Our 'Vacation' that we need a vacation from!

Whew!  The last few days have been nothing but a whirlwind of activity!  I will start this out by saying, we do not consider the last week a vacation.  Waking up at 4:30AM (3:30AM CST) was not our idea of a good time, but it was well worth the outcome:)  Kevin and I had our first big trip together and not only did we survive, I think we enjoyed our time together:)

We went into "The City" on one of the first days.  Needless to say, Kevin and I can both CROSS THIS OFF OF OUR LIST OF PLACES TO LIVE.  I have mad respect for those of you reading this who do live in New York, but it was not for us.

We started off at Time Square - I saw Cookie Monster and Shrek!  Cookie Monster was a little too fond of me as you can see here - - - After we had our pictures taken, Cookie Monster demanded that I tip him for his time taking a picture - he felt that $10 was appropriate.  I felt like $0 was more appropriate.  We settled at $1.

We saw Ground Zero, we saw the Statue of Liberty, we rode on a double decker bus, we saw where Payton Manning lives, the list goes on and on and on.

The real point of the trip was to watch my little brother graduate from West Point Military Academy and to be commissioned as an officer after his graduation.  This was not a day long process, it was a 2-3 day long experience!

The cadets preform several types of 'parades' throughout the year.  The graduation parade we have been told is the most impressive.  I have to say, my favorite part is the hats!  How fancy are those!  Only the Seniors or Firsties get to wear the hats with feathers (along with the handsome red sashes).

They really do all look the same with their hats and haircuts. 

The entire week was FULL OF PICTURES! I kept telling Andrew, this is a once in a lifetime moment, we have to document the entire process!  After the parade we took more pictures. 

They must train them not to smile!

 The next day was graduation day!  This was so exciting for me because the POTUS was speaking (oh yea, and graduation was happening to) as the commencement speaker.  Something about being in the same building as the POTUS is incredibly awe-inspiring to me.  There was one, no wait, two slight problems with this day.  Because POTUS was coming to speak they had asked that we all be on grounds by 7AM (graduation started at 10AM), in our seats by 8:30AM.  The weather that morning was not what we were told it was going to be.  So we (all 4000 of us) showed up in nice dresses, sandals, etc.  It was foggy/misty/rainy and about 48 degrees.  It's a miracle that we did not come home with pneumonia! Our seats were also on the other side of the stadium from POTUS, but that did not stop me from taking a hundred pictures (and videos).  

Happy Graduation Andrew!  Don't let go of that diploma!

To finish out the day we had Andrew's commissioning ceremony.  We went out to the shooting range where he has spent the last 4 years of his life as a place to get away and enjoy himself.  Andrew (although he will never admit it) has been one of the top shooters for the Trap and Skeet Team for West Point.  I think that the commissioning was my favorite part of the entire trip.  It was a private/intimate setting with just close friends and family.  There were four cadets who were commissioned out there that afternoon.  I was even more excited because my mom got to put Andrew's officer bars on his jacket!  

Also, let's not forget that I got to go to West Point prom (a banquet for cadets and their guests the night before graduation).  

 All in all a great week, we may not have gotten a lot of R&R but we got to spend some great time with family and friends and made some great memories!

Leg 1 of Kevin and Sarah are Flying Together for the First Time Ever!

Whew - We just blew into the windy city of Chicago, and I before my dear husband gets on social media and gives "his side" of the story, I just feel like I need to share what actually happened this morning.

Preface: Last night we had a conversation about our schedule for the morning.  Drive separate to Topeka, carpool together to the airport.  Leave Topeka at 8, gets us to the airport at 9, gives us two hours to check in before our 11AM flight.  At some point this morning, one of us (I'm not pointing any fingers) forgot what the game plan was.

4AM - Alarm goes off for Kevin, Sarah gets up.
4:15AM - Kevin gets up
6AM - Kevin leaves for Topeka to finish up work
6:15 Sarah heads off to Manhattan to buy socks for someone (again, not pointing any fingers) who couldn't find any clean or dirty socks this morning.
6:30 - Sarah Heads off top Topeka
7:30 - Sarah: Hey Kevin, are you ready?
          Kevin: I thought we weren't leaving until 8, I really need to work until 8
          Sarah: No worries, I'll just kill some time
8:15: Kevin: Hey, I need just 15 more minutes and then I'll leave
8:45: Kevin: I'm leaving the office
9:00: We depart Topeka

It is now 1:40 and we are sitting in Chicago, on our two hour lay over.  We are no longer on our time.... we are on airport time, and I am A OKAY with that.

I realize very quickly that we are now exactly 1 hour behind my planned itinerary.  Throughout the next hour, I believe that there were several references to NASCAR and my driving ability.  I qualified. (There is a discrepancy about what justifies "qualifying" but since this is my blog post and I say I qualified, I did!)

10:01: We pull into satellite parking at the airport
10:15: Excuse me ma'am, I believe that our flight boards in about 15-20 minutes and I think that the line to check luggage is longer than that.  "You should have been here two hours before your flight..." Yes ma'am, I understand, I apologize, can you just please help us?  ... So she barked orders at me, told me to tell Kevin to run to the security line... he did, I ran after him, we got through security, to our gate and make it with 15 minutes to spare by standing in line....

As Kevin said, Want to know how to make an Event Planner who is super attractive and well organized (this is the Hollywood version) get upset?  Show up to satellite parking with less than an hour before you are wheels up.   Truer words could not be spoken

I also see that Kevin has put a warning up claiming that this is a much made up, fabricated story.  I'll let you be the judge of that.....

Until further delays, layovers and qualifying:)

What is in a name?

YIKES!  May is almost half over and I haven't blogged in quite some time.  I keep meaning to write blogs, I think of funny/whity things that I want to share with the world, but I never seem to find the time to write these up.  In fact, I seem to keep meeting myself coming and going.  Kevin has been just as busy, in fact the last two or three days I know that he comes home but we barely see each other long enough to say hello or good bye!

This is a blog post that I have written in my head several times, What is in a name?  It was a question that Shakespeare asked, and Kevin and I find ourselves asking the same question (not as poetically).  We still don't know if we are having a girl or a boy, so we haven't gotten too serious about this whole name game... yet.  We are still throwing around names to each other, if we hear a name we like we will text it to each other and here is what the response typically are.

1 - I would have to hear it pronounced to tell you if I like it or not.
2 - I prosecuted someone with that name
3 - I had a kid in the program with that name who annoyed me.
4 - I knew someone in high school with that name, we can't name our kid that.

Apparently (unbeknownst to me) we both came into this marriage with a list of names that if we had a girl or a boy we wanted to name our child.  A grand total of ZERO of those names share both Kevin's list and my list.  In fact, our lists are so totally different it's a little scary.  This may have been something we should have discussed in our marriage counseling/prep classes.

We have had some great suggestions from some family members.

Kevin Jr (Kevin said no)
Little Bobby (I'll let you guess who came up with this original one)
Little Baby Bobby (again, I'll give you one guess)
Ida Jane (Ida think you better stop sending daily name suggestions;) HA)
Little Bobbie (you know, in case it's a girl)

I suppose we will get a little more serious about this in another month or so.  I hear that they don't let you leave the hospital with a baby with no name.