Hot Fun in the Summertime

July has been a crazy, busy, hot, fun month. It all started when McKenna came to visit for the summer. Kentucky, along with most of the country, was experiencing a record breaking heat wave. Kenna has handled the heat well and I haven't heard a single complaint from her.

Even though she is only a junior Kenna wants to take some senior pictures while she is here.

For the 4th of July Kelli, Kenna and I went to a Louisville Bats baseball game. A minor league baseball game on the 4th has become a tradition for my family. I didn't tell Kenna where we were going and she was suprised when we pulled into the stadium parking lot.

Despite the heat and the Bats losing the game, we had a lot of fun. Also because of the holiday we were treated to a fireworks show after the game.

Since this is Kenna's first time in Kentucky, Kelli and I have been showing her some of our favorite spots. 

We have gone hiking a few times.

Visited Lincoln's birthplace.

Ate pizza in the old jailhouse.

Another thing we have done a lot this summer is swimming. Earlier the summer I learned to swim and Kenna wanted to learn when she got here too. At first she was a little nervous but she soon got comfortable as long as she could touch the bottom. After a couple days Kelli and I pressured her to jump in the deep end. She jumped a couple of times hanging on to the ladder. Finally we made her do it without hanging on. By the end of the day she was doing cannonballs in the middle of the deepend. We call her Cannonball Kenna now.

This past weekend was the campground pig roast/potluck. The campground provides smoked pork and everyone contributes a dish. It is really good and a good time to socialize. This year they also had skydivers and a fireworks show afterward.

(There was a burn ban in effect during the 4th of July so we couldn't do fireworks then.) It was a fun night and a good show.

We are only half way through Kenna's visit. We have had a lot of fun and have a lot more fun planned.

June Bugs

I was realizing the other day that I haven't updated my blog for a while. Now that I am really thinking about it I realize it is because I haven't done anything in June to blog about. May was a crazy busy fun month but June... kinda sucked.

June was hard for me. Meric has been gone for 3 months. Silly, naive me thought that the beginning of Meric's deployment would be the hardest. I figured after the first few months I would get use to it and it would get easier.

Boy was I wrong. As much as I missed Meric the first couple of months weren't that bad. He hadn't been gone very long, we talked on Skype all the time, and Kelli was here. Life was almost like a vacation I was taking with Kelli. We would go hiking and do fun things. I would take pictures and send them to Meric. I had a couple of rough days here and there but basically we were having fun.

But the longer Meric was gone, the more reality set in. THIS IS LIFE. I was having fun and doing all of these things and Meric wasn't here to be a part of it. Meric wasn't going to be here to be a part of it for quite a while.

Doing life without Meric here just felt wrong. How could I be having fun without him? How could I be living life without him? It really hit me hard after running my first 5K. That was a huge accomplishment for me and something Meric would have loved to do but he wasn't here. After that it was really hard for me to want to do anything.

Unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do to fix my problem. It is a mental block I have to work out for myself. After a couple of weeks in the slumps I started to pull myself out of it. It is still hard to be without my best friend and partner but I can't stop living life. I can't just stop and wait for Meric to come home.

I am very blessed though. I have good people around me that are keeping an eye out for me and checking to make sure I am okay. Also I don't know what I would do without Kelli. She helps me get out of the house and do things. And in about a week Kenna will be coming to join us. We have so much planned for her visit. It will be a fun summer... I just wish Meric was here too.

P.S. June wasn't a complete waste. Kelli started volunteering for the Red Cross at the hospital on Fort Knox. She helps out in the office and also in the lab. Yay for her, she gets to draw blood! I am learning to swim. I actually have caught on a lot quicker that I thought I would. Now I just have to get more confident and skilled. So I guess June didn't totally suck.

Throo the Zoo

On Saturday Kelli and I completed our first 5K. We are both trying to get into shape and know that running is a good way to accomplish that. Of course neither of us really like running so we needed some motivation to get us started. When we heard about this 5K we figured it was a great place to start. A 5K is just over 3 miles, so not super long, and this one is called Throo the Zoo. Why? Because you literally run through the Louisville Zoo. What could be more fun than that?

To prepare Kelli and I started running about two weeks before the race. (Really we should have started a LOT sooner.) It quickly became apparent to me that I am not good at running and that there was no way I would be able to run the entire 5K. I have a runner's watch which helps me know how far I am running, what my pace is, how long it takes me to go a certain distance etc. It really comes in handy while training. I have my watch set to beep every 1/4 of a mile and usually by a 1/2 mile Kelli and I need a break and start walking. We kept training and improved a little but still couldn't come close to running all that way. Also to prepare Kelli and I went shopping! We had to get cute outfits to run in, after all we are girls.

The day before the race we headed up to Louisville to pick up our race packets and t-shirts. The t-shirts had an image of a giraffe on them and since Kelli really loves giraffes it was another reason to do this 5K. While in Louisville, we also drove by the zoo just to get our bearing as to where we need to be the next morning.

Kelli and I before the race.

The next morning started early for us. I wanted to be at the zoo by 7 am so that we could easily park and be ready for the race at 8 am. Definitely my father's daughter wanting to be an hour early! We got great parking and were more than ready to go by 8am. I made sure I had brought my watch and set is for the 5K distance. When the race started Kelli and I kept a good pace as we weaved our way through the starting crowd. By the time we hit a 1/2 mile we both are amazed at how good we feel and don't need to walk. When we reached the 1 mile mark we are still keeping our pace and feel good. At the 2 mile mark we have the definite goal to run the entire course. With only 2/3 a mile left we hit a long up hill stretch. I really wanted to give up and start walking. I kept pushing myself and soon we were up the hill. With only 200 yards left Kelli's shoe came untied but still there was no way we were going to stop. We finished the course in 34 minutes and 20 seconds and we ran the entire way! Kelli and I were surprised and extremely proud of our accomplishment. 

 After the race there were tables set up that had food, protein bars, bananas, water and sports drinks. We sat in the grass eating and enjoying our victory. I was glad for the bananas because my new braces still make it hard to eat. Along with the 5K, food, and t-shirts we are allowed free access to the zoo for the day. Kelli and I spent the next few hours wandering the zoo. After a while our sore feet caught up with us and we headed home.

Giraffes, Kelli's favorite

Rhinos

Elephants

Lions

Tigers

Under water polar bear, oh my!

For our first 5K I think we did awesome. We surprised ourselves and pushed ourselves to new limits. Throo the Zoo was definitely worth every penny and if I am still in Kentucky next year I want to do it again. Of course next year I will train better so I can keep up with Meric.

Kelli the gorilla!

Will this ever get easier?

Will this ever get easier? I have been asking myself that question a lot lately. Other people who have been through this tell me that it will. They tell my to give it time. They tell my that the pain will go away. But the pain is still here everyday. Normal things are hard to do. Sometimes even eating feels like a chore. I miss the way it use to be. Kelli is no help and makes fun of me. I just don't know if I can handle this for 2 more years.

 
I got braces! It is something I have been thinking about for years now. I hated my crooked teeth and one of my canines was still a baby tooth. With Meric's encouragement I finally went to an orthodontist for a consultation. After the 1st consultation I wasn't sure I still wanted braces. The doctor and staff were really nice but the process just seemed so complicated. It would have taken 3 more visits with them before I even got the braces on my teeth. Also I would have to see another specialist and get a CT scan because of my baby tooth. It just seemed so complicated.

Meric encouraged me to seek out another orthodontist for a second opinion. This time I felt better about getting braces. I will still have to see someone else because of my baby tooth but still less complicated with this office. They had it set up to do my records the same day if I decided to proceed with braces. I got all the x-rays and molds done the same day as my consultation. They also scheduled me to come back in 5 weeks to get my braces on but put me on the list to come in sooner if there was a cancellation. Because of that I actually got my braces on less than a week after my consultation. So fast and so easy.

Acutally getting braces on was fast and easy. It really feels weird to have so much stuff in my mouth. Eating is a little complicated and my teeth and gums are really sore. I also have a couple of springs in my mouth. One on the bottom front teeth because they were overcrowed and one over the baby tooth to help make room to bring the adult tooth down. I miss being able to just eat without pain. It is weird to always be thinking about brushing my teeh and cleaning them out everytime I put anything in my mouth. It will be a long time before I eat in public again. I just hope everyone is right and that it gets easier. On the brightside, I definitely don't look my age!

Kentucky Derby

Every table was decorated with a unique horse head

 Believe it or not the Kentucky Derby is kind of a big deal in Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuous running sporting event in the United States it has been ran every year for the last 138 years. Up in Louisville, there is a constant party for days leading up to the derby. Schools and offices are closed the Friday before the race because everyone is too busy having fun and getting ready for the derby. Fancy hats are sold everywhere. Cakes are made to look like jockey silks. (Silks are what they call the jackets that jockeys wear.) 

Some of the "seasonals" enjoying the Derby fun

Kelli and I were invited to join in the derby festivities at the campground. There is a group that gathers from all over every year to come to the campground and celebrate the derby together. They have been making this trek for over 20 years. There is an all day potluck and everyone enjoys the races on TV. They even have computers set up and people taking bets for all the races.

Horse head and mint julep

 Mint juleps are also part of the derby tradition and the official drink of the Kentucky Derby.. A mint julep consists of bourbon, crushed mint, sugar and water and is typically garnished with a sprig of mint. They sound really gross! Kelli and I really had fun getting to know more people and we even learned a little about betting on horse races.

Kelli and I holding our ticket

We bet $6 on the Kentucky Derby itself. We chose 2 horses and bet $1 "across the board" on each of them. That means we bet $1 for WIN, SHOW, and PLACE. Win is of course if the horse wins. Show is for 2nd place and place is for 3rd. One of our horses did okay but ultimately didn't make the top 3. Our other horse was at the back the whole time and then at the very end came from the outside to place 3rd.

Kelli collecting our winnings

It was fun betting just because it actually gave us someone to root for during the race. Our winnings came to a whopping $17.25. It was a lot of fun just being a part of it all.

Here, There and Everywhere

Start of our hike at Saunders Spring

This past month has gone by really slowly. Kelli and I are having fun and keeping ourselves busy but for the past month we have been doing it without sugar. I miss sugar!  Saturday we  completed our month without sugar and celebrated with some Slutty Brownies. They are cookie dough topped with Oreos and Peanut Butter cups with brownie mix poured on top. They turned out a little gooey but still YUMMY!

This past weekend Kelli and I helped with the campground clean up. Every year the campground has a big clean up to get it ready for the camping season. Everyone is given assignments and works hard around the campground clearing out dead branches, cleaning signs and bathrooms, power washing picnic tables, landscaping, etc. We helped plant flowers by the pool. It was hard work but a lot of fun. That night everyone got together for a potluck. I love living at a campground and having so many wonderful neighbors that I actually know and hang out with.

The flowers we planted

We have also gone on a few hikes this past month. Kentucky is so beautiful and there are several places to hike and enjoy the beauty.

Beautiful trail

The last hike we went on was at Saunder's Spring. It is located very close to Fort Knox and I have actually driven by it several times. From the road you can see 3 cabins that are at the entrance.

Cabin at the entrance to Saunders Spring

Me being silly

Kelli being silly

Once you pass the cabins, there is a little road that leads back to several hiking trails and picnic areas. It was a lot bigger than I realized (26 acres) and a lot of fun to explore.

 

 

Another place I have been meaning to go to is Jailhouse Pizza in Brandenburg. Brandenburg, KY is about 45 minutes away from where I live and is located on the Ohio River.

Kelli standing by the Ohio River. Kentucky on one side and Indiana on the other

 Jailhouse Pizza is a pizza place operating out of on old jail built in 1906.

 They encourage you to wander the restaurant and explore the old cells.

 You can even see the trapdoor where they use to hang people.

Kelli standing over the trap door

It was pretty interesting and the pizza was really good. It will definitely be visited by us again.

Despite the pizza, Kelli and I have been trying to get into better shape (hence the no sugar) and prepare to someday run in a Tough Mudder event. We started the P90X workout 2 weeks ago. It is kicking our butts but we are really enjoying the results we are starting to see. Though there are several times I would like to punch Tony Horton in the face. (I like him just fine but he pushes you and I am violent.) We have several more weeks until we complete this program and then we will start P90X 2! Yes, we are a little insane.

Meric is doing well but is a little ready to come home. He just wants to be a part of all the fun Kelli and I are having. We get to Skype every night which is a huge blessing. It is fun because he is doing the P90X program with us. Even though we are so far apart we still have something we are both working on at the same time.

This Just in From Afghanistan

So Mandy has been harassing me to write a blog about my deployment so far. Normally she writes them all and I proof read them so this is a change for me.

Well I started my deployment by going to Ft. Benning GA first to attend the CONUS Replacement Center(CRC). CRC is where they make sure that all your medical stuff/vaccines are up to date, you have completed all the required training, and get issued all your deployment gear. It is for military, other government employees, and contractors who are going to combat zone.

Mandy stayed the first two nights with me. We booked a cheap hotel room that had decent reviews online. When we got to our room it reeked of cigarette smoke even though we had requested a non-smoking room. So we called the front desk and asked if there had been a mistake. The front desk person said that was a non-smoking room but changed our room for us. The second room smelled even worse and the window wouldn’t open to let fresh air in. So we called back and the front desk person again was surprised by it but said there were no more rooms and that we could go back to the first one. Needless to say we went back to the first one and bought a couple of bottles of Febreeze to make it smell a little better. You can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Mandy dropped me off the first day and I checked in and got my room but stayed at the hotel with her that night. It was hard to say good bye to her when she dropped me off again the next day. 9 months can seem like an eternity at the beginning. I do look forward to the end of my deployment and going back home to her.

The rest of that week was actually pretty boring. My home unit had made sure I had pretty much all my pre-deployment stuff done before I got to CRC. So I ended up doing a lot of sitting around and waiting while everyone else got all their pre-deployment stuff done. I did get meet some great people and we did go to the shooting range one day which was fun.

At the end of the week we flew out of Ft. Benning to Kuwait with a few hour lay-over in Ireland. I can say that I have been to Ireland although all I really saw was the airport. The flight was a civilian run airline contracted by the Army. We had to keep our firearms on us(with no ammo) but any knives or sharp objects had to be placed in our checked luggage(because all the military folks are going to hijack their own plane). It was late at night in Ireland when we got there and we were only supposed to be there for 2 hours so we deplaned and hung out in the terminal. Well, 4hours later we still hadn’t re-boarded yet. There was free Wifi which kept crashing so trying to use the internet was a major pain and most everyone gave up after a little while. They fed us some food and several people tried to get some sleep on either the uncomfortable benches or hard floor. We finally flew out at sometime around 8am for Kuwait. I was exhausted by the time I got there.

Kuwait is called tent city because it is full of tents and is just a transient post for people going to and from deployments. I was worried that I would get stuck in Kuwait for a few days but they had a flight in a few hours to Bagram Airfield(BAF). The flight to BAF was on a military C-17. Last time I was in one of those I fell out(go airborne). C-17s are big and enclosed so there are no window seats and the chairs didn’t recline. We arrived in BAF in the morning and from there I was put on a stand-by list for a flight to Fob Fenty. Unfortunately, there was some bad weather in BAF and a couple of flights got cancelled so I got push way down on the stand-by list. I ended up staying 3days in BAF. Luckily the Concussion Care Clinic(CCC) in BAF only had 2 patients so they allowed me to stay there. Otherwise I would have been stuck in a tent for 3days. The CCC in BAF is nice and had its own MWR internet café. I was able to skype with Mandy everyday and MAJ Brown the chief of the clinic showed me how she ran things there. Most of the day I spent running back and forth between the CCC and the airport seeing if I got on a flight. Finally I got on a flight late at night and arrived at FOB Fenty at 3am.

My clinic at FOB Fenty

FOB Fenty is nice and smaller than BAF which was nice but it is still a larger base here in Afghanistan. MAJ Gray the OT that I replaced showed me around and introduced me to everyone. We had planned a 3 day overlap so she could show me everything but that turned into almost a week as the weather interrupted flights and she had to wait to get on a flight to BAF and from there to Kuwait. She was also leaving the same time as the major unit here was pulling out and being replaced by another unit. So there were a lot of people coming and going. That made the FOB very congested and busy. Hopefully I will miss some of that when I leave because the new unit is only here for 9 months as well. 

The first while here was very slow and I didn’t have any concussion patients. I would help the aid station out by seeing people that had an arm injury or tendonitis. I was very bored and tried to find things to fill my time. We say that it is good for me to be bored because it means that people aren’t getting hurt. But, it sure makes the time go by slowly. When the new Physical Therapist got here we started traveling to the different smaller FOBs to assist the medics and Physician Assistants by seeing any patients that fell within our scope of practice. We go to the different FOBs by helicopter which is fun(I wish I could go everywhere by helicopter). The following month started to pick up a little as the new unit got settled in and started to go out on missions and the fighting season started(the insurgents don’t like to fight when it is cold so they don’t do much over the winter). The war here is in a transition phase as the Afghan National Army is being required to take a more active role in suppressing the insurgency and the U.S. troops take on a more mentoring type role. Hopefully, it stays quiet here. Well that is all that has occurred so far.