internet excluding answering texts that my parents might send in case of an emergency with Elise. It was so relaxing. We had a nice dinner in downtown Tulsa, enjoyed our B&B's jacuzzi tub and fireplace, then woke up to some amazing pumpkin spice pancakes and beautiful scenic walking trails. We even discovered a guest book which held our first ever entry from May 16, 2008.
It was a fun week. We even got to spend some time with Uncle Kit since he was in town for Army business. It was the first time my husband has seen his brother in person since October 2012 when we said goodbye to him before his deployment. He was gone about 10 months and as he was coming home, my husband was heading out. They literally passed each other and just missed any shot of reuniting. So my husband was pretty excited to get to see his brother and spend some time with him. We dragged that poor guy to Stillwater to see the sights we hadn't seen in over a year and let Elise walk all over OSU.
What else did we do while in Tulsa.....Oh yeah, BOUGHT A NEW CAR!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I didn't like my Honda Element. It used to be my favorite thing ever. It had LOTS of room in the back and it was the perfect way for our big dog to travel, yet not so huge that I felt like I was driving a school bus. Then we had Elise and suddenly I was having to climb into the back of my car to get her in and out of her car seat. Not only that, but it had suicide doors, and sometimes, when I was in the back seat getting E out, the crazy Abilene wind would blow BOTH doors shut on me and I would have to climb (with E in my arms or on my back) into the front seat to unlatch the front door and crawl out. PAIN in the ASS! We also knew our time with that car was limited because there was literally no way to put two carseats in the back at the same time. We do plan on expanding our family someday in the near future so we've been discussing our potential next car for a couple years. The Ford Explorer was always at the top my wish list! I just never thought we would find such a good deal on it! After road tripping up to Oklahoma in my Honda, my husband became pretty frustrated and began actively hunting for a good deal on the Explorer. We just stumbled across one on USAA's website and went to see if it was too good to be true and if they would sell it at the price we wanted AND if they would give us what we wanted for the Honda.
The stars aligned and we got everything that was on our checklist and I drove off the happiest mama ever! We even managed to score leather seats and some pretty sweet amenities. I haven't been this excited about a car purchase since I had my eclipse in high school. Now I feel like I can handle anything my daily mom life throws at me. Seriously....you have NO IDEA how awful it was travel and running errands in that Honda with Elise in tow! LIFE CHANGING CAR PURCHASE!
Anyway, that was how April went. It's now May and we are still in Oklahoma, visiting my husband's family. I'll be sure to post about it once we are home and settled. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment