Game over, man!

It's done... I signed out of the Air Force. I'm on a "leave" status until 18 July, when I will be officially done with 8 years, 6 months and 2 days of active duty. It definitely doesn't feel "real" yet... maybe it won't until I start working again.

I spent a night in Dayton before going to the base to outprocess. I enjoyed seeing my mother and my Aunt Libby (visiting from Australia!) as well as my Aunt Theresa, Uncle Merrel and Aunt Mary Lou. Aunt Mary Lou took me in to see my grandmother in her nursing home the next morning. I was so impressed to hear ocasional comments from my grandmother--witty injections into the conversation that demonstrated that somewhere inside--she's still there (example: ML said she was going to be a member of the "clean-plate club" and she responded "HOTDOG!").



Now the hard part begins... packing and cleaning for a 5 week trip!



Jameson and I are still a little under the weather, so we are going to take it slow, probably leaving for Ohio (the first stop) on Saturday.



I've been asked frequently about our trip... let me try to outline it.



1) Stop at my folks' house in Cincinnati for two nights. Abuse their kindness in babysitting our children! ;)

2) Condo in the Smokey Mountains for 5 nights. Spend the week hiking, swimming, and relaxing.

3) Enroute to the beach, stop in to Rock Hill, SC, for southern BBQ with Mike and Jurate.

4) A week at Holden Beach with my parents, the Roth's, both my brothers and their families. Spend the week swimming, spending time with family, running, fishing, making sand castles, and kayaking. Yay, babysitters and a cousin (Benjamin, aged 3) for Alex to play with!

5) A week at Okracoke Island on the outerbanks, renting kayaks and bikes, swimming, sandcastles, yoga classes, etc.

6) Enroute to DC, stop somewhere interesting!

7) A couple of days in DC, imposing on the kindness of Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill. Do some touristy things, spend time with family.

8) Enroute to Rochester, NY, stay somewhere interesting. Maybe Hershey, PA.

9) Spend a few days with Stefan's sister Christie and her husband Carl--and their three kids (yay, playmates for Alex!) in Rochester.

10) Head to Niagara Falls, seeing the falls from both the US and Canadian sides.

11) Home!



Then two weeks of unpacking, organizing, cleaning, and finally unpacking a few of those boxes from our move here three years ago... and then starting work at U of M. I'll be working in the hospital system managing the process behind installing/updating new IT systems.



Jameson's curls are really getting, well, curly! We're all delighted.



Alex always has a "rest period" in the afternoon. Usually he just plays in his room or reads books, but ocasionally he falls asleep. This is how I found him at the end of "rest period".



He's wearing Spong-Bob gloves with little bizarre things wrapped around his wrists. Yes, he'll probably go into therapy at age 17 because I posted this picture, but it was so cute!