Post 167: You guessed it...he is HOME!

Which is exactly why you've not heard much from me in a while. David returned home on September 25th. It was a wonderful day. We made it home from the airport in time to pick up the kids from school. They had no idea that Daddy was coming home. I'd told them that morning that I was going to look at a house with my friend Amanda - and they believed me!

They questioned why I was wearing jeans and why I was cooking a roast, but when I gave them my lie of an answer - they fully accepted it!! Thank heavens! I am so not very good at lieing - no matter how little a lie...but this lie, this secret was definitely worth it!!!

We arrived at the school at little early. I had the video camera (maybe I'll post the video) and Ashlynn came out of the school first. She kept looking at me real funny like, trying to figure out why I had the video camera. She was about half way to me when she spotted him and you could just tell the moment she saw him - it was written all over her face and the joy spread all the way up to her big brown eyes. Of course 2 seconds later she was in a flat run and you heard her scream, "DADDY!" and the next thing you know she was in his arms hugging him and saying, "Daddy, daddy". I believe her reaction caught her off guard, because the whole school pretty much witnessed it and she was crying, joyfully - but I think that part embarrassed her.

Brier comes out next and goes the wrong way first then, turns around and is coming towards me trying to hide his face from the video camera and telling me to stop it. He was standing right in front of me and I had to point to the side of me and David says, "Hey" and then Brier screamed, just like Ashlynn "DADDY!" and in his arms he went.

The three were inseparable from then on the entire weekend...but it was great and a lie well worth being told. :-)

On Monday the kids went back to school and David had to do in-processing for the next 3 days. After that I went to pick up a friend from the airport who stayed with us until Sunday when her husband flew home. We went to see "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" on Saturday - it was pretty cute. The next Monday I woke up with a migraine the size of Texas and was in bed for basically 2 1/2 days. I took it slow after that, just to make sure my head could handle it. Riding in the car was not pleasant.

Thankfully, I was all better by Saturday and David & I went and spent the day together in London. We had a really nice time just walking around. We toured the home of the Duke of Wellington. We walked along St. James Park and witnessed a guy proposing to his girl - it was very sweet. We ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (the original), and then we went to see Grease - LIVE. It was good - not as good as Dirty Dancing I don't think, because it didn't follow the movie as closely - but that's just my personal opinion. It was however very entertaining. There were some parts that just really had you laughing.

Sunday, Ashlynn went Ice Skating for the first time - a friend from school had an Ice Skating birthday party. Brier had a friend over and David did laundry and watched football (and cried...Chiefs lost). I just kinda fiddled around :-)

Yesterday, David & I went and just walked around Cambridge for a while. It was nice and enjoyable and we're thinking of doing it again...this time with my camera - yes I forgot it. I was so mad! He did some Geo caching while we were there. We saw 2 swans get married...that was kinda funny. This guy was feeding them and when he stood up to leave he looked at us and said, "I just married them...watch how he kisses her". I never saw either swan kiss - but it was interesting all the same.

We saw a guy meditating - he was stone still for like 2o minutes...it was crazy. He was still sitting there in the same position when we left, so I don't know how long he was meditating. I had some coffee from Nero's - LOVE, LOVE their coffee. Then we came home and was ready for a nap, but was too late cause it was time for the kids to come home.

After that I worked on a "mock" version of a wedding invitation for a friend, David took Ashlynn to piano lessons, Jessica came over to discuss invitations and the blog I set up for her sister's wedding information...and then I finally cooked dinner - we ate pretty late last night - and then we all went straight to bed. So tired.

Today, David is getting new tires put on my car ... so I'm all on my own and thought I'd take a moment to update you on the happenings in the VanWinkle household, now that he is back home.

He is really enjoying being home. I think he missed us all...including Lady! He is also enjoying some home cooked meals, being able to get up and go to the bathroom without getting fully dressed, and just simply sitting on the couch. We have watched the whole season 5 of House...now the dvd set for season 6 needs to hurry up and come out!

And we are very, very thankful to simply have him home.

Thank you to all of you who kept him in your prayers while he was deployed.