Ben and I were able to spend the day together today. I've all but forgotten what my husband looks like! Most nights we miss each other by about 15 minutes and then I don't see him in the morning... Today was my day off and he took today off. We ran some errands and went to lunch. Jordan had a good time with both of us. She likes "Mr. Ben" very much! I bought 2 new crates for the growing puppies. Wal-mart had odd sized ones, so it was either bigger or smaller than my usual Pet Porter ones. I bought 2 new bigger ones- up to 25" it says. I have 2 medium size ones that work for a couple more months. They were $62 each. Doesn't seem like a lot till you do x4! Ben bought all the spring things for the pool- over $200 worth! It's already looking better, and Ben the kids use that pool like crazy during the summer. It's one the best things we've ever done! The pool chemicals from wal-mart do not work like the ones from the pool store. We struggled the first year and last year bought everything from the pool store with huge success.
During our running around we talked about our plans for moving, "retiring", etc. I kinda think we are just going to end up staying here. Here as in here, or maybe here as in just somewhere close. We have little family left in WI, and quite frankly they are tired of the winters, so maybe they'd come out this way. Ben also said that he does not have to retire in 20 if he's a Chief (which he surely will be). You have to retire if you're a First Class. He agreed that as a Chief, the Navy would be no worse of job than anything else. I mentioned that if we stayed here, that in 5-8 years I should have a pretty good "name" for myself in the herding world and between work and lessons should be making a pretty decent income. We both love the house we're living in, and what a spectacular place it's going to be when we're finished with it. If I could get a 20 year lease on the 2 fields across the road, we'd not even move! I told Ben it'd be good to be here since there's a darn good chance our boys will be getting some sort of military scholarships. There are many, many military bases that are "local" to where we live. If we move back to WI, there are none. I'm also not sure that I am excited to go back to twenty below and long winters. It makes farming a whole lot of work! Ben grew up in MN, but he was not a farm kid. If it was too cold or they just didn't want to be outside, they didn't have to be. That was not the case with my family. When it's that cold, the animals need you more than ever!! I feel more relaxed and confident about finding something larger here in this general area. It would be a major thing to move from VA to WI. And being married to less than a planner, it was a bit overwhelming to think about. If we can continue to buckle down and get our debt paid, we can easily afford a much larger mortgage in a few years.
I was able to watch both boys play baseball last night at a make-up game. Dylan's team is a whole new team! They are really coming along and looking really good! Next year they will be a great team! Charlie's team is also improving. Charlie scored a run last night and I was so excited for him. He was put on first as a pitch-runner, got a forced walk to 2nd and 3rd and got home on an error. It was good to see him so happy! Charlie is a tightly wound, highly intelligent, extremely sensitive child, so I worry about him a fair amount. He's really like a human Border Collie! Trips like tomorrow always make me feel a little better about him, as when I see other "gifted" kids, Charlie is not so different. (we're going on a gifted class field trip tomorrow) He is quite different from most "normal" kids. Dylan is also extremely smart, and also in the gifted program, but he is more of an even keel kid- not as emotional. Until he's pushed to being really mad anyway. He has a temper, yes indeed. He's like me that way. Very easy going and go with the flow, but push us beyond that, and we are pretty much unreasonable for a period of time!
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