4 Methods for Flawless Toddler Travel (By: Kendra Thornton - guest blogger)

I'm really glad Kendra contacted me about doing a guest blog post! With many of my readers being military, traveling is must! Be it vacations or PCSing. Here are Kendra's tips! ---

It's hard enough to travel with children locally, but when you throw in the word vacation it can be a true struggle.  There are some tricks to make travel with your little one easier on them and you by default.  By planning ahead, you can all make it to your international travel destination as a happy, healthy and cultured family.

Holidays 2012 - Christmas & New Years!

The holidays are always soooo exhausting! I feel like the older I get, the longer that drive to New Jersey feels.

We got left around 3am and a 12hr drive took us about 15 to 16hrs b/c of the traffic. It was nuts! We saw an accident that was pretty bad on 95N. The top of the car had to be cut off in order to get the people out. Horrible. Other than that, the ride was alright. Alexis didn't get sick and the kids didn't kill each other.. my husband was entertaining, as always. I love driving with him lol On our way home, it took us 12hrs b/c the traffic was non-existent.

Thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving was just like every other Thanksgiving..I ate so much I thought my tummy would burst lol I was up early to start cooking, after drinking and going to bed late last night...nothing that a pot of coffee couldn't cure =)

This year I was especially thankful that Darrell was home again... 2yrs in a row!! I guess his position now does have some positives to it. The kids are healthy and growing like weeds.. my thyroid is under control..I've lost 20lbs.. yay =)

My Christ Year.. 33

My 33rd birthday has come and gone.. October 27, 2012... Nothing big or spectacular lol Just figured I should mention it..

With my husband's schedule how it is, he is hardly ever home. I thought him not being deployed would be a blessing, and it is, but his hours with the instructor position are nuts and we hardly get any time together.. Yes, I'm whining.. I'm allowed =)

So, for my birthday, all I wanted was time together. Just like our anniversary. I'm a simple gal. I don't care about expensive gifts or fancy things. The memories of being with my husband and kids are more precious to me than anything in the world.

North Carolina mini Get-a-way!

The weekend before my birthday (weekend of October 20th) we went up to North Carolina to meet up with the in-laws. The guys wanted to watch the football game on Sunday, Nana wanted to see the kids and I simply wanted to get out of the house! LOL

The ride wasn't too bad, we met about half way. They came down from NJ and we went up from GA. There were a few things that stood out during the ride though..

Suicide Prevention Week - September 9th - 15th, 2012

This week is Suicide Prevention Week.

I met someone a few years ago who had committed suicide. I won't share the story because I don't want to tell it without those involved knowing I am writing of it. I will say that it was a horrible tragedy and affected MANY people. I barely knew her and it affected me. She had a history of being depressed. Research has consistently shown a strong link between suicide and depression, with 90% of the people who die by suicide having an existing mental illness or substance abuse problem at the time of their death.

Babies 2 Boys 2 Men - Growing Up Fast

My baby boys aren't babies anymore =( While I kinda miss the cuddling that comes with the younger age, I'm glad to see them grow older. They have their typical kid moments of not wanting to do their chores and being told to clean up their room, but other than that, my boys are wonderful!

DeeJay just turned 13 in July. A teenager... He is a little interested in girls, but not too much...yet. Girls think he is cute, but he pays them no mind really. Hopefully he holds off longer LOL DeeJay is my gamer child. He loves to play all the COD games and other shooting games as well. Or "murder/death/kill" as I like to call them. DeeJay has had a love of all things army related ever since my husbands first deployment back in 2003. DeeJay had just turned 4yrs old when Darrell deployed the first time. I told him and Richie that daddy had to go to Iraq and help fight the bad guys to keep the good people their safe. DeeJay instantly wanted the little army men with guns and would play with them for hours, pretending to take down the bad guys. When he started to draw, he was drawing soldiers killing the bad guys. He wanted to be like daddy.

Back to School! = Happy Mom

Last week we had the kids open houses and school started this week. Tomorrow will be the first day that all three kids are back in school. Getting up at 6am is totally worth it for a day of peace and quiet. I love my kids, but it's gonna be nice to have the day to myself.

Proud Wife Moment!

Today I went to the WLC graduation to support my husband, just like the other spouses there. They were supporting their graduate - I was supporting my love,

Alexis had her 1st Heartbreak

Two nights ago I had to tell my daughter that my friends Mistie and Roy were unexpectedly moving. So that meant the triplets were leaving too. When it hit her that they were leaving and not coming back, she broke down. She cried for 45mins on my lap.

One Decade Down - several more to go!

Yesterday was our 10yr Wedding Anniversary. With my husbands work schedule we haven't had much time together and he left it up to me as to what I wanted to do. I didn't choose anything that would make you go "WOW".. lol... I chose it to be with my family, spending much needed time together. The hubs and I did a movie together and then we took the kids bowling. Went home and vegged out watching movies, snacking and having a few drinks. It was exactly what I needed.

My "Baby" is now 7yrs old!

I can't believe Alexis is now 7yrs old! Since June 1st she had been counting down the days to her birthday. I won't lie, it was a little annoying lol every morning, "Moooommmmm, guess whaaat?!! X days until my birthday!!" LOL

Skype Helps Keep the Love Alive While They're Away (By: Allison Brooks - guest blogger)

Skype:

Bring you and your solider face to face

Sharing a romantic holiday with your soldier can be difficult, especially when they are miles away, possibly even in a different country. Sending care packages is a great way to share the love, but when you are romantically attached, it does not seem like enough when the one thing you really want to do is share a romantic evening with the one you love the most.

Sending letters during Valentine's Day with cute conversation hearts enclosed or even valentines from the children is something that is always appreciated. For many soldiers, once they deploy, it seems that they do not get to hear from their family nearly as often as they would like, even if they were not in a war zone. On the big love day, it can seem especially lonely.

For some, making a long distance phone call is enough or even sending an enticing letter that will make your nerves tingle. Sending photographs and postcards of the adventurous places you have been to and the things you have experienced is a romantic gesture that many really enjoy. For others, this is not enough for their soldier that they hardly get to see or hear from as it is.

Now, you can Skype with your loved one no matter where they are from your global position. Turn on your computer and "call" their computer and within seconds you can be sitting face to face from miles away. Once you have figured out how to Skype, you can share a meal with each other, talk about your day, share your "I love yous" and whatever else you feel comfortable doing.

For some, the biggest problem with using Skype can be privacy. In a dorm or shared room where a soldier may be staying, he might feel less than accepting of saying or doing things in front of his comrades than he would if he were at home. Children can present a problem for privacy, not to mention a time zone difference. Often times, soldiers are not in the country while they are deployed and their free time is often right in the middle of your night.

No matter what time of the day or night you get to talk to your special someone on Valentine's Day, remember that you can Skype with love no matter who is in the room, what you are doing or who might hear you. It is a great tool to help keep people together, without harsh long distance charges.


*My name is Allison and I am a fun-loving, adventurous being. When my job doesn’t have me traveling I normally guest blog, ride my horse, or hang out with friends. I normally write about natural health and healing, but ever since my boyfriend got word he would deploy I like to share ideas about how to still be you, manage life, and keep the love alive when he is not around. I’m starting a blog of my own, it is called - Musings of a Curious Mind

Helping Someone you Love who has PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur after you have been through a trauma. PTSD in the military doesn't just come from being in a war zone. It can come from other things too... being robbed, being in a horrible accident, being raped or being a victim of any sexual assualt.

Let's start with some PTSD facts -

Experts think PTSD occurs:
*In about 11-20% of Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom), or in 11-20 Veterans out of 100.
*In as many as 10% of Gulf War (Desert Storm) Veterans, or in 10 Veterans out of 100.
*In about 30% of Vietnam Veterans, or about 30 out of 100 Vietnam Veterans.
*23 out of 100 women (23%) reported sexual assault when in the military.
*55 out of 100 women (55%) and 38 out of 100 men (38%) have experienced sexual harassment when in the military.

During my google search I found this - Five Rules for Helping Someone with PTSD


Rule #1: Do not take her behavior personally.
PTSD is not about you. It is about her fear. It is about her anxiety. It is about her pain. It is not about you. Understanding this does not make the problems (or obnoxious behaviors) go away. But it can keep your feelings and your relationship from being hurt unnecessarily.

Rule #2: Set boundaries
Do not under any circumstances tolerate unacceptable behavior.
Do not tolerate abuse of any kind. You are not a punching bag or a target for degrading insults.

Rule #3: Do not expect much in return.
Right now your loved one doesn't have much to offer because they are most likely struggling just to get through the day. You WILL NEED your own support network.

Rule #4: Do not judge.
Your loved one may need/want to talk about it with you. It may make them feel better to get it out and they need someone they can trust to come to w/o fear of being judged.

Rule #5: Have fun.
Remind your loved one of fun times and do fun things together. Even if they don't want to, they might just do it to please you and they might just get into it. Laughter heals...having fun almost always brings about laughter.

((I found this info at http://www.heal-post-traumatic-stress.com/index.html - lots of other great links on this site too))

More helpful links:
16 Ways To Help A Friend With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
HELP WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS (PTSD)
PTSD Support
Help 4 PTSD

If you're an app person with your phone, check out PTSD Coach - PTSD Coach mobile app wins FCC award for helping people use technology to manage PTSD symptoms.

Hope this helps some =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 2 - New Jersey

The second part of our Christmas Vacation was spent in New Jersey with family. The kids had fun for the most part, but Richie was sick for about 3 days...poor kid. I got to briefly see my brother and I spent a few hours with my oldest bestie, Dawn (and her adorable kids). Besides my husbands parents, we also got to see my grandma, my Aunt and my cousin.

We ate out, played pool, jammed to some music on the record player...yes, records... my MIL played all kinds of old hits. Great music.

For New Years we went to the Country Club like we did last year. Had a wonderful time again with the hubs. He tried to get me to dance, but it didn't work out so well LOL

Now, I need a vacation from my vacation!! ((Sorry, no pics this time lol))

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World Videos

Here are a few videos from our trip:

The beginning of the Christmas parade -


Car Stunt Show -






Fantasmic Show -

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (days 4 & 5)

We then went to Animal Kingdom - where we did the Safari ride and saw "Finding Nemo, the musical". The boys and I rode on Mount Everest and braved the 85ft drop and the Yeti! (Yes, I screamed like a baby.) At Epcot, we saw all the countries of the world, ate in China and saw the CandleLight Processional..very beautiful. Our last day was spent in Downtown Disney and finishing up Magical Kingdom. In Downtown Disney we did some shopping and watched "Mission Impossible 4" at the AMC dine-in theater - it was awesome! More pics:

My next post will contain some videos from our trip =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 3)

The kids chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We saw the car stunt show with a special appearance by Lightening McQueen! We saw the parade, the lights show and went on the Tower of Terror... American Idol was cool too. There was also a show called "Fantasmic"...it was an awesome show about Mickey's Fantasia. They used sprayed water as a "screen" to play video clips off of. Loved it! Here's some pics from Hollywood Studio:

More to come =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 2)

Our first day actually on Disney was exhausting, but SO FUN!! We always do Magic Kingdom first because it is the biggest park. We ended up going back on our last day as well to finish it up.

We took the ferry across to the park... I love the ferry!! I also love the view of the castle from the ferry -

Here we met Mickey and Minnie -

More pics from Magic Kingdom -

Fun Fun Fun!!
More to come =)

Christmas Eve/Day 2011

Santa went a little overboard this year =) The boys got phones and sports stuff, cds, cologne... Alexis got a Justin B. CD and a hello kitty cd player, a princess palace, a barbie text thingie and some other junk lol... Santa brought Darrell some stuff for his car and a clock docking station for his ipod touch/i phone 4... Santa brought me elmo slippers, elmo footie pjs, elmo snuggie blanket and a snowglobe that plays "cherish" and is engraved "jamie, my wife, my best friend"... we had scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Now we're getting ready for the second part of our Christmas Vacation - a trip to New Jersey to visit family friends =)

Here is a cute pic from this morning... Daddy and Daughter dancing to Justin B..."Baby" lol