Thanksgiving

This post is coming a little late. Mostly because I've been busy putting the house together for Christmas, and shopping for Christmas presents. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We celebrated with some friends and enjoyed Deep Fried Turkey. If you have never had it you are missing out. The past two Thanksgivings we have had it and this year made sure to make an extra turkey so we could have left overs. We plan on getting a fryer so that next year we can be sure to enjoy the wonders of Deep Fried Turkey again!

Looking for a new home

Whenever you decide to move you face the fact that you have no choice but to look for a new home. This is the dilemma Chris and I find ourselves in now. I never realized how much we disagree when it comes to a new home. While I am more modern Chris likes the older looking homes. We are just in the process of looking at pictures online and will narrow down our search once we arrive in the states. I'm already ready to pull my hair out because there are some houses that I really love, then Chris comes and crushes my dreams!

Our New Car

Well after much talking and researching it's with a heavy heart I say I am not getting my Volvo. We have decided to buy the 2012 Dodge Journey SXT.

Don't get me wrong this was totally my decision. While I LOVED the Volvo the price was just not within our liking. Also we really liked the discounts the Dodge was giving us for school, and being a previous Dodge owner. Now our information is being submitted and the car is being built in the factory.  I can't wait to receive it in February!

Car Buying

It's come time for us to buy another car. We have been living with one car for awhile now and realize when we get back to the states this will be impossible to do. Several of our friends have bought either BMW or Volvo while stationed overseas because of the discounts you get buying them. You are able to buy directly from the manufacturer and do not have to pay those dealer fees. I have wanted a Volvo XC90 since we got here, but realized at $36,000 it was not something I wanted to spend all our money on. We liked the fact that it had a third row seat and that the folding of the seats went all the way down for lots of storage. We then decided to look at some of the cars that the Navy New Car sells, and like the Dodge Journey. This has the third row seat and the storage at a reasonable price of $25,000.

Chris had the Monday following Veterans day off so we decided to talk to the Volvo dealer and the Navy New Car dealer. We priced a Volvo XC60 which is smaller then the XC90 and doesn't offer the third row seating. We got a price which we are happy to spend and is $15,000 below MSRP! The Navy New Car dealer wasn't open so we are going to talk to him tomorrow and then make a decision soon. The cool thing about the Volvo is it is made to order for us directly from the factory!

Bowling

Three posts in one day, craziness I know. So the other day Chris got home from work early and we were bored so we decided to head to the bowling alley. Braydon has pretty much grown up their because Chris has been in leagues since Braydon was born. This time we decided that Braydon would get to go bowling. Let me just tell you the kid loved it! He didn't want to stop even after we played two games. I guess this will be a new thing we will do with him. I intend to get him involved with sports when we move home, and it's good to see their is something he enjoys.

Halloween

Usually our family dresses in a theme for the holiday, but this year we couldn't agree on one so we each went as our own thing. Braydon was an aviator, I was a beer maiden, and Chris was Gene Simmons from Kiss. The whole day it was dark and gloomy, but waited to rain until 5pm when the trick or treating started. I took Braydon around while Chris stayed at the house and handed out the candy. Braydon did good until we got to one house. He went up and rang the doorbell only to have a werewolf jump out at him and scare him half to death. This happened a few blocks from our house and so I had to carry him, the umbrella and a full candy basket back to the house. Even with the nasty weather we went through several bags of candy. When we ran out we put the candy from Braydon's basket that none of us liked into the give away basket. We are still going through all the candy that Braydon got for the holiday. We will probably finish just in time for the candy he always gets in his Christmas stocking.

Atumn Fest

Each fall the base puts on a Autumn Festival. The kids all dress in their Halloween costumes and there are rides and games, also lots of food booths. This year was the first time we dressed Braydon up for it and they had a trick or treat lane. He was in his second costume as an Astronaut. Braydon had a lot of fun but was scared to death of any person in a mask. We don't know where this came from because last year he was fine with them. Hopefully he will outgrow this phase. Here is a picture of Braydon with his friend Brayden. They were both space people.

On the second night we went back and let him ride some of the children's rides that they had. We knew he would love the train and also the little merry go round, but were amazed that he loved the swings. Normally he does love swings, but these are the ones that go fast. He rode the train about four times, and the swings twice. All in all he had a lot of fun and we will make sure to take him to a carnival next year when we are home.