...to check in.

...I'm not gonna lie...

...things have been a little rough around here....for me in particular.

I have always been one to wear my emotions on my sleeve.  I am not very good at hiding my feelings.  Perhaps its my giant eyes?  Or maybe my pouty lips?

I try not to hide all my tears.  (Mostly because I can't.) But also because I think it is good for the kids to know it is OK to be sad.  It is sad that their dad is leaving for a really long time.  And it's better to share these emotions with others.

This past weekend, I was all tears.  I cried when I watched Audrey take Mark's hand.  I cried when I watched Will play catch with Mark.  I cried when we were enjoying our morning coffee.  I cried at the park.  I cried when I watched him tuck the kids into bed.  I could go on...but you get the picture.

You see...these are so many things I will miss.  Having him here.  His presence.  I love watching him interact with our kids.  He is a great Dad.  I cried because he'll miss them, he'll miss us, just as much.  Our kids are fun to be around.  They say funny things.  They have incredible ideas.  And they have cranky, sassy moments that only parents can joke about and love, with one another.

I am happy to say the kids are handling this newest transition on our horizon much better than I am.  To them, these have been the best weeks ever.  Mark's been off.  We've been on vacation together as a family.  They been treated to soda, and candy, and desserts!  And this week, though they are back in school, he's been home by the time they get back from school.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

I love that our children live within the moment.

They don't anticipate the negative.

They just enjoy their experiences without caveats.

They'll remember these next few days with a lot of joy....

...to enjoy our family vacation

...at the Whiteface Lodge

What an great family trip we had this week up in Lake Placid, NY.

Mark is on block leave this week.

We took advantage of his time off, pulled the kids out of school for a few days, and took a trip up to the Adirondack Mountains.

Two of our kids decided that this place was better than Disney!  There were so many things to do.  So many family friendly activities.  I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked because I was enjoying our time together.

But here are a few highlights...

Swimming.

We did LOTS of swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool and probably spent even more time in the hot tubs.  The kids thought it was so great to be able to swim under a bridge to go outside...

Audrey spent most of her time hoarding the floaties.

William spent most of his time jumping to catch the football.  (The first day he shared his catches with a friend from Fort Drum that was also there.)

We spent time at the bowling alley that you can reserve for just your family.  The kids report this was there very favorite activity.  Really they lost interest pretty quickly.  Without bumpers they weren't able to get very many any pins down.

The game room was awesome!  Ping pong, foosball, air hockey, shuffleboard, pool and lots of blocks and other toys for Audrey to entertain herself with.

Interestingly enough, the activities coordinator told us that the biggest complaint they receive about the accommodations in the lodge is that the game room does not have an arcade-style games.  

Crazy.  

Ice-skating was another favorite activity.  They have a huge outdoor ice-rink that they spray down and re-freeze each night.  It's been open daily since October 1 and remains open daily until the sun melts it too much.

Campfires and s'mores were another favorite.  Every evening.  All the fixings.  Yum.  

You probably are wondering about the robes...all over the lodge we would see people randomly wearing their robes out in the common areas.  We decided to partake in the trend one evening.

Besties enjoying the fire.

  

Hiking.  There are so many trails to choose from in the Lake Placid area.  We chose a trail called Cobble Hill.  

This was the kids' least favorite activity of the week.  

Mark and I endured lots of complaints.  Lots of whining.  The view at the top was worth it.  

This Lake we trekked by at the end of our hike was named Echo Lake.

It's name was not disappointing.  The kids had so much fun listening to their echoes.

The rest of the time at the lodge was spent eating, drinking, playing games, enjoying time with our friends, and just enjoying our time as a family together.

So many good memories were made.

...to explore Austin

...Texas.

Can you believe we may choose to move to this ridiculously hot state?

Mark is in the process of applying to graduate schools.  He has taken the GRE, he has updated his resume, and he has begun looking at programs to apply to.  Upon his return from Afghanistan next summer he will begin work on his PhD in public policy.

The applications are due in the next two months.  He'll find out where he was accepted sometime in the spring.  And....he'll have to make his choice before his return to the US next summer.

Thus, the lengthy explanation, for our last minute trip to visit the University of Texas.

First, let me make it clear that neither of us are big fans of living in the South.

We don't like the heat.  We don't like bugs.  And we definitely do not like spiders or snakes.

**Do not click on these links if you have arachnophobia or ophidiophobia.

But...the policy program at UT seems to be a good fit.  AND the faculty and staff have been so incredibly helpful and welcoming.  So we both felt a quick trip to rule-out or keep UT in the running was warranted.

I was looking for reasons to not like place...

There are no trees:

It's too hot:

We would miss the lake!

Lake Travis.  Austin, TX

We have hobbies.  We have things we like to do in the North.  We couldn't possibly find similar things to do down there in the deep south.

Like watch football games:

Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium @ UT

Go out in the city:

6th street

or listen to music...

Sigh.

We loved our two days down there.

Perhaps if we had visited in July we might have hated it?

At the airport Mark promised me a speed boat if we moved to Austin....

I then walked into the gift shop and picked up some swag.

**We have not made a decision to choose UT.  We just decided that we could not rule Texas out.  We learned that if we did choose to move there....we would love it.  We have several other great options on our list.  Places (northern) we would love to live as well (e.g., Boston, Princeton, Ann Arbor, and South Bend).

...to celebrate 9 years...

...for my little man.

Of course he wanted to open his presents right away!  You can see the pure excitement in his face.

We enjoyed an awesome breakfast out at a favorite restaurant in Sacket's Harbor.  He was lucky enough to enjoy the company of his grandparents as well as his godparents.

Why yes.  He ate the whole thing.

After breakfast he tried out a few of his new toys...

notice the biker gloves...in every photo

a new football

and dinner at his favorite restaurant...

We topped the evening off with cake and ice-cream pie and whipping cream with the LaGrange family...

What a day.

Happy birthday son.  

...to coach soccer

...even though I am not exactly...good at it.

To say that is an understatement.

You see...I have never actually played in a soccer game.  I have never played in a soccer match.  In fact I don't even really know the correct terminology for this said sport.

If you know me than you probably are aware of how exactly un-coordinated I am.  You might have seen me run.  (I may do this several days a week but I am NOT good at this.)  You may have even possibly seen me kick a soccer ball once or twice with my kids.  But you have never seen me kick and run at the same time.

I am not sure I am actually capable of this feat.

But guess who is the head soccer coach for Will's soccer team this fall?

Yep.  Your's truly.

I didn't ask to be the coach.

Oh no.

I volunteered to be an assistant coach for Abbey and Audrey's soccer team.  You know where my responsibilities might include tasks like behavior management of the little buggers on the bench.

I am really good at that task.

Or perhaps even double tying the laces of soccer cleats.  I know I would get an A+ on this task.

But...running soccer drills.  Nope.

Or setting up scrimmages.  Uh uh.

Thank goodness for You-Tube.  And teach-me-soccer-drills dot com.

So each night I have set out with a plan featuring warm-ups, passing drills, kicking sets, and various soccer-ish games.  The kids are running, playing, and they even managing to kick the soccer ball here and there.

My son is thrilled I am his coach.  He doesn't seem to care that I have no.idea.whatsoever. what I am doing.

And he's the reason why I was crazy enough to agree to this nonsense.

...to enjoy a road trip to NJ

...and spend time in NJ.

Mark had a extra day off this weekend.  So...instead of relaxing and resting like he probably needed to, we took a trip to Princeton.

Mark had to take the GRE and wanted to meet with some folks at Princeton.

The kids and I had so much fun hangin' with the Whitlock family again...and we even got to celebrate Michael's birthday.

Here's the sweet birthday boy.  S-I-X.  

While Mark was off taking the GRE the four Crow children were experiencing a taste of homeschooling...

And I got to watch this little guy for the morning while Kristen worked for a few hours.  I kept hearing this little two-year-old-to-be was 'trouble'...

He wasn't.  He was perfectly adorable.

Later that afternoon the ice-cream man drove by...

Yum.

Crazy to think that since our two families became friends (when Mark and I first moved to Princeton in 2006) the size of this crew has doubled.

How lucky we are to not only still be friends but that all of our kids are such good friends as well!

Now...if only we can convince Mark that Princeton in the school to choose!

VOTE Princeton 2015!!

...to attend the deployment ceremony

...and to appreciate the pomp and circumstance.

Today was the unit's deployment ceremony.

It was a sunny, crisp fall morning.  Perfect day in the north country.

Its hard to describe what the point of a deployment ceremony is for...I am certain there are many official reasons but as a spouse it means: an opportunity for the community to show support (there were several official dignitaries present), for the unit to demonstrate readiness (for the family members present), and for the unit flags to be 'cased'.  This means that the unit is done with its purpose here at Fort Drum and when the colors arrive in Afghanistan they'll be 'un-cased' and will fly again to mark the unit's mission and purpose there. 

Each of the battalion's flags were cased (there are six battalions).  You can see one of the battalions in the background of the photo below AND you might also notice the flag is now canvased.

And last, the Brigade flag was cased.

The flag is being rolled

The canvas is being place over the flag

The Anthem is played at the beginning of the ceremony and the 10th Mountain Division song is played at the end.  Last, the Army song is played to conclude the ceremony.

It was a really nice ceremony.  In case you are wondering, it took about 40 minutes.  The soldiers did not march...they were all already in place when the guests began to arrive.

I wish I had gotten a photo of all the soldiers in place.  It is really quite impressive to see the big picture.

However, my vantage point was quite limited and in that formal of a setting it isn't exactly appropriate to stand up and zoom to the front to capture Kodak moments.  It took all of my will power not to stand up and do this.  Something tells me someone may have noticed if I had done this....

...in particular the guy third from the left

It's hard to describe the emotions I went through today.  

• Of course I am proud.  So proud.  I wish I could express this more eloquently.
• I am confident.  I know that Mark is a great husband and father no matter how far away he is.
• I am worried.  Worried about our kids.  They are tough...that is true.  But they are also very deep thinkers.
• I am sad.  So sad.  My heart breaks each time I watch him give one of our children a kiss.

This morning I watched as one of our neighbor's walked his little girl to the bus stop.  She is about Isabella's age.  I realized almost right away that this was his good-bye.  As the bus was arriving that little girl jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck so tight.  I think she was trying to give him a hug that would carry him through the long nine months he was to be away.  That hug...that goodbye...broke my heart.

I have no idea how I am going to watch our four babies bravely let their daddy leave again in a few short weeks.

I think my heart is going to break many times more.

he's third from the left again...