I'm For Real This Time

I know I have been saying for like a year that I was going to catch up and then I never do. I promise this time that I will. Maybe I won't leave this computer until the whole year that I am behind gets blogged about. Hmmm.....might not have to cook dinner. :) Just bear with me and if you don't want to read about year old news - well I'm really sorry!
I'm changing the dates so all new posts will be below this one.

Update @ 8:13pm: I didn't get all caught up but got a great amount done. Check back this week for more posts!

NYC

One of the perks about living here is being so close to New York City. New Jersey Transist has a train that we can get on about 25 minutes from our house and it takes us all the way into NYC. Also what makes it even better is it offers military discount so we can get a round trip from $13 per person and kids ride free on the weekends and holidays The first chance we got we decided to take a trip up there. We had been to NYC once before but it had been so long ago (little Eric was 1 when we went) that I didn't remember much. This trip we decided to do the tourist thing. We walked through Times Square, went to the Hershey store and M&M store and then we went up to Rockefeller Center. IT was a good first trip. I just like to go and walk around and people watch; and NYC is great for that!

 

almost to times square

 

I want to see The Lion King!

 Nerd's anyone?

 this is what Eric would like

 Rockefeller Center

Our First Visitors

About a month and a half after getting here we had our first visitors. Thankfully they decided to come after we had a stuff delivered. Eric's mom, sister, and her 2 girls came to visit. It was a pretty low key visit (sometimes those are the best though). One thing we did do was go to Philly. We really didn't have much of a plan; we knew we were going to go and see all the history sites but beyond that we didn't know. Seeing the Liberty Bell was free so that is the first thing we decided to do. The line was pretty long to see it but lucky for us it went pretty quickly. After that we walked over to Independence Hall to see about touring that but the line was VERY long and the girls were getting antsy. So we just walked around looking at the buildings and enjoying the sites. One of these days I want to go back and see all the sites.

 Independence Hall

 the Liberty Bell

 it's normal to climb on the lamp post right

Eric and Alivia

Welcome to New Jersey!

We finally made it to Ft. Dix, NJ (WE are stationed at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst). It has been quite an adjustment. The weather was the biggest. I think the day we arrived here it was like 25. We got a house pretty fast after getting here (we signed for it the day after we got here). Needless to say since we weren't expecting to get a house so fast, we didn't get our stuff for like a month and a half. Let's just say I really don't sleeping on an air mattress.
The other thing that has been quite an adjustment for us is the distance we are from everything. Most things are 20-30 minutes away so we really have to make sure that we get every where when we go into town. But on the bright side; we don't spend alot of money on going out because we never feel like driving anywhere.
Ft. Dix is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by alot of farm land. I have to say, to my surprise, that I really enjoy it and it can be very pretty. It has taken some adjustment being on this base because it's more of an air force base than army base and the air force is alot more strict. Oh well though; it can't e a bad thing. The other bonus about being here is we are very close to alot of things; Philly is about 45 mins, NYC is an hour to an hour and a half train ride away (bonus - the train gives military discounts), and the shore is about 45 minutes away. I'm sure when our 3 years is up I will be ready to leave but until then I will enjoy our time here. Feel free to come and visit!

This is how we feel.....

about leaving Hawaii!

One of the main reasons I didn't want to leave Hawaii

I don't talk about this very much but this is one of the main reasons that I hated leaving Hawaii.

I know it's not the case but in a way we felt like we were leaving our little boy behind. It was very difficult to leave but we know that we will see our sweet angel again and Hawaii is just his body's resting place. This right here is the reason that I will have many many trips back to Hawaii.

Aloha 'Oe

One of the traditions at church in Hawaii when leaving is on your last Sunday the congregation sings the song Aloha 'Oe while you stand in front and then everybody comes up and gives hugs and gives lei's. I had been dreading it because I knew that I was going to bawl my eyes out. Thankfully I didn't cry too much but it still made me really sad. When all was said and done we had quite the collection on leis. (I know I know I look quite goofy.)