I think an 8 year absence is enough. Where to begin. Life,8 years. Blessed with 2 more kids after number 1. Many countries, 4 different bases,1 short deployment, much wisdom gained but most importantly not losing my love of ketchup. I will write my thoughts on the military (if that blog could only reach me in the past....for future reference).

Here is number 1 and 2 getting their racquetball on.


Number 3.

The boss and I having ice cream.

8 years in the Army. 12 more to go.
#3 is cute enough that he gets 2 pics. 

Happy Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to my lovely wife.
I love her with all my heart and can never picture anyone else better to be my lifelong companion and mother of my child.
Sure we have our bumpy roads but what couple does not, it is better to go through a wavy ocean than a calm lake. I think the more waves you go through, the better the bond, the stronger the love, the higher the pedestal you place your love. This man is very lucky to have found his love, his better half, his cap to the ketchup bottle. Before i was spilling all over the place (just go with it) then along came Nicole and placed her lid on my cap. Dont worry, it has to make sense to me ok.

To sit next to her and catch the perfume with every breath is one of the greatest memories i cherish.
That and my sons baby breath, its the best, oh and his toes after running for a while.
The best. (This was never posted. So here it is from 2010)

Emailed story..

I was volentold (volunteered ) to go run a 5 mile race (not a 5k, cuz that would make sense right?) in our sister city Geneva.
Geneva is 45 minutes away from Ft. Rucker. It is said that they have one of the oldest oak tree this side of the Mississippi. I got to see this bad boy up close and personal after the race. Oddly enough, they use to hang people off this tree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geneva,_Alabama_live_oak.jpg

We wake up at 0500 to get on the bus...CHECK... 6am we get on the bus...CHECK
0645 arrive at Geneva..CHECK. 0700 had a mc biscuit sandwich the city brought for all the ARMY participants ( 20 runners and 40 road guards ((road guards to stop traffic while we raced)) )
I started to wonder where were all the other participants when we start seeing a handful of people show up. By 0730 there were a whopping 40 participants!!!!! including us :(
plus an old guy that had supper tight shorts (like basketball shorts in the 80's) that had a picture of the confederate flag with the x going over his privates.

GO!!!!! 0731
"This is not a bad pace I'm setting" I thought. As soon as i finished that thought the lead runner (about 769 meters in front) was being chased by one of the lovely dogs that are free to roam in this Sauthern town (yes I misspelled it because thats how people say south here, saauth)))). "RUNNN Ronald" we all yelled as we trotted, nope he did not hear us but heard the barks from a speeding black mixed retriever. I think Ronald won that race because he was afraid to be chased and bitten.
Mile 3.. "I feel good, good pace", i told Bruchia. Bruchia is in great shape and decided to take the 5 mile event easy. His voice sounds like Gilbert Godfrey's. "We are going slow, the Sergeant Major is right behind us" he yelled. Nuts. So I speeded up (SGM looked like he was 40+, and in great shape).
Throughout the race my right knee was hurting (mind over matter of course).
I was told in basic training that I was overusing it and that it was normal.
During the last 2 miles I was checking out the scenery and couldn't help notice the beer cans in front of one of the houses and the old man smoking with his super ultra long beard. Any who I finished with a pace of 8 minutes per mile (and in 15th place overall). Had I registered in the race ($5 fee, which I did not have) I would had won my age bracket, which by the way was composed of by one other guy. Our overall winner made it in 30 minutes. 6 minute mile pace.
When the race was said and done the trophy's were passed out and we were fed bananas and apples w OJ and milk. We then took the bus to another location but were promptly informed that we were going to do some community service. Ok, cool, what was it you ask? Im glad you did, it was picking up trash on the side of the road for an hour.. Let me just say that the pain in my knee nor the hot sun (it was 0930 but the sun was in full force) bothered me the entire hour. Off we went to another park so we can have lunch, that is where i saw that big oak tree. The city participants and Mayor were out there cooking up food for us (army only). We each had a hamburger and a hot dog with chilli. It was a really nice day, the only thing that was missing was my family. I would have loved to have shared this with you amor.
I can finally say this line... I went and did a 5 mile race at Geneva Alabama and all i got was this lousy t-shirt.

ITs 8pm and need to wash whats left of my shaven head..

"Heeeere we go again, same old stuff again, marching down the avenue"

Bleed green.
I need to remember not to look directly at the flash/bang grenades when they are going boom.
Also started hearing ringing in my ear for a couple of seconds.
Training exercises, one of many to come in this phase of life.
Im glad i joined, and at the same time I wish I had the old life. Just miss the familiarity of things. Brings comfort.
Church today was great, brought tears to my eyes to see a couple of fathers playing with their sons. Miss my little booger and mama booger. All in all, family day is around the corner. Can't wait to get home and hold the old ketchup bottle, annnnd my wife and son of course.

"9 more weeks and ill be through"

Where am i (again).

So it turns out that i was gone for a while. Where you ask? oh,,, let me think. All i remember was having a baby then here i am. I am tired but gracious, sore, but glad. Father life is great, i could not have asked for anything more. Big changes coming up, will blog about it soon.

El Torito Grill

First of all let me say that I did not expect to see that many hispanicos at El Torito Grill.

It was a happy day and a sad one at that, my son had finally tried........ a tortilla........
The sad part was that the tortilla was a flour tortilla. Yeah, yeah, i know, but we like corn tortilla over flour any day of the week (except for burritos, that is the only good thing a flour tortilla is good for).
He took a taste and we waited, he put more in his mouth again and started chewing!!!! For some reason at this point in my life im easily amused. My dish (chicken tacos) has a side dish of beans (i still make them better). I decided that Gavin should be introduced to more hispanic dishes.. Allllrighhhht!!! "sayyyy aaaaaa". He really enjoyed beans too for some reason.
Our waitress was a pro, a pro in a sense of trying to push up the tab, resulting in a bigger tip. "No Gracias". I speak spanish, i know what's up...
I chuckled when she said that she had lost her name tag because my wife questioned her name that she quoted us when being seated to the name tag she was wearing. ayyy ya yayyy, no bueno. I dislike fake mexican food.

Dim sum and some.

Dim sum is great. The only thing that i do not like is when the over zealous servers bring everything at once. Yes i understand that they need to give fast service but what ends up happening is that everyone in your table orders 2 to 3 different things. No bueno since it ends up being wayy too much food.
I personally enjoyed one server that was just the like guy from the movie Mr. Deeds. The spaniard that would woosh right next to you. This server was awesome, i would speak to my son and woosh, there he was to my left making an announcement of what he brought to the table. He would really squish in between me and the other person in the table. Woosh he would disappear as fast as he came to the table.