2009

  12/24/09

24 Dec 09

Oh my gosh, where has the year gone?!?  I can’t believe it is Christmas eve already, but I can tell you that I am very excited for tomorrow morning!  Hopefully Santa is as good to the kids this year as he has been in years past…  And maybe there might be a little something under the tree for me too!  I have the next 11 days off of work, unfortunately Pam has to work for 3 ½ days next week.

We have been keeping a pretty low profile the last couple weeks, especially since my deployment is right around the corner.  We had the unpleasant task of breaking the news to the boys the other day-they actually took it much better than I thought.  I was expecting sad faces all around and possibly even a few tears!  Zander is the one who really brought it home by saying, “Daddy-you are going to miss our birthdays!” I think it was harder for me to tell them than it was for them to hear it!  They are real troopers, and we are very lucky to have them-they have the perfect demeanor for perfect military brats!  It is most fortunate for us that we have not had to deal with this all that often.  I have some friends who’ve been in the military a long time, and they’ve been deployed about half the time they’ve been in!

Pam has been working like a trooper, and even though she doesn’t absolutely love her job, she continues to plug on because she knows how much it is helping the team.  We have been working diligently to pay off the RV, and hopefully by next week the payments will be a bad memory!  Fourth 2010 we’re going to try to max out her a IRA and her 401 K.  I try to remind her often that if it weren’t for her working, we would not have been able to do something as goofy as an 8300 mile RV road-trip over 50 days!  And let’s just face it kids, you can’t get memories like that back.

Pam is still loving her new camera, and taking pictures like a shutter happy snappy bug.  The only problem that I have now is sorting through all of her pictures to find the good ones!  Last week and we went out with a couple of friends from our street down two “the Greene ” for dinner and some cocktails-it was a fantastic time, however the morning was not so fun!  I introduced our neighbors to the, "Black Velvet"-one of my favorite bar beverages that I learned back and safety school in 2002.  It is nothing more than a Guinness floating on top of some cider-delicious!

We have also gotten to using Skype the last couple of days (Puddy's username is puddyhog, and Pam is teamtolmoff/tfamily/tfamily1)-this will be the way that I will keep in touch with the family while I'm gone.  I even have my parents logged in it with an account, and the boys love when I turn into a dog or a clown to talk to them!  It is a lot of fun. 

I had something that freaked me out yesterday-I was sitting at the desktop computer doing some work, and then I saw some remote control software start to login.  This is a big deal because we have the software already installed and we use it to troubleshoot other computers from around the house.  I thought it was the kids messing around.  I yelled at them to stop, and it went away- only to return about 15 minutes later.  Once again I yelled of the kids to stop messing around, however this time windows started opening up on the computer-to include a window of a program that is designed to hide windows and hide activities!  The second window that opened up was an automated mail server-basically a spam generating software program!  Needless to say I dove for the power button as fast as I could!  I unplugged the computer from the Internet and then rebooted.  I did a full virus search, as well as look for any new programs installed.  The only thing I found out of the ordinary where the two programs mentioned earlier, as well as about five text files that had no less than one million email addresses!  The best I can guess is that somebody was trying to use my bandwidth and my IP address in order to do their spam biddings...  I beefed up the firewall, and then disabled all of the remote Network Software, and even gave a cursory call to the bank to inform them to be on the lookout for any malicious or suspicious activity on our accounts.  I'm glad that I found out when I did-it would absolutely have sucked to have that continuing to go on underneath my nose...  Fortunately nothing like this had ever happen to me before!

Well, that about sums up our December!  We hope that you and your family have a very merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year!  As always, drop us a line whenever you get a chance-and don't forget to check out the latest pictures!

6 Dec 09

Happy 8th Birthday, Nikolai!!!

What a long, strange trip it has been! I finished up my time in New Jersey by doing advanced weapons classes - I got to shoot about 700 rounds of live and blank ammunition - we shot AK - 47s, M - 9s, and M - 4s (the modern version of the M - 16).  We also got to do a lot of Army type training - this involved me crawling around on my stomach through the woods while people were shooting at us!  Over and over again I realize that I’ve made the correct choice in not joining the Army!  Our “final exam” exercise consisted of us wrapping everything that we have learned together into one giant field exercise.  We drove our Dodge Durangos through a trail in the woods while there were indigenous people trying to blow us up with improvised explosive devices.  We had to utilize everything that we have learned to successfully get out of the situation; shooting back, jumping from one car to another, and hitting the gas when we were targeted!  That was certainly the coolest part of the whole class…

After that there was graduation, and then I was on the road home back to the world’s greatest family!  I ended up getting home around midnight, and much to my surprise the boys were still awake and very happy to see me!  I of course was happy to see them as well - not to mention the world’s greatest wife…  We had a nice relaxing week - end re - acclimatizing to each other after not having been around for a month.  Lots of fun stuff!

Three days after I came home, I had to get back on a plane and fly out to California for a program managers review for my job - it was a very quick turn, and Max had many questions as to why had to leave again so soon.  I found myself questioning the same thing!  I spent a relatively uneventful four days in Palmdale, California – I even got to see Donevan Rein while I was there!  I was SUPPOSED to see Jenn Jeffords while I was there, but her work precluded her for making the trip down from Edwards Air Force Base.  Oh well, we will catch her next time…

From there, things got interesting.  For my return flight home, I got to the Airport one hour and twenty five minutes prior to departure, and I thought I was sitting in pretty good shape.  When you travel on active duty orders, you do not need to pay for your luggage as is common with all of the airlines nowadays.  When I got to the front of the line and explained all this, the woman said “you need to be in line two ”.  Needless to say, I was not very happy, however I still had 58 minutes before my flight departed.  So there I was, standing in line number two behind two very attractive young ladies.  At 53 minutes to go, they got called to the counter.  The jackass counter agent proceeded to flirt with them for the next 9 minutes!  How do I know it was 9 minutes?  Because when I got up to the United counter, he said that I could not check in because I was inside 45 minutes before my flight departed!  I pointed out to him that he was the cause of my delay - he could have cared less…  He was such an aloof jackass that he actually said, “I’m off the clock now I’ve gotta go. Somebody will be with you shortly.” YGBSM!

So there I was, stuck in LAX, and it was 1:30 PM.  When I finally did have another ticket agent approach me, they said there is no way I was even getting as far as Chicago that night!  I was absolutely flabbergasted, and more than my share of pissed off.  I called up the travel agent, and explained my plight.  She said that she could get me on an American Airlines flight that left at 5:00 PM and I would have to spend the night and Chicago - this was good, because then I could take the first United flight out of Chicago into Dayton and get me home by 10:00 AM.  When I checked in with American Airlines, they actually checked my luggage all the way through to Dayton.  Since I was going to be spending the night in Chicago I needed a few toiletry items such as toothpaste and contact lens solution.  I took them out of my bag and put them into my carry on, knowing that I would be doing battle with the transportation security administration seeing if I could “sneak” toothpaste onto the plane.  Lo and behold, I got through security with 8 ounces of toothpaste.  Feeling safe yet?  The flight into Chicago, and the night at the hotel were completely uneventful.  I even got to have cereal before the breakfast opened - it certainly appeared that my luck was looking up!

So this time I got to the Airport 1 hour and 40 minutes early.  There was no way I was going to pork this up!  I was standing at the very front of security 1 hour and 20 minutes before my plane took off - I walked through the xray scanner, and the clerk had called my attention to my bag.  It looks like the fine security officials had finally found my toothpaste!  When I pulled out of the bag and flipped it to them and said, “keep it”.  They then pulled out my Gerber multi tool pocket knife!  I feel it important to note here, that I have flown with this bag and this knife inside this bag for the last five or six months.  I had no idea that the knife was in there, and apparently never did the security people who were supposed to ensure our safety in the air!  Unbelievable…

This left me with three options - one, I could either surrender the knife to them, or two - I could check it in a bag or 3, mail it home.  I was told there was a 24 hour post office that was a mere 5 minute walk away from where I was.  I still had an hour and fifteen minutes before my flight departed, so I thought it would be a piece of cake.  When I got to the post office - it was closed!  Thanks a pant load…  So my last option was to check my backpack and hand carry my laptop.  I really did not want to lose this Gerber as it was given to me from my squadron in Whiteman.  When I got back to the ticket counter, there were at least a million people there and there was no way I was getting to the front of the line anytime soon.  So my last option was to troll around for a good Samaritan.  Ironically I found one in a TSA security agent who was watching a door.  She said that she could not take any items for me directly, however if she happened to, “find something” in a potted plant or something, she could do with it as she pleased.  I told her that I would put a $20.00 bill inside the Gerber, as well as my address and if she could mail the knife and the toothpaste it would be much appreciated (and she could keep the difference of change from the 20 on the mailing costs).  She agreed and it looked as if we had a deal!

So now I was 50 minutes away from my flight departure and entering a very long line for security.  I got to the front of the line with 33 minutes to go before my flight left, and I started looking pretty smug.  However, with the way that this trip had gone so far, there was no way I was going to make my flight - I just did not know how yet.  So there I was, at the front of my line and I had no idea where my boarding pass was!  For the life of me I could not remember where I had put it (as I had been to the post office, the ticket counter, as well as in negotiations with a TSA agent.) The guy who was checking my boarding pass was actually the guy who noticed the knife in the Xray machine.  He remembered me.  He said I needed to have a boarding pass to get through.  I told him that I had a boarding pass earlier.  He said, “you need to HAVE a boarding pass!” I asked him where I needed to get the boarding pass, and he was more than happy to reply, “the ticket counter.” The same ticket counter where there were now 1.4 million people!  I was ready to kill somebody…  I cut in front of the entire line and got to talk to somebody because all I needed was a duplicate boarding pass.  Easy enough, right?  I tried to use the automatic kiosk - no luck.  I finally talked to an agent, and she told me that since I was inside of 30 minutes before my flight departure - I could not check in.  I told her that I was already checked in, and I just needed a duplicate boarding pass.  She said she was going to need to call her supervisor.  Who took 15 minutes to arrive.  She said, “there is no way you’re going to make it through security in 15 minutes - plus your flight is already closed.”

I was going to scream.

The ticket agent said that I would be able to be put on a standby list for a 1:30 PM flight.  This was 6 ½ hours away.  I called up my travel agent, and said “FU@# IT!  Give me a rental car - I’m going to drive from Chicago to Dayton!” It was the best decision I had made all day!  The car that I was rented was a brand new Mustang, and it drove like a dream.  I averaged 83.3 miles per hour from Chicago to Dayton on that Saturday morning - I can’t believe that with my luck I did not get a ticket!  So that finally put an end to my 26 hour travel saga…

I forgot to mention that the only thing keeping me from nine days off was getting home from LAX.     Ahhhhh…  Relaxation…

Until my parents rolled in on Monday morning!  Ha ha…  My mom and dad traditionally come out for Thanksgiving wherever we are.  We did a whole bunch of fun things while they were in town: we went to the Air Force museum, went to the Cincinnati children’s museum, had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, and even hunted down some of my mom’s old stomping grounds when she lived here 45 years ago.  The kids had a great time playing with their grandparents, as well as playing with the new Wii games that Nikolai got for his birthday.  Happy birthday Nikolai!  I can’t believe that our eldest is now eight…  We have a nice little party for him with some of the neighborhood kids as well as adults.

The day after Thanksgiving marked my parents 44^th wedding anniversary - congratulations!  We celebrated by going out to dinner at a local restaurant called “the Wellington Grille”.  Yummy!  My mom got to meet up with a couple of her old friends and we had a nice night hanging out playing adults (more like playing senior citizen - ha ha!)

It was a very nice and relaxing week, and next week was back to work for all of us (full disclosure - Pam really never got any time off during the Thanksgiving week except for Thanksgiving itself).  My parents stayed one day longer than they had planned because the flight on the way home were all full, but they finally made it home.

The epilogue about the Gerber knife - my friends and family said I was absolutely insane for trusting a complete stranger with the Gerber.  People were placing their bets - they even went so far as to say that I paid a complete stranger $20.00 to steal my Gerber!  Sure enough, the day after Thanksgiving, I got a package in the mail.  It was from Chicago - and it was my knife and my tube of toothpaste!  And inside the Gerber knife sheath, was my $20.00…  Random acts of kindness from strangers are alive and well in America!  I wrote her a thank you note letting her know how appreciative I was for her to be the only shiny penny in an overall Shitty travel experience…

I know that this was a very, very, very long web site update, but there have been a lot of things going on!  We hope that all is going great with you and your family, and that you all had a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving.  As always drop us a line when you have a chance and check out all of the latest pictures!

9 Nov 09

Wow it has been a long time – I am currently in Fort Dix, NJ on a temporary duty in preparation for my deployment to Baghdad in February.  I am going to be an air Advisor to the Iraqi Air Operations Center.  So far while on this trip, I have learned things like Arabic, high threat driving, and I am now a certified combat lifesaver!  There are 75 of us in the class-over 50 of which are going to Afghanistan.  I can’t say that I’m very upset that I am not going to Afghanistan!  I’m entering my fourth and last week of training and am very excited to get home to see Pam and the boys!  During the high threat driving, we drove around and dodge Durangos and did high speed turns, high speed reverses, and we even got to push cars out of the way-very cool…

Before I drove out to New Jersey I got a chance to stop and see my friend Jeff DellaRocco at his house in upstate New York.  From there it was on to UMass for homecoming.  Running around my old college campus was nothing short of spectacular!  I got to see a bunch of old friends and relive the Glory days… The only thing that was missing was Pam… L

After I left UMass, I even got to head down to Connecticut and see my family (my parents, brother, and sister, as well as the nieces and nephew) – it was good to see everybody, and true to to Tolmoff form, my mom fed us until we couldn’t even move!  I love me a good steak…

From there it was down to New Jersey-the days have been incredibly long while here are going from seven and the morning all the way until 5 in the afternoon.  There is a really great group of people that are here all going to be air advisors in either Iraq or Afghanistan.  Where I’m headed (Iraq), the major combat operations are all but over, air advising is now the new job of choice…  We have still managed to have quite a bit of fun while here-I got to go down near Philadelphia and see my friends Kris and Arin.  They were nice enough to host my entire flight for a righteousness scoff consisting of homemade manicotti as well as tortellini, and the best cannolis I’ve ever had!  When coupled with my favorite wine in the entire world (Luna di Luna), it makes for a rough morning the next day!  Ha ha ha!!!

Did I forget to mention that we have been working six days a week and need to blow off steam?

One of the other things that I did while here was gathering a whole bunch of movies from other friends who have them on portable external hard drives-that will be nice on my new laptop computer!  Yes, that is right-I was one of the first people to get a new laptop preinstalled with windows seven!  As a matter of fact I’m dictating this entire web site update just by talking to the computer…  I have tried this in the past and I’ve gotta say that this is the best voice recognition software that I’ve ever used!  Highly recommended…

While doing the combat lifesaver training, we got to do all sorts of things on each other (so to speak)-the coolest thing that I got to do was start an IV on a friend of mine!  Who would have thought that Pam would be the only IV starter in the family!  I did it on the first shot and I did not even leave a bruise-I rock…

Last night my friend Kevin came up from Washington, DC to spend the night of fun and frolic at our local watering hole called “Pudgy’s”-a very fun time and just a short stumble back to the hotel-hahaha!

While I have been here, Pam has been a super trooper dealing not only with three boys, but also with a fulltime job as well as some random illnesses that popped up on the kids and soon as I left.  It seems that that is always the way that it goes!  But of course she took it all in stride, because she is the greatest woman ever…  She makes sure the home fires stayed burning while I’m out doing my job-if not for her, I would always be worrying about the well being of the kids…  Baby, you’re the greatest!

For Halloween the kids did a ton of trick or treating in and around the neighborhood-they certainly cleaned up!  Nikolai went as Harry Potter, Max went as Darth Vader, and Zander went as a very scary skeleton.  They got a Bunch of pictures on the new camera, and I will post them as soon as possible…

Pam actually told a really funny story yesterday-Zander dropped something on his foot and said, “Ouch!  My Toe-thumb hurts!”

Well that about does it for our update, I hope that you enjoy the pictures.  Sorry it has been so long, I will try to be better with that in the future.  Keep your thoughts in your prayers with the fort hood, Texas soldiers and their families as they try to come to grips with what happened.  Combat stresses are not to be taken lightly…

We hope that all is going well with you and your family-take a look of the pictures and drop us a line when you get a chance!

4 Oct 09

Wow - it has been a whole month already?  I really need to get on the ball... First of all - we got a new camera!  We are wicked psyched - Pam had been wanting one of the big cameras with a super-zoom, and she got an early anniversary gift from her AWESOME hubby!  It is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35K - we took it out yesterday for the first time and got some really good pictures from the first cub-scout outing of the year.  Family bash!  It takes awesome pictures...  Our other camera still works great, and I will continue to use that as the "travel" camera so I can take some pix while I'm on the road...

We have done a LOT of stuff this past month - that explains why I've not updated in so long!  I went to Atlanta, GA for a class for a week, and Pam started her new job!  She is working at a pediatric clinic in town, and although the job isn't the most "mentally stimulating" (read: she gives lots of flu shots/mists), the added income certainly does not hurt our bank accounts!  Pam also found a GREAT babysitter who shows up every day to meet the boys off the bus and watch them until Pam or I gets home.  And she only wants $6/hr! She is 18 and (fairly) responsible.  We had a little growing pains with her up front, but things will all work out over time...

I took Daisy on her first road trip since our big trip!  I went out to State College, PA with NEIL to go see Rob and go tailgating.  It was quite a tailgate, that was for sure!  Everyone had their own specific jobs to do while there - I had to make 30 breakfast burritos on game day, but once that was done, everything else was taken care of by everyone else!  Very cool...

Ross and Shelly came out last weekend before they move to Hawaii - we had a great visit with them, but it was too short!  I told him that it appears the only way I can get him to move back to the mainland is if I move to Hawaii!  I told Pam before the weekend started that we needed to take a bunch of pictures, and true to form - we didn't take one!  Oh well...

Max now wears glasses!  He looks so cute...  His eyes were only about 20/40, but it was enough that he was having difficulty seeing the board at school.  It is all fixed now!  We are going to have a tough time telling him and Nikolai apart...  :)

We were terrible writing down the funny things that happened this month - we'll be better for the next update, I promise!

We hope that all is going great with you and your family!  Check out the pictures, and drop us a line when you get a chance…

7 Sep 09

Another few weeks have passed and we are still loving Ohio...  The weather here has been unbelievably awesome!  With a Summer this mild, I am kind of afraid at how cold the Winters will get!  Zander is now a full-blown kindergartener - he had a smile from ear to ear getting on the bus for the firs time with his brothers - he had walked them to the bus-stop for a year so he was more than ready when it was his turn!  Everyday he comes home from school and says, "I don't like school...  I LOVE IT!"  It is very cute...  True to "Zander Form", he decided to go ass over teakettle face-first into the corner of the entertainment center.  So for the last 2 weeks, he has had an inch gash directly between his eyes - heck of the way to be introduced to his teachers!

Max and Zander are still loving their school, too.  If we could only get the world's smartest amnesiac (Nikolai) to remember to bring his homework home, or take his backpack off the bus - we'd be in business!

The boys have made some really good friends right on our street - they barely are in the house long enough to drop off their bags before they are back out playing up a storm - their favorite past-time has been jumping on a boy named Joshua's trampoline.  They wrestle while they're doing it which leads to some pretty interesting injuries come walking through the door.  Nikolai got kicked in the face, and now there is a nice trail of dried blood from Joshua's house to our house - all down the sidewalk of course! (No way Nikolai would think of walking on the lawn...) Max got punted in the stomach once, but overall they are no worse for the wear...

Yesterday we went to King's Island - a MASSIVE amusement park ~35 miles from our house - it is impressive to say the least!  The kids had a fantastic time...  They all willingly went on a pretty big roller coaster - even Max!  He was loving it - the only thing that he did not love was the "whitewater rafting adventure".  He caught the first full-on tidal wave right over the back - not impressed to say the least!  After that, we wanted to go on a "test track" type ride where you zip around in a car - he saw how fast the cars took off, and then "politely refused" to go on.  The cars hauled ass to say the least - so much so, that when the ride was over, Zander looked at Pam and said, "Holy Shit!"  Not the words you want to hear from your 5 year old, but it summed up the ride nicely...

We also went to the Montgomery County Fair (Dayton) the other day - we saw the "salt of the earth" there - I don't know where these people live, or what rocks they crawl out from under, but it is pretty impressive.  To end the night at the fair, we even went to a tractor pull!  The first truck pulled, and then you heard the engine blow up with a loud "boom"!  Pam said, "I'm not sure that I get the point of this - you pull the sled as far as you can before your truck blows up?!?"  Ahhh....  America...

Last week, we went to welcome home a wounded warrior who had both of his legs and a few of his fingers blown off from an IED in Iraq.  There was an INCREDIBLE number of people there to welcome him home - very inspirational.  He was just a baby - no older than 21 - and he had a wife and an 11 month old.  Very sad to see, but it was great to see the community welcoming him back with open arms!  The kids didn't get it completely - and for that I'm glad...

Things here are plodding along - we are doing as much as we can with the boys (even signed them up for cub-scouts starting tomorrow), because I will be "out of town" before you know it!  Pam has one more job she is waiting to hear from this week - if she doesn't get it (or if the pay is not good enough), then she will start work somewhere else as early as next week.  If only we could secure good babysitting in the meanwhile...

We hope that all is going great with you and your family!  Check out the pictures, and drop us a line when you get a chance…

15 Aug 09

Established into OH and life is good!  Pam has been diligently trying to find a nursing job that caters to my work schedule.  I am going to be traveling quite a bit in this job, so she can't do the night shifts that she did in the past.  That leaves out hospitals (that require weekends) and opens up clinics - which unfortunately do not pay as much as hospitals!  Oh well - the search continues - we are hoping to pay the RV off by the end of the year - wish us luck!

The other big news of the last few weeks is that I will be deploying to Iraq for 6 months - leaving in February!  Not very happy about this, but my life has been pretty cushy the past few years - so I realize it is my turn.  I have some buddies who have been gone over 270 days/yr since 2001 - suck!  Hopefully this is the only deployment that I'll have to do before I retire!  It is to Camp Victory in Baghdad (home of Al-Faw Palace) in the Green Zone - so it shouldn't be too dangerous...

We have not taken any pictures since we returned from our trip - but we did take a bunch while we were still on the trip - most notably at Heidi's house in Illinois.  We did a lot of fun things while there - we went to Grant's Farm where the kids got to feed the baby goats, and we also went to the St. Louis Mills (Where Evie got lost for about 15 minutes - scary), and we also hit a waterpark (FUN!) and the Meramec Cavern (Where Jesse James hid).  It was a really great and relaxing week before we headed to Ohio...  Pam left a few days early to forward locate to OH, and she did an AWESOME job painting and getting the house ready for our arrival.  It was a VERY busy first 2 weeks unpacking and getting the house into livable shape - It is a great house, and this is an open-invite to come visit!  At some point we'll get some pix of the house...

The boys are LOVING it here - there are so many kids that live right on the street, and our house has kind of become the meeting place for all the little crumb-catchers in the neighborhood - it is great for the kids to be able to spread out and play with their friends again!  We have been very lax on the kids - going so far as to let them veg on the couch watching TV and playing on the computer for as long as they want - seeing that school starts next week - it is going to be back to the grind!

Work is going well - It is a firehose trying to learn all of the new acronyms of the new job - but so far, so good...

We hope that all is going great with you and your family!  Check out the pictures (these are the last installation from the road trip!), and drop us a line when you get a chance…

26 Jul 09

[The journey is almost complete...  :(  ]

Before we get started:  There have been many people who have asked, "Why are you doing the entire country in one shot?"  Well -  the theme to this summer trip is, "Americans can do ANYTHING."  This was the 1st part of a 2 part "American Appreciation Tour."  By driving around the country, I showed the boys many of the reasons why America is so awesome - we can feed ourselves, defend ourselves, and access even the most remote corners of our land.  And we can do ANYTHING.  We can build a rollercoaster in a mall.  We can build a palace out of corn.  We can carve the faces of 4 great presidents out of solid granite.  Spaceneedle, fish-throwing, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  An island can be a prison, and a city can be built, complete with insane, twisty roads, on the side of a mountain.  Our trees are the tallest, our harbors the deepest.  We build cities on faultlines because we can, and we build AF bases in the middle of nowhere when we don't want the rest of the world to know what we're doing.  We built a city out of the desert and people flock to it as the tourist attraction to gamble their money away.  We put One Million Dollars on display - because we can.  We dammed up a massive river so that we can provide electricity to millions of people.  We have the biggest hole in the world.  Our people are the proudest, our land is the most fruitful, and there is nothing we can't do, because we are Americans, and we can do ANYTHING.

And for those who are wondering what part 2 is of the America Appreciation Tour?  It is going to be our visits to other countries around the world...

[Onto the narrative - Pam writes] - On our 2^nd day at Edwards AFB, the Rein Family had a prior commitment so we went to a waterpark.  Nikolai got a kick out of the fact that it was a waterpark named Dry Town.  They had a really cool kids section, a lazy river and a few slides.  They were very strict about their height requirement which was 48 in.  Nikolai and Max made it but Zander was about an inch too short.  Crazy!  He REALLY wanted to go on the slides but alas was not allowed.  After a few tears, Mommy, Max (who didn’t want to go on the slides) and Zander went to the kiddos section and Daddy and Nikolai took on the slides.  We had a great time and then headed over to Matt Poisson’s house for dinner.  Thanks Matt!  Then it was off to the Rein’s where we hung out for a bit and the kids played before we headed back to Daisy for a much needed sleep!

            The next day, we met up with the Reins and set off to see Hollywood.  We went to the Walk of Fame where the kids were able to put their hands in the imprints of Harry Potter’s hands.  Very cool.  We saw Michael Jackson’s star which was surrounded by flowers and stuffed animals and notes.  People are just insane!  The kids got their photo taken with Zorro and Bugs Bunny.  It was extremely crowded and hot so we did not stick around there for long.  We drove to take scenic pics of LA and the Hollywood sign and then went to Beverly Hills.  Very fun!  That night we ate dinner at Jen and Jake Jefford’s house.  Yummy food, great friends and a lot of laughs!  It was great to see them and baby Barrett who is no longer a baby!  Thanks for having us over!

            After dinner, another sad goodbye to the Rein Family.  The boys were upset which set off Mommy waterworks!  We are very lucky to have such great friends and as I explained to the boys, we are not saying goodbye, we are saying until we meet again!  A big Thank You to Jen, Donnie, Taylor, Finley and Patrick for letting us invade their lives for a few days. 

            The next morning, we woke up and Greg was already driving towards Death Valley.  He figured since we were so close, we should stop off  for a quick visit to the hottest place around.  We stopped for pics at 282 feet below sea level.  It was 120+ degrees!  Let’s just say, the dog was not a fan but we did get some cool pics.  On the way out of Death Valley we saw a bunch of runners on the side of the road.  Runners in 120 degree heat! Insane!

            Our next stop was Vegas baby!  When we arrived at the RV park, we immediately went to the pool.  I don’t think I have ever been to Vegas when it was so hot!  After dinner, we walked around Circus Circus.  There is an amusement park inside the casino.  We did not do any rides but we were just taking in all the sights and sounds. 

            The next day we started our official tour of the strip.  1^st up was MGM.  They have a lion habitat that was very cool!  Then we went to New York, New York where we had hot dogs and French fries for lunch (cost about 1 million dollars!)  Here Nikolai was unable to ride the roller coaster because their height requirement was 54 inches.  He was bummed so we played some arcade games instead.  While we were walking through the casinos, Greg was giving the boys a lesson on Vegas.  He was telling them how they purposely have no windows inside the casinos and no clocks so people won’t know what time of day it really is.  Moving Walkways go toward the buildings, not away because they don’t want people to leave.  Funny Stuff!  It is dark and cool inside those buildings so when you walk outside, you go blind from the sun and you burst into flame from the heat. It was 110 degrees.  We went to M&M World.  Very cute but no M&Ms for us at $12.99 a pound!  It was cool to see the film and check out all the floors of the store.  It was back to the RV after that for more fun and cooling off in the pool.

            The AC in the RV was doing its best to keep up with the heat but during the day it was so flipping hot that it definitely had its work cut out for it.  Thankfully it was cooling the inside off enough for Luna during the day!

            The next day saw us at Caesar’s Palace where we saw a little show about Atlantis and played games on the iphone in the Apple store.  The fishing game is fun!  We walked around inside the Bellagio looking for some pizza and gelato but there were only crazy expensive restaurants.  In 1 of the casinos was an FAO Schwartz store.  They had some really cute things and some HUGE stuffed animals that we had to play with for a while.  Off to lunch and an indoor rainstorm.  We had dessert in the Paris Casino.  Greg saw that it was cheaper to get a 2 scoop and a 3 scoop of ice cream instead of 5 1 scoops so that is what we did.  The funny thing is that the 3 scoop was a crazy combo (Max- Mint Chocolate Chip, Nikolai- Strawberry and me- Coffee) that earned a pretty strange look from the girl serving it up.  But it saved us some money so that was cool!  We capped the casino tour with the water fountain show outside the Bellagio.  Awesome.

            We went back to the RV for dinner and then headed to the Freemont Street Experience.  This is a lightshow on a giant TV screen that is as big as the whole street.   We went into Binions to show the kids their display of $1,000,000  but the security guy wouldn’t let them get their pic taken with it because of their age.  Greg and I did though.  The light show was themed the Summer of 69.  Lots of colors and loud music.  The kids were ready to head back home when it was over.  All in all, despite the heat, we had a great time in Vegas.  The kids summed up our time there by saying, “Vegas is a lot bigger than I thought it would be!”  Kids!

            The next morning, Greg started driving as soon as he woke up and the rest of us got up just as he was pulling up to the Hoover Dam.  We got out and took a Dam walk, took some Dam pictures and used the Dam bathroom.  The kids stood in Arizona and Nevada at the same time.  From there we drove to Flagstaff, AZ.  We set up the RV site and got the dog settled and then piled into the Honda to go to the Grand Canyon.  We met up with Albert, Carrie and Ashley Kingsbury and their little dog too.  We got some great photos of the GIANT hole in the ground and then headed back to Flagstaff.  We had a bit of a rumpus planned with Albert, Carrie, Ashley, Matt and Amy.  They all made the drive from Tucson and Phoenix to spend some time with us.  Thursday night, we grilled and had some cocktails while Ashley entertained the boys.  It was great to spend some adult time with friends we hadn’t seen in a long time.  Friday was a day filled with relaxation and laundry.  Everyone showed back up later in the day and Ashley took the kids over to movie night at the RV park.  They watched a movie, had popcorn and ice cream while the adults hung out with more yummy drinks and great conversations.  The weather was perfect and we could not have been happier.  Saturday, Cousin Katie, Mike and their 4 little ones (Rachael, Madeline, Charlie and Andrew) drove from Phoenix to hang out with all of us.  Andrew is 2.5 months old so we were all holding the little guy!  We had another great day of catching up since it has been a few years since we have seen the Pabst family.  We had a great spaghetti dinner (made by Greg) and celebrated Matt’s Birthday with a cake.  The kids all had fun playing.  It meant a lot to us that everyone drove out to see us for a great, drama free weekend!  Thanks to you all for making the effort! We had a great time!  It was also awesome to meet Amy….. Welcome to the Family!!!

            On Sunday morning, we were back on the road headed towards Albuquerque, NM.  Again… the kids were awesome on a pretty long day in the RV.  We watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  We have been reading the series on this trip.  We read the 1^st 3 books together and then on the advice of friends who have read them, I read book 4 1^st on my own.  When I finished it, I decided it would be ok for Nikolai to read that one.  He started it in the morning and finished it that night.  It was over 700 pages!  I was sure he had to have skipped parts but Amy and I quizzed him and he knew most of the answers.  We asked him some questions about some really minute details and he got them all right!  He did devote several hours exclusively to the book but still…. That kid can read crazy fast! And he retained it all too! Our kids never cease to amaze me!

            We stopped at the 4 corners.  The spot where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.  Awesome photo op!  Now, Max, Nikolai and I have been to 48 states!  Zander is at 46 but will be caught up soon!  That is amazing for the kids to have been to 48 states by 5, 6, and 7 years of age!  Greg, of course, has been to all 50 states!  We will get to Hawaii and Alaska at some point when the boys are older. 

            Once we got to Albuquerque, we set up the RV and took showers.  Then we headed off to an Isotopes baseball game.  We met us with Mark and Millisa Steeves.  It was fun!  The kids were playing for a long time with breaks to take some pics, eat some pizza and then have some ice cream in a small helmet.  We drank some beer, watched a little of the game and chatted a lot.  Funny Story… after the kids ate their ice cream, they all went into the bathroom to clean out the helmet so they could play with it.  I found out that all 3 of them can wash dishes pretty well (sweet!) The funny part is that all 3 of them said they want to “polish” their new helmets everyday.  Not sure why they want to do this but most likely they will end up on a shelf (hopefully anyways!) 

            The next day we went to the Sandia Tramway.  This is the longest Tramway in the world.  We were going up for about 15 minutes and went up almost 2 miles.  The peak was at 10,378 feet!  The boys all wanted to be junior rangers so we went on a nature walk so they could all answer questions.  It was a beautiful day (Again!)  We were a bit winded walking around but the kids got all the info they needed and became little rangers.  They got a certificate and a badge (which they also want to polish everyday!)  We all loved the tramway both up and down the mountain.  The operator of the car we were on was telling us that the longest a tram car was stopped on the wires suspended over the mountain was 12 hours!  This is if they have to stop running because of mechanical problem or weather.  12 hours!  I cannot imagine! 

            After the tramway, we were off to run errands and then back to the RV park.  As I write this update, the kids and Greg (and Luna) are all asleep.  Tomorrow we drive to Oklahoma City.  Our trip is coming to an end.  Probably our next update will be from our new home in Ohio.  Wish us luck on the final legs of our trip!  Amazingly…we have stayed on schedule for everything.  Greg did an amazing job planning this trip and it is truly a trip that we will never forget!

 (Greg writes):  We pressed all the way to Tulsa instead of stopping in Oklahoma - we were very tired when we got there (as it was a 636 mile day), but on the brighter side, Zander got his last 2 states, OK and TX! We were so proud of him - and he was proud of himself!  The whole team now has all of the lower 48!

We met up with Kristen Doyle the following day at her TV station - she is a friend of mine from years ago.  She gave the boys a tour of KTUL Channel 8, and they loved it!  The coolest thing for them was the "green-screen" weather wall.  It was pretty funny that Max was wearing a green shirt, so he looked like a floating head - they could have played on that thing for hours!  Every time we would move to a different area of the station, 1, 2, and then the third boy would disappear to head back and mess around in front of the green screen...  Very cool!  After that we hit lunch, and then I went to take a nap while Pam got her haircut.  Now - haircuts are not usually noteworthy, however they certainly are if Pam decides to get her hair straightened while there!  She ended up being an hour late for our dinner plans, but sporting straight hair more than made up for it for everybody...  The kids were asking, "who are you?!?"

A great dinner in Tulsa, splashing and wrestling in a fountain with Kristen, and we were on our way to Whiteman (Warrensburg) the next day.  The drive went well, and we met up with a bunch of friends we had not seen in a year.  The next day, I went to the dedication of a B-52 (to the only B-52 pilot from MO killed in Action over Vietnam), as well as the presentation of the Distinguished Flying Cross to a guy I used to work with (an old timer from the Vietnam era).  A great ceremony altogether... 

That afternoon we got to go see our old house in MO.  We loved that house, and we kept it in great condition - not so much anymore!  The guy who is renting it from us has 6 teenage boys, and he certainly doesn't keep it as nice as we did.  There are cat-pee stains everywhere, and the furniture looks like it belongs in a frat house.  The sad part is that we know he "spruced up the joint" in anticipation of our arrival!  Oh well - it is hard for us to let go that it is not our home anymore, but merely a business transaction.  It will take quite a bit of work to get it back in order on the other end, but it can and will be done!  As long as those rent checks keep coming in...

That night I went to a B-2 graduation, sporting a full and glorious goatee that I have been blossoming on this trip, with the knowledge that the Wing Commander was out of town.  Turns out - he wasn't - I hear, "NICE F*#KING BEARD, PUDDY."  Oops.  Not who I wanted to run into looking like a mountain man...  We chatted for a little while, and then another Major and I "mentored" some visiting AF Academy cadets by taking them downtown and having a few cocktails...  The next day I was not feeling too crisp!  The drive to Heidi's house took forever, but we made it safe and sound.  Now we have a whole week to relax while the kids play together - We are not staying in the RV for this part as their house is big enough to accommodate - Let's just say that it will be nice to poop in porcelain!

We hope that all is going great with you - next update will be from Ohio.  Check out the pix when you get a chance, and drop us a line to let us know whatcha think!

10 Jul 09

The rumpus continues! 

Our 2^nd day in Vancouver was MUCH better than the 1^st.  We went to Stanley Park and walked around in on beautiful trails surrounded by tall trees and lots of green!  We ate lunch and then watched a few minutes of a cricket game.  (No idea what was going on there!) We were just enjoying the day and the kids were being awesome!  We even got to get a hand drawn picture of the kids done.  The sat so well for the woman who was drawing the picture despite the wind that kept blowing over some other guys stuff! Definitely came away with a great representation of the boys!  Better souvenir than a bunch of t-shirts that’s for sure!

            The next day we got on the ferry to take us over to Victoria (the 5 of us, the dog and the 48 feet of transportation we were driving around in).  Very fun!  The kids were excited to be on a boat…in an RV.  When we got to Victoria, we settled in the RV and the dog and then took a water taxi to fisherman’s wharf.  Greg and I remember how good the fish and chips were here the last time we came so we definitely wanted to expose the kids to that.  While we were waiting for Greg to order the food, the kids and I saw a few harbor seals.  Nikolai even got to feed 1 a fish.  While we were eating, a bird with some bowel issues flew over the table and tagged Max’s side with an unbelievable amount of poo!  The guy behind Max got most of it on him, a little on Max and the table.  We narrowly missed losing a whole plate of fish!  Don’t know what those birds are eating but Man!!!!  We told Max getting poo’ed on by a bird was good luck.  Not too sure he believed us though!  After we were finished eating we walked around Victoria.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE this place!  It was a great day with perfect weather!  We were checking out the street vendors and there was a street performer starting his show.  This guy was juggling torches and even stuffed 1 down his pants.  The kids are still talking about that 1.  He was funny! 

We had the best spot for the RV too.  We were right up on the water so the kids had a blast standing out and throwing rocks for hours.  The dog could figure out why we wouldn’t let her jump in to water from the rock wall.  We were afraid she wouldn’t be able to get back up.  We were also able to watch sea-planes taking off and landing all day. 

On the 2^nd day in Victoria, we went to Butchart Gardens.  Another awesome weather day and the flowers and landscapes were breathtaking.  The boys all took time to stop and smell the flowers but we did have a bit of trouble getting Nikolai to look up from the map.  The highlight for the kids was getting some gelato in the Italian garden area.  A ton of pics were taken and as always, the kids were total hams. 

When we got back to the RV, we sat outside reading Harry Potter and Max and Zander were throwing rocks.  Greg was making dinner.   Max was looking down into the water and spotted a starfish.  This was a monster starfish!  Greg thought he would be able to crawl down the rock wall and grab the starfish so the boys could look at it up close.  This proved to be a little more difficult as the water was deceptively deep (and cold).  Fishing poles were involved but Greg was able to haul the giant starfish out of the water.   After the starfish had its 15 minutes of fame,  Greg tossed it into the water so it could rejoin its fishy friends.  That poor thing learned a valuable lesson that day to avoid the rocks close to land!

Next stop Seattle!  We boarded the ferry to take us from Victoria to Washington.  It was a rather rocky ride and we spent a good amount of time lolling from side to side.  Not sure why since the ocean looked calm.  Another odd thing that happened was a man overboard drill.  A siren sounded and they announced the drill.  Then we all watched while they deployed a rescue boat to rescue the dummy in the water.  It was cool but if you ever fall overboard on one of those things, you better be able to tread water for a loooooong time!  It took them a good amount of time to recover the “victim”.  We stayed at the Seattle KOA.  The kids and I played at the park/did laundry while Greg took the RV for an oil change and some provisions from Wally World.  The playground there had a GIANT checkers and chess set.  The pieces for chess were a few feet tall.  The kids had so much fun and the dog behaved as well.  Bonus!  When Greg got back with the RV and the groceries, it was time to try and organize everything.  He had bought a bunch of the Wal-Mart fruit snacks.  Zander says, “Mommy, can I try those new fruit snacks?”  My response was, “You know what they taste like, you’ve had them before.”  Zander looks up at me at says (with a huge smile on his face) “I forget!”  Nice try buddy! 

     The next day, we went to explore Seattle.  We went to the Space Needle which was very cool.  We rode a monorail from where we parked to the Needle.  The kids had a blast.  Then we went to Pike Place Market.  We waited for a while but our patience paid off when the men started flinging fish around to each other.  They let the boys hold crabs and touch the fish.  We had lunch and a yummy dessert and walked around a bit and then headed back to the RV.  The boys went to the playground while Greg and I went back to the RV.  A few minutes later, Zander comes back to the RV to tell me he has a boo-boo.  When I looked at him, he had blood on his hands and all over his forehead.  Then he turned around and blood was coming from the back of his head.  He had about a ¾ inch gash in the back of his head.  He said he tried to do a backflip off the monkey bars and fell down.  I was pretty convinced that he would need staples or something.  So…off we go to find a doctor.  We ended up at Madigan Army Hospital in the ER.  After a pretty long wait, we got taken back to a room and eventually Zander got 3 staples put in to close the hole in his head.  Now, as if this wasn’t enough excitement for the day, while we were waiting in the ER, Max started to complain that his ear hurt.  He had complained here and there over the previous few days, but nothing consistent.  Well, in the ER, he was crying due to ear pain so he, too, saw a doctor.  He got antibiotics for another ear infection.  Crazy day in Seattle!  Thank Goodness Zander came away from his tumble with only 3 staples!  He handled it like a champ with only some topical numbing medicine.  Those kids are tough!

            The next day was July 2^nd.  Our plan was to drive from Seattle to San Francisco since we got a pretty early start.  Unfortunately, Daisy had other ideas.  Most of this drive involved going up and down lots of big hills.  After a while, Daisy started pooping out and stalling after a long uphill or downhill.  Then we would have to wait a while and try again, only to end up back in the breakdown lane a few miles later.  We had just about made it to Yreka, CA when Greg started looking for someone to look at the RV and fix it.  We were waiting quite a while for the RV to stay running and Greg finally got her going. (Now at this point I am driving Greg’s car to take some of the stress off of the RV.)  Greg gets off the exit and there is a stop sign at the end of the exit.  We stop and Daisy decided that was it for the day.  Stuck in the middle of the road.  Greg got it off to the side of the road and was so frustrated at this point.  We are ¾ of a mile from where we need to be to get the RV serviced but now we cannot get her started.  As we are standing there trying to figure out what to do,  this truck pulls over to ask if we need anything.  The driver, a pretty old guy,  said that he had chains and could pull the RV down the road.  Greg says, “oh no….it’s a pretty heavy vehicle.”  The guy says that his truck can pull it no problem and produces a chain and get the RV hooked up to his truck.  Lo and behold, he pulls the RV the rest of the way to the repair place while I drive behind in the Honda.  The guys at the garage said they thought it was a problem with the fuel pump but they couldn’t do anything that night since it was 6PM.  So, we stayed the night in Yreka, in the parking lot of the repair place.  The next day, they started working on it and they were finished by 3 PM.  We were on the road again to Sacramento to pick up Leah.  We finally got there about 7ish, showered at her brothers place and continued up the hill to Lake Tahoe.  We would be spending that night and the next in Tahoe.  We arrived in Tahoe rather uneventfully and parked on the side of the road to get some sleep. 

            On the 4^th of July we met up with Leah’s brother AJ and his girlfriend Megan.  We were going to a party at a friend of theirs’ house.  Tami and Ty were fabulous hosts.  They had a place right on the beach so the kids and the dog played in the water all day.  Zander fell on the dock and cut a toe and a knee and Max had the constant plumber’s crack showing.  Max was sunscreened a few times over the day but apparently we missed the top of his butt (who knew his crack would be visible most of the day?).  He came away with a sunburned Lower back.  Otherwise, the day was great…. Cold drinks, great friends, good food and fabulous weather……what more could you ask for on Independence Day?  Throw in a behaving fun-loving dog and 3 well-behaved boys and you have yourself a great day!  We watched fireworks from the dock and then off to bed we went.  Thanks to everyone who made our 4^th of July a memorable one.  Lake Tahoe was so much fun!

            On Sunday, we went back to Sacramento to drop Leah off.  She had to work that night and would be meeting up with us In San Fran the next day.  We were staying in San Fran until Thursday.  Greg took the boys to see Lombard St.  ( a really steep and winding road in San Fran).  They also hit Chinatown while I stayed in the RV with the dog.  I needed a nap really badly!  The kids had a great time eating “real” Chinese food…

            Monday brought us to Muir Woods – a VERY cool place where the Coastal Redwoods grow to 300’!  We were having a great time walking through the massive groves of trees when 2 deer walked out of nowhere – they were obviously used to humans as they carried on as though nothing was going on…  We were able to get a ton of pictures – some as close as 10 feet!  When we had turned around, were lucky enough to see a mother deer and her two Foes…  I mean, Fawns.  The boys were all smiles watching the baby deer walk and play with their momma.

            That afternoon, we went to the pool, and Leah returned for a few more days of fun.  We loaded up the fam to the train station in order to go downtown to see the SF Giants play!  I’d be lying if I said that there were no cocktails for the team while we were there…  The Giants won, and even though it was freezing, we all had a great time…  A train ride home, and we were off to meet w/ the Sandman.  The next day, we were up and at ‘em early so that we could drop the RV off for some service.  Turned out that we were hearing some grinding over the last few times driving, and I (correctly) guessed that it was the brakes.  $1346 worth of brakes.  Ouch!  The guy showed us the rotors after the fact and there were ½” gouges on the rotors, so everything had to be replaced…  Although it was costly, it still would have been bad form to kill the whole fam for want of brakes!  While the RV was getting repaired (with Luna inside her kennel, inside the RV), we headed for Alcatraz…  It was a REALLY cool tour!  The boys were skeptical about getting into the cells – we kept telling them that we were going to leave them there! Nikolai was the tour leader.  He was very intent on following the directions given on the audio tour and so I was following him around.  It was very well done and we learned lots about “the Rock!”  After the tour, we saw the barking seals, and had some awesome bread-bowl chowder on Pier 39… Mmmm Sour Dough Bread! 

            The next day we hit the Exploratorium (awesome kid’s science museum) and Ghirardelli Square (yummy chocolate).  We capped off San Francisco by having an awesome steak dinner at our RV while sipping some wine watching the sunset into the Pacific…  A great time – and it was awesome to see Leah, too! Thanks, Leah, for making the trek to San Fran!  It meant a lot that you made the effort! 

            The next morning, it was 50 degrees when we awoke, had a tearful goodbye w/ Leah, and started heading South to Edwards AFB to see our friends, the Reins.  It is amazing how much the kids have sprouted!  It was great to see them playing again.  It was like no time had passed since they were last together! Cool!  When we arrived, it was only 98 degrees (ick!)  We jumped in the pool and played on the trampoline – it was a perfect way to get greeted into the Mojave! 

            Greg set off the to the Edwards AFB clinic to get Zander’s staples removed.  It was much needed as Z was extremely itchy.  After much debate over who could and could not be seen at the clinic, Greg was finally able to get the metal removed from our child’s head.  Crazy that it was so difficult.  If I could have done it myself, I would have! 

That is where we stand as of now!  We’ll probably have 1 more update before we get settled into Ohio on 1 Aug…  We hope that all is going great with you and your family!  Check out the pictures, and drop us a line when you get a chance…                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

27 Jun 09

[Pam wrote this update - she did an awesome job capturing all of the stories!]

We began our crazy journey on 8 Jun.  Greg’s graduation from ACSC was happening that day.  We spent the morning getting the house we rented ready for inspection (coordinating the carpet cleaning and maid service).  I went up to my Pediatric floor 1 last time to say goodbye and hand in my badge.  The boys were sleeping over at a friend’s house so that made everything so much easier for us to get things done.  At 12, Greg headed off to his graduation.  I hopped into the car with the boys and began driving toward Louisville, KY.  I realized about 30 minutes into my drive that all the kid activities were actually in the RV which was with Greg.  I had the DVD player with like 4 movies!  So…. A 7.5 hour drive loomed ahead with nothing for the kids to do.  Fortunately our boys are the world’s best travelers and they were fine.  When we stopped for gas, we picked up a few coloring books and a puzzle book.  At about the same time as our stop at the gas station, Greg was finishing up his graduation.  Masters Degree in 1 hand and DG in the other (Distinguished Graduate from his year long Air Command and Staff College - he ended up finishing #12 of 475!  Woo-hoo!!!), he climbed into the RV to begin his journey, about 2 hours behind us.  He would be towing his Honda Accord for this journey so we have a car to use when we stop for the night.  About 30 minutes into his drive, Daisy decided that she didn’t feel like driving anymore and stopped working.  It took him a while to get her going again but luckily, he was able to get her running without any further intervention other than a few prayers and a tank of gas (bullet dodged!).  Our Monday ended with all of us finding our way to Ross and Shelly’s house for a few days of reconnecting with friends.  The RV was parked outside their house.  The Tolmoffs had arrived!

We hung out with the Pease fam for a few days.  Went to a children’s museum, the pool and had a relaxing time.  Thanks for the awesome hospitality!  We hopped back into the car on Wednesday to drive to OH…..in the pouring rain!  We arrived on base at Wright-Patt to head to fam camp and hunker down for the night.  We stopped off at the house we were to be moving into to drop some stuff off that we didn’t want to haul around with us for 48 days.  The Mosers were awesome to let us unload a bit.   We met a neighbor while we were there.  They have a 7 yr old boy whose birthday is 5 days before Nikolai’s.  I think they have already started making party plans.  They will be great friends!

On Thursday, we enrolled Max and Nikolai for school.  We will enroll Zander to K when we get back in August.  We checked out the area a bit and headed back to fam camp.  We were parked near a lake so we spent a good amount of time that night sailing a ball into the water and watching Luna swim as fast as she could to get said ball.   That dog loves to swim!  Got some great pics, the boys loved it and the dog got some great exercise!

Friday, we went to our new house to check out the inside and sign the lease.  We will be moving from about 2300 sq. feet into 3200 finished sq. feet and about 600 unfinished sq. feet.  Max and Zander will still share a room but the room is twice the size of their AL room.  And we have a basement.  We will be able to stretch out a bit more.  Very nice house! The boys were playing with the Moser boys while we talked to Amy and then we all went to lunch.

Saturday, we began the journey to Madison, Wisconsin.  Greg got up early and started driving before the rest of us woke up.  What a trooper!  The boys and the dog all took turns being his co-pilot.  Again, the boys did awesome on another 7 hour trip and we rewarded them well while walking around on State Street!  Cheese and ice cream were lunch and then brats and beer for dinner (well….Greg and I had beer!).  We tried to get typical Wisconsin fare and we think we did a great job!  Nikolai put back a whole 1/3 lb burger all by himself.  Greg and I couldn’t believe it!  We were parked in a walmart parking lot for the night (classy!  JK!)  Officially our 1^st day of the trip was a success.  I did almost break my ankle by misjudging the distance off the bed in the RV but otherwise, no major mishaps.  The boys and I are reading Harry Potter on this trip.  I have actually avoided all things Harry Potter until now on purpose.  It is really good and the boys are enjoying it too!

Next stop Tara and Jon Ball’s house in Minnesota!  We got to their house at about 1030 on Sunday.  They have 4 kids (Thad age 9, Malissa age 7, Victoria age 5, and Nathan age 2).  The boys were so excited to play with them.  We went to the park and later that day, the kids were all playing outside while the adults caught up.  We hadn’t seen the Ball family in 5 years so there was a lot to catch up on.  On Monday, we piled in the car and went to the Mall of America.  That place is unbelievable!  Over 500 stores, an amusement park and an aquarium!  It was awesome.  We actually didn’t shop for anything but spent most of our time in the amusement park and the aquarium.  Nikolai wanted to go on every rollercoaster there was.  He came off 2 of them looking particularly green.  He has turned into quite the adventurer.  So brave!  Max and Zander enjoyed the lighter rides and all the boys went on bumper cars.  Funny to watch.  There was so much to see!  The whole park was Nickelodeon themed.  The kids were onto the Lego place.  They played there while Greg and I decided what to do next.  We decided on the Aquarium.  It had a cool little walkway through so we could watch the fish swimming over us.  Sharks and stingrays and fish aplenty!

From the MOA we went to a water park and met up with the Balls.  Nikolai probably went down the waterslide about 50 times while we were there! Zander and Max stuck mostly to the kids area with the splash park.  Zander did go down the big slide twice.  The first time with Greg.  The second time, he went with Jon.  At the bottom of the slide, Greg was waiting for the boy.  When they hit the bottom, Jon threw Zander to Greg.  Neither Greg nor Zander was expecting this.  When Greg told Jon that Z couldn’t really swim, Jon said, “I know…that’s why I threw him to you!”  Funny Stuff!  From there, we went back to the Ball residence for pizza before we all went to Thad’s baseball game.  Thad hit 2 grand slams!  That kid’s smile lit up the whole park.  Awesome.  We wished we could have spent more time with the Ball family.  They are great friends and we were so happy to see them!  Thanks Tara and Jon for the great hospitality!  (Sorry that Luna ate a helmet!)

Bright and Early Tuesday morning, we hopped back into the RV and headed towards South Dakota.  We dipped a toe into North Dakota so the kids could check that state off their list.  So there we were trying to take pictures when all 3 kids decided they needed to pee.  So all 3 boys stood in North Dakota and peed into Minnesota!  Even the dog got into the action.  We stopped at the World’s Only Corn Palace in South Dakota.  The entire place was decorated with corn.  (Who thinks of this stuff?)  The kids got their picture taken with “Cornelius”,  an ear of corn.  It was all a bit corny (he,he) but we stopped for a look.  Back on the road!  We stopped next at Wall Drug after passing like 400 signs advertizing the place!  We ate dinner and homemade donuts (yummy)… not to mention the Free Ice Cold Water!  Took lots of pics, then back into the RV to Rapid City, SD where we spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Wednesday morning we headed to Mount Rushmore.  Very Cool.  For most of us.  To Nikolai, he thought, “This is smaller than I expected…”  Can nothing please this boy?  We read about the history of Mount Rushmore on the way over.  Amazing!  Lots of photo ops!

Back in the RV! We dipped a toe into Nebraska (more cross-state peeing) before crossing the border to Wyoming.  We spent the night in Riverton, WY and then onto Yellowstone the next day.  The boys have been taking turns with each other sitting in front with Greg.  They have been awesome! Not only that but the dog has been a solid ok!  No major problems so far!  Daisy is doing great and all the team members are seasoned travelers!

The drive from Riverton to Yellowstone was a very pretty one.  Greg wanted to avoid driving through part of Yellowstone to get to the RV park so he planned an alternate route.  It took us straight up the side of a mountain into the clouds and then had a 10% down grade for like 10 miles.  Daisy was not too pleased about it.  She was going about 25 mph up the mountain, and 175 mph down the other side.  The rest of the people on the road loved us!

At some point on the drive, we got out to take a photo.  When Nikolai went to get out of the RV, he landed on gravel and fell down.  He tumbled butt over tea kettle to stop in a puddle of mud.  The 1^st words out of his mouth when he stopped rolling were, “Oh that’s gross!”  He was covered in mud!  It was hilarious!  Even he is laughing about it now.

We pulled into the RV park at about noon at Yellowstone.  We weren’t planning on going to the actual Yellowstone park until the next day so we were left with an entire day with nothing to do.  I was good with that but Greg cannot stay still for long, so we decided to go fishing and then horse-back riding.  We had about an hour before we had to be at the ranch so we found (after much searching) a little place to fish.  We got our poles out, strung them up, baited the hooks and got about 2 casts in before it started to rain…..giant cold rain drops!  Back into the car for us!  So we headed on to the ranch.  This was not the most organized ranch.  There were about 25 people there ready to ride and it took about an hour to get everyone up onto a horse.  1^st we had the instructional portion on how to turn and stop the horse then it was on to getting onto the horse.  Zander was the 1^st from team Tolmoff to mount his trusty steed.  It was a cute black and white horse that resembled a cow.  He looked so stinkin’ cute up on the horse all by himself.  He got the horse to the spot he needed to in order to wait for us to get horses.  At 1 point, Zander’s horse decided it didn’t want to be penned with the other horses and took off at a trot with Zander on his back.  Greg and I as well as a few other people yelled for Zander to pull back on the reins to stop the horse.  Zander did awesome, didn’t freak out, just pulled back on the reins and stopped the horse and then turned him around and got him back where he needed too.  Greg and I on the other hand almost shit our pants.  Zander looked at us with a huge smile on his face.  He was great!  We had heard that 6 was the minimum age to ride the horse alone.  They didn’t question Zander and let him ride by himself.  He sat on that horse like a seasoned veteran!

Next up on a horse was Nikolai…. His horse was HUGE!   Now Nikolai was besides himself with laughter because all the horses were farting, pooping and peeing all over the place.  Never saw a kid so happy to be surrounded by poop and pee before!  He was talking non-stop…. So funny!

Greg got a horse next, leaving Max and I to wait.  I got on a horse next and there was Max all alone waiting for a horse.  He lucked out.  They had run out of horses so Max rode on our guide, Al’s horse.  Al guided the horse at the front of the line while walking and Max rode.  He was so cute sitting up there!

Off we go on the trail.  With our guide walking, you can imagine we were not going too quickly.  We were going through mud and water as it had been raining.  Nikolai’s horse sped up slightly to get through the muck.  Nikolai yells, “Hey! My horse is galloping here!”  We giggled because it had barely broke into a trot!  Nikolai was laughing every time he heard a toot come from the horse.  We thought it was him farting but he just kept blaming it on the horse!

The kids did awesome on their 1^st horse-back riding experience.  They controlled their own horses which was not always easy to do since some of the horses wanted to stop to eat whenever they could.  Max was keeping up a running dialogue with Al.  At one point, Max spotted a rainbow.  He says, “Hey look a rainbow!  (pause) Rainbows, I hate those stupid things!”  I heard him say this and laughed for about the next minute!  Al had no idea he was joking!  Our kids are pretty funny!

We rode for about 1.5 hours and then it was time to head back to the ranch.  Getting off the horses felt strange because our legs didn’t quite want to work.  It was a bit cold out there.  Nikolai was concerned he was going to get hypothermia!  That kid…..

Back to the RV park, eat some dinner and get ready for bed since we had a long day planned at Yellowstone.

Thursday morning, we all piled into Greg’s car and headed into Yellowstone.  We could not have asked for a better day!  The kids were troopers as we took pic after pic after pic.  We spotted some elk and a chipmunk.  We headed over to Old Faithful.  Just as we are walking from the parking lot, we see a huge eruption.  We had missed the eruption by a matter of minutes.  So we had about 90 minutes until the next eruption so we decided to wait it out.  We ate lunch as we waited and then the boys and I ventured to the gift shop/bathroom.  I sent the boys into the men’s bathroom with the explicit instructions to not leave the area until I also came out of the bathroom.  I came out 5 minutes later and only Nikolai was waiting for me.  I could hear Max and Zander wandering around the store and screaming “MOMMY!” at the top of their lungs.  When I finally caught up to them, we all started walking out and I look down at them to see 3 very dirty, peanut buttery faces staring up at me.  After 1 more stop in the bathroom, we were ready to watch a geyser erupt.  And erupt it did!  The boys were impressed and they even posed for a pic in mid-eruption.  It is pretty amazing that Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes and blows 3000 to 8000 gallons of water each time!  After Old Faithful, we drove the rest of the south loop of Yellowstone.  We saw buffalo, elk, bald eagles and countless beautiful landscapes.  The boys were great and we definitely had a successful day.

Day 2 at Yellowstone was rainy but we were still able to drive the North Loop.  Mud pots, hot springs and mini geysers galore.  One of our favorite parts was the mud pot that kept belching mud into the air. The boys LOVED that and wanted to stay and watch all day.  Something about farting puddles of mud!  The rain didn’t drive us off though!  We waited out 1 rain storm eating lunch in the car and another eating ice cream.  Yum!  At one point, there were 2 huge buffalo walking along the edge of the road.  We got a few good pics and we still can’t believe that one of those giant animals can run 30 mph and jump 6 feet from a stand still.  I told Nikolai that they are helped out by the tiny little wings that they have.  I almost had him believing me but not quite.  On the drive back to the RV, we finished the 1^st Harry Potter book.  The boys couldn’t wait to start the next book!

The next day, we were set to begin the drive to Calgary to see Stew and Karin Jorginson.  Originally we had planned 2 days for this drive but Greg decided he could do it all in 1 day (over 700 miles and about 13 hours in the RV). We wanted to drive through Glacier National Park since we were so close so Greg altered our driving plans to include it.  We got to the gate of Glacier and the plan was to drive straight through and continue on out the other side to Calgary.  Well, the lady at the gate said, “You know you can’t drive all the way through in that RV?”  Greg said, “well no, I didn’t!”  So we could only go 16 miles in and then needed to turn around.  To say Greg was pissed would be an understatement since this added a few hours onto an already long trip.  We got a pic or 2 and headed back the way we came.  We finally got to Calgary at about 9:30 PM.  Karin, Logan and Mackenzie were all still awake waiting for us.  Stew was still at work.  We were so glad to be there.  We hadn’t seen Karin and Stew in several years.  Their son Logan is 6 and Kenzie is 3.  The boys loved to play with the kids and they all hit it off instantly.  They also had a little fluffy white dog who loves to bark.  Luna didn’t know what to make of Charlie.  They kind of stared at each other and played a bit.  Stew came home and we were all able to visit for a bit before heading off to bed.

The next morning we hung out for the bulk of the day, the kids playing, the adults talking and the dogs fighting/playing.  Karin made a great dinner that night.  While we were eating, somehow the dogs got under the table and began to fight over a piece of food.  Apparently, Zander’s foot got in the way and one of the dogs clamped on to his foot.  Zander started to cry and Nikolai looks down and says, “Oh no….. that is A LOT of blood.”  Well, Zander came away with a tooth mark on the bottom of his foot and 2 small ones on the top.  No major harm done as all involved are UTD with their shots.  We will never know which dog was responsible but it definitely added some drama to dinner.

On Tuesday, our plan was to go to Banff.  Greg’s parents flew in on Monday night and they were coming along with us.  We get to the hotel and Juri was not feeling very well and wasn’t quite ready to leave the hotel.  We altered our plan once again and decided to hold off on Banff until Wed.  We headed to downtown Calgary instead to see the sights.  Well….. from the beginning we should have known this was not our day.  We got to the parking garage at the space needle and parked in a different area from Karin who was driving with Logan, Kenzie and Max and Nikolai.  So when we parked we figured we would head to the lobby and wait there.  After a few minutes there was no sign of Karin and the kids.  Greg went to look in the garage for them and got some of the guards involved since we couldn’t get them by cell.  After probably about 30 minutes we find them.  Karin and the kids had trouble finding the elevator and took the stairs.  They got turned around and detoured a few times and finally we found them.  The kids were all smiles and Karin was ready for a drink or 2.  We made it to the top of the space needle where part of the floor was glass so you could look down.  Not exactly my cup of tea but the boys loved it!  After the space needle, we decided to walk along this little marketplace area and get lunch and see the sights.  Juri arrived via cab and everything was going well until we turned around and Nikolai was nowhere in sight.  After making sure that he wasn’t with Greg, we started up and down the street while trying to keep the other 4 kids in 1 spot.  After about 10 minutes, Karin found him aimlessly wandering where we had eaten lunch.  His response was, “what….. I thought Mommy came this way!”  He had no idea that he caused so much anxiety.  I for one almost pooped my pants! Shortly after, we headed home. The adults were ready for some cocktails and the kids wanted to play.    The dogs were happy to see us but Luna was being a territorial pain in the butt.  She was not playing well with Charlie and we kept having to separate them.  Off to bed again!  The next day we did head to Banff.  We had a very successful day.  We rode on a Gondola to the top of the mountain and took some great pictures, saw some mountain goats and enjoyed the sights.  After that we saw Banff Springs Hotel, ate lunch and then walked around downtown.  The candy store was a giant hit with the kids!

We drove back to Calgary and said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa T who were heading back to CT the next AM.  It was great to see them even if just for 32 hours.  Back to the Jorginson house for 1 more night of fun for the kids.  We were planning on leaving early the next morning so we said our goodbyes that night. The boys had a hard time saying goodbye to their new best friends.  They loved playing with Logan and Kenzie and wished they didn’t live so far away.  We had a great time, as always in Calgary.  Karin and Stew were stellar hosts! Thanks for the awesome hospitality and for being the best tour guides! If you guys ever can get to the states, we would love to return the favor.

The next morning, Greg started driving before we had all woken up.  We ended up in Salmon Arm, BC.  The view was spectacular and they even had a little dog beach for Luna.  We had a relaxing day and the kids and I watched the first installment of Harry Potter movies.  The only drawback to this RV site was the loud, loud, screeching, loud train that went by at least every hour.  Crazy!  Felt like we were in My Cousin Vinny!  Oh well!  The scenery was beautiful! The next morning, we drove to Vancouver, BC.  When we got there, the kids explored the RV park while Greg and I showered.  Then we set off to explore Vancouver.  I don’t know what we were expecting but it certainly wasn’t the freaky, earthy-crunchy, run-down place we found!  It was insane!  We drove around and felt like we had fallen onto a different planet.  Definitely not one of our favorite places.  We were people watching as we drove around and Greg and I are pretty sure we saw a hooker (a women dresses in skin tight red velour shorts/shirt combo) with a rat on her shoulder.  She was petting the rats back and talking to it as she walked!  Greg and I were pretty content at that point to hit a safeway and a wal-mart for some things and head back to the RV park where the world was as we knew it!  We finally get back to the RV, ate dinner and headed to the pool.

This is where we are now….  On day 14 of our 48 day road trip.  I hope I have not bored you and I am sure I am leaving out some funny stories but I can’t include everything!  We will continue to write about the rest of our journey so check back periodically if you like this so far!

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as you can imagine we have a ton of pictures-  check them out!

28 May 09

11 More days and we are out of here!  It is very surreal that it is all winding up so quickly.  As I type right now, Pam is at school with the boys for their last day of Kindergartern and 2nd Grade while Zander naps blissfully quiet in the other room...  We are all very excited to get out of here, but there is the daunting task of moving before we get to go anywhere!  The movers are actually coming next week.  We have not done ANYTHING to prep ourselves for the move!  Pam had been working a lot over the month of May in order to save up some extra pennies for our big summer trip, however for every 5 days she would be scheduled, she would get cancelled on 3 of them!  It was annoying, because they would cancel her at 4 p.m. or later - after she had been sleeping all day in prep for work - which means she'd be up all night while we slept, and then sleep all day while we were up...  Usually this was not a problem, because she had a paycheck to show for it - but not for this month!  It was very aggravating...  She even got cancelled the night they were supposed to have her going away party!

And for her last night...  She had just gotten off of a 17 hour shift (no kidding), and was ready to drift off to sleep, when the phone rang.  It was Max and Nikolai's school - turns out there was an outbreak of head-lice!  And the boys were a part of the outbreak...  Lovely!  That means that Pam (and her short, straight hair - haha) could not go to work that night, and EVERYTHING in the house had to be cleaned!  Exactly what we wanted to be doing...  Washing, mopping, vaccuuming, and on , and on....  It was a real pain...

And I say the word, "pain" as in "literal pain."  I somehow hurt my back almost 2 weeks ago, and I don't know how!  I have really been hurting - I've gone to the doctor and the chiropractor 3 times, as well as having been on pain meds almost every day!  I even had an X-ray today (which I am happy to report was clean), and electro-shock therapy (which was awesome!)  I am doing everything I can to rest it up before we go on the trip!  It is going to be a pain in the back to drive 8000 miles with a hurt back...  Wish me luck!

I also want to say that Nikolai's team CRUSHED their opponents in the little-league championship game!  It was a sight to see...  They won 15-3.  And one of those 15 was Nikolai!  He got a big hit in the first inning to keep the team alive, and then he even made it around the bases for a score...  That was one happy kid, I tell ya'!

Well - the next time I update, hopefully we will be on the road reporting that Daisy is doing well.  We will post pictures and stories of the road trip as they happen, so check back often!

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as you can imagine we have a ton of pictures-  check them out!

17 May 09

Happy 70th Birthday to my Mom!!!  I really wish that I could have made it up to CT yesterday for the festivities, but alas, it was not in the cards...  Even though I wasn't there, she still managed to have an AWESOME celebration with friends and family.  Here's to another 70 years!!!

We are getting to the end of the year here, and we have looked back at what an awesome time we've had...  We have done so much, and the boys have all grown so much in just the one short year - I can hardly wait to see what next year has in store for us!  This past Tuesday was the final Den meeting before Cross-over this coming Tuesday.  I decided to have the Laff-A-Lympics for the boys.  The events consisted of a Discus Toss, Long Jump, Biggest Bubble, Relay race (with a pool-noodle as a baton), 50 Meter dash, a suitcase relay (run 50 meters with a suitcase full of clothes, then put on ALL of the clothes, and then run back, get all of the clothes off and back into the suitcase, and then hand it over to the next teammate), and finally - the paper airplane toss.  Might I say that this was the best Den meeting we had yet!!!  The kids all had a blast, and we got some really cute pictures...

Zander is done with pre-school!  I can't believe that next year he will be a kindergartener...  Where is the time going?  He had his graduation that (shocker) made Mommy cry...  He even had a cowboy lunch at High Noon - and he was a Wanted little boy!

Nikolai's baseball team is going to the CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!  The last regular game of the year, Nikolai put the ball in play for the winning RBI to score.  Way to go, Nikolai!  Suddenly when he makes a big play, Nikolai is a little more excited about playing ball - the championship game will be played on Tuesday night (the same night he will cross over to becoming a Bear Scout - we'll let you know what we come up with for deconfliction of times between the two events).  Wish him (and us) luck!  I know that he's going to get a hit...

Max and Zander had their last Tee-Ball game of the year, and they each got trophies for a season well-played!  They were very proud of their trophies - Zander would not put his down no matter how much we pleaded...  Oh well - he earned it!

I got to go have lunch with all 3 kids the other day - I love 3-lunch Thursdays!  The kids were very happy to see me...  They are starting to get sad about leaving AL - they have really enjoyed it here...  They are going to miss their teachers the most of all!  For all 3 boys, we could not have asked for better teachers - they have really challenged the kids - they have grown a lot this year!  Pam has Aunt Pam'd something again - she volunteered to do the Kindergarten year book - once again, she obsessed, but it was well worth it - it came out FANTASTIC!  It is going to be a treasure for all of them for years to come...

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as you can imagine we have a ton of pictures-  check them out!

10 May 09

Happy Mother's Day to one and all!  And Happy Birthday to Zander!  Our not-so-little man is now 5!  Can you believe it?  Time is zipping by...  He was so excited for his birthday - he has had a countdown to his birthday since Max turned 6 in March...  As is typical with Team Tolmoff, we celebrated a few different times.  Pam got the night off of work so she was able to give him the best present of all...  A new Leapster 2!  HAHA...  I think that the kids have figured us out and lost one of their old Leapster games on purpose, so Mommy (the softy) would get them a new one.  Well, boys - mission accomplished!  Mommy also came into Zander's school and made cupcakes for the whole class, and then we had cake with the fam at home, and topped off nicely with more cupcakes and a pinata to celebrate his team's Tee-ball victory.  And his birthday.

Pam went on a field trip to the zoo with Max's school this past week - The only thing that was not so fun was the 95 degree temperature.  Fun in the Southeast!  It looks like we skipped over winter altogether...  Max's class had a great time - Pam got a bunch more pictures to add to his yearbook.  Oh yeah - I forgot to mention that Supermom has added more to her plate.  She is in charge of the Kindergarten yearbook!  And by "in charge" I mean, "doing all by herself."  She has been given about 2000 pictures that various people have taken over the course of the year for incorporation into the yearbook.  God help her if she under-represents little Bobby or Suzy!

We went for another RV trip last weekend up to Birmingham - it was a great time!  Pam had just come off working 3 in a row when we went up there.  The first night we went to go see, "A Comdey of Errors" at one of the local high schools.  It was well done and had enough humor in it to keep the kids entertained.  The next day we got the kids some wicked face paintings done at the Alabama Animal Rescue Center.  We even went to the top of Vulcan - a veritable monument up in Birmingham!  (bad joke).  We then went to the McSquizzie Science Center.  It was actually the McWane Science Center, but it will always be McSquizzie to me!  Highly recommended if you are ever in the Birmingham area.  You know that I love me a science center - this one was one of the best ones I have been to!  Dude, I can totally see your tail...

After that, we went back to Daisy for a little R&R.  The kids played in the playground and I made some spaghetti, thereby testing out the cooking facilities in the RV.  I'm happy to report they worked like a champ!  We all enjoyed a yummy feast before heading to bed...

It was not the smoothest trip we'd ever taken; there were certainly a few power struggles, but I think we resolved them all quite well, and certainly steepened our learning curve for this summer's trip!

Last night, Pam had to work leading into Mother's Day, so the kids were very excited when she finally came home this morning - she was greeted with all sorts of kid-made wares, a flowering plant, some cards, and even 2 dozen Red Roses from an awesome hubby!  After that (and a burrito), it was bedtime...  She has to work tonight, too.  :(  But on the brighter side, she is making lots of money for us to spend on our road trip this summer!

That about sums up these past few weeks!  We got a bunch of cute pictures of the kids in their baseball uniforms - We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always we have a ton of pictures (to include all the pix I've pulled off our cell phones from the lat few months...) -  check them out!

25 Apr 09

Welcome to Baseball Hell!  I say that only half joking...  All of the boys are now in the full swing of baseball/Tee-ball, and they are having a blast!  Nikolai got his first base hit the other day!  It was a real ripper down the third base line.  He was so amazed that he hit it, all at once 100 cheering fans screamed, "RUN!!!"  And he ran like the wind!  And he got an awesome single.  The next boy who was up (the Coach's son - top of the order), ripped a full-on home run.  Nikolai ran as fast as his little legs would take him, and he made it all the way around and turned around to see them add his run onto the scoreboard.  I have never seen a 7 year old dance like that before!  Not a "I scored and you didn't" kind of dance - but more one of utter jubilee!!!  It was a sight to behold...  After that, the coach put him on the pitchers mound (and it was machine pitch, so he was not actually pitching) - Nikolai danced for the rest of the game...  He had the crowd in stitches!  Now THERE is a little boy who loves himself some baseball!!!

Max and Zander had their first game yesterday.  To be fair - they have had several games, however we have been out of town quite a bit so this was the first game that they actually got to play in...  They ROCKED that Tee-Ball!  And the smiles were evident all around...  I am one of the coaches, so I got to be on the field with them the whole time.  It is funny trying to keep them paying attention to the game.  They usually just want to sit and play in the dirt - and then wonder where the ball came from when it goes zipping by!  They are both lethal on offense, however - Max hit a ball out of the infield in the air!  It was awesome!  It is impossible to wipe the smiles from their faces...

Last week we went to Lake Martin with 3 other families, and OG didn't even break his leg this time!  He did fall off the pontoon boat we rented, however...  And the cell phone in his pocket was not too pleased about the whole ordeal...  It was a great day - sunny and 72 - we just cruised around the lake, cocktails in hand, as the kids drove the boat...  We even brought the dog!  Not on the boat, but to Lake Martin.  "But Puddy - I thought you said that dogs were not allowed in the cabins @ Lake Martin?!?"  I would say that you are correct - but we didn't stay in the cabin - We stayed in our NEW MOTORHOME!!!  That's right!  Team Tolmoff is back on the move in a 28 foot 1997 Coachmen Catalina Class C Motorhome.  It is NICE!  Obviously it is used, but we took it out last weekend and it worked like a champ...  I even drove it up to Birmingham to pick up a tow-dolly for my car since we are going to drag it on our 7200 mile roadtrip this summer!  We are going to the rest of the lower 48 for our 3 little ones...  Before the oldest will turn 8, we will have gotten the entire continental US for the whole lot of them!  It is going to be a great trip - We don't leave until 15 June, so there will be some updates to the plan before then, I am sure, however here is how it is shaping up for now...

Hopefully the RV makes it the whole distance!  It is a 48 day road trip, seeing lots of friends along the way...  It is going to Rock!

Pam's parents came out for a week after we got back from Disney - the kids had a great time playing with Grandpa R - especially when it was time for him to be the baseball coach!  It was a very low key week as I had a midterm (which I rocked an A) - but we did manage to make it to opening night of the Montgomery Biscuits baseball!  Carolyn and Rob also came down for a few days.  I drug Rob to Florida for a little deep sea fishing, while Carolyn hung out with the fam and babysat the kids!  When Rob and I returned, there was even a kick ass Easter Dinner waiting for us.  The Easter bunny was great to the kids (shocker) and they even found a bunch of empty Easter Eggs in the backyard!  It was great to catch up with everybody...

Well - that seems to be enough for one update - We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always we have a ton of pictures-  check them out!

5 Apr 09

Greetings from Mickey and the Happiest Place on Earth!  We have lots of great news...  First of all, we found out that we are going to be moving to Dayton, OH!  We are very excited - that was just the place that we were hoping to go...  We will be leaving Montgomery, AL ~ 10 Jun, and then hang out in OH for a few days.  Then (God willing), we will attempt to go on a 45 day road trip from OH to the Pacific Northwest and back...  I still am not sure whether or not my leave will be approved by my new boss, but hopefully we'll be able to make it happen.  That being said, we are considering getting another RV!  We had such a great time with our first RV, that this trip would be perfectly suited for another RV experience...  It is a buyer's market - hopefully we can find a great deal!  There will be MUCH more to follow for all of this, so wish us luck!

We also just got back from a week in Disney World!  Disney was offering a great deal - too good to be true - Active Duty military gets a free week long pass (Normally ~$250), and dependents get a one week pass for $99.  The family of 5 got a week of Disney for $396!  Not too bad considering we spent almost $1000 the last time we went.  I also found a wicked deal on a house - 4 BR for $83/nt...  Granted, it was in the ghetto, but it certainly did its job - not to mention there were 3 pools for the boys to choose from!  The first night that we were in town, I did a "priceline" for a 4 Star resort - and got in for $99 to the Gaylord Palms hotel - traveling during a recession can spawn some great deals!  This hotel even had real alligators in one of the gardens.  Of course the boys got pulled out of the pool because some kid decided to take a dump.  In the pool.  Nasty!

The first day we headed for Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) - it was AWESOME!  There were a ton of things to see and do, but the coolest was the Indiana Jones stunt show, and the Lights, Motor, Action car-show.  VERY cool if you have not seen it...  We actually saw a bunch of stuff that we did not see the first time we went!

The next day we hit Animal Kingdom - it was PACKED!  I thought that we were setting up our timing so that we would miss a lot of the Spring Breakers, but unfortunately I was quite wrong...  We still got to do and see quite a bit, as we were focusing a lot of our efforts on not repeating exactly what we did 18 months ago.  I ran in front of the fam and would pick up Fast Pass tickets for whatever we were going to do while Pam would take pix of the boys.  We would then meet up and look around the park and wait for the high-demand fast pass times.  The safari was 20 times better this time around - ALL the animals were out, and they were all right near the Safari truck.  Max was beside himself!  Unfortunately that glee rapidly left him when we tricked him onto the Dinosaur roller coaster!

Day #3 brought us to Epcot Center - we did everything except the World Showcase.  Max was not overly into doing anything fast or scary...  He could not be talked into doing anything that was even remotely fast.  Test Track was right out - but not for the newly found dare-devil duo of Nikolai and Zander!  They went on Test Track twice and they loved it!  Mission: Space was also a crowd favorite.  Of 2/3 of the boys...  When we were done w/ Epcot, we went to Downtown Disney so Pam could spoil the boys with a trip to the (massive) Lego Store.  I showed her that I could do some spoiling of my own with a trip to Goofy's Candy store!  The boys each got HUGE mickey mouse rice krispie treats - dipped in chocolate and coated with sprinkles, cookies, and butterfingers.  It took them 3 days to eat it (no kidding), and they still couldn't finish it all!  I rule.  REVERE ME!!!

I figured I'd be a great Dad by going to get the car since we had walked about 1.5 miles from where we parked.  And it started to rain.  Hard.  I ran the entire way to the car, and there was not 1 sq mm left of me that was dry!  It was thundering and lightning the entire way to the car, and I was running through ankle deep puddles, all while trying to keep the blackberry and the camera dry - not an easy task!  But of course the rain subsided by the time I picked up the princess and her three little princes...

Day number 4 (April Fools Day!) - Magic Kingdom...  This was our LEAST favorite when we came here in 2007...  But it was the best in 2009!  We completely avoided the "Fantasy Land" section (Small World, Peter Pan, Cinderella's castle, etc).  MUCH better that way!  We did a ton of rides...  All of the boys went on Thunder Mountain Railroad (Max was not a fan), and Nikolai and Zander did Splash Mountain (twice!)  They were not quite brave enough to do Space Mountain...  Next time, for sure!  That night we met up with a friend of mine (Adam Oshman) that I went to High School with.  At Macaroni Grill!  We told Adam about the awesome April Fool's joke we played on the kids by saying Disney was closed!  They bought it hook, line, and sinker...  This was in response to their, "Look Out!  There is a monster behind you! April Fools!"  Jokes...  We showed them how to pull a prank like a master...  But I can't help but think this talent will be used for evil...

Day number 5 - Epcot World Showcase.  We got there ~1130 and stayed all the way until 9:30 p.m.!  Brutal.  What was even more brutal is that we did a "drinking around the world" game - 1 drink from each country.  Did I mention there were 11 countries?  Ouch!  The kids meanwhile were busy playing a game called "Kim Possible" - a spy game that used a remote Kid-troller (that looked like a cell phone) to activate special features around the park and give them clues to the next mission.  After 4 countries, it directed the spy-lead (Nikolai) to put the phone in a slot, which he did.  And the phone disappeared, because the game was over, mission accomplished.  And he was devastated!  He didn't know that was going to be the end, and he was having such a good time with it that he was PISSED!  It took him a while to snap out of it, but he eventually rallied...  We stayed all the way through the Illuminations fireworks - they are just as awesome as they were last time we saw them...

On the last day, we were all set to go to Sea World, but the weather would not cooperate!  We were even sitting in the parking lot for 30 minutes waiting for the storm to pass, and the radar on our phones indicated that the storm was only getting worse...  We pulled the plug on Sea World and tried to figure out something else to do - so we chartered an Airboat!  Hella-cool...  We went zipping around a swampy lake and looked at all sorts of wild-life.  Not the least of which were some massive alligators!  We would pull up right next to them and take pictures...  I asked the guy - "Can these things jump?  Like, into the boat?"  Fortunately the answer was "no", but it didn't keep momma-bear from holding on to her cubs very tightly...  There were also a ton of baby alligators scurrying around all over the place - it looked like something out of a horror movie - scary stuff...  There were also a ton of huge fish, massive cranes and herons, and a bunch of small birds that runs on the water (called "Coots").  All in all - a great way to salvage the Sea-World Day...

That night we had dinner with a friend of mine that I worked with when I would come TDY down to Orlando - all of the kids had a great night playing in the pool.  After that, it was time to pack up the house and head for home!  A painful 8 hour drive, and when we got home, the maid forgot to leave our key for us, so we were locked out of the house.  Pam went to go pick up her parents while Nikolai and I were left to unpack...

All in all - a great trip with the world's greatest family! 

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as you can imagine we have a ton of pictures-  check them out!

22 Mar 09

I got some funny stories from this past week!  To start - I crashed my big remote controlled airplane.  About 10 times.  The first time I was going to try and fly it, I made a big deal about it w/ the boys, and I put it down in a parking lot and I was going to take it off and fly it around until I settled it down to a nice, smooth landing.  Unfortunately for me, I suck at remote control airplanes.  I revved up the motor, and it started to accelerate.  But it is a tail dragger, so as soon as the tail lifted off the ground (as it is supposed to), it just kept going until the propeller hit the ground and broke.  I think the thing was airborne for maybe .000025 seconds before it broke!  Suck...  Fortunately I had a spare propeller.  The next time I flew it was with Pam in attendance on a windy day...  Needless to say she saw me pancake this plane about 10 times until she finally couldn't stand it anymore and begged me to quit.  I did.  The next time, I actually got it airborne for about 1.5 minutes, and then had a horrific crash where I broke the propeller shaft.  Oops!  Needless to say, the company in CA is getting a lot of my money for spare parts...

Nikolai is losing teeth like a madman!  The tooth fairy could not make it the other day because it was raining too hard out for her little wings to fly.  Needless to say, the tooth fairy apologized PROFUSELY and made up for it by giving Nikolai $5.00 the next night!  Max even lost a few teeth this past week (bottom center).  He was very proud of himself, and more than excited when the tooth fairy left him a surprise under his pillow!

I think that I failed to mention that the "extractor" of the kids teeth has been "Daddy."  I keep going up to them and say, "Let me feel how loose your tooth is," and then voila - I yank the tooth right out of their mouths!  Kinda like my sister did to me when I was a kid...  The tooth fairy left a note to Nikolai last night that said, "Tell Daddy thanks for keep me in business!"

Max and Zander started T-Ball this week.  I don't think I have ever seen anything cuter in my entire life!  They are so freakin' adorable...  And take a wild guess who one of their coaches is?  That's right - me!  I chase them around the bases and keep all of the kids on the team laughing...  It is a lot of fun - we don't have many pictures yet, but we'll get more!  Zander is number "1" and Max is number "2".  The coach has been calling them "Thing 1 and Thing 2."   Pretty funny!

The other day I took the boys fishing, and Nikolai thought it would be a good idea to stand directly on top of a fire-ant hill.  (By accident of course).  I was 1/2 way around the pond when he said, "Ouch," and then looked down at his leg.  Even I could see the ants swarming on his legs from the other side of the pond!  I started running over to help him when he started getting bit again and again.  He flipped!  By the time I got there, he must have had ~ 100 ants on his legs.  We started brushing them off - fortunately he only got bit ~10 times.  Nothing like learning lessons the hard way!

We went to Costco yesterday, and I went to the car with the boys while Pam was checking out.  We watched Pam come out of the store and start aimlessly wandering around the parking lot in search of the car!  It was quite obvious she had NO idea where we parked.  Funny!

Still no assignment!  We have a "Spring Break" house hunting trip built in to our schedule for when we get our assignment, however there is no house to hunt when you don't know where you are going!  Therefore Team Tolmoff is going to Disney World!  We are way psyched...  Disney has a promotion in support of the military right now - The military member gets a free 5 day pass, and each family member's pass is $99.  When we went to Disney 1.5 years ago, it cost $968 for the 5 of us (in Disney tickets alone) - this year?  $396!  Also, I looked on eBay for lodging, and found a dude renting his 4 bedroom house for $83/night.  Beats the hell out of a hotel!  Wicked psyched...  We are getting a week in Disney w/ lodging and tickets for less than $1000.  Incredible!!!  In a lousy economy it is possible to clean up if you know where to look...

I was getting ready to skoff down a big plate of spaghetti when I reached for my trusty crushed red pepper.  It was a brand new bottle, and I couldn't wait!  Too bad that the lid was not on tight enough...  A little more pepper than even I like!

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…

14 Mar 09

Happy Birthday, Max!  That is right - our little man is now 6 years old...  Unbelievable!  We had a great party for him, and once again Pam out did herself...  Pam even offered up the house for a sleepover for Max and his friends - a total of 3 other boys stayed over...  We watched the Transformers, and all but one boy fell asleep during the movie - makes for an easy night when everybody falls asleep...  We got a ton of great pictures...

We had a good "lesson learned" moment with Nikolai this week.  As you know, they LOVE playing Wii, and Nikolai has learned what "cheat codes" are (from a friend of his).  We told Nikolai that cheat codes were out of the question and that he was not to use them.  Fast forward a few months - there was a book fair at school, and Nikolai said that he wanted to buy some books (with his own money).  He came home with one book, and another $8.99 missing.  We questioned him where the other money was - he said that he only bought one book...  The reality was (of course), that he had bought a book about cheat codes.  It was a hard lesson learned for all of us, and I don't think that Nikolai will be doing that sort of thing any time in the near future...

We went fishing for the first time this week!  It was awesome...  Zander caught a fish on his first cast!  And then I caught one on my first cast...  So the next day we brought the whole family, and everybody did an awesome job - lots of fish for all of the fam...  I caught a monster of a large-mouth bass!  We got some great pix of the kids' first fish...

Max went to a "continuing education" field trip, sponsored by the Governor of AL - he had a great time screaming, "I want to graduate!" for all of the news cameras...  Nikolai also had a field trip to the planetarium... 

Max and Nikolai had a "Parade of Characters" at school - Pam did a kick ass job dressing them up as the Cat in the Hat and Sam I Am.  Adorable!

We also went geocaching with a Trevor and Garretlast week - we only found two of the four that we were looking for...

This past week, Zander had a nasty case of Strep throat (caught from Mommy's Strep throat last week).  He stayed out of school most of the week, but he is doing much better now!

I bought a little $30 indoor remote controlled airplane from Radio Shack  - best money I've ever spent!  It was a steep learning curve!  I like to torment the dog (and Pam) with it...  HAHA!  Now I have a bigger (still electric) plane that will be delivered on 17 Mar.  I can't wait!  Hopefully I'm not reporting that it crashed on my next update...

And now?  Brace yourself for the funniest Max story ever.  The other day, we were in the doctor's office (because of Zander's Strep), and an Air Force TSgt walked in with two infant twins.  Max went up and looked at them in the stroller, and then turned around to me and said (LOUDLY),

"How come kids in the military are called Air Force Bitches?"

To which, dumbfounded, I replied, "Excuse me?"

And he replied (even louder this time), "How come kids in the military are called Air Force Bitches?"

Ohhhh...  Max, I think you mean, "Air Force BRATS..."

I LMMFAO!!!

Quick and dirty update!  We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…

1 Mar 09

I didn't realize it had been so long!  Life has been (as always), pretty sweet in our little world...  Max lost his first tooth!  He was very proud that he now has a "window for his tongue..."  We about died laughing when he said that!  Very funny!

Nikolai got his Wolf Badge last night in Cub-Scouts - he was very proud...  And we were proud of him!  Although this year's "Pack" is not as organized as last year's Pack in Missouri, however Nikolai has still really enjoyed himself this year with his friends...  While one of the Boys scouts (older) was presenting something in front of the Blue and Gold crowd, he got nervous and started to stumble on his lines.  Pam of course started to laugh hysterically (she's mean.)  So I took a picture of her (I'm mean, too...)

Pam also "Aunt Pam'd" the centerpieces, too (Aunt Pam-ing something is a verb - to go WAY above and beyond what is required or expected of you - coined by Ashley and Alexis.  She made some fantastic cupcake and cakey goodness!  Delicious...

A few weeks back, Pam and I surprised the boys with tickets to the circus in Atlanta.  It was a great time - except for the little part of the hour time-change between Montgomery and Atlanta!  I can't believe that instead of being 20 minutes early to the circus, we were 40 minutes late...  The kids forgave me, however!!!

Zander is still living large with his brothers, and he can certainly keep up with them in the Wii games.  They are borderline psychotic about the games, as Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Indiana Jones are the ONLY things that they can talk about!  Oh well - We try to give them as much balance as possible, but they still keep migrating back to the games...

Pam has been picking up an extra shift here and there at the hospital to supplement our investing.  I figure w/ the markets the way they are, she is buying in at a 40-50% discount over a year ago!  Good thing she was not loading up then...  She is really working it for the team!  Way to go, Pam!

Last weekend, I went Deep Sea Fishing down in Florida (Panama City) with a friend of mine that is stationed down there.  While the fishing was AWESOME, the nausea was not!  I have never been that sick in my life.  I think it was a combination of hangover, not enough sleep, flu-leftover, greasy breakfast, and the motion sickness.  I thought I was going to die!  We did clean up with the fish, however!  We caught a bunch of Amberjack (Reef-Rhinos), and they were awesome fighters!  That night we had a wicked fish-fry - all cooked up by a red-neck Cajun boy who knew his way around a kitchen!  Great eats...

Recently, I have made a few purchases in the "technological department."  First, I got a second computer monitor - it is FANTASTIC!  For example, right now as I type, I am watching Eurotrip on the other monitor (great movie).  Another purchase I made was a computer that would be solely hooked up to the flatscreen TV.  The premise was that we could watch shows off of Huulu, as well as networked movies, DiVx movies, pictures, etc.  It was kind of like our setup in MO, but this one was dedicated to the TV (ie, no dual purpose, email, etc.)  However, we can not get the "Streaming TV" part to work.  When it it is in Fullscreen, it jitters, and the resolution is not that great.  And it is certainly is not user friendly.  The reason that I write this is so I have a frame of reference a few years from now when (hopefully) this becomes mainstream...

School is chugging along for me (and the boys) and we still don't know where we are headed yet.  We'll let you know as soon as we figure it out! 

We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…

8 Feb 09

Happy Mardi Gras!  Team Tolmoff just returned from a fantastic (albeit very quick) trip down to the Big Easy for a pre-Mardi Gras celebration.  I don't have a whole lot of time, so I will just hit the highlights...  We drove down on Friday after I picked the boys up from school early, and stayed at the Navy Lodge in New Orleans.  We had a TERRIBLE dinner that was nearby, and then we turned in for the night.  The next day, we drove down to the lower 9th Ward to see with our own eyes what damage occurred from Hurricane Katrina - let me tell you - the damage was WAY worse than I had expected it to be!  There were still a bunch of houses that had the big spray-painted "X's" on them from where rescue crrews searched the house - they were battered and vacant.  Other areas were completely wiped clean with a few crosses and FEMA trailers.  Just sad - so much distruction from one storm...

From there we went down to the French Quarter for a little sight-seeing - the weather was SPECTACULAR!  We walked around and played tourist for a while - the inner-city looks like it had recovered fairly nicely in spite of Katrina and the economy - it wasn't packed with people, but there were a fair number of people milling about.  We had a great breakfast, trolley ride, walk along the river, picture-taking, fun-having day!  After about 4 hours walking around, we were getting tired - plus it was time to go wrestle the alligators! 

We went on the Westwego Swamp Tour - it was quite cool.  There were about 40 alligators that we saw out in the swamp, as well as alligator snapping turtles, Nutrias (BIG rats that looked like beavers), swamp chickens, and more alligators.  They had some huge Gar in a tank, but we did not see any fish (except for the little ones that jumped every now and then.  Overall, the kids had a fine time - we even discovered that Pam is a crack-alligator-spotter!  She was calling out 'gators that no one else saw.

Funny Max story - I told the kids that we were going to be wrestling alligators on our trip, so they were excited/nervous to do so.  But Max would not call them alligators or gators - he would call them "Crocs" or "Croc."  For some reason, when a 5 year old says, "Daddy - when are we going to wrestle the Croc?" - It just made us laugh...

While on the boat, we were talking to an older couple about our trip - we mentioned to them that we were planning on going to the "Crewe du Viewe" parade that night in the French Quarter.  They asked if we were planning on taking the kids - we said yes.  I told them that I had read on the 'net that this was one of the oldest, most historically "Mardi-Gras" parades that the city offered.  They countered with, "And the most racy!"  Pam immediately jumped on the Blackberry for a little extra homework - sure enough - this year's theme was the "stimulus package!"  It would have been awesome for us (adults) to see - but not sure it would have been great for the kids.  So we retired to the hotel and watched the Great Outdoors w/ John Candy - thank heaven for the kindness of strangers, eh?  That would have been a trip the kids would never have forgotten!

The next morning, we were off to IHop for Bfast, and then to Mardi-Gras World for a tour of how the floats and costumes are made for all of the parades - it was very cool!  We got a bunch of great pix of the different kind of stuff that they made - they said this one company produced 75% of the floats for the parades, as well as parades for Universal Studios, and Las Vegas!  They are even the ones that made the huge motorcycle and huge guitar in front of the Hard Rock hotels...  Pretty sweet.

After the tour, it was off (finally) to a parade of our own!  We got to park very close to where we were going to sit, and we decked the kids out in their most festive garb - they were diggin' it - yelling at the floats, and getting dubloons, beads, frisbees, candy, and stuffed animals thrown down to them - the perfect way to end a short but sweet weekend!

We then jumped in the car for the 326 mile journey home - and the kids didn't peep the whole way back.  What an awesome time!

Short (kinda) enough? We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…

24 Jan 09

I don't have a ton of time today, so I will attempt to keep this brief...  Being sick SUCKS!!!  Pam and I have both had a nasty case of the ol' flu this week - Pam had the general feeling of malaise (runny nose, coughing, achy), and I had the squirts, pukes, and shivers!  Not a whole lot of fun...  Couple that with the fact that I had to do a 10 page, IN CLASS midterm - it was not pretty...  I can't wait to get my grade back!  Just when I start feeling better, my throat starts to hurt, and I start to get the sniffles...  YGBSM!!!

Today was Nikolai's Pinewood Derby race!  He did fantastic...  He picked out the color "red", and Mommy did just about everything else...  They had "SpiderCar" (Does whatever a SpiderCar does).  It looked FANTASTIC!  A far cry from last years tank/wedge - and they even won a heat!  They never came in last...  The reason I keep saying "they" is that "I" had "nothing" to do with the whole thing - except for moral support!  Nikolai was very proud of himself - and even more proud of his friend Trevor who won a trophy!  Nikolai did win an award for "the Most Marvelous" (Get it?  Marvel Comics?  It took Pam a while, too...)

Just had to blow my nose.  Sorry.

Yesterday was Max's 100th Day of School Celebration!  Of course SuperMom was out in force with all the decorations, games and activities.  They even had to dress the kids up like they were 100 years old!  There were some students that would NOT break character all day long...  Very cute!

Nikolai and Max both got their report cards the other day, and both did as well as possible!  And I don't mean that in the, "You tried your best" - I mean straight A's for both!  We are wicked psyched...  And the kids are, too!  Because that means they get to strip Daddy of some cash...

The kids have been addicted to Wii.  So much so that we are limiting the use - from the second they wake up, "Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Can we play Wii?  Well?  CAN WE?!?!?!?"  Enough already!  They are very good at it, however!  I guess I can't blame them - it is quite fun...

Last weekend Carolyn and Rob came into town - we had a great (albeit not-very-sober) weekend with them, and their two tiny dogs.  Luna was not such a fan of the barking carpet (a miniature shi-tzu), and she kept pawing at the little thing saying, "What kind of toy is this?"  Pretty funny to watch!

The kids have been riding their scooters everywhere, and we even take Wii breaks for the kids to come on walks with us (with them on Scooters or bikes).  They know better than to complain, because if they do?  NO WII!!!

Zander got to go to school yesterday dressed in his pajamas - he thought he was the Bee's Knees decked out in his fancy robe...  We also got HIS report card back and he also did as well as he possibly could have!   We have great kids!

We rented the house!  The lease has been signed, and we are all breathing a MASSIVE sigh of relief - It has been unoccupied for 7 months, so have a fleet of people making sure that it is in Move-in condition for the tenants...

We still have no idea as to where we are going to be moving this summer, but it is rapidly becoming one of our favorite topics of conversation...  We'll keep you posted!

The computer was giving me some problems over the last few weeks, so I had to re-format the hard-drive, and reinstall Windows and all the programs that go with it.  It took forever (as it always does), but there is a light at the end of the tunnel - This is the last time I'll be doing that!  Next time, new computer... SWEET!!!

I told you it was going to be quick and dirty!  We are off to go bowling...  We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…

4 Jan 09

Happy Birthday to me!  And Happy  almost 3 Week Birthday to my goatee!  I wish that was all I had to say, but oh yes, dear reader (Karen), there is much, MUCH more!  Fasten your seatbelt - it is going to be a wild ride...

The boys and I just returned from a 16 day roadtrip in which we traveled to 14 states, and covered 3100 miles!  It was insane, but - once again - the boys showed they are worth their weight in platinum covered diamond!  We rolled out of here on the 19th of December and headed to see my friend Joe Marek in Charlotte, NC.  I had not seen him in 5+ years, so it was good to catch up.  Interesting to mention that during the 6 hour drive, the boys did not ask to stop once - not to pee, not to eat - nothing!  Until the incident...  Max said (20 miles before we reached our destination), "Daddy, I don't feel goo*BLEHEJKKJFF*!!!"  And he harfed all over everything...  And I mean everything...  I had to strip him naked and bring in a puke grenade to Joe's house.  We finally did get him cleaned up for a good time had by all...

The next day we drove to Washington DC, and after a good night's rest, we were ready to tour!  We went to the Capitol, Air and Space Museum, Archives, and even to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  Then we hopped on a train to see our friend Sue.  Sue had a Wii.  Sue was very popular.  When she asked what their favorite part of DC was, they unanimously agreed - the train...  Why do I bother?  I should have just given them $5 and had them ride the train all day!

The next day we were going to walk around and see all the outside sites - the only problem was that is was 17 degrees and 30 mph of wind.  So. Very. Cold.  Even by my polar-bear-esque standards.  We tried to hail a cab for about 20 minutes while the kids were playing a fun game.  It was called "Whichever 2 boys are holding Daddy's hand will walk quickly and keep up with Daddy while the odd boy out will stop dead in his tracks and start crying."  Fun game - let me tell you!  We were not able to make near the progress that I would have liked to...  We finally did find a cab, and I told the cabbie that he was now our tour guide - and he did great!  We drove around and saw everything we wanted to see.  He even stopped and let us jump out and run to the Lincoln Memorial and the White House so we could get pictures.  We then high-tailed it back to our warm sanctuary.  Worked like a champ, even though there were some boogery faces at the end of the day...

After DC we went to NJ to see Kris and Arin.  It was a remarkably mellow night for the company - it was perfect...  Arin now owns/runs a scuba shop in Cherry Hill -we stopped by and she hooked us up with some shirts and twizzlers!  The kids loved it.  And their 2 gigantic (not to mention shedding) white dogs.  I am pretty sure that we have 3/4 of a dog stuck to our sweatshirts! 

The next day we went to my parents house in CT - the kids had a lot of fun playing with the aunts/uncles/cousins for the few days we were there.  On Christmas Eve my parents and the 4 of us *crashed* a party.  No kidding!  My brother got the ok for us to show up from someone he thought had the authority to invite people to the party.  They in fact did not, so the owner of the house made it very clear that we were not welcome.  So the party was shortlived...

On the brighter side, all of the Tolmoff cousins (besides Hunter) got to go sledding on an awesomely snowy New England day!  Of course now that we live in the South, we don't have the little things, like Snowpants, boots or gloves.  So...  I guess you can say I damned near killed our kids!  We went ghetto - we tied rubberbands around shopping bags which were around their feet - cheap way to waterproof, eh?  The kids actually stayed out for a very long time considering that they all looked like the abominable snowman when they would wipeout on the hill!  Oskar summed it up best when he said, "I wish this day would never end!!!"

On Christmas Day, the boys found out the true magic of Santa - Santa brought toys to both Grandparent's houses, as well as to our house in Alabama!  The boys raked in the booty for sure...  And then we went to my brother's house where they once again played Wii.  Did I mention that Santa brought a Wii to Alabama for our boys?  Why he did not deliver it to CT or MA, I'll never know...

After a few hours at my brother's on Christmas day, we went to the Airport to pick up Mommy!  She worked 7 nights (at about 13.5 hours EACH) in a row leading up to her flying up to join us on Christmas Day.  The boys all agreed that Mommy showing up was the best gift they could have wanted for Christmas (I'm not making that up, either!).  We drove up to Mass to see Pam's family for a few days - we also saw a bunch of the UMass crew (like Liz and Rich), and even some of the Tucson Crowd (Fetus and Marsha).  I went out to Boston for a night and had a rumpus with a lot of the old-school boys - I was feeling it for the next day for sure!

And then the Pats got knocked out of the Playoffs (Thanks, Mr. FavRE.)  And - Our one loyal reader - Karen - blew us off!  She was the only one who blew us off...  So very unlike her (or is it?)  She said something about "car trouble," but the whole thing is a bit suspect to me...  HAHA!

While in MA, the kids had a great time w/ the Rossi side of the family - Since Nikolai and Ryan are about the same age, video games were at the center of every discussion...  Angela made all the fam Red Sox (BLEH!) pillows, and we even managed to squeak in a Birthday celebration for Grandma R!  As always, spectacular hospitality, incredible generosity, and WAY too much yummy food!

We also drove the boys down to Rhode Island as they had not all been there yet.  Pam and I are going to try to get all 3 of the boys to all 50 states by the time they are 18.  It took me until 33.  That was entirely too long!  Which brings us to the state of the states: 

Daddy - All 50 (and DC)

Mommy - 43 States (and DC)

Nikolai - Age 7 - 36 (Plus DC)

Max - Age 5 - 35 (Plus DC)

Zander - Age 4 - 29 (Plus DC)

(all taken from http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedStates)

Not too shabby!  Hopefully we can do a roadtrip and knock out a lot of those West Coast States this summer.  That all depends where we end up after this assignment! 

So...  After Rhode Island, we brought Pam back to the airport and she flew home while the boys and I headed down to CT for 2 more days with my fam.  I got to see Jim and his fam in New Milford - and Ashley and Alexis even watched the boys (with the adult supervision of my mom) for New Years while my brother, sister, and I got goofy at an "ugly sweater" New Year's party (hence the reason for the ugly sweaters in the pictures).  And that is when the fun started...

I picked up the boys from my parents house, and we started the roadtrip back to AL.  We got as far as the NJ/PA border, and then the transmission died.  DIED!  No move.  Nothing.  On New Years Day.  In Easton, PA.  I thought I was going to be sick...  And then I attacked the problem as logically as I could.  I got the van towed to an Aamco (specialize in transmissions), and then got a cab to take us to a hotel (Holiday Inn Express).  The clerk checking us in mentioned the magic words that we did not think that we were going to be lucky enough to hear, "Indoor Pool."  The kids faces lit up!  And then the clerk asked if we planned on going to the "Crayola Crayon Factory."  YGBSM!!!  What are the odds of breaking down 1.5 miles from an Aamco, 2 miles from an indoor pool, all in the same town as the Crayola Factory?!?  Rainbows were shooting out of my butt that day...

Until the indoor pool gave Max and Ear infection...  He was in a lot of pain, and said that he was having trouble hearing, so I took him to the Emergency Room.  Fortunately we were in and out in ~40 minutes, but the ear drops they gave him caused a LOT of pain.  I begged Pam to not make me give them to him again!  After our day of fun and frolic, the Aamco folks were busy repairing the car - and they got it fixed.  In 1 day.  I couldn't believe it!  And apparently, neither could they...  I explained my plight (not to mention I had the boys run around the shop and touch everything they could just for good measure), and they busted their hump to make it happen!  I was very impressed, and at 6:10 on 2 Jan (27 hours from when it broke), we were driving away...  Unbelievable!

We then figured we could still make it to see Carolyn and Rob in Knoxville - And played more Wii!  The kids were jonesin' to get home to play their wii, so when I couldn't sleep at 3:00 in the morning, I got the kids up, put them in the car, and started the trek back home...  We made it home unscathed, and the boys have been playing their wii non-stop ever since...

Thank you to everyone who made it possible!  We had an absolute blast...  Also thanks to the future little-Puddys who will be reading this some day - You guys were AWESOME!  I would not have ever attempted this with lesser kids...  I love you guys!

One last story - Pam "helped" Nikolai make a cake for cub scouts.  It won.  Nikolai made a face as if to say, "I freakin' love to color!!!"

We hope that your New Year has started off great!  We hope that all is going great with you and your family-drop us a line when you get a chance!  And as always, check out the latest pictures…