On the 26th of June we made it thru the halfway mark of the deployment. If all goes as planned Terry should be home in 6 months. It feels really great to be on the countdown.
Terry will be home in about two weeks for his R&R. We are very excited to see him and will have him for about 15 days. We are going to drive down to Virginia Beach to get away from Drum for a bit. We'll stop in DC on the way down and visit a museum or two.

The boys finally finished school on Friday, seemed like the never ending year.

The Fort Drum Mountainfest/Airshow is going on this weekend, and I took a chance to go late in the day to visit it and was disappointed that most things were not in full swing. We might have to go back today to tour the airplanes. I also thought we would enjoy the fireworks that they have only to realize the fireworks were on post and we could barely see them so we left...well over an hour later we made it home. Horrible time trying to get out of the parking lot and then they sent us 10 miles in the wrong direction to get home. CRAZY!

This is a guy that Terry worked with in Afghanistan...must have made an impression on him as he was sad to see him leave.

Harvard prof leaves lab for Afghan deployment

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That is a little Toad as they told me...it is about the 4th one Jason has captured. I guess he lets them go, I haven't seen any hopping in the house.

New trees they planted behind the house today!

More new trees...aren't they nice!

Back of the house from the hill with the nice trees. All our stuff is on the porch to get it out of their way.


Front of the house, they just sprayed the grass stuff down again today, that is why it looks so green. The grass is starting to come up nicely. Won't be long now.

I have lots of flowers planted in about a million pots...oops bought a few too many flowers. As they get more established I will spread them out to enjoy.
Lots of people have moved in over the past week so we meeting our new neighbors slowly. For the most part it should be a very nice neighborhood.
I have the inside of the house unpacked, I just haven't hung pictures and stuff yet.
Looks like Terry will be home on R&R in the middle of July. We have a trip planned to Virginia Beach and then some quiet time here at home. Well quiet for me, Terry will be working on Honey Do list. When he returns to Afghanistan he will change jobs and join 4-25FA as their XO. He is anxious for the change.
Dylan is done with school on Friday, and the little boys will be done next week. And then we are done till Sept 8th.

Life certainly hasn't slowed down since we moved, along with unpacking, walking the dog (still don't have a fence) and all my other single parent duties, I have been putting in time working with the person who currently does the books for the Gift shop. With interruptions it took much longer for us to go thru all the stuff she does. I think I have a pretty good grip on it and will enjoy the new challenge.

We are all adjusting well to the new neighborhood, we hosted a Happy hour on Friday, which was a huge success. We got to socialize with new neighbors and some old friends who are leaving Fort Drum soon. As always the food was good and the fire pit was warm.

20 houses were offered this week so the neighborhood will fill up over the next week or so. Most were people living on post in the older homes so I know a few of them. They finally sprayed the front yard with the grass seed, so in a week or two we should see some growth. The backyard is still a mess, they have been fixing the "problem" this week and hope to have it completely fixed tomorrow, they hinted that maybe our fence might get started. I was getting upset as they were starting to fence houses that were still in the construction zone...even before all the ones that were offered this week.

Terry is doing well, he will be home some time this summer for his 2 weeks of R&R. There is a bit of confusion on exactly when that will be. When he goes back, he will change jobs, he will be the X-O (Executive Officer) for 4-25 FA (Field Artillery). He is ready for the job change.

My parents came for Tyler's 1st Holy Communion. It was really a special day for Tyler and us. He did a wonderful job, and he couldn't have looked any more grown up.

Sometimes I think I have the worse luck...

On Monday May 11 I got to tour the house, got a crazy lady from the community center who basically ran thru the house turning light switches on and off (like I couldn't figure out where the lights are). At the end of the tour she starts asking me if I am going to take it or I have 24 hours to decide and how am I going to pay for the prorated rent.. Not often am I imitated by people but that day I was nervous and after all this time scared not to just take it...for many reasons. Bad choice!

Went to transportation after signing my life away, and was told they couldn't even meet with me till Wednesday...so two days of paying rent and I don't have moving dates...then I find out from a new neighbor that the construction company is planning to repave the one and only street into the neighborhood on the next Monday and Tuesday. So I can't move in either one of those days...now we are on a week of paying double rent. So I scheduled my move in date for Wednesday the 20th. All goes well, as far as the move except I know have a garage full of stuff I don't' want (just been moving it from house to house) and no fence for the dog. Monday morning while the packers are at the house I find out the paving has been delay till late summer due to supply issues.

All along I had been questioning housing on the fence...how long, when will it be up...

On Thursday I ask one of the guys working on the fences in the houses before mine when he is doing mine...go talk to the boss...okay...Mr. Boss man says there is a problem and starting with my house they can not go any further till a drainage pipe is fixed...a problem they found when they started the construction...so maybe in a couple of weeks. I email housing a nice note saying why wasn't I told of this...housing comes back with they didn't know there was a problem. So she has a meeting with the head of construction who says "yes there is a problem, didn't we tell you?" She says the drop dead date for us getting a yard is mid June...I am not happy at all since that is a question I asked a million times and I guess no one actually asked construction. Now that is customer service for you.

So the boys are having a blast with the dirt in the back yard and DB hates his kennel.

My other complaint is about the packers, they took the toys out of every container and dumped them in one box and then packed the containers empty...so every toy is in one big pile...like I have time to sit with the boys and sort 4 boxes of toys...

Some day we will have a house without boxes, but not very soon...and I may go crazy before then.