Half Way Through!

Well, tomorrow will have been four weeks to the day since Jordan left for the desert. Then (if all goes as planned) in just four more weeks + two days, he will be home!! I have gone through many phases since he left. When I dropped him off at the squadron, I of course shed a few tears. After I drove away, I felt relieved that the "goodbye" part was finally over. I had been dreading that moment for, oh, say the last few months (ok, years). The next day was the beginning of a three-day weekend for me. I'll just say this--I've never looked forward to a Monday so much in my entire life! After about a week, I began to realize that I needed to start making plans to make the time pass more quickly. The second week, I had a dinner date with Leslie (my English 'mum'), went out for my first british hen night, and went to lunch with a friend. Oh, and my mom came to visit!!

Since my mom has been here, things have been great! Before Jordan left, I never realized how lucky I am to have someone to sit down to dinner with each and every night. We have been doing our normal mother-daughter things, which is just what I needed. We cook dinner together every night, have breakfast together every morning, and most days I come home for lunch. While I am at work, my mom has been spoiling the Cooper Dog by taking him on multiple walks each day, and staying busy with the many projects that she brought along with her (knitting, sewing, card-making, etc.). We have been making good use of the apple trees in our back yard by making apple pie, apple sauce, and hopefully at some point we'll get around to making some apple butter.

Last weekend, we were invited to go to Leslie's son's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in a really old church in Moulton, a village nearby. We had a wonderful time! And this weekend... I am taking some time off from work on Friday, and we are going up to Edinburgh for a long weekend! We will ride the train from Cambridge, and should get there in about five hours. I found a cozy little bed and breakfast to stay at near the city centre, and we have plans to tour the castle. I have heard wonderful things about the city, and can't wait to see it for myself!

I know you would probably like an update on how Jordan's doing. I have been fortunate enough to hear from him several times a week. He and his crew shaved their heads the first night that they got there...manly bonding, I suppose. He posted some pictures on facebook if you'd like to take a look: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060594&id=25202851&l=22e6e0fc3c

Lately, he has been flying an eight-day on, one day off schedule. It sounds like one day off is just enough before he gets really bored. When it is all said and done, it sounds like his typical days are about 12 hours long. I can tell that his confidence in his flying abilitiy has gone up a lot, and I couldn't be more proud of him.

I better get to bed. I just wanted to give a quick update on what we've been up to lately! Please let me know if you would like to send Jordan any letters or care packages. I would be happy to give you his address!

Adrienne's Visit, Softball, and Pre-Deployment Preparations

Two weekends ago, Jordan went on a TDY back to Meridian, MS to pick up a jet that had maintenance done. He flew back on a commercial jet, and then flew the plane back to Mildenhall with his crew. They spent three days enjoying the conveniences of Wal-Mart, a shopping mall, and chain restaurants. He bought himself some Croc's to wear in the desert, and he came back with three new pairs of shoes for me! :) (One pair of Rainbow sandals to replace the ones Cooper ate) He also brought back multiple packs of Big League Chew, so that we were well-stocked for our softball tournament!

While Jordan was gone, our good friend Adrienne stopped through Mildenhall on her way home from her deployment. Adrienne went through pilot training with Jordan, and I was so happy to see her-even if it was only for an hour or two.

Brian, Adrienne, and me at the Galaxy Club on base.

Last weekend, we played in the regional softball tournament at RAF Fairford, an American base near Oxford. Surprisingly, our team played really well! We showed up to each game with mis-matched uniforms, most of us wearing shorts, appearing unprepared for the competition we faced. The other teams were pretty intimidating, all wearing long pants and fancy matching uniforms, carrying bats worth more than all of ours combined. Oh, and did I mention that we were the only team with women on the roster??

On Friday, our team did terrible in the preliminary games, which made us the number six (last place) seed in the tournament. Saturday morning, we lost our first game, and then battled back and won the second and third games. On Sunday, we won our first three games, which put us in the championships! Unfortunately, we lost the last game, but I am so proud that we were able to make it that far! We got second place medals and a trophy for our accomplishments.

Jordan was on fire at the plate the entire weekend. He was so great that I over heard a coach from another team tell the photographer, "keep your camera on this guy, he's a stud!" I couldn't agree more. :) I struggled through a couple of games, but then started trying to place the ball on different sides of the field. I got several RBI's, and was on base more times over the weekend than I had been on all season! I even had a close play at the plate, and slid home to score the winning run on our last game before the championships!! I couldn't have been more happy. We both came home from the weekend battered, bruised, scraped, and incredibly sore, but it was totally worth it.

Before our first game Sunday morning.

Watching the closing ceremony.

2nd Place!
Classic team picture.

This weekend Jordan and I are just enjoying each other's company. He leaves for his deployment next week, so we're trying to soak up as much "us" time as possible. Yesterday was a goal day for him, and I took the day off. We spent the day being productive by doing yard work, cleaning out our cars, doing laundry, sewing patches on his uniforms, etc. We had lunch at the Bell, and then went to dinner at our friends Daniel and Kirstie's house and played games until late last night.

Today, we had french toast and coffee out in the back garden. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day. Cooper even got his own plate of scrambled eggs, which he gobbled up right away! We are getting ready to go to the BX to buy a new computer and a camera for Jordan to take to the desert with him. Somehow, we just don't think that his tattered old computer from the Academy is going to make it. We plan to chat via Skype, and I am hoping that he will take lots of pictures to show me what things are like over there. Tonight, we are planning on going out to dinner in Bury St. Edmunds, and then maybe watching a movie at home.

I'm not looking forward to Jordan being gone at all. I know I will do just fine on my own, but it can get kind of lonely here sometimes. My plan is to just keep busy as much as I can. Thankfully, my mom will be coming to visit a couple weeks after he leaves! She will be here for about a month, so I am really excited to have so much time to spend one-on-one with her.

On to Regionals!

Just a quick post before I leave for work...

As many of you know, Jordan and I have been playing softball for his squadron's team. Well, we became base champions, and this weekend we're headed to the regional tournament at RAF Fairford! A picture of Jordan at bat made the base website, only they got his name wrong. His nickname on his jersey says "Kemper" (mine says "Lexilicious"), and they confused him with someone who actually has the last name Kemper. Here is the link: http://www.mildenhall.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123162293

Jordan left at about 5 AM to make it in time for our first game, and I will probably ride either a train or bus down tonight or early tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how it all works out...

Lee's Visit

Last weekend, one of our good friends from Jordan's pilot training class stopped in Mildenhall on his way home from the desert. Even though his crew was only in town for 18 hours, the guys had their hopes set on making it down to London. After they checked into their hotel rooms, we met up for lunch at a pub within walking distance from the base. Jordan and I both played chauffeur, and we drove the group of seven to Cambridge and then caught the train into the city.

It was drizzling all day, but we still managed to have a good time. During this whirlwind trip we were able to see quite a few attractions, including: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, and Buckingham, along with several stops at various pubs along the way. It is always so much fun to see a familiar face, and we were so happy to have had the opportunity to hang out with Lee, his brother, and the rest of their crew.

Jordan & Lee at the Bird in Hand Pub in Mildenhall

This is something you don't see everyday... This was inside a pub called "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered", located across from the Tower of London, where the worst criminals were imprisoned, tortured, or executed. To be hanged, drawn, and quartered was said to be worse than murder itself.

Part of the Tower of London.
Tower Bridge

Big Ben, from a different angle this time :0)

Not the best picture, but I thought it was kinda funny.
Jordan and Lee navigating on the tube.

Seeking shelter from the rain with a pint.

This one cracks me up!

One of the guards outside of Buckingham Palace.

Anniversary Gifts

For our first anniversary, Jordan and I both gave one another the traditional gift made of paper. As it turns out, we both gave each other tickets to different events! I gave Jordan tickets to a pre-season football (soccer) match, and he gave me tickets to go see Wicked in London!

We have been trying to decide which premier league team was going to be "ours" since we received this assignment a year ago in June. Rooting for Chelsea is like rooting for the Yankees (says my husband), and believe me, there are reasons for every other team out there besides our beloved Arsenal. ;) During our first train ride down to London, we went right past Emirates Stadium, which is where Arsenal plays. So we decided it was meant to be.

I bought tickets for a pre-season friendly match on July 18th at Underhill Stadium. Arsenal was playing Barnet at their small stadium in north London. Basically, watching this game was like seeing a minor league baseball team (Barnet) play a major league baseball team (Arsenal). Our seats were on the top row, but in this stadium, that's only about 10 rows high! It was so cool to experience our first match in such a small venue.

Go Gunners!

That smile lets me know I've given him a good gift :)

Here we are in our new kits!

The lineup

The following weekend we drove down to Epping, the Northern-most tube stop, and rode down to Leicester Square. We had lunch, and then went to see Wicked. I have been dying to see this play for a while now, so I was really excited! If you're not familiar with it, the show is basically a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, only it's told from the wicked witch's point of view. It was an amazing show, and I couldn't believe how elaborate the costumes were! After the show, we walked around London for a while, taking in some of the sites, and then found a yummy little Thai restaurant for dinner.

The weather was beautiful that day, so we took advantage and declared it a top-down day!

Me at the tube station in Epping.

This is where we picked up our tickets.

Walking up to the theatre. :)

Vacations and Celebrations

On the last weekend in June, Jordan and I decided to take a quick overnight trip to the coast. We found a cozy little dog-friendly bed and breakfast in Great Yarmouth, and packed our bags to stay for one night. We walked around the coastal town, saw the attractions along the pier, and made some friends at a little pub in the afternoon. The next day, we went for a 5-mile hike along the coast, which Cooper absolutely loved! It was really nice to get out of town and have a change in scenery, even if it was just for one night.

Cooper enjoying Great Yarmouth.

Hiking

Beautiful view! So worth the hike!

I had planned on telling all about my new job in this blog post, but guess what?? I got ANOTHER new job! Two weeks after I had started working at the University of Maryland, I was just beginning to get to know my new co-workers really well. It was then that I received a call from the Marketing department at RAF Mildenhall to inform me about a position opening. I scheduled an interview, and was offered a job as a Marketing and Commercial Sponsorship Coordinator for the base! It's a full-time government position, and it sounds like it will be a lot of fun! So far, I know that I will be responsible for helping to publish a monthly magazine, updating a website, and going out and making contact with local business owners to gain sponsorship for base events. My first day of work will be on the 27th, so I'm getting really excited to start!

Two Friday's ago, (July 3rd) we went down to visit Leed's Castle with a bunch of friends. All six of us piled into a friend's old Land Rover Defender, and drove about an hour and a half to the castle. Much to our surprise, they offered segway scooter tours around the castle grounds! We decided to give it a try, and had tons of fun. We rode through herds of sheep, over a couple bridges, and up and down hills in order to see the beautiful castle from many different angles. After the segway tour, we ate lunch, found our way through a hedge maze, and walked through the entire castle.

How do you take a picture on a segway without looking cheesy?!

Leed's Castle from a distance.

On the 4th, we had some friends over for a barbeque, and then went to base to watch fireworks. It was a little ironic to be celebrating our independence day in the country we gained our independence from, but we managed to have a good time! The weather held out, so we were able to spend a good part of the day playing yard games and hanging out in the sun.

Playing Polish horseshoes

Somehow these guys always find a way to throw something over the hedge rows...

The following weekend, Jordan and I had hoped to celebrate our anniversary with a trip to Bath. Unfortunately, he was put on the schedule at the last minute for a trip to Spain! The base he stayed at was near Seville, so they spent both nights out and about exploring the city. Too bad I had to work, otherwise I would've gone in a heartbeat! Luckily, he came back Saturday evening, so we were still able to spend all day Sunday (our anniversary) together! We didn't do anything too remarkable...just hung around for most of the day, enjoying eachother's company. We did play a lot of Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii... and I highly recommend it! :) We both had sore shoulders the next day! That night, we dressed up and went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant called the Boathouse in a nearby town called Ely. The food was fantastic, and the scenery was unbeatable. I wish I had pictures to show, but our camera was laid to rest on Jordan's first night in Seville. :( Anyhow, it was a great way to spend our first anniversary! For our gifts to eachother, we both stuck with the first year "paper" theme. I gave Jordan tickets to an Arsenal football match, and he gave me tickets to see "Wicked" in London's West End.

Four short days later was my 25th birthday! The 15th was my last day of work at UMUC, so I was fortunate enough to have the day off on my birthday! Jordan had to fly early that morning, so I spent the day working in the garden, running a few errands, and relaxing. That night, I opened my gifts, and then we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Jordan gave me the Wii fit, and a promise to take me shopping sometime soon. :)

Today, we are off to see Arsenal beat the pants off of Barnet in a pre-season match! The forecast is calling for rain, so hopefully we won't get too wet! We bought kits (jerseys) yesterday, so we are guaranteed to look like true fans! Go Gunners! :)

And now, I just wanted to post some random pictures that we have taken recently:

We see hedgehogs like this one all the time on the roads at night! Isn't he adorable?

This is a picture of the smallest pub in all of Great Britain, appropriately named The Nutshell. It's located in Bury St. Edmunds, which is about 10 minutes from our house.

Jordan came home looking like this one day, and scared the crap out of me! He had to do a refresher course on survival and evasion that day.

New job, Special Visitors, and our First Venture to the Continent!

We have had so much going on in the past few weeks. Let's see, where do I start... Ah yes. On June 3rd, my Mom, Dad, Aunt Mar, and Uncle Dick came to visit! Jordan and I were extremely excited to have our first set of visitors, so we spent much of the week prior to their arrival cleaning each and every corner of our house, doing some gardening, and even washing our cars. (If you know my Dad, you'll understand) ;) Let's just say that this is a big house for two people to maintain! We were exhausted! I promise to create a Facebook album soon with lots of pictures of our house looking spic-n-span!

The night before they arrived, Jordan went on his first "real-deal" overnight mission. It was my first night staying in The Langtry alone, so Cooper was allowed the special privilege of sleeping with me that night. :) I was so excited for my family's arrival that I couldn't sleep a wink! I made it down to London and navigated through Heathrow all by myself, (quite a feat if you ask me!) and met my family at the car rental lot. We rented an MPV--Multi Passenger Van, as they call them here, because between the Accord and the itty-bitty Miata, we didn't have enough space to squeeze in four guests AND their luggage. We figured it would be easiest for my Dad to follow me in the right-hand drive van, since the Accord is left-hand drive. Little did we know that we had reserved an MPV with MANUAL transmission! SORRY Dad! Pulling out of the lot, I couldn't stop laughing, because my Dad had the windshield wipers going full speed for several blocks...it was nice and sunny that day. No worries though, it happens to us all the time. We made it home safely, with only one close call when my Dad accidentally turned into oncoming traffic. Yikes!

The next day, I scheduled a last-minute interview for a part time Field Representative position with the University of Maryland University College. I was obviously a little flustered because I didn't have much time to prepare, but I took a few deep breaths before I walked in, and the interview went off without a hitch! UMUC offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs for military memebers and dependents, and I found out that they offer 100% tuition assistance for all of their employees!!!! I was told that they would contact me the following day (Friday), after they completed all of the interviews.

On Friday, we packed up the MPV and left for the continent! We drove to Dover to hop on a ferry over to Boulogne, France. As we were sitting in the car, I received a call from UMUC, informing me that I got the job!!! Jordan saw this as the perfect opportunity to embarrass me, so he led the entire car to cheer while I was still on the phone with my soon to be supervisor. Gotta love him. :) Luckily, she thought it was funny. I begin working this coming Monday--good timing, eh?

The one and only picture I got of our MPV...Imagine six people+luggage crammed in there! We were lined up and waiting to drive onto the boat.

Group shot on the ferry.

Anyway, we rode the ferry across the channel to Boulogne, and then found a restaurant to have dinner. We stumbled through the menu, and quickly realized that it was a mistake to not have a translation book along. Just trying to order a glass of water was painful! We spent the night in Boulogne, and enjoyed coffee and crepes the next morning at a cute little cafe with an adorable Cocker Spaniel who greeted us at the door.

Waiting for our yummy crepes!

Looking down one of the streets in Boulogne.

After seeing some of the sites in Boulogne that morning, we headed to Brugge, Belgium. We enjoyed tapas for lunch, drank some amazing beer in fancy glasses, and of course stopped for some Belgian chocolate while walking around the beautiful town.

I loved this place!

Mmmmmm.

We went on to spend night #2 in Brussels. Our hotel was located right across the street from the beautiful Bascilica of Koekelberg, and we had the opportunity to walk inside it on Sunday morning.

View from a distance across a park. This place was huge!

Later on Sunday, we stopped in Bastogne, where the Battle of the Bulge took place. We walked around a beautiful monument called the Mardasson Memorial, built in the memory of the American soldiers wounded or killed there.

We went on to spend Sunday night in Clervaux, Luxembourg, which was absolutely breathtaking. The architecture reminded me of what Colorado ski areas try to replicate, and the hills and trees surrounding the village were incredibly lush and green. The town was really quiet that evening, so we took a relaxing stroll around, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and climbing a hill to the Chateau de Clervaux.

See the Chateau on the left?

Pretty view.

The next day (Monday) we drove through Luxembourg, with a stop in Nospelt, the town that my uncle's family came from. It was really neat to see headstones with their family name engraved in them.

We spent Monday night in Heidelberg, which was amazing. We stayed in a homey little hotel, and went for some schnitzel and big glasses of hefeweizen in a cute little beer garden for dinner. It began to rain shortly after we finished eating, and we decided it was the perfect opportunity to go for a walk along the Rhine River with umbrellas in hand. The town is beautiful during the day, but to see the lights glowing at dusk with a little rain mixed in was incredible. The next morning, we made the long, arduous hike up to see the Heidelberg Castle which towers over the entire city. The view from above was totally worth it. We then spent a good amount of time walking around town, having bratwurst for lunch, and checking out some of the shops.

Heidelberg Castle

The view along the Rhine.

Looking down from inside the castle.

Beautiful.

Tuesday afternoon, we went on to drive through the Alsace region in France, which is where my Mom's-Mom's side of the family is from. I can't wait to go back through this area for a wine-tasting trip! We spent that night in Metz, France, and got up on Wednesday morning to complete the drive back to Boulogne. Somehow, we found ourselves on a toll road with the most expensive tolls I've ever paid in my life... I think they totaled somewhere around 35 Euros, which is nearly $50! I guess you can call it a learning experience.

When we returned back home, my parents and aunt and uncle still had a little over a week left to their trip. (It was about this time that I realized that for every picture I was taking, my Dad was taking five, so I left it to him to document the remaining days.) We spent time at all of our favorite local hang-outs, such as the Bell, The Lancer (our favorite Indian restaurant), and the Cock. We caught up on some much needed down-time, but also spent some days checking out all of our local attractions. We took Cooper on several walks at the heath, where my aunt and uncle and my parents were able to find lucky horse shoes! We went for a picnic on a sunny day at Framlingham Castle, visited Madingley American Cemetery, watched some F-15's land at Lakenheath, went to the outdoor market in Bury St. Edmonds, went to church and walked around in Cambridge, saw the Norfolk Lavender grounds and distillery, and the boys spent some time at the Imperial War Museum. WHEW!

My family also came along to watch Jordan and me play slow-pitch softball on Wednesday night. That's right, I'm playing with his squadron's team. It can be a little intimidating for a girl my size to play softball with a group of grown men, but I'm making the best of it. Jordan is playing 3rd base, and I'm playing 2nd. I somehow managed to squeeze out a base hit this week, which made me ecstatic!

The fam was also very generous with their time at our house, and helped us tackle the stinging nettle forest in our back yard! Come to find out, underneath all of those weeds, we found a raspberry bush, numerous blackberry bushes, an apple tree, plum tree, and a peach tree! By mid-summer, we will have quite an array of fruits and vegetables! (We also have a grape vine, and I planted some tomatoes, green beans, carrots, chives, basil, parsley, and rosemary!) All of us suffered from various nettle burns for about a day and a half, but our yard looks 100 times better than it did before!! Thanks Mom, Dad, Mar and Dick!

Unfortunately, we had to bring everyone back to the airport this morning. Cooper is really moping around now that everyone's gone, so I will probably be bringing him for a jaunt at the heath later this afternoon to help cheer him up. I will really miss having our company around, but I am looking forward to starting a new chapter next week with my new job!