Day 11

Wow...the last day of February already!  Where on earth has the time gone?  It's one of the conundrums of life that the time leading up to a deployment always seems to go by much faster than the time during a deployment.  I guess it's all in perspective.  The more you want to savor each moment, the faster time flies.

Along that vein, today's picture is my 'Donut of Misery':

I'm not sure who originally created the donut, but it has definitely taken off with military spouses.  It's an Excel spreadsheet; you plug in the service member's departure date and projected return date, and get a bunch of different time related statistics about the deployment.  The actual 'donut' part shows the percentage done and percentage to go.  The 'to go' part was actually red when I downloaded the spreadsheet, but I changed it to purple.  I just wish the purple would turn green a little bit faster than it is.

We have now survived weekend #2.  The weather was gorgeous this weekend, so the kids got to get outside and play quite a bit.  Unfortunately, the weather is going to take a turn for the worse in the next couple days.  I just looked at the forecast, and they're calling for possible snow Tuesday evening through Wednesday.  I'm less than impressed, but Gabriel will love it.

And with that, I'll 'see' everyone on day 12 - or, as Taryn said before she went to bed, "See you next month!"

Day 10

Woohoo...our first double-digit day!!  Everyone will be happy to know that I got a brief phone call from Ben today, and he is now officially at the base he'll be working at for the next 355 or so days.  I think it may have been a "be careful what you wish for...you may get it" situation for him, though.  Apparently they gave him just enough time to drop off his bags when he arrived, and then he was off and running at work.  Like I told him, I just hope he remembers the little things like eating, sleeping and bathing...lol.

Today's picture was created just for Ben, so I hope he actually gets a chance to look at it...

I want to apologize that my blog hasn't been more exciting.  Hopefully things will pick up as the deployment wears on, and as the weather gets better and we can get out and do more.

And with that, I'll be back on day 11...

Day 9

Today started with a phone call from Ben...the last one before he left Camp Leatherneck to head off into the unknown (a.k.a. a new base, and his last stop on this crazy trip).  He was worn out and hungry; they had to zero their weapons today, and missed lunch because it took longer than originally thought.  As previously mentioned, he is more than ready to hit that last stop and get to work.  Unfortunately, we don't know when we'll hear from him again.  I'm hoping it's soon, but I know there's probably going to be a lot of work to be done once he gets there.  I'm grateful that I've gotten to hear from him as much as I have thus far; I know there are some spouses out there who feel lucky if they get one call a month.

Not much else happened today.  Tonight's picture shows the lovely dinner Taryn made for us tonight:

Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow, and we'll be able to get out and do something a little more exciting than eating dinner....lol.

Onward to day 10...double digits!!

Day 8

This is shaping up to be a more unusual than usual deployment (if that makes sense).  First, there's the fact that the group of Marines Ben left with has been gone for a week now, and they still have a couple days until they get where they're going and can start the work they deployed to do.  I know he's more than ready to jump in and get going.

Then there's the weather, as evidenced in this picture:

No, the camera didn't have a dirty lens.  Those white flecks are snowflakes.  It only snowed for 20 minutes or so (not nearly enough to impress our friends in Virginia), but it's the second time we've gotten snow here this month.

Last but not least, there's the fact that this past week went back WAY faster than I thought it would.  Usually the first few weeks of a deployment drag like crazy, then time starts picking up a bit.  Not this time...this first week went by in a blink.  I just hope the rest of the deployment follows suit - though I'm sure we'll hit a couple slow spots along the way.

And with that, I bid adieu to day 8.  See everyone on day 9!!

Day 7

Today was actually a pretty exciting day, in its own way.  The day started with a 6:45am phone call from Ben.  He is now officially in Afghanistan, though (contrary to what I said yesterday) he hasn't quite reached the end of his travels yet.  When I posted yesterday, I forgot that he told me before he left that they were going to have to make a stop in Afghanistan to get some classes knocked out before they officially arrive at their new home for the next 12 months.  It shouldn't be too much longer til he's finally done travelling and can get settled into a work routine, much to his relief.  Routine is how he deals with being deployed, so it's been driving him nuts that he has thus far been deprived of anything even remotely resembling a routine.

Our other bit of excitement came at the kids' bedtime, when we got to cross the seventh day off on our deployment calendar (please pardon the not-so-great photography):

If one wanted to be technical, we don't officially hit the one week mark until around 4:30am tomorrow morning.  However, since Ben did leave so early in the morning, we went ahead and counted the day he left as the first full day.  I know deployments are never an exact science, and there's always a chance that he could end up being gone 53 or even 54 weeks by the time it's all said and done.  But until I know otherwise, I'm happy to say...1 week down, 51 to go!!

Goodnight everyone...see you on day 8!!

Day 6

Today has been another relatively uninteresting day (though I at least remembered to post ON day 6, rather than having to backdate the post!). 

I've been lucky enough to be able to talk to Ben a few times since he left on Thursday.  He and his fellow Marines have had an interesting trip.  It seems they got stuck both places they landed; the first time because of bad weather at their next destination, and the second time because they were just a small part of a huge group of people that needed to be moved.  Last I heard, he was supposed to be heading to his end destination sometime Monday evening, but I haven't heard from him again to know what's actually going on.

So now, we wait (and those of you who know me also know that waiting is not my strong suit).  We knew before he left that communcation might be limited once he arrived in Afghanistan.  We're hoping that the longer the unit is over there, the better the communication facilities will get.  We'll see, I guess.

And now, all that's left is the picture of the day.  As I mentioned before, the kids are both making paper link chains, with a link for each day of the deployment.  They looked pretty pitiful for the first couple days, but now they're starting to fill out a bit.  Here they are after the addition of their day 6 links:

Tomorrow's day 7 - almost a week down (though it's not technically a complete week til 4:30am on Thursday)!!

Day 5

Day 5 - better late than never, right?  I realized that I had forgotten to post just as I was settling down in bed, and I figured a good night's rest was just as important as chronicling the nothing that happened yesterday.  Maybe I'll see if it'll let me backdate, so it at least *looks* like I remembered!

And nothing is pretty much what happened.  I got up and got the kids off to school, then took care of all my computer nonsense (e-mail, Facebook, etc).  I did actually make it out of the house...I went out to lunch with a friend of mine who's going to be heading off to the West Coast with her husband this weekend.

We're still working on getting our daily routines set up.  The kids are each making a paper link chain, one link with a note to Ben on it for each day of the deployment.  I'm starting to think that by the time this deployment is over, our house is going to have been taken over by paper links.  We also have our deployment calendar where we note any cool things that happen - parties, concerts, etc.

One developing routine that I'm not sure I like is that Gabriel has been ending up in my bed at some point every night, usually around 4:00am.  I've been trying to get him to tell me why he refuses to stay in his bed all night, but all he'll say is that he doesn't like sleeping in there alone.  I know it's because Ben is gone, but I'm not exactly sure why he's expressing it this way.

Today's picture is from the kids and their wild imaginations.  They decided to be superheroes last night; they had the superhero Olympics and everything.  Without further ado, here are Supergirl and Super Luigi:

See you later here on Day 6!!

Day 4

So, the most exciting thing that happened today is...LAUNDRY!  Harley loved it.  While I was folding a load of clothes, he decided Ben's clothes looked like a good place to curl up:

Other than that, not much went on today.  We were supposed to go to Chuck E. Cheese with the family whose little boy had a birthday yesterday, but that ended up falling through.  We're going to try for next weekend instead.  I was feeling a bit off today; not sure if it's stress-related, or if I'm catching one of the many viruses that seem to be floating around this base.

The highlight of the day was getting to talk to Ben for a while this morning.  He's still stuck in Kyrgyzstan until further notice...not that I'm going to complain in the least about him having to spend LESS time in a combat zone.  I am absolutely loving how much we get to talk right now, since we have no idea what communication is going to be like once he gets into Afghanistan.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll feel better tomorrow than I did today.  I love you, baby!  Good night day 4...see you in a bit, day 5!!

Day 3

Woohoo!  We officially survived the first Saturday of this deployment!!  Not a huge milestone, but a milestone none the less.

Not much went on today.  I was in a domestic kind of mood this morning, so I started the day by stripping all the beds and washing everyone's sheets.  I also cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, and swept the dining room.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate cleaning, so that was a big accomplishment for me.  Tomorrow I get to tackle laundry; I see myself having a couple teary moments as the clothes Ben wore in the last few days he was home come through the wash.  But, I know that this too shall pass, and I will be all the stronger for having survived it.

We had absolutely beautiful weather today, so the kids spent a lot of the day outside playing with each other and with their friends.  It's supposed to get into the low 60s tomorrow, so that'll be a nice change from all the chilly weather we've been having lately.  I am more than ready for spring to hurry up and get here - though I have to say, I'm not sad at all that we missed all the snow that got dumped on our old stomping grounds in Virginia. 

One of Gabe's friends had a birthday today, so we went over to their house for cake and ice cream.  It turned out to be a homemade ice cream filled cake, and it was delicious!  That's where today's picture was taken; check out these two cutie pies:

I also had a correction to make to the events of day 1.  As it turned out, the families could have stayed to see the buses off.  From the way Ben was talking to me, and the way the powers that be were talking to the Marines, I was under the impression that we weren't allowed to stay.  Ben said we could have stayed; he just wouldn't have been allowed to talk to us.  Apparently some of the other families did stay.  I was kind of disappointed to find that out long after the fact, but what can you do?  At least I know I'm allowed to be there the day the buses pull back in!

Can't wait to see what day 4 brings....

Day 2

Today was an exciting day for Gabriel at school.  Not only was it Popcorn Friday, but he also got a special surprise.  Since the kids didn't go to school today, I sent notes to school with them today explaining that Ben had deployed very early in the morning the day before and that the kids hadn't felt up to going to school.  It seems that Gabe's school has some kind of deployment support program, and he brought this backpack home from school:

It contained a variety of goodies...a writing pad and envelopes, crayons, a ruler, a magnet, two stuffed pandas from the VFW, dog tags, a book and a Sesame Street DVD about deployment.  I love that they do things like that for the kids.

Onward to day 3....

Day 1

What can be said about the first day of a deployment?  I'm tempted to say not much, but I tend to be more long winded than I think I'll be.  So, here goes my tale of Day 1...

Our deployment journey began hours before a 0215 muster.  We put the kids to bed at the same time as always, but Ben and I didn't bother going to bed.  We knew that we'd probably have trouble getting to sleep, and consequently have trouble getting up again.  The four or so hours between putting the kids to bed and getting them back up again seemed to drag on forever.  It felt like 'deployment time' had already kicked in, and the deployment hadn't even started yet.

We arrived at the muster point around 0145 and dropped Ben's bags off in quickly growing lines of identical bags.  Ben had the dubious privledge of being a stick leader, so the first thing he had to do was to make sure he laid eyes on all the guys in his stick.  With that accomplished, we settled in to wait.  The final formation was originally supposed to be at 0350; just as everyone was gearing up to go out, we were informed that it had been changed to 0420.  While we were glad for that little bit of extra time, we were also frustrated at the prospect of even more waiting. 

Everyone had been told beforehand that once the final formation was held, the Marines would no longer be allowed to have any contact with their families.  However, what we didn't know until the very last minute was that the families were going to be made to leave before the Marines ever got anywhere near the buses.  As all the Marines were gathering outside, they were told to wrap things up with their families and come back inside.  The Marines were already coming out and walking to the buses before we left...I think that driving away while the buses were still sitting there was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  The drive home was teary-eyed all the way around, and the plan was for everyone to go to bed once we got home.  It didn't end up happening quite that way, as reality set in for Gabe shortly after I tucked him in.  He and I spent some time crying together, and we everyone was in bed by about 5:00am.

And that about sums up day one.  The kids stayed home from school today, so we pretty much just had a well-deserved lazy day.  I've only had a couple of iffy moments today...the first being when I found the note Ben wrote for me before he left.  The other memorable one was when I looked at the clock, saw it was 5:30, and wondered if Ben was ever going to get home from work...and then I remembered he wouldn't be coming home from work.  Sigh.

And thus I end my rambling with a picture, as I hope to do with all the posts in this blog (and for any of you who might be one of my friends on Facebook, sorry for the repeats between my album on there and the remarkably similar pictures that will be posted here).  I only took a handful of pictures this morning, and this one is definitely my favorite. 

Good night to all...see you on day 2!!