And Now His Commitment Begins...

Oh Seth, where do I begin when it comes to bragging talking about him and his career? He never ceases to amaze me with his accomplishments. First let me begin by saying he just finished training. Yeah, JUST finished, as in less than two weeks ago. As in, it's been like three years. As in, we have our Captain's Board in two months and he's just now beginning his commitment. Just now going to a Permanent Duty Station. Just now finishing the chaos that is training and being a student. Crazy town, no?

His mom, sister, and hunk of a nephew flew into town to celebrate the big day with him and I can't even begin to express how happy it made me that they could make it. 

He's my overachiever, perfectionist, literal genius of a boyfriend and they got to see how great of a student and WSO he is. Everyone who knows Seth knows that he's a smart guy but c'mon, who do you know that has gotten DG in every training he's been in since he's came on active duty? Him. From ASBC to WSO training to the B course, my man walked away with DG. And at his most recent and final graduation, the B course, he walked away with all four awards possible for a WSO to obtain. Talk about proud moment. To hear his name called over and over and over and over was insane yet not surprising, because that's just who he is; Top Gun. One award (River Rats) was subjective, the instructors voted who they would take to combat with them, they chose Sethy Poo. The other three awards were based on test scores, look out Einstein.  ;)

Owen slept through the majority of the graduation but stayed up long enough for some photo ops.

 

In between dinner and the awards Ariana kept herself busy with things like making a mustache out of her hair.

Whereas E was a cooperative angel as always...

We spent the weekend with graduation as the focus. But we also made time to hang out and be a family. We even went around the boyfriend's squadron the morning of graduation and got into some shenanigans. At the end of it all we got some much needed family time before leaving the U.S.of.A. Holler.

A Quick Post for My Parents

Hi Mom and Dad! *Imagine me saying that in my 'Hi Cornelia, sweetie' voice from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*

We have a little somethin' somethin' for ya, and by 'little somethin' somethin'' I mean random pictures about everything and nothing. It's officially Fall in my book. The mornings are chilly and at times foggy and my air conditioner no longer needs to be turned on. Sad face. So we decided to ring in October with a bit of Halloweenyness. Yup, that's a word.

While we were in North Carolina it rained all but one day. It's all good though because this is when we get most creative. We decided to leave Daddy with something to remember us and Halloween by, so we bought a pumpkin and all pitched in to paint it. Oh and let me first mention that I drove 13 hours and arrived at 5am after barely making it due to damn near running out of gas...I never carry cash and my debit card suddenly started getting declined near the end of the trip despite the fact that I had money in my account. And of course it was 4 in the morning so the bank wasn't open for me to figure out what was going on. After spend $30 that I had pulled out earlier in the week with the intent to pay a friend with, my car showed that when I pulled in the boyfriend's driveway I had less than two miles of gas left in my tank. Talk about close call. Turns out my bank's fraud department froze my account since I was spending "outside" my "normal spending habits"...thanks USAA, I guess, except I was almost stranded with three kids and a cat on a Saturday morning in an unfamiliar town. Can you tell I'm still bitter? And can you see the hot mess I was upon arrival? That face says so much...

I guess it's a good thing my girlfriend had Friday off so I was unable to give her the cash I had. Otherwise I'd been shit outta luck. But enough pissing and moaning. Where were we? Ah, yes, pumpkin...

We didn't have a vision, we just dove right in and began painting - Bear cub supervised.

When Bear grows up he wants to learn how not to be afraid to go out in the rain. But until that day comes he'll remain inside and watch me as I take pictures of the dreariness.

And when you ring in the Fall you have to include cupcakes. It's a part of the rules.

And when you give the kids a cupcake (or five) you have to include the massive German Shepherd too (sans icing of course).

But not until he shows you those smooth listening skills Daddy has taught him over the past few months.

Down. Stay.

GET IT! ...so fast that Mommy can hardly get a photo of you.

Why you ragin' Bear? We just gave you a cupcake...

And you have to take advantage of the crisp weather on days that don't bring rain - here's where put-put golf comes in to play. This is beginning to sound like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

And am I the only one that noticed rule number two? Uh, I think we may have a problem if Baby Rumbarger(s) ever come to fruition - I call that Large Family Discrimination, let's all protest! No? Mmkay.

Leave it to Ari to find an insect and remove her shoes within the first 20 minutes of our arrival. Oh, and to look cute doin' it.

We had a good time. Their faces said it all.

Even if we did have to go chasing after our balls more than a few times. Get your head out of the gutter.

Fall also means the boyfriend and I have our wedding anniversary. It'll be four years in November - that's half a decade! That's...like...whoa! We wanted to celebrate while we were together, even if it was a little less than a month early. And since it was a trip to see Daddy, and we wanted to soak up all the family time we could, we turned it into a family affair thanks to the kids. What they did for us was adorable, but you'll have to wait for those deets closer to our actual anniversary, besides, I didn't give the boyfriend his present yet.

All in all we had a great time, even if Owen does look like he's suffering from a lack of oxygen. That kid and his faces, smh...

There's a First Time For Everything

Our road trip last week contained a few firsts. 

Our first trip with a cat in the car for such an extended period of time that we needed his litter box readily available.

The first time Jersey used a litter box in a moving vehicle.

The first time Jersey spent more of the day with the boys' than with Ariana.

Our first time being to North Carolina.


Seth's first time actually helping in the kitchen. I'm conviced the only reason he helped is because he was making brownies that he had been craving for days.

The kids' first time having an entire living room floor to do hours of endless spins in. (Seth's living room is furniture-less, hence the all the floor space).

Our first time the four of us went to Atlanta together.

And while we were in Atlanta we went to the Coca-Cola Factory. The kids absolutely looooooved it. It was the best $36 I ever spent, seriously. 

There was so much there, lots of displays, a few short movies about the Coca Cola Company, we watched a 4D movie which was super cute, especially when water squirted at us and our chairs shook and the entire audience squealed.

But the favorite part was easily the tasting at the end. There is a room full of Coca Cola products from each country. They looooooved tasting what people in Latin America drink and Europe, etc. The four of us agreed that Asia had the best tasting products, besides North America of course.

It was funny when they found a flavor they liked, they'd fill their cup up with it and gulp it all down. I don't know how they did that and didn't explode from a fully carbonated belly. 


Ari's goal was to try all 60 flavors and not spit any of them out - she succeeded. The boys' and I also had all 60 flavors, but there were a handful of flavors the three of us spit out, seriously, some of them were completely disgusting.


At the end you get to take a bottle.

And then if you're Lorri Rumbarger you take a photo of your children pretending to drink said bottle of Coke.

Of course we had to check out the gift shop before we left. I wanted at least six different things but resisted. I did pick up one little souvenir though, I'll show it to you when we are all settled in our new casa - it's currently packed away.


Ariana has a thing for food and drink related earrings. It's cute. So of course she spotted these Coke float earrings within the first minute of walking into the gift shop.

While Owen spotted (and posed) with nearly everything in the store...as usual.

And of course a trip to Atlanta isn't complete without a trip to Ikea. I love me some Ikea but it was a niiiiiiiightmare going on a Saturday afternoon. It was packed full of folks. And it didn't help that we had to go all the way back to the top floor after realizing I forgot something on my list. Yes, I make a list when I go to Ikea - don't judge.


I do love shopping with my kiddos though because they are so into it. Seriously, they don't complain or whine, they actually pick up clothes and say, "Ooooo, can I try this on?" or if you're Owen you sit in a display in Ikea and say, "Mmm, this one's nice."

All in all it was a fun little getaway; we got to see the boo, we did a little shopping, and got to fill our belly with 60 flavors of Coca-Cola awesomeness. As for the ride home, I should've taken a photo of the inside of the car, every nook and crevice was full of children,  and a feline named Jersey, luggage, coolers, souvenirs, and loads of Ikea shopping bags.


Life is good,


Lorri