Korea 2014: He's Home!

Brandon came home on Monday night.  Even up to the last minute we weren't sure if he would make it on the flight.  We were pretty sure, but anything can happen in the Army and nothing is set in stone.  So I didn't want to get my hopes up.  When I didn't hear from him on Monday morning I was pretty certain that he was on the flight home.  I spent the morning cleaning the house and just feeling excited.  Around 2:00 pm Brandon was able to call me - actually call me using his real cell phone number instead of google - while the plane refueled in Anchorage Alaska.  

The girls knew that he was coming home, but we made a cake to make it seem more real.  For months we've been checking out the "pretty cakes" at the grocery store bakery and talking about the cake that we would make when Daddy came home.  We made a "Helicopter Cake" since that's what's next for our family.

 I'd been receiving messages from the FRG (Family Readiness Group) people telling me about the ceremony that night.  It was originally scheduled for 10:15 but later they moved it up to 9:45.  Both times were pretty late, but I still wanted to bring the kids.  I'd asked Elder and Sister Crockett to help me with the kids.  Around 7:30 the kids were pretty wild and I decided it was time to get going.  I dressed them all in their flight jackets so show support for their soon-to-be-helicopter-pilot Daddy.  I wanted to get a picture of them all together, but this was the best shot I could get.

 The ceremony was held at Coopers Field which is on main post.  It's only about 10 minutes away.  I took the long way there and the kids all fell asleep.  That was my plan all along.  I parked in the parking lot next to Coopers Field and then ran to put a blanket down on the bleachers to save our spot.  Then I went back to the car and relaxed while all the kids slept.  They woke up again around 9:15.  Elder and Sister Crockett met me in the parking lot and they helped me take the kids to the bleachers.  There was loud music playing and Derrick was not happy about that.  He pretty much buried his head in my chest and crying for most of the evening.  Veronica wasn't too happy about being awake and she cried a lot too.  

 Charlotte and Lydia were excited.  They held the signs that they made last week. It had been Lydia's idea to put sticks on the bottom of the signs.  The sticks made holding the signs super easy for the girls.

 They sat and waved their signs for a long time.  People would walk by and take pictures of them.

 We waited for a long time.  Finally an announcer directed out attention to the right where the buses were driving up Battalion Ave.  The road was closed to regular traffic and the buses had a police escort.  They'd driven over from the West Fort Hood Airport.  There were 7 buses and Brandon was on the 5th one.

 We had to wait for several minutes while the soldiers got off the bus and lined up on the other side of the buses.  Derrick and Veronica kept crying from all the noise around us.

 The announcer had us yell, "Move that BUS" and the buses drove off.  The men were standing in a huge square.  They marched forward along with a color guard and two soldiers mounted on horseback.  Everyone was very excited.  The commander said a few words, and the chaplain offered a quick prayer.  And then the announcer counted down, 5 . . . 4 . . . .3 . . . 2. . . .1 and everyone rushed the field.

 I told the girls to stay put.  "Daddy will find us easier that we can find him."  I told them.  I also told the girls to keep waving their signs because they would help Daddy find us. Poor Charlotte thought that everything depended on her sign.  The tape on the back of her sign started to rip and she was so worried that Daddy wouldn't be able to find her if the sign ripped.  She was in tears and sobbing by the time Brandon emerged from the crowd of people.  Her crying earned her the first hug.  Each of the kids took turns hugging their Daddy.    

 The whole thing seemed so surreal to me.  I knew Brandon was home, but I just couldn't process it.

 For weeks Charlotte had been looking forward to taking a family picture when Daddy came home.  So we made sure to do that.  I love how Charlotte's stuffed dog Hundley made it into the picture too.

 And then it was time to go to the car. Brandon was so excited to drive his own car on American streets again.  We had to pick up his big duffle bag at the company headquarters and then we went home.

 We were kind of hoping that the kids would fall asleep on the way home, but they were all wide awake.

So we came home and had a party.  We brought out the helicopter cake.  Someone had given the girls a balloon at the ceremony.

Brandon gave the kids some souvenirs he'd bought at the DMZ.  I gave him some presents that I'd bought and saved for him over the past several months.

 Then it was time for a round of the kids' favorite game - the Bag Game.  Every time we Skype'd with Brandon the girls would remind him that they wanted to play the Bag Game when he got home.  They each got a turn and then Derrick wanted a turn.  We were all really excited when Derrick wanted to play the bag game.  There's always been a lot of friction in Derrick and Brandon's relationship.  For most of last year Derrick didn't want anything to do with Brandon.  We all hoped that now that Derrick was less of a baby he could be more of a buddy, but we weren't sure what to expect.  I was so relieved when Derrick wanted to play with Brandon.

 We put the kids to bed around midnight and then  . . . . well never mind about that.

Brandon had Tuesday off of work.  We all slept in.  When the kids woke up Brandon let me stay in bed.  I've looked forward to that FOREVER!

He got right back into the swing of things and changed every diaper that day.  Ladies, this is what a real man looks like.

 This is a random picture, but it rained for two days before Brandon got home.  Our pool was full of rain water.  I was so glad that the weather was nice the night of his homecoming.

 The kids all had fun jumping on Brandon.  And check out that clean living room.  Brandon got right to work helping clean up the house.

 Once again I love this picture of the kids- including Derrick - interacting with Brandon.

 We went out to lunch at McDonalds to celebrate Brandon's return.  This is another thing that the girls and I have talked about for a long time.

 Brandon had to go back to work again on Wednesday, but he was home early.  Honestly he could have come home at 7:00 and I would have been happy.  It's so nice to have him living at home again.

I was able to go get some Birth-o-ween shopping done and some grocery shopping.  It was so nice to take care of those things without worrying about taking too long.  Brandon had the kids in bed and asleep went I came home.

On Thursday the kids and I went to MOPS.  Charlotte and Lydia made little pumpkin necklaces during their class.

 Charlotte said her's made her "like a Queen."

 I made this little glitter pumpkin jar as part of my MOPS meeting.  MOPS is so fun.  I love socializing with other women who have little kids.

Brandon was home and already changed into his civilian clothes when we got back from MOPS.  We had lunch and then decided to go pick out a pumpkin.  I was willing to go to a local pumpkin patch, but the kids just wanted to go to HEB.  So that's where we went.  The kids finally got to realize their dream of everyone riding in "silly carts."  

 We picked out two giant pumpkins for less than $4 each.  It was a great deal.

 We wanted to get some little jack be nimble pumpkins to paint, but HEB didn't have any.  So we went to Walmart.  They didn't have any real ones, but we bought some plastic ones.  Brandon got to experience the giant Walmart cart full of 4 kids.

After we got back from the store I ran out to take the Honda to get an oil change and to have the tires rotated.  This deployment has made me grow so much in the area of car maintenance.  I've always been really scared of taking the car to a mechanic.  I grew up with an old car and it was always bad news when that car had to go to the mechanic.  That scared feeling has carried over to my adult life.  I've always been perfectly fine with letting Brandon take care of everything car related - there was even a time when I wouldn't even put gas in the jeep.  Well I've had to grow up and start taking care of the cars during the last 9 months.  I remember being so so so nervous the first time I took the Honda in for an oil change.  Now I'm at the point where it is no big deal.  Brandon was so impressed that I was fine taking care of the Honda. 

 Here's a little commercial for you.  Brandon's Army clothes have always had a strange funk to them and sometimes they down right stink.  I heard about Downy Unstopables and decided to try them out on Brandon's clothes.  So as soon as he unpacked I washed his clothes with these.  Oh My Gosh!  His clothes smell so good now.  Even his stinky PT socks smell amazing.  I joke that his co workers are going to tease him because he smells so good.

 It's been so nice to have Brandon here to help with the kids.  One night he rocked Veronica to sleep for me and ended up putting himself to sleep in the process.

On Friday night we had Maddy come over for an hour to baby sit the kids while we ran out and got dinner.  Maddy has been coming over to help me out with the kids every week day since Brandon left. I've paid her $2 an hour.  Now that Brandon is home I don't need her help during dinner time.  She's also starting to get busy with different things in her life.  So we decided that we'd start having her babysit once a week.  This week was just kind of a practice week.  I was worried about the kids, but they were just fine.  Derrick didn't even bat an eye when I walked out the door.  So now we'll do it every week.

After we got back from dinner we put the kids in the car and went to the out door movie that the USO was showing that night. Derrick and Veronica fell asleep on the way there.  Brandon took the twins and saved us a spot while I napped in the car with the other two until they woke up.

 They showed The Incredibles.  My kids hadn't seen it before.  The girls loved it.  Derrick got overwhelmed and buried his head on my chest again.  About halfway through the movie he realized it was a funny movie and started to enjoy it.  He laughed so hard during the part where Dash was running from the bad guys.  He really like the explosions.

 Veronica liked crawling around and looking cute.

 On Saturday we slept in again (it's so wonderful) and then had a nice breakfast.  Then we got in the car and drove to San Antonio to go to Sea World.  We got stuck in traffic at one point so we pulled over and ate our lunch in a dirt parking lot.

 Then we drove the last little bit to Sea World.  I was so excited to be there.  They give free tickets to service members and three dependents once a year and I've been saving ours until Brandon got home.  I knew Brandon would be itching for a road trip so I knew he would enjoy the 2.5 hour drive down to San Antonio.

First we checked out the flamingos.

 Veronica thought they were pretty cool.  I kept thinking about how I was still pregnant with her last time we were there.

 Last time we brought our giant triple stroller.  This time we had the wagon.  It was so much easier than that big stroller and all the kids fit in it if we needed them to.

 We stopped to get splashed by the tidal wave ride.  I wasn't really thinking and held Lydia instead of Veronica.  Poor Veronica got knocked over by the wave of water.  She wasn't too happy about that.  Derrick didn't appreciate that either.  But it was 85 degrees outside and it felt so good to be wet.

 Here we are getting splashed.

 Then we went to see the Shamu show.  The only seats available were in the soak zone.  I had a blanket to protect us, but the whales splashed us right at the beginning of the show before we were prepared.  Veronica was pretty traumatized by water by this point.  She started crying and shaking every time a whale swam by.

 As always the whales were so cool.

 We met up with my friend Ashley, her husband Seth, and their baby Oakley.  I'd invited them to come spend the day with us.  As usual I completely forgot to get a picture of them.  I promise, Ashley is a real person and not a figment of my imagination.  We went to see the penguins.

 Then Brandon and Seth took Charlotte and Lydia on a kiddy rollercoaster while Ashley and I took the babies and saved a seat for the Azul Show.

 The girls loved the coaster.

Here we all are waiting for the show to begin.

 The show was even better than I remembered it.  I though about taking pictures, but really they can't capture how cool it is to see ladies riding on beluga whales, men diving from the ceiling, and dolphins jumping.

 Then it was off to the Shamu stadium again so Ashley and co could see the whales.  Here we all are - and look - there's Ashley and her family.

 On they way to see Shamu we passed the tidal wave ride again.  Ashley and Seth got in line to ride it and we waited with Oakley.  The girls had lots of fun watching the ride splash into the water over and over again.

They talked Brandon into getting splashed some more.  (He was hot so he didn't mind,)

Then they went and joined him.

Oakley was great the whole time and wasn't a problem at all, we took this picture to make ourselves grateful that we really don't have 5 kids.

After Ashley and Seth got off the ride we kept going to the Shamu area.  We passed a little train ride that the girls want to go on.  As luck would have it, there wasn't a line.

And then it was time for the whale show.  We were in the splash zone this time, but we didn't get wet at all.  Veronica enjoyed this show a whole lot more.

It's so amazing to see the whales jump out of the water.

Up to this point Derrick had just kind of shut down.  I think he was overwhelmed by all the crowds and noise.  He hadn't really interacted with anything.   He'd spent all of the Azul show with his face buried in my chest.  He started out doing that with this whale show.  Then about half way through the show it was like his senses came back on line and he could finally tell that this was something fun instead of just a bunch of noise.  He started pointing at the whales and babbling.  I was happy that he could finally enjoy the day.

I really like seeing the shows at Sea World.  Everything else is stuff that we could see elsewhere, but the shows are pretty unique.

We wanted to go to the aquarium so we trekked over to the other side of the park, only to find out that that side closed at 6:00 which was 30 minutes ago.  Wow that was disappointing.

That was it for all the animals, but I wanted to ride one of the roller coasters.  So we went all the way back to that area.  I hadn't realized that the park turned into a Halloween Attraction after 6:00.  The park had people dressed up all creepy and walking around scarring people.  It was dusk and the park just seemed to get creepier and creepier as we walked.  The area around the roller coaster had some scary clowns.  I was really hoping to get the kids out of there without them being scarred for life.  I was ready to punch any of those clowns if they even looked at my kids.

We made it to the roller coaster.  It was called the Great White or something like that.   I wanted to ride it with Brandon, but I didn't want to leave the kids with Ashley and Seth in that scary place.  So Brandon stayed with the kids and Seth and I went to ride the roller coaster.  The sign said there was a 10 to 15 minute wait, but we were surprised to see that there wasn't a line at all.  We were able to walk right onto the ride!  The ride was amazing.  Lots of cork screws and fun stuff.  We were back before Ashley and Brandon expected us to be in the ride.

Then Seth and Brandon took a ride.  Brandon loved it too.  Ashley is scared of rollercoasters so she was fine not getting a turn.

After that the kids were pretty much done.  It was fully dark by this point and the park was SCARY.  They had creepy music playing and fog machines were blowing fog everywhere.  There were also scary lights.  And there were tons of different scary people walking around.   We decided it was time to leave.  The walk out of the park was what I would expect a walk through HELL to be like.  The dressed up people would chase other people around.  They'd also jump out and scare people.   I was certain that the employees knew not to bother kids, but I was still prepared to throwdown if I needed to.  Brandon pulled the wagon and I walked beside it and held Lydia's had the whole way.  Charlotte had her ears covered.  Oddly enough, Derrick was just fine.  He just sat back and looked around the whole time like, "hey this is kind of strange."  

We made it back to the car and changed the kids into pajamas.  Then we drove back to Fort Hood.

In the morning we woke up and made it to church on time.  This was HUGE.  I haven't made it to church in 5 weeks and I haven't made it to sacrament meeting since we were on vacation. Before that it's been since May since we've been to Sacrament Meeting in our own ward.  It was so nice to finally go to church with my husband again.  It was such a great meeting.  Sure Brandon had to take Veronica out a few times, but I was able to stay in the meeting the whole time.  So nice!

Before Brandon came home I was worried that we would have a hard time adjusting to have him around again.  But instead it was like he never left.  Everything is back to normal.  And in some ways its actually better than normal.  We've known that Brandon was going to Korea since before we knew that I was pregnant with Veronica.  And now it's over.  We did it!  Now it's time to start focusing on what's next - Flight School!