Update From Half A World Away!

So obviously this is Dan speaking this time. Holly did a great job of updating everyone on her last post so I’ll just add some color commentary and share some more of my photos.

First, I want to quantify some facts for you. This is my fourth deployment since the end of 2002, my second to Afghanistan, and my first as a married man (and father to be). That last key fact automatically makes this the toughest one yet. Luckily, it will also be my shortest.

So I finally have reliable internet that won't block me from viewing and/or updating the blog. I arrived in Kuwait in late April and then flew on a few different aircraft and finally landed in Kabul. The living conditions here are probably the best I've had for all four of my deployments. However, believe it or not, I lament the loss of my cot and tent on most days. The accommodations are nice and I greatly appreciate the fact that I can shower every day since that has rarely been the case for me in the past. I will NEVER ever complain about whether the water is cold either having been stuck with no showers for weeks at a time in most of my previous deployments.

Kabul has changed quite a bit but mostly stayed the same. The best part about my job is the fact that I can actually get outside of Kabul and go see other parts of the country. We travel almost exclusively by air and although most of the pictures of myself are sitting on the helicopters we do travel almost exclusively by fixed wing (plane). I don't want to show you pictures of me on the airplanes because then you won't so bad for me that I'm in Afghanistan. :)

We've been to every major base in the south, north, east, and west and I can tell you for certain that this country is just as diverse as any in the world including our own with exception of our coasts. I've flown over mountains that echo the Rockies and have seen valleys so green you'd think you're in wine country of California.

The days here are long but that was to be expected but because of that I find myself often physically drained on a constant basis. Lucky for me, I work in an environment that allows me to sleep in late twice a week. This is not the case for most but it is for me so I refuse to feel guilty about sleeping in…mostly because I’m asleep! We get out of the city about 2-3 days a week which is actually really good because those trips really help to pass the time quicker but it also means that I’m constantly moving and constantly working to coordinate the next trip even as I’m executing the current trip. This is not unlike the conduct of my job back home but a little different given the fact that we travel a little differently when we’re in DC.

Here are some pictures from my many adventures so far! Enjoy!

Welcome To Pakistan!

This is a few of the border from the Aghan side.

This is picture of me in front of Friendship Gate on the border of Pakistan.

Here is a Stryker vehicle rollin' through the desert.

I threw this one in there because it's unique to see these three aircraft all on the same airfield.

This is the Arghandab Valley...green as can be.

Another view of the valley outside of Kandahar.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Crazy kiddos!

So I went in for another appointment this morning and had a nice long ultrasound. I actually had a quick on yesterday and a more thorough one today (no issues, just appointments for different reasons). Well, yesterday the doc had the hardest time getting a heart beat because both kiddos were moving around so much. There were arms and legs flailing around everywhere and neither would hold still. (So, no good pictures from that one)

But today the kiddos wouldn't move. They were just lounging around. One even looked like it had its hands back behind its head and its legs crossed. Talk about some serious relaxing. :) Guess they were just tired from all the action yesterday. I still can't feel any of it, but you can see it all on the screen. The doc had to get measurements of certain parts of the body, and she actually had to bounce (almost kind of punching me with the ultrasound wand) my belly just to disrupt their sleep and get them to shift around. They must be heavy sleepers like me.

Another thing was that the nurse said she thinks they're fraternal. There are two placentas, but they're smashed up next to one another. If a cell splits early enough to create identical twins, it is possible that they will each have their own placenta...and since the placentas are so close together it's hard to tell if that's the case or if they really are fraternal. So we'll see... but that was her 2 cents worth. I'd be okay with that so I don't confuse my kids.

Here is a picture of both kids from the front. You can see both of their faces (still kind of like scary skeleton alien faces). :)

Baby "A"

Baby "B"

Sorry, I didn't use the greatest scanner in the world to scan the photos, but I hope you enjoy. I won't have another appointment until late July, so the next picture updates to the blog will probably be from Dan's trips all over Afghanistan! :)

Double the Updates!

So most of you know by now that Dan and I found out about 5 weeks ago that we're pregnant. Then about 2 weeks ago we found out that we were having twins! We were absolutely in shock about it, but we're getting excited about the additions to our family.

I went in to the Dr.'s office last Tuesday to get the results of my lab work. Everything came back fine so far, and the nurse did a second ultrasound. Here's the photo.

During the ultrasound I was able to see little flickers of light that was their heartbeats. I also saw the one on the left move a little bit. It looked kind of like a small ab crunch or a sneeze (but it was probably neither since the babies don't have abs or noses yet). But that was kind of fun. It was also just nice to be able to look at the picture and smile...where as the first time I had an ultrasound I was far from smiling...I couldn't do much other than count to two over and over again in my head and say "oh my goodness....there's two of them!"

Other than that, our lives are crazy as is. I left Charlottesville yesterday and I will be headed back to Fort Lewis on Tuesday morning. I'll be there for several weeks while I work on getting out processed, then it's off to CA for a visit, and then back to D.C. to find a place to live and welcome Dan back at the beginning of September.

Dan has bee doing well out in Afghanistan. He travels around a lot, but it's all by air, so that makes it significantly safer. His job is challenging, but not because of the work he's doing... more because of the personalities that he's working with. Let's just say he has a lot of chances to practice patience. It's also hard not to be able to be here with me going through the pregnancy. It just makes him wish he were home that much more. But other than that, things are going really well for him. He got to Kandahar a couple weeks ago and visited with a lot of people from our unit, so it was great to see friends. Here's a picture of Dan and Tommy a few weeks ago. :)

That's really it for now. I have my next Dr. appointment at Ft. Lewis on the 18th, so maybe I'll have more pictures after that. I'll make sure to update sooner next time! :)

Family Visits

So within the last month, we've gotten the opportunity to visit with a lot of family. A few weekends ago Dan and I took a quick trip up to Valparaiso, Indiana to visit Sean and Ty (Dan's bro and sis-in-law). We had a great weekend of just visiting and playing Wii (and I did a lot of "shooting hoops" with Dane).

Then the next weekend we went down to North Carolina to visit with Dirk and Erin and Dan's parents. Again, it was a quick trip down there, but it was great to surprise Big Bri for his birthday and to spend some quality time with everyone down there. (We also retrieved Boscoe, and he is now living with me in Charlottesville...what a treat.)

Then this last weekend my brother Mike was out here for work and chose to stick around a few days to spend some time with me and Dan (thanks for letting us borrow him, Kallie...we appreciate it!) We spent some time walking all around the city on Friday and had some AMAZING seafood for dinner. Then Saturday we had a lot of great food and played a lot of Wii. Then today we went to church (yes, we made it to the early service even with the time change) and a brunch and then Mike headed home. It was a great visit, and we're very glad to have had so much time with family in the last few weeks. We love our families!!!

Don't have a cow!

(This is Holly typing) :) There are many things that I have come to like or appreciate by being out here in Virginia (just look at my post about the fall if you need more examples). But one of the funniest things is my love for cows! I love cows! I drive by thousands of cows each week as I drive to/from work and to/from D.C. (my favorites are brown cows). When the weather is nice and my windows are down, I'll often yell "hello cows!" or "good morning cows!" One day there was a cow right up near the road (on the other side of the fence, of course) that was staring into the sun and squinting...but I swear she was smiling at me. I also love seeing tiny calves running around fields. That will make my day.

But the tragically ironic part about my new love for cows is the fact that my belly has decided to hate cows. After having an upset stomach for about 5 weeks, going to the doctor, and changing up my diet, I've learned that I've become extremely lactose intolerant. No more milk or cheese...or even anything with milk product in it. What an unfair thing for someone who loves milk, cheese, and ice cream so much. It's going to be difficult, but at least it's managable (and thank God for lactaid pills).

And if you're worried...don't be. I'll still say good morning to the cows! :D

Winter Wonderland!

So this post will obviously be dedicated to the recent snowstorms that hit the area but also a few brief announcements are in order.

First, Dan (that's me) moved from his one bedroom apartment in Arlington, VA to a three bedroom house in Springfield, VA. It's pretty decent house with plenty of "Boscoe" windows for the big guy to sit at and watch the happenings of the outside world. It also has a decent size backyard for him to roam around and bark at the cars that drive by on the other side of the 495 soundwall which is across the street.

The new house!

Second, it's not official yet but it looks like I'll be deploying for a few months to Afghanistan to support my current boss. The deployment will be very short in duration, comparatively speaking, and very educational to say the least. This was a decision Holly and I made together for a number of reasons which don't need to be discussed here but we just simply ask for your continued prayers and support. I should be home for the start of football season...I'll leave it at that. :)

Finally, onto the snowstorms!

Holly really liked the icicles!

If you have been living in a cave, you may not have heard but the mid-atlantic area got hit pretty hard in the last couple of weeks with substantial amounts of snow. So far, the total this season is at about 55 inches which beats the 54 inch record from 1889!

Poor California Jetta had no idea what to do with itself with all this snow!

First we were hit with about 12-18 inches back in mid-December and then we were hit with another 6-10 inches on 29-30 January. THEN we got hit HARD this past weekend with about 24-30 inches and just when we thought we'd be able to dig ourselves out...here comes another one! So we got hit on Wednesday (10 Feb) with another 18-20 inches of the white stuff.

The picnic table in our neighbor's backyard seen in this picture is now buried!

Phew...now I know that's not a big deal for some folks who are used to getting massive amounts of snow but for the DC-Metro area, it pretty much shut down everything...to include all federal agencies. That being said, I got four free days off from work! And thankfully, the cable guy came out on Tuesday (the only lull in the weather so far) to install cable and internet in the new house which has significantly contributed to my sanity.

This is the end of my street...which has yet to see a plow to date!

By the by, people out here can't drive in the snow. Apparently 3 feet of snow means you can do whatever you want, park wherever you want, and tailgate whoever you want. Not to mention the nice people who shovel out their cars into the street! Grrrr....

Anyhoo...enjoy the photos!

October, November, December

(so far)

Wow... it's been a long time since our last update, so you're in for a big one. :)

In October while Dan was off and about with all of his travels, I was down here in Charlottesville enjoying the fall! For the first time I really fell in love with the fall. The air was cool and crisp even though it was sunny and the colors on the trees were amazing...and unlike the past several falls we've experienced in Washington, here ALL the trees change colors.

The weekend that Dan was in Iraq I visited an apple orchard that is here in Charlottesville. It was really fun to walk around and pick apples. You could also eat as many as you want while you picked... you only had to pay for the ones you take home in a bag (vis in your belly).

Self portraits aren't easy when you're eating an apple. :)

The apple orchard store

When I was done there I drove around C'ville and tried taking some pictures of the beautiful colors. The trees had just passed their peak of beauty a few days before and cameras can only capture a fraction of the real majesty of it all.

This is one of my favorite trees because it never changes... only it's backdrop.

We started off November with a trip to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA. There were builds and farms from several different centuries and from across the world. Very interesting to see how people lived. I think our favorite parts (as you can probably tell by the pictures) were the animals. It was a fun trip.

These poor guys don't know that "Turkey Day" is only 2 weeks away.

November also flew by since it was my birthday, Dan's promotion to Major, and Thanksgiving. My parents came to town for all of those events and we all drove down to North Carolina to spend the holiday with Dan's family. Definitely a great time.

Mom, Dad, and I went on a night tour of the city.

Now it's December and we're doing a pretty good job at keeping busy. We have a new neice named Audrey Grace McKean! What a blessing. Dan's been traveling almost every work day of the month so far. We will go out to California for the week of Christmas and we're both pretty excited about that.

This last weekend Dan and I took the bus from D.C. up to New York City for the day. We got to NYC at about noon, walked around the city for a bit before grabbing lunch at Connolly's and then going over to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was a great show. We really liked it. It had a lot of great acting and lots of new songs and good choreography, but we both agree that there just wasn't any magic/chemistry. Not really a show you need to see more than once, but it was definitely enjoyable.

After the show we walked around the city for a bit. Our plan was to go see the tree in Rockefeller Center and go ice skating. Well, when we got there it was surrounded by a huge mob. We found the ice rink, but the line was impossibly long so we decided we'd pass. Too bad. I realized that I've been very disillusioned by Christmas movies that take place in NYC. They also look so peaceful and romantic. It's all false. It's mobs and mobs of people that all want to go in opposite directions stand in your way to take pictures. Oh well. I told Dan that I'm just going to have to be an actress or an extra in a Christmas movie so that I can experience it the way I had preconceived. Ha.

We walked around a bunch. The Bloomingdale's building had a bunch of gianormous light-up snowflakes on the side of the building. As we were walking by, they did a big light show with the snowflakes to the Carol of the Bells. It was very impressive and fun to watch. We had a great steak dinner at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse. We went to Macy's to go see the real Santa, but by the time we got there we didn't have enough time to "go through the North Pole" to see Santa before we was "going to bed for the night" (quotes are from the nice elf that was helping us out). Too bad. Woulda been fun to meet the old man.

We got on our bus at 10pm and headed back to D.C. It was a long day, but a great time. We're going to make sure to plan more trips up for shows.... but next time we'll make sure it's not Christmas so that we can get around town with a little more freedom.