Oxygen....

Most little girls always dream about their future. I still remember laying in my bed talking to my best friends about how many kids I wanted to have, what their names were going to be, who I was going to marry, what I wanted to be whenever I grew up, and so much more. I had it all planned out. I wanted to be a doctor (I later changed my mind to nurse and honestly I’m still not sure if I want to be a nurse). After I got my career I wanted to get married and have a big family, 3 or 4 children. I always said 4 because I hate odd numbers haha. But for now the 2 I have make me feel like I have 4(plus my husband who at times makes me feel like I have 2 more kids haha). At that age you never think about the changing poopie diapers 5+ times a day, paying for daycare, teaching a toddler how to pee on the potty, budgeting, bills, and so much more.

Things don’t always go according to plan though. My junior year I found out I was pregnant. And my world turned upside down. I was terrified. I was still a child, and I was bringing a child into this world. My life as I knew it was over. BUT it was not the end of the world. I had a choice to make either have the child and grow up, or become another statistic.. I AM a teen mom (I can’t say was because once you are a teen mom you are always a teen mom). I had 2 children by the time I was 20. They are MY WORLD! They are everything to me. But sometimes I wonder am I a good mom? Will my children grow up and look back and say they had a great child hood? Great parents? I know I can look back and say I had an amazing childhood and I want my children to be able to say the same.

The other night as Adam and I were watching Moms' Night Out. It really was a great movie. I expected it to be more of a comical movie and it was very funny but it is also an eye opener. Within minutes I could relate to the main character. She was a stay at home mom with a working husband who is gone a lot. She didn’t have much alone time and getting dressed up and going out is a RARE occasion. She kind of lost herself while being a mother. Most moms can relate to that, you always put your children and your family first. During the movie the husband, who travels by plane a lot makes a comment to his wife about how, "You must put your oxygen mask on first, in order to be of any help to anyone else.” You really have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. You have to be happy for your family and children to be happy. “You need your oxygen.”

 

This past weekend news got out that a house burned down here at Fort Drum. It was a family of 5 with 2 dogs and they had just recently moved here. EVERYONE was quick to help, donating food for the animals, clothes, supplies, and so much more. It’s amazing how the military really is one big family. Even if you don’t know someone they are more than likely going through something you have already gone through or will go through. Well, a few days later news got out that the mother was arrested for starting the fire that burned down her house. Those same people that were originally wanting to help the mother were judging her. I won’t lie I was one of those people, but then you start to think about it. She is a mother to 3 small children, married to the army, just recently moved, and probably has NO ONE. The military has help. But from my experience they are quick to say no. Adam and I are STILL dealing with a very stressful, unorganized, crazy pcs. And if it wasn’t for my mom and grandma we would probably be living in our car right now. All I can think about is maybe they dealt with the same thing. She needed help and she probably had no one to turn to. Being a military wife is extremely hard at time. Being a mom is also extremely hard at times. Being married can also be hard. Now put all those things together and maybe one bad thing after another and you just hit a breaking point. In this

My very best friend in this crazy military
life. I miss her so much! One day we will be
together again :)

type of life you need a friend. At least one true friend…. Besides your husband. Yes your husband is a great person to talk to but you also need a person to keep you sane. Whether it be having a drink with her, getting your nails done, going out to eat, or maybe just keeping your kids while you run an errand. You may have amazing friends back home or at your previous duty station but you can’t let that hold you back whenever you move somewhere else. You don’t have to lose your previous friends you just have to make more friends. This woman burned down her house. I highly doubt she wanted to do it. I honestly think it was a complete accident. I don’t think she ever had the intention of burning down her children’s home but it happened. And now for the rest of her life she will have to live with it.

Another quotes from Moms' Night Out.
“Ya’ll spend so much time beating yourselves up.  I doubt the good Lord made a mistake giving your kiddos the mom he did.” –Bones

 

ROAD TRIP!!

We decided instead of just driving to New York we'd leave a couple days early and turn it into a road trip. The drive was about 1600 miles so the army gives us about 4 days to drive it(they calculate 350 miles a day). Anytime we drove to Bragg we just drove as much as possible stopped once over night and drove the rest but with this one being such a long trip we wanted to enjoy it instead of being miserable and in the car the whole time. So Friday afternoon I pulled the kids out of school we said our last see ya laters and finished packing up the stuff.. For this drive my mom, Gigi, and brother came along to help. I am a horrible long distance driver so if it would have been Adam and I just driving the 2 vehicles we would have taken a lot longer than 4 days.

Saturday morning we headed out about 5:30am.. My plan was 5am but things NEVER go as planned when a bunch of women are traveling. Adam and I drove the Acadia and we had Brett, Brynna, and Corben in our car, then my mom and Gigi drove the Acura. I started driving first and I drove all the way to Texarkana. When we stopped to get gas Adam drove the rest of the day. Every time we stop to get gas we make everyone get out and use the rest room. Seriously 30 minutes after we got on the road again Brett had to pee and then after we let Brett pee Corben had to pee like 5 minutes later! We stopped on the side of the road for both of them and then continued on our way. Once we got to Memphis our hotel still wasn't available so we headed to mud river. Well once we got there we found out Boidoe(our dog) was not allowed in the gates.. Which I personally think is dumb because its an outside area. But oh well. So we went to a grassy area right next to the Mississippi River and had a little picnic so the kids could run around before the hotel was ready.

We finally got to the hotel changed and headed out to Graceland. At first we weren't sure if we were going to pay for any exhibits but once we got there we saw that you couldn't see anything unless you paid for the exhibits. So we did the graceland platinum tour + airplanes tour. It was so neat seeing everything. My only complaints is I did not like the ipad tour. I understand why they do it but I wanted to take pictures and the ipad just kept getting in the way. Also we took our kids and they were more interested in going to the play ground(which was off limits) and swimming in his pool(which was also off limits haha). It was so amazing seeing all his outfits, awards, accomplishments, and so much more. But it also makes me sad knowing that another amazing artist turned to drugs. Graceland took us about 2-3 hours but it was worth it.

 

 

 

 

 After Graceland we headed to Beale st. It was not at all what I expected. We were a little underdressed and not looking to party haha. Beale st is more like a strip of bars. Well we wanted BBQ and a lot of people recommended BB Kings. They wanted a cover charge so we said thanks but no thanks. We walked down the street a bit more and found Rum Boogie. It was a pretty cute place and had really good BBQ but was kind of pricey. We had dinner and then headed home and called it a night.

 

The next morning we headed out early and our first stop was Nashville. It was only a couple hours away so we were only spending a few hours there before we headed to Ohio. Adam brought up slug bugs while in the car and we decided to play well then he said never mind because he "had to pay attention to the road and wouldn't be able to look for slug bugs". When in reality he was just scared I'd win. The first place we went to in Nashville was the Parthenon. The inside of the building was closed but we got to walk around and take a few pictures so that was neat. While we were there we all went to the restroom and leave it to me to almost leave my phone in the restroom. Thankfully Brett and Adam went in after me and Adam grabbed my phone.

 

 

Then we headed to lunch. We were all starving but we had Boidoe and it wasn't cool enough for us to leave him in the car with the windows cracked.. So we found a pizza place(Pizza Perfect in Nashville) that had a patio and allowed dogs out there. It was a pretty neat place too.

After lunch we made a quick pit stop at the Grand Ole Opry. We would have loved to stay longer but we had Boidoe plus we needed to get back on the road to get to Ohio in time to get to Niagara Falls in time.. Well once we got to the Grand Ole Opry we parked up front got out and took a few quick photos.. As I was taking pictures of the boys I look over and there is Brynna vomiting on the concrete right in between the guitars. She wanted to make her experience memorable haha. Once she was done though she still wanted to take a picture.

 After the Grand Ole Opry we were back on the road for the rest of the evening and headed towards Ohio. Which is where we were spending the night. I drove the first 3ish hours and sure enough while I was driving I saw a slug bug and you better believe I let him know I saw a slug bug while I was driving haha. It became dark before we got to Ohio and I had a little surprise for the kiddos. We had cookies, a glow stick party, and then it was movie time until we got there.

 

The next morning we were on the road again and only a few hours from Niagara Falls. BUT before we got out of Ohio we had a quick stop we had to make to see a HUGE chair. Austinburg, Ohio they have a very large chair that I thought would be fun to take some pictures on and see. Let me just warn you.. This chair is not short people friendly. Holy crap I didn't think I was going to be able to get back down. If any of yall are curious where this chair is the address is 1933 HWY 45 Austinburg, OH. We were also supposed to stop in Tennessee and see a cute pink elephant holding a martini glass. But I completely forgot about it and we ended up passing it by.

 



Once we got close to Niagara Falls I called the hotel we were staying at in Buffalo, NY to see if we could check in early and thankfully it was a week day so we were able to. So Boidoe stayed at the hotel and we headed to lunch before we went to Niagara Falls. We had lunch at a place called Duff's they are supposedly known for their wings(btw if yall didn't know buffalo wings were first made in Buffalo, NY). My drink of choice whenever I go out to eat is sweet tea. Lets just say that drink of choice will now have to change to something else :( sweet tea is disgusting here! HORRIBLE haha. At Duff's my mom order wings with Suicidal sauce on it(it wasn't the HOTTEST but it was the one right below their hottest sauce). Lets just say it really wasn't THAT hot. It was hot but not what I expected. My brother ordered Mild Medium and I ordered Medium Light. I should have went up one or 2 more because it wasn't what I expected. Their signs make you think their sauces are REALLY hot but they aren't too bad. But other than that the food was really good. I recommended only ordering 1 large order of fries for a group of people or just one small order of fries for 2 people to share. Their fries are in a decent sized bowl so we wasted a lot of food not knowing that. 

 

 

After lunch it was time for Niagara Falls. FINALLY! This was the thing I was most excited about with the whole trip. There was a lot of construction going on so it was kind of confusing find our way to the falls but when we found it, it was GORGEOUS! We only saw 2 different falls but we will be going back to see more. And maybe even the Canada side. It was so neat standing at the falls and pretty much being able to just wave to the people on the Canada side. It was a lot of walking but well worth it. Plus it was nice getting to stretch our legs after being in the car for so long. Also, next time I will bring Brynna's stroller. IF you hae never seen the Falls you need to put that on your bucket list. No matter where you live. The Falls are a MUST SEE! We tried to stop by an ice cream place called twist o' the mist but it was closed and it looked like it may have been closed down for good. We were a little bummed about that but we found another ice cream place to stop at for the kiddos. After the Falls we headed back to the hotel and played Uno Dare(oh my goodness that game was hilarious) and watched a movie.

 

The next morning we got to sleep in a bit later than the previous days because we didn't have to be anywhere except the airport at 2pm which was only 2 hours away. Around 10am we all headed out to the airport and grabbed lunch once we got to the airport. It was our last meal with Gigi(my grandma), Vivi(my mom), and Corben(my brother) before they flew back to Texas. I hated that they had to leave but I was so glad they were able to come along for the drive and help :) We dropped them off at the airport and then headed to Fort Drum.. It was only about an hour drive but holy smokes it felt like FOREVER! We found out later on the navigation took us the long way but oh well we finally found it :) And we made it in one piece. No flat tires like our PCS to Bragg haha.