Never Ending October

I thought October would never end! Now it's finally and actually Halloween...what did we do to celebrate? Why we went to Outback Steak house! Yea us! Nothing but excitement at the Lyman household. Actually, I want that to be a new tradition. Go out for Halloween and forget this trick-or-treating business.

It's actually been an eventful October for us. First Billy was promoted then left the very next day for a couple of weeks to inspect the reserve unit in California. David and I hung around Albany and explored the area a bit. We went to Chehaw Play Park which he absolutely loved and has constantly begged to go back. One night, he even prayed about it. "Please bless mommy. Help her to take me to Chehaw Park tomorrow." We also went and checked out a local diner that was rated one of the best on Urbanspoon and some random, kind-hearted stranger paid for our meal. I have to say, that I'm rather fond of Georgia and the southern hospitality. People will speak to you and say "hi!" It's great!

This time of year is filled with lots of festivals and activities. There's the Harvest Festival, Peanut festival (on a side note: boiled peanuts=disgusting), pumpkin patches...I guess you just have to know where to look. Not that we attended any of them. My old brain does not ever remember the dates or times for them. However, the base had a bunch of activities for the kids and we attended most of them.

The first one was the CDC fall festival. Child Development Center, in case you were wondering. No disease festivals this year...sad, I know :) The CDC had little games and activities in each of the rooms in their care center such as the cake walk, bowling, cookie decorating, etc. It was fun to see kids dressed up in their costumes, going from room to room and getting their treats. David was Superman that day.

Always shy and hesitant at first, then the loudest kid by the end.







Our next outing was the harvest festival. They had bouncy houses set up, free food, hay rides, trunk-or-treating, and a movie in the park. David decided to be Thomas that day.

My little Thomas, so proud of the pumpkin on his face.

Daddy and Thomas











Then, building 3500 and 3700 had trick-or-treating at their offices for all the CDC kids. I think it was just an excuse to get out of work for a little while. Either way, the kids loved it and it was darling to see them all dressed up. David wanted to be superman again.

Superman and Minnie Mouse

David and cute little, Lily

Such a super little man!

All the candy from all his activities and trick-or-treating still to come.







Here in Albany, I'm told they always have trick-or-treating on Saturdays. We took David to base housing and let him trick-or-treat there. Sadly, Billy wasn't able to come because he was the marine on duty for that day. We met up with friends and let the kids loose. David had so much fun! I developed blisters on my toes. So, if it seems like we weren't very celebratory for Halloween...well, it's only because it's been Halloween for the last couple of weeks. Looking forward to November and hopefully, moving into a house!

Jacksonville, FL:

To escape the insanity of living in a motel, we decided to take a little break over labor day and headed for Jacksonville, FL. Nothing could be better than a weekend at the beach. A beautiful beachside hotel, lovely weather, and a great location, this was definitley a great way to ease the stress of being kind of homeless. I can definitely see us retiring in Jacksonville.



Running on the beach with his dad


Look at my tan!


Fun in the sand!



Beach baby!

At the Jacksonville Zoo. We were hoping to see the manatees here, but to no avail. Oh well, photo ops.



FYI if anyone ever ends up in Jacksonville on Jackson beach, the best restaurant to try is called Sliders! Such delicious, fresh food! Yum!

Room with a view

I LOVE our view.  Can you see why I agreed immediately to rent this place?  It is so peaceful and the best part is the motivation to wake up early and watch the sun rise!  Now we wait for our things to arrive.

Limbo

Here's the situation. We drove into Albany on August 4. Stayed in a decent motel for a couple of days and finally moved into temporary lodging on the 6th, hoping to get word soon that we would be getting housing on base. All the info we got was that we would be able to get housing within six months and that we were number 3 on the list. Then they told us to stay in transition lodging for as long as we possibly could. Now a month later, we are still 3rd on the list and still within six months, but we should try to stay as long as possible in transition lodging. Seriously?!!! This is place is too tiny for the three of us! There's no place to escape to if I want some time to myself, no oven to cook in, and David really needs his toys. Who am I kidding, I need my stuff! Plus, we had a couple of cooler days and I've only packed summer clothes so we also need our fall clothing.

Basically, we've been in limbo for a little more than a month without any good news. So, we went apartment hunting to look for a place who would let us break our lease if needed and we found one. It's very small, but the view is breath-taking. It's 2 Br/2 bath with an oven and dishwasher (yea!). It also has a security system, which is a bonus! It's on the 3rd floor and the deck overlooks the Flint River or Lake (not sure which it is). I will have to post pictures as soon as I can. We should be able to move in Wednesday or Thursday. I can't wait!

Fishing

Ever since David was born, Billy has had grand ideas for father/son activities. Recently, he decided to take David fishing. Sporting his brand new batman pole, David was very thrilled to go fishing...that is until he was told to hold the worm while his dad got batman ready. I wish I'd captured his face on camera while holding the worm, but I completely missed it. It was classic! His first trip was successful. He caught a couple of catfish, baby ones!

His first catch. He was scared of the fish, so he had a hard time bring it close to him so I could get a good shot. Love that proud smile on his face!

2nd catch. He's only holding it close because his dad was helping him.

A little break from fishing to pose with mom. Gone are the days of smiling nicely for the camera. Now he just likes to pull silly faces...sigh.