Little Squeaks

So I was going to put this at the end, but I think it should be at the beginning:

As I look over these past 2 years I know we have been really blessed and really lucky. Not a day goes by that I don't appreciate our opportunities. But as all my military family friends know, there is truly a love/hate relationship with the military lifestyle. There are really great times and really hard times. I have been praying for my friends whose husbands have been deployed these past six months, and cannot wait for their husbands to return to them!! But guess whose husband will be replacing them...

There is always someone I know celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays without their husband/daddy/brother/son. Someone taking all her children to all the soccer/basketball/gymnastics events, all the school open houses/conferences/spring sings, and all the doctor/dentist/ER visits alone; then skype-ing/face-timing/emailing all important information across the miles later that night- and doing this for six months to a year. Trying to "hold down the home-front," comfort the little ones who don't understand why their daddy can't be at Thanksgiving, trying to be strong for her children and keep up communication with her husband, not only to convey information but love, too. There are no "date nights" during deployments, no holding hands and no comforting hugs. I don't write this because we expect or need pity. I love Bryant and this is what he wants to do so I will always fully support him. I am so proud of him! And I have met so many wonderful people because of the military. I wouldn't change a thing.

But when a friend asked how we get to travel so much- was it his job or just to travel, it made me want to include our story with these pictures. Even when Bryant is in the same city as us, he will work 12-14 hour days for weeks, but as he builds up leave over the months he can take a week or 2 off at a time. Since we are already in Europe it is much cheaper to travel here, so that is how we've gotten to visit the countries we have. Bryant is rarely home for dinner and he often misses the kids' events. He's missed Naomi's birth, half her bdays, and Bryson's first bday, lots of holidays, etc while being in another state for training or another country on a deployment. But yes, we choose this lifestyle, and I'm grateful for the experiences we've had and cherish the time we do spend together. I really do consider myself a lucky girl :)

SO. Here it goes- 2 years in one post! We welcomed back Bryant in March 2012 from a 7 month deployment. AWESOME!!

and very overwhelming and emotional! But SO happy to be together again :)

That summer we took trips to VA and WI to see family before moving across the pond.

And we took one more drive to the NC coast with great friends!

In August the AF packed up all our belongings to ship them across the sea (we didn't see our stuff for almost 2 months!) and we left for London on our 5 year anniversary, August 30, 2012. After finding a nice British house to live in

and unpacking all of our boxes

we finally got to see Big Ben in October!

Our next trip was for my 30th birthday in December- Paris and Venice!

In January 2013 Bryant had to go to Alabama for two months for SOS (Squadron Officer School). He missed quite the English winter! Cold and snowy! (They don't usually get snow here!)

When Bryant returned in March we had the pleasure of showing his parents around the island! We started in London of course!

and even stopped by Buckingham Palace!

Then we took the train to the Scotland border where Bryant and his dad bravely scaled Hadrian's wall in rain and snow and ice!

We continued north to Edinburgh and toured the castle

Upon return to England we visited Bath and Stonehenge.

In May we had the opportunity to dine inside Parliament with Bryant's squadron!

We enjoyed a lovely English summer- warm temps and little rain = lots of time exploring outside!

It was interesting celebrating our country's independence in the country we took it from!

After a summer of swimming, a trip to the zoo, Legoland, gymnastics camp and strawberry picking we ended the summer by traveling to Belgium for chocolate and a tour of Bruges by carriage ride.

In Fall Naomi started Kindergarten!

And at the end of September we took our first cruise to...

Toulon, France

Nice, France

Pisa

Rome

the Amalfi Coast

and Pompeii

The kids had so much fun on the ship, too, meeting all the Dreamworks characters!

Eating was a fun adventure, too :)

Our nightly waiters even gave the kids toys on the last night! They were awesome people!

Naomi enjoyed the Kids Club

Bryson tried his hand at deck top golf

The sunsets were beautiful

as were our nightly towel animals :)

We all loved it!!

During the fall we went apple picking, blackberry picking, pumpkin picking and of course trick or treating

In November Bryant went to training for a month in Israel while Naomi went to the ER (she fell on the playground and cut her forehead- you can see the mark in the pic below) and lost her first tooth!