Our new house!!

I lost my feet!
Samson and Kaden are such good friends! They really love each other.
Kaden fell asleep on daddy's shoulders

The front of our new house- 36 Blackbird St.
Look really hard- there is a park right across the street from us
We're driving, but here is the basic view on base. Our housing area is called Mountain View-These are not quite mountains, but I guess they'll do.
More desert!!
We went to the fireworks display on Edwards the first day we got to base. Kaden stayed awake until about 8:50 and the fireworks started at 9. He slept through them!

Ed's family in PA

Dawejko family party
Sue Dennis and Kaden
at the diamond mine...they were really crystals, but very cool none the less
pulling up to standing
Kaden first meets Great Grandmom
Ed and Kaden hug Grandmom
Kaden's first haircut at the barber - 7 months
4 generations

Ed and Carla with Kaden

We had a great time of family in Pennsylvania. We picked up Ed's grandmom in Philadelphia and continued our drive from Baltimore up to his hometown in Sayre, PA. Ed's mom actually lives in New York, just about 10 minutes away. We stayed there, and Ed's sister Chris and her husband Scott also came up. Here are some pictures from that week.

Baltimore

meeting Great Grandmom for the first time!!
Otterbein family party
Annapolis
Fort McHenry
These two are both D.C.

Kaden's first Merry Go Round ride on a rooster!!
My dad and Kaden in Annapolis


Here are some pictures from our trip to Baltimore visiting my side of the family! We had a great time visiting family and taking day trips. My brother Phillip and his girlfriend Ashleigh also came. We went to D.C., Fort McHenry, Annapolis, and had a party at my Uncle Mark's, and another at my Grandmom's for her 80th birthday.

So Much Going On!!

Ed, Kaden, and I have finally pseudo-settled into our house on Edwards AFB in CA. Now that I have internet again, that has really helped. It's been hard being so disconnected here. We live in the Mojave Desert and it's 15 miles from our house to the front gate...and there is nothing in between!! The nearest nice city is about a 45 minute drive. The closest cities to us are Rosamond (a dump), Lancaster, and Palmdale. The last two are equivalent to Spokane, I'd say...maybe a little smaller.

Kaden is growing so quickly, and learning new things every day. He is 8 months old now and has a tooth popping through. He is always on the go, crawling everywhere and he loves to go back and dump Samson's water and get into his food. I even caught him eating some recently! He has super sensitive skin, and he's having trouble adjusting to the dryness of the desert. His skin has angry red patches all over his body. The pediatrician says it's probably eczema. It doesn't seem to bother him too much. I think it may itch him sometimes though. We go to the children's library, play group, and even the pool. On a typical day though, Kaden just plays in the house while mommy tries to unpack!


Ed has jumped into his job here feet first...quite literally! He is a test-parachute jumper and will be going to free-fall school here soon too, so that he can also skydive. They are gone for a week every month jumping, and they jump about once a week for the rest of the month. So needless to say, it is a major part of his job. He is still teaching survival the rest of the time. He has great co-workers here, and has made good friends with them.

I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting, with a house that is still being unpacked while I try to entertain a baby during the day, Ed gone all the time already, and being in such a remote area. it's not like I can just go grab a cup of coffee and meet with friends. The nearest stand is out the gate...15 miles away!! I only know a few girls, but I am meeting new people all of the time. Nobody I'm really close with yet, but I met one nice girl with an 18 month old and one on the way next week. I met another girl with a 7 year old and one on the way next month. Ed and I met some really nice people at church recently, but they are all older than us, with much older children.

Ed, Kaden, and I went camping already!! We went to Lake Isabella in the Sequoia National Park. It was the grossest lake ever! It was stinky, muddy, and in the middle of the desert with no trees anywhere!! I'm used to WA lakes, which are beautiful, so it had a lot to live up to, but it didn't come anywhere close! And the really gross part is that people where laying on the beach, with flies everywhere and people where even swimming in it. ugg. other then that, it was kind of fun! it was nice to get off base for once, and the drive was nice. We didn't see any Sequoias, but apparently they were only about 15 minutes away.

I wanted to catch everyone up to what I'm doing right now, but I also want to post pics and info on our trips to the east coast. I'll do that next. We have a local number here now. Feel free to call! I'd love to hear from all of you!! It's 661-475-4122.

Leavenworth, WA

This past weekend, June 13th-15th, Kaden and I went with mom and her friend Pat to Pat's parent's house just outside of Leavenworth, WA. Their little town is called Plain, WA, which I thought was cute and all of the stores use the name. For example, I have a picture here of the Plain Hardware Store.

Pat's parent's names are Jim and Bonnie, and they lived in a beautiful little house in the foothills of the Cascade Mts. Leavenworth was really about 20 mintutes drive from their house.

Leavenworth is a little Bavarian village, and all of the stores, shops, gallaries, restaurants, and hotels are built with an Alpine feel. I went with my mom and Kaden one afternoon and just explored. Mom goes to Leavenworth often, but this was my first time.

Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Look at how beautiful the mountains are in the background.

After spending a lovely day in Leavenworth, we had a nice evening visiting Bonnie and Jim while we watched Kaden scooting around the floor playing with one of his new toys.

This is the view from Jim and Bonnie's house

Lastly, this is the Plain Hardware Store. I just thought it was funny and needed a picture

May/ June Pictures

Here are some pictures of this past month. They sort of go with the last blog post when I didn't put on any pictures!!

Kaden and the Kitty are good friends!

Kaden and Grandmom on Mother's Day. It was special to be with my mom, Ed, Kaden, and brothers on my first Mother's Day! Kaden left Grandmom a special present on her shoulder!

Now that Kaden is 6 months old, I have been feeding him solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am still nursing him about 4 times a day too.


Kaden can raise up on his hands and knees, but isn't so sure about moving yet. He usually just rocks back and forth, and then falls on his face. :)


Kaden eating his socks...I feed him, I promise!



This is Ed, Kaden and I at the Spokane Falls


Now that Ed is back in Okinawa packing us out, we miss him this month!! Ed will fly into California on July 1, and Kaden and I fly down to meet him on the 3rd.

Spokane

Ed, Kaden and I have started our first leg of summer travel this past month as we flew from Okinawa to Spokane, WA to visit my mom and brothers. It was really sad for me to leave, because I knew I wasn't going to be back to Okinawa, and it's been my home for four years.
We left May 8th from Kadena and flew for about 9 hours to Seattle. Kaden did really well on this flight, but only slept for about an hour at a time and only did that sporatically for 24 hours. By the time we got to Seattle and were getting ready to fly to Spokane, Kaden was having a hard time. The poor thing hadn't really slept in 24 hours!! He had a bit of a meltdown on that flight, but it only lasted a few minutes...but we were definately THAT family with the crying baby on the airplane.
The first few days, Kaden took some time to adjust to a completely flip-flopped schedule, and because it stays light so long here, we adjusted his bedtime to stay up later. It's nice to be able to have some more time to hang out with family in the evenings this way!
At first, Ed was here for a training and we were able to stay in the TLFs (temporary living facility) on base. It was a nice place with a kitchen and a park and the library close by, so when Ed was at work, Kaden and I had plenty to do. After that week was over, however, we couldn't stay on base anymore and we ended up staying at this disgusting motel, but it was really so bad it was funny. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy sheets and stripped the bed, because there was no way I was sleeping on the sheets that they had on there. I don't think they had ever been washed! There was a pink leopard print dust ruffle! I was going to take a picture of it, but didn't. :) The room was so bad that we didn't want to stay there during the day, and just ran a bunch of errands all day. Poor Kaden was so tired of being in his carseat. The weather has been gorgeous, but it caused all of the snow in the mountains to melt, and the river overflowed. We went down to the park and saw the falls, which was crazy, they were rushing so hard. Ed and I even left Kaden with uncle Phillip one night and went to a football game. Another night, grandmom watched him and we went to a really nice dinner.
After two nice weeks of vacation, Ed had to leave Spokane to pack us up in Okinawa, and Kaden and I moved into Phillip and Ashleigh's house. It's a super cute little house across the street from a park, where we go play every day. It's also close to everything, and we go on walks everyday and go window shopping in the cute stores around here. Kaden and I are having a great Memorial Day weekend hanging out with Phillip and Ashleigh!

Ed called this morning and he made it home safe and sound. We will now be apart for a month, but it's okay, because it will make packing and moving way easier on Ed without the baby to worry about. It's sad to be away from him, but it is good time spent with my family before we move to California in July.

I'll try to keep up with the blog better, now that I'll have lots of downtime this month. I'm staying with Phillip for a few weeks, and then I'll stay with my mom for a few weeks too, out in the country. Kaden and I fly out of here July 3rd to meet Ed at our new home!! It is a very exciting time :)