Wamego, Kansas

Not to far from our new home of Manhattan (Kansas not New York) there's a cute little town called Wamego. It's tiny and quaint and we considered moving to a house there when we got here. But there's also the Wizard of Oz museum there.

 

So of course we went.  It was a fun little place. Apparently they have an Oztoberfest every year. I think we'll be going next year. (And when I say we I mean probably just me) but there's a munchkin lookalike contest. 

 

 

Angry Birds

Right. So this is December, but I thought I'd share pictures from Halloween. Jeffrey decided he wanted to be the black bomb angry bird for Halloween. So about a month and a half before I started thinking how I was going to make a costume for him. I found a great tutorial online (which I can't find right now) that showed me how to do most of it. I have to visualize things for a while before I start making the pattern so I pondered the arm and neck holes for a LONG time. Long enough that my mom had come by then and told me how to do it in like 3 seconds.

We moved on the 28th so we were able to go to Cory's work trunk-or-treat which was pretty fun. What's an angry bird without any pigs to squish? So we made shirts to go along with him and since Sugar was here to help us move, she got to wear one too! Cory was the king pig, I was the mustache pig, and Sugar got to be the regular pig.

(I've said it before and I'll say it again, my mom has amazing eyes!)

Jeffrey is making the angry bird noise in this picture. He totally embraced the character of the angry bird.

Here they are playing a real life version of the game. Have no idea what we're talking about? You should get the app from iTunes, very addicting launching birds at all those pigs!

I locked my pack out footlocker in the shipping container. This is a small footlocker of items that precede us in our road to deployment so that we may meet up with the items shortly after arrival. There is not much room in our bags we carry with us for personal stuff, so this is a chance to get ahead of the game by sending pillows, novels, DVD collection, or a guitar. I will hand carry my camera, but it was great to pack out a light stand and umbrella.  

Jeffrey gets upset when I come home from work and have to do homework instead of playing with him. I have made a commitment to myself to eat a quick breakfast and brown bag a lunch each day so that I can do homework at work. I would rather stay a little late at the office and arrive home ready to give him my full attention than to disappoint him even for a 20 minute use of the computer.

This 10 inch Toshiba notebook I picked up back in Oklahoma serves me well. It is easy to keep my planner, homework, and even Photoshop with me. Target had some small notebook cases just big enough for the computer, mouse, and plug. 

FT Riley has some great facilities, but the dining facilities are the worst. I took one bite of my pancakes this morning and put up my tray. I will need to look at a FT Riley map and find another place to spend my $2.30 in the morning. That is one thing I miss about FT Carson. Most of the dining facilities there were like restaurants.

A Broken Foot

So I was getting ready for the Oireachtas (regional Irish dance championships) and had driven to Colorado with my mom for a few extra practice sessions. Late on the 2nd night that I was in class, I fell pretty hard and landed on my right foot. I knew I had done something to it, but I prayed it wasn't serious. On the drive home it hurt to drive so I pulled over and asked my mom to drive and I took a look at my foot. It was swollen to about the size of my head and had started to throb with pain. I've had a broken foot before (same bone other foot) and knew what that felt like and was pretty sure it was the same thing this time, except that the pain was like 8 times worse.

We called my friend that we were staying with and explained that instead of coming to her house we were headed to the emergency room and not to wait up for us. She offered to come and pick up Jeffrey and take him back to her house. Fast forward an hour or so and this was the results we got from the radiologist:

• Fifth metatarsal has approximate 2.5 cm long vertical oblique lucency involving distal and mid shaft most compatible with acute fracture with some medial displacement and mild lateral angulation of distal end with greatest medial displacement involving medial cortex region of distal fracture fragment. 

Didn't understand that? Well I didn't either, they showed me a picture of the fracture and it was pretty messy, I had shattered the bone in a few places and then bowed it outwards in another. The ER doctors exact words? "You have a really interesting break." Well my motto is if you can't do something right don't do it halfway.

Holiday Wishes

I leave the house for work each morning at 0500. That gives me plenty of time to take the scenic route to FT Riley and arrive at the company well before physical training begins. I leave the buffer of time in there just in case the front gates back up or something else in the miles between home and work comes up. With my scriptures with me, I can make the best use of the 20 minutes before formation. Sometimes it is hard to find a significant, consistent, and quiet time to read the scriptures. I have found that if I am willing to read in less than ideal conditions there are many daily opportunities to read and refresh myself. Sitting on a generator at the back of the supply cages is good enough for me.

At 1600 each day SSG R. and I put down our work and pick up books that will help us in our own professional development. There is a lot of work to accomplish to get ready for deployment, but we cannot forget about expanding our learning in our own diverse specialties. It is easy to become expert at the work of the day and out of touch with advancing fields in theory and practice.

Manifesto

In the coming months I will be back in Afghanistan again. In preparation for this deployment, Tricia and I have talked about the things we can do as a family now to get into good habits of communication. You are reading one of those ideas right now. We have neglected our family blog for a long time. Our commitment is to get back to it right now and make it a part of our daily routine no matter how busy we feel now. Making it a priority at this time will help to ensure we continue it when I have to leave. This will also keep our family and friends outside our home informed and up to speed on what we are doing. A natural consequence of writing a blog is increased interest in reading the blogs of other families and friends of ours. 

Tricia has also noted that in my zeal to make great photographs for my own journal on CoryMacNeil.com I neglect to take the needed family photographs of our every day and routine stuff. Point noted. Along with an increase in our use of the blog I will accordingly bring out my camera to illustrate. I will take my 30D to Afghanistan with me, so you can expect that I will have the tools needed to illustrates some of my adventures. Tricia will have the G10 back here for photographs and video of her own. 

My laptop has a built in camera that I will use to make a video for Jeffrey each day. I have already packed up my microphone to use in making stories for him as I did on last deployment, but I think video will help as well. Jeffrey is at the age now that I need to start focusing on teaching him about numbers, letters, and some of the basics he will need in preparation for school. The video will give me a chance to teach a short lesson in a visual way to get his full attention and make learning memorable.