Where In The World Will The Conway Crew Go?

So we turned in our base rankings on friday.  A little twist in how they're assigning bases this year...if you put a "Top 6" requested base in your top 10, then you go into a lottery for the bases that didn't get requested...kind of a risk reward thing, I guess....we think it's more psychological warfare!  Anyhow, here's our list...thoughts, predictions?  We should find out by friday the 15th, so it's coming up!!

1	Spangdahlem (Germany)
2	Lajes Field (Azores)
3	Fairchild (Spokane)
4	Hill (Salt Lake City)
5	Peterson (Co Springs)
6	Kirtland (Albuquerque)
7	Beale (N.Cali)
8	Mountain home (Idaho)
9	Luke (Phoenix)
10	Hickam (Hawaii)
11	Vandenberg (N of L.A.)
12	Davis-Montan (Tucson)
13	Charleston (S.C.)
14	Macdill (Tampa)
15	Upwood (U.K.)
16	Malmstrom (Montana)
17	Tyndall (Panama City)
18	Ramstein (Germany)
19	Scott (Missouri)
20	Sheppard (TX)
21	Barksdale (LA)
22	Grand Forks (ND)
23	FE Warren (WY)
24	Little Rock
25	McConnell (Wichita)
26	Tinker (OK CIty)
27	Shaw
28	Seymor-Johnson
29	Maxwell (AL)
30	Whiteman (MO)
31	McGuire (NJ)
32	Pope
33	Moody (GA)
34	Cannon (NM)
35	Vance (OK)
36	Lakenheath (UK)
37	Dyes (TX)
38	Goodfellow (TX)
39	Columbus (Mississippi)
40	Minot (ND)
41	Kadena (Japan)
42	Misawa (Japan)
43	Yokota (Japan)

Hello Again!

Wow, where has the time gone?!  I will try and give you a brief update on the Conway household:

January- not to complain, but we were a little surprised at how chilly Florida's panhandle (or, "Lower Alabama" as Josh calls it) gets in the winter months.  And, when the beach isn't an option, there really are not many options as far as things to do.  Anyway, we were surprised about that, but we survived:)

February- here and there, the sun came out, and we took advantage of those few days, and headed to the beach!  The water was cold, but the boys didn't care, they got soaking wet.  And, I was quickly reminded how much of the beach we bring home after our visits.  Did I tell you that we named our van, "Sandy"?

March- March just flew by.  My dad and his friend, Sylvia, stopped by for a quick visit, and we had a great time with them.  Josh had a dental conference that he presented at in Atlanta, so we all joined in on the vacation.  The boys and I didn't see much of Josh those five days, but we managed to have a blast in spite of that.  It was probably our most successful hotel stay...meaning, that we actually slept even though we were all in the same room!  Oh, and we stayed at the Ritz Carleton!  It was fun pretending like we were regulars there, but we have since decided that Embassy Suites is about where we max-out on the "fancy hotel" scale.
The boys and I made a few trips to IKEA, went to the Atlanta zoo, played for hours in Centennial park, and got to spend some quality time with the other wives/children from the residency.  Also, we were able to have dinner and hang out one evening with my great friend, Michele, and her family.  Michele and I went to school together from Kindergarten through 12th grade, and we have managed to remain close over the years even though we have been separated by distance for the past few years.  She is just one of those friends that we pick up right where we left off, and our families had a great time together.  It was so good to see you, Michele!!

April- I had surgery.....and not the kind I always thought I would.  When I woke up, my gallbladder was gone, but the rest of my body was the same!  Recovery wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but we're a week post-op now and I'm starting to feel pretty good.  Dad and Sylvia came to stand in as human jungle gyms, since I'm not available for climbing and jumping on for a few weeks.  And, we turned in our base rankings on Friday...pretty stressful and a lot of back and forth, but we finally came up with a list....should find out next week where we're going.

More pictures and stories to come.....just wanted to give a quick update. We hope everyone is doing well.  We'll send out emails, texts, and posts when we find out where we're going.

F-I-V-E and Loving It!

On December 28, Henry turned five!  Once again, I can not believe how quickly his birthday comes each year!  Henry was pretty excited about his birthday (and still is), so much so, that I would venture to bet that at least 4 out of 5 people within a 10 mile radius were aware of his special day!!  It was broadcasted very well, by none other than the H-man himself!  SOOOOO cute.  Anyway, we had a great celebration, and the best part of it was that Josh's parents drove all the way from Nebraska to celebrate with us!  Henry wanted to see dolphins on his birthday, so we all went to the local aquarium where they perform dolphin shows.  He had a great time!  I also attempted a dolphin cake, but you won't be seeing pictures of that...lets just say it wasn't my best masterpiece.

A big milestone for a 5 year old in our house....gum!  H's first time chewing gum, and he hated it!

Happy birthday, Buddy-Boy!  We love you so much, and you humble us every day with your innocence and sensitivity toward others...you have a heart of GOLD!

And here are a couple of pictures of the boys with Papi and Grandma the day we took them to the beach.  It was a windy and chilly day!

It was so great having Papi and Grandma visit us.  We miss them very much, and it was very special  for all of us to have them here.

Oh, and I almost forgot....I LOVE legos!  We gave Henry the Lego City Fire Station for his birthday, and he has spent hours building, re-building and playing with that.  It has been adorable seeing him work so hard, follow the directions, and he is so proud of his product.  Thank you legos...I have had a little extra time to catch up on some photo albums!

Don't forget to notice his faithful and trusty companion...always there by his side while he works (makes a mom proud)

Here he is working on the semi truck that we got for Christmas (thanks Anderson family)!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and we didn't even miss the snow!  Our Christmas was extra fun with the boys being a little older and wiser to all of the traditions and fun.  Here are a few pictures from December and Christmas.

Henry was very excited to finally have a star for the top of our tree 

One boy did NOT want to be in this picture....luckily the other two helped me out

Mr. Independent on feeding himself these days (the highchair is also not an option for him anymore)

It has been so fun having a real fireplace!

Santa brought the boys binoculars, and they LOVE them

The BIG present from Papi and Grandma

Learning to ride

Time to worship

Like most families, we do not allow toys at the dinner table.  As we were finishing up dinner the other night, I glanced over to notice where one of the boys had strategically placed his toy before he sat down at the table.  I laughed.  When asked about Diego's location, Henry said, "Oh, he is at Catholic Church for about an hour."

Update time- November!

Since it has been awhile since my last post, I will quickly fill you in on the latest goings-on around here.  We celebrated Veteran's day in Pensacola, FL at the Naval base, which is the home of the Blue Angels.  

Side note: one perk of living so close to where the Blue Angles are stationed, is that during their show months, we can go watch them practice (they practice twice a week, and on one of the days, we can actually meet them after the practice).  It is basically a private air show, and it is AWESOME.  I took the boys back in August, and we look forward to going as many times as we can this spring and summer before we move away.  

So, we opted to skip the day show (missing the Blue Angles) and saw our first ever night air show.  The sunset was amazing, and the show itself was pretty neat to see, as well as being a special tribute to our Veterans.  The night show included various planes doing routines while shooting out fireworks, a firework show, and a wall of fire.  Taking pictures at a night air show is an art that we are still trying to perfect!

This is was helicopter routine with fireworks, and  flying below it was a huge American flag while the song "God Bless America" was being played

My boys- concentrating very hard!

This ALMOST NEVER happens...three asleep in the car, that is!  I thought it was cute how their heads are all going in the same direction!

My brother, Kelly, came for a visit the week before Thanksgiving.  We had so much fun showing him around the area, taking him to the beach, and I especially enjoyed the wonderful talks I got to have with my big brother!  Something you should know about Kelly, is that he is SO much fun to be around.  Thanks so much for your visit, Kelster! 

Feeding the turtles at "turtle peak"

We spend Thanksgiving with some of the other residents and their families.  It was a marvelous feast, good company, but a little odd to be wearing t-shirts on Thanksgiving (not complaining about that)!  The boys had a blast running around with their friends, and Josh thoroughly enjoyed watching football with some buddies (we don't have a TV here in Florida, so this was a special treat).  

Here are the boys "helping" me make pie crust.  Actually, they were pretending to be "Pizza Man" making pizza crust.  After a few mishaps, we no longer let Henry toss the crust in air!  

That following weekend, we rented some kayaks and took them out to sea!  It was so much fun, although once we were out of the bay, the water was pretty choppy, and rowing can be hard work!  One of the best parts was watching a very hungry pelican fishing for food right next to us.  We could have watched this all day long!  It is incredible how they fly above the water and dive in so perfectly, then come out with a big fish, shake their feathers, and fly off.  I wish we had had the video camera, it was such a great show.  We were all in such awe at the speed and precision of this process,  that we were speechless....all we could do was gasp and laugh!  These pictures make the water look nice and calm, but I promise, it wasn't!

This guy knows how to entertain

Kind of scary how they didn't notice anything weird about the three of them floating away into the ocean without us!

Have I told you that Henry and Sean are experts at catching lizards and geckos?  Well, they are.

 And finally, here is a picture of the boys waaaaaay back in July (Henry's cast is bagged- ahh, the memories).  I love this picture, I think is is hilarious.  Here is the story behind it- we were walking down to the beach for the first time after arriving in Florida, and I just KNEW I was going to get "the perfect picture" of my darling little boys in their new surroundings.  I quickly learned that noon is not the best time to photograph on the beach.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: boys, sit still, smile and LOOK at me, open your eyes!

Boys: but maaaaam, we can't open our eyes....its too bright

At the time, I have to admit, I thought the picture was a failure, but now when I look at it, I see:

 my darling little boys in their new surroundings- the sunny beach!

I just love how you can tell that they are trying their best to open their eyes, and appease their crazy mother!  Great effort.

Happy Feast of St. Nick! (yesterday)

St. Nicholas visited our home last night while we were sleeping! We have had a wonderful day celebrating his feast day, and enjoying the contents of what he put in our shoes!  The boys got their shoes filled with chocolate coins, punching balloons, and of course, an orange.  He also left them a beautiful book about the very first Christmas.  Josh's shoe also had some treats as well as a big spotlight, which we will enjoy while camping or hunting for creatures in the dark!  And in my shoe was Josh Groban's CD- Noel, which I have probably listened to a dozen times already today!   Here is a picture of the boys enjoying their balloons

More updates to come soon....(I hope!)