Shake Your Groove Thang...

Last night, the agency that I (Karen) work for threw a 70's themed Volunteer Recognition Party. We took advantage of the occasion and dressed the part. Clay spent $4 on his entire outfit at the Salvation Army.....a sweater shirt, seersucker pants, and gray plastic 'old man' loafers. His forced his hair into a side part and greased it down for the perfect 'good boy' 70's haircut. I choose a more understated black semi-angel sleeve dress with a headband, hoop earrings, and suede wedge heels. We had a great time!

Promotion Ceremony

Yesterday morning Clay was promoted outside the Squadron building. I was able to pin (velcro?) his new rank on his uniform while his company commander pinned the new rank on his beret.

Ottawa or Bust...

Yesterday morning we decided to venture to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is important to note that there is no federal district in Canada but Ottawa is part of the National Capital Region and is recognized by the world to be the "capital" of Canada. Our goal is to visit as many country capitals as we can in our lifetime (that is what you get when you cross a history/geography major with a political science/economics major) to get a taste different governments in action and experience the varying flavors of capital districts.



We love Canada and have nothing but great things to say about the friendly personalities, clean cities, rooted culture, and (of course) Tim Hortons. I (Karen) am also partial to the love of vinegar on fries...yum! So, with the help of priceline.com, we set off for the Ottawa Marriott Hotel in the heart of downtown. An Irish Pub was our first stop where we rejuvenated our road trip selves with a pint of beer. We then explored the area and had a fantastic dinner at The Keg Steakhouse.


House of Commons
Canada is a constitutional monarchy (Queen Elizabeth II is head of state) and is a parliamentary democracy. Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada and a member of the Conservative Party. Side note...we walked around the parliament park searching for a statue of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau so Clay could get a picture with the man whose wife Geraldo Rivera had 'relations' with...we were unsuccessful.


We stumbled into the Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill...how cool!


Little did we know, Ribfest 2007 was taking place on Spark Street, 100 yards from our hotel. Of course we just had to sample the award winning food for lunch...look, white shirts!



All in all, we had a fabulous time in Ottawa...yet another Canadian city that we have fallen in love with. Maybe we will live there someday?

Saturday Morning

On this gorgeous Saturday morning Clay is sleeping while I am working on a paper in the guest room/office/library/linen closest/Army storage unit/room we don't speak of. The coffee I am sipping is robust, soothing and alive while my headphones play a mix of Blink 182 and Vivaldi. He is home. I still can't believe he is home...he is actually here, in our home, sleeping in the next room.

During the deployment I spent countless Saturday mornings writing, completing schoolwork, watching TV, driving to unnamed destinations, and cleaning already clean surfaces...just doing anything to keep my mind off the fact that my husband was gone and his life (my life) was out of my control. The fact I can sit here, working on a paper without have that worry struggling to consume my everyday life is absolutely wonderful.

However, the feeling of wonderfulness does not come without a price. Guilt. Every military family feels guilt at some point...how could we not? Here I am, shouting from rooftops how happy I am while thousands of families are walking through life with holes left unfilled...their husband/father/son/wife/mother/daughter did not make it home. I am not going to lie, it is hard, very hard. What do you say to the family left behind? Over the past year, I have followed two extraordinary woman who write about the aftermath surrounding the event of losing a husband in war...Learning to Live and Life After Iraq. Somehow, just by reading their stories I feel that I am helping to keep the memory of their husbands alive and letting them know that I care and not a day goes by that I don't think about the members of The Gold Star Wives.

After giving my sleeping husband a kiss and telling him that I love him, I am going to get back to my schoolwork knowing that for this moment, everything is okay.

Success and Failure…….. or is it Failure and Success?

Don’t worry I won’t be writing about anything “deep” unless you are talking about the waters of Lake Ontario. I’m just kidding and that was actually a very poor attempt to use a play on words. I am actually talking about the second and third days of kayak ownership by Karen and me.

Yesterday the waters of Lake Ontario were extremely choppy. Karen and I looked out of our apartment window (which has a very distant view of the lake) and noticed some white caps on the water but after short deliberations we decided to go for it. I mean after all it was only our second day of owning kayaks and we weren’t going to let choppy water stop us. So we loaded up the kayaks in the Jeep and headed down to the water. The load-up in the Jeep hasn’t exactly been mastered, but we are definitely getting there.

When it came time to put our boats in the water I noticed a couple down near where we launch the kayaks. I decided to wait until they disappeared until I would attempt to mount my kayak. I was already anticipating that I was most likely going to make a fool of myself in the choppy water. So with only a one person audience (Karen), I decided to get into my kayak in waist-deep water. I would not normally get into the boat in that deep of water but the waves were breaking too hard in the shallow water. I finally hopped into my kayak which worked out fairly well but almost immediately after doing so a decent-sized wave came into shore and completely flipped my kayak over. Don’t you worry though, I slid out of my kayak safely onto the rocky lake bottom, which to my amazement did not feel good at all. As I came out of the water I noticed that there was a man standing next to Karen eating a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken (or “KFC” as their slick marketing campaign wants us to call it).

The man was obviously laughing at me and he apparently muttered to Karen, “that guy is nuts.” I am fairly certain that this man manifested himself only to watch me fail in my second day of kayaking. When I came into shore he was nowhere to be found and may have disappeared completely. There have been a few cases of spontaneous combustion in the history of the world and I am actually concerned that this strange phenomenon may have occurred right before our eyes yesterday. He laughed at me though so maybe it was “instant karma” as John Lennon said. Needless to say, after my incident we loaded up the Jeep with our boats and decided that it was not our day.

Today was a much more successful day on the waters of Lake Ontario for Karen and me. I got home from work early and we headed down to the water. We launch the boats from inside the Madison Barracks marina which is shielded from the choppy waters for the most part and had no trouble getting into the water. We had a successful one hour outing and came in right before a storm hit. Redemption indeed……….

Pictures From Today...

Our First Time..

Late this afternoon we took our kayaks out on Lake Ontario for the first time. We loaded the kayaks in the back of the Liberty and made the two minute drive down to the boat launch...have to love living on the water! The weather was perfect and we ended our adventure about an hour before the thunderstorms rolled in so we couldn't have asked for a better time. The pictures were taken on land because we still have to purchase a waterproof bag for the camera and other items...stay tuned!


Clay and Lake Ontario


Oh yeah, it is that awesome

Yak Yak Yak

“I ski, I do kayak – that’s about it.” Devon Sawa

If it is good enough for Devon Sawa, masterful actor of Final Destination, Casper, and Little Giants, then it is good enough for us. After ensuring the Liberty was properly outfitted with Yakima gear, we bit the bullet and bought some kayaks. We're looking forward to taking advantage of living on Lake Ontario and utilizing the Black River as well as the inner-coastal waters down south this summer. Like our storage solution? We figured our front hallway wasn’t being used for anything important…

Alexandria Bay and Sunshine

Last night, when we arrived home from a nice steak dinner, foil laid scattered across the top of the stairs. You see, Clay's mom makes this awesome goodness of a pastry that the family calls a cinnamon roll. Our little Lucy discovered the tasty treat and took it upon herself to eat the entire roll! The joy of living with a dog...right? We started today with a cinnamon roll (no, Lucy did not have any) and coffee while discussing the 2008 election (side note, I am super excited that my political discussion buddy is home). We decided to venture up to Alexandria Bay, New York and enjoy the gorgeous day.


Keewaydin State Park

Alexandria Bay is located on the south bank of the St. Lawrence river in the 1000 Islands Region. There are 1,865 islands total of various sizes. In order for a piece of land on the St. Lawrence River to be called an island it must be above water level for 365 days per year and support at least one tree or shrub. The St. Lawrence River flows west to northeast connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes.



Boldt Castle

George Boldt (of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel) began construction of Boldt Castle on Heart Island in 1900 with aspirations to build one of the largest private homes in America. Construction suddenly ended with the death of his wife in 1904 and remained untouched for many years. In 1977, The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought Heart Island for $1 under the agreement that all revenue generated would go towards restoration.



So, on an unrelated note, when Clay and I were walking to pick up the pizza we passed a couple of punk teenagers...one actually coughed "you suck" in our direction...what is up with that? They're lucky we didn't beat them up...we totally would have...yeah, not really.

Changes

Yes, we're staying at Fort Drum. Our plans to PCS to Fort Huachuca, Arizona have been scrapped and Clay accepted a position within his current unit. We spent days discussing our options; going back and forth as to what to do about our future. I feel confident in our decision and while we may not love the cold weather nine months out of the year, summer is absolutely gorgeous.


Sackets Harbor, New York

Clay's parents are due to arrive any minute now and the weather is fabulous. I know his mom is super excited to see her son after so many months...it is just so nice having him home. Have a great weekend!

Pixley Falls

This afternoon we drove down to Boonville, New York to hike around Pixley Falls. Lucy accompanied us, as it was her first time in our new car (pictures coming soon) and we explored trails in and around the falls.


Our little family (minus Desi)


Clay, seconds prior to being attacked by a bear



Karen and Lucy

You Can't Make This Guy Up...

Clay and I were soaking in the sun with the aid of trashy magazines and SPF 8 on the Lake Ontario shore when we saw him….sweet glorious him. The lion mane cascaded down his back in luscious layers that glistened in the sun like a pyrite mine at a tourist trap alone an interstate. His fingers grasped the beer can tightly as if it were an appendage he had his entire life.

Karen and I are convinced that this man’s entrance onto Southwyck Beach State Park was strictly done for our entertainment. His ensemble would only have been more perfect if he had a metal detector in his non-beer hand. His white socks and shoes along with his refusal to admit that jean shorts are not cool and should not be worn in any circumstances were an instant alert for me to wake up Karen from her slumber on the beach. Some countries actually execute people for the wear of jean shorts. In 2006 alone, nearly 20 Luxembourg residents met their demise because of their refusal to give up jean shorts. This man however is a true maverick and continues to sing the joyous song of denim throughout the US (well maybe just the Jefferson County, New York area).

The wife-beater tank top and of course his salute to Billy Ray Cyrus on his head was only an added bonus to his presence on the beach. His mullet, similar to former tennis great Andre Agassi, would have only been more perfect if an EOS Rebel camera strap was dangling from his neck. I’m fairly certain that our chance encounter with this man was strictly done to brighten our day and much like blues-great Robert Johnson’s meeting with the devil on a 1920’s Mississippi road, this was likely a one-time encounter never to occur again.

What is This?

Spending the past 16 months apart due to Clay’s deployment to Afghanistan challenged our original attitude toward life. Our goal is now simple…to enjoy life while trying to make a difference somehow during our time on earth. We hope we’re not part of the crowd that jumped on the pro-environment bandwagon after viewing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth but either way we’re making a effort. This blog will follow our adventures through life and provide a medium to interact with family and friends that are far away…hopefully you will chuckle on occasion…enjoy!


Clay and Karen
Homecoming
June 5, 2007