The Ladybug Monster

Updated: Video at the bottom.

Happy Halloween! Olivia had a lot more fun on her second Halloween than her first. First, some of her friends from the neighborhood came over for a pre-festivities pizza party. Then they all walked (or strollered around) the neighborhood in search of candy. Once darkness fell, there was a party on the other block and Olivia had a great time. She chatted with some of the other kids and showed off her costume - it was a hit. She spent the next 2 hours running all over the place and growling at the neighbors. When she runs with her arms out and growls she transformed from a simple girl in a custom to the Ladybug Monster!...scary.

Olivia and friends fuel up on pizza before heading out for candy.

Olivia waits for Mom to turn her back and then snags her first Halloween candy...

...but she was more interested in the plants.


Mom and O hang out. For the first time Olivia's maternal nickname fits - she actually is a bug.

And then she went on to terrorize the neighborhood as the Ladybug Monster!!!

Here is a video of O and friends playing before heading out.

Well, it's official. Sort of...

Well, we've almost got our next duty station. The hard copy orders are not physically in our hands yet, but Justin has been slated for the position.
I'll give you a hint. It was good we went to Mexico to refresh our Spanish...

Drumroll...

We are scheduled for Naval Station Rota in Rota, Spain!

We are just awaiting the official approval and formal orders but it is looking pretty definite (as definite as it can be in the military).

Oh-by the way-we are leaving in January. No, not January 2010. This coming January-two months away. Yes, we are insane and denial is not just the longest river in Egypt.

More when we get an affirmative from his command...

Heather

Hola Part Dos

Here are the pictures from Mexico! Quick disclaimer...Justin created this post and had the access to the pics which is why you only see me in them. They are unflattering as I was dressed for hiking around ruins. And if you read the last post-it was blazing hot this day.


Heather near the beach at the ruins of Tulum.


The temple at the Mayan ruins of Tulum.


Heather at Tulum.


Later that same day at the natural water park of Xel-Ha.

Hola!

Hola amigos y familia!

Sorry for the lag in posts again but this time it was for good reasons. Justin and I are currently in Cancun, Mexico. We decided that we wanted to take a post-Iraq vacation together to get re-acquainted after being apart for almost 8 months this year. We left O in Virginia Beach with her paternal grandparents (who were more than happy to come and spoil her). We left last Thursday and come back tomorrow night. I am sure many of you are wondering why I am blogging when I should be laying out in the sun, shopping or sightseeing. Well...it's pouring outside right now. Can't complain though-it's been hot and sunny most of the trip. We are staying at an all-inclusive resort on the ocean. It is fabulous. The hotel is Riu Palace Las Americas if you want to google it and take a look. It has not disappointed. View is awesome-food and drinks are great-and service is fabulous.
I can't post any pictures right now because the Internet is too slow here. We don't have many anyways since we have been making the most of this trip. Relaxing, getting tons of sleep and sun, and eating as though we have been starving for the last 6 months.
On Saturday, we went to Tulum-which is the ruins of a Mayan ceremonial village on the ocean. It was awesome but muy caliente. Hotter than Hades. Hot as hell-however you want to translate this. Plus there were some Mayan mosquitoes that left some souvenirs on our legs and arms. We will post these pics when we get home.
We also went to Xel-ha. This place is awesome. It is an eco-park with a huge lagoon where you can snorkel, swim with dolphins (if you pay extra) and eat to your hearts content. My kind of place. The snorkeling was fantastic!
That is the only sight-seeing we have done. I decided to shed my nazi tendencies of planning something to do every minute of the day. I have really done what we set out to do which was relax and enjoy the vacation together. We really needed this. And I promise, I have gotten weepy only a handful of times over missing Olivia. I have also only called home twice-Justin has stopped me from calling more. She is in good hands and we need to be a husband and wife again-at least until tomorrow!
Anyways, we will post pics as soon as we get home but don't expect many.

Adios amigos y amigas,
Heather

Random Saturday Picture

My Apple has a program called Photo Booth. I just took a couple of pictures with the computer's webcam to share. Olivia likes to see herself on the screen. All the excitement tired her out, she just went up for a nap.

Video Games

What is the obsession with video games? Justin just purchased a Playstation 3 for himself tonight. He had already gone on Ebay and purchased a soccer game BEFORE he even had the system! The postman delivered the game today and he promptly went to the store and bought it. Not only that, he bought ANOTHER game while he was buying the system. So tonight consisted of me doing homework with Justin shooting at Italians and Germans in Sicily in the background. This was our saturday night. He has been talking of buying a video game system since he got home from Iraq. He has done the research for a while and was debating on which one to actually buy. He decided Playstation would be the best out of all of them. I think he has spent more time researching a video game system than the government has with the bail out. And he gets to kill Nazi's in the end.

I guess I will never know what the draw is for spending so much time and energy on researching, planning, buying and playing video games. As for the games, unless you want to kill something, fight something or race something, then you are out of luck. At least for Playstation. He wouldn't buy the Wii. I really would have loved to relive my childhood with some Super Mario Bros...I guess I know what the obsession is.

Liv Chatting Away

Although Olivia can't talk yet, she likes to chat anyway. Her version of chatting could be called growling. She only gets really excited about things like the coaster she is holding. Watch as she tells you all about it.