Millersylvania Bound

I am currently sitting at that beautiful point in the week where we are on the cusp of entering the weekend, and cars are slowly starting to fill our street as people finish up their work week. This is then made even better because of the fact that I got to talk today with Erin and Katie (two of my Madison girls) and catch up on life. And to that end, all I have to say is that we are all going a million miles an hour in different and very interesting directions. Between marriages and grad schools we are beginning to spread across the country, and now I have to start convincing people to fly all the way out to Seattle for a visit. So, if you are looking to rack up some major frequent flier miles, start heading this way, especially all you East-coasters- there is a lot of country in-between! I am also pumped at the simple fact that I am typing in peace thanks to Ritter playing outside in the yard. Dereck has been digging in one area to lay bricks down, and Ritter is having a field day playing in the soft dirt and looking for roots and other various items to eat. He will probably need a bath in the end, but the few moments of quiet solitude at the moment are well worth it. Maybe I'll wait until Dereck gets home and then stick him with the bathing....hmmm.....

After the last blog, Dereck and I went to an FRG meeting (Family Readiness Group) for a fundraiser. FRGs are the Army's answer to deployments, and they provide a one-stop shop for any answers, training, and support a family might need before, during, and after a deployment. Every FRG runs differently depending on the unit, and some like to raise funds for events that support families, like movie nights, pizza nights, etc. We are in a fundraising-type FRG, and so last week Dereck and I headed to a pie-your-leader bonanza. At first I thought people were simply paying to pie their boss like you would at a typical carnival, but being the Army, this had a twist. Pies were up for bid, and then those pies were worth specific prizes, like a day off of PT (physical training) or a week of using your boss's parking spot. This made the whole pie auction twenty times more fun as people went crazy trying to win pies for certain bosses or prizes. Most every leader got pied, and when Dereck had somehow escaped the whole night without a bit of damage, he got attacked by two friends who covered him in pie parts that had already been smeared on them. The best part about the pies? These were no simple pies of whip cream and cherries. These pies had beans, horseradish, sardines, chili peppers, and several other ingredients that made them smell like hot garbage melting in the summer sun. Needless to say, Dereck got pretty well covered, and we had to ride home with the windows down while he sat on a garbage bag. Even now I can almost smell the stench that permeated the whole room by the end of the FRG meeting. What a way to make money! What a stinky mess of clothing to wash!

From there, our week fell back into its normal routine, with Dereck going to work and me coaching track and cross country on Thursday after getting a Fitness Assessment in the morning. A few weeks back, I met a trainer named Rich who works at one of the gyms on post, and I asked him about how I could start doing his workouts. He informed me that I needed to first get a fitness assessment that shows the Army I am not going to die of a heart-attack while working out. So, I had the pleasure of riding a bike hooked up to a computer- result: good, taking a test for flexibility- result: bad, and answering some questions about my lifestyle- result: need to eat more veggies. Then, after receiving my clean bill of health, I headed over to the gym, met with Rich, and then got scheduled into one of his workout groups, and I was pumped to say the least. Friday, I worked in the kennel office all day and had the pleasure of making a new brochure with updated info. Working on Publisher on Windows is no easy task when I have become accustomed to using my Mac and its Leopard OS, but I pushed through and had a new product in a matter of hours. I also met some interesting people while at the front counter, and I got to know the staff better, so I call that a win-win. At the end of the day Ritter and I headed home for some relaxation before Dereck got there, and then we kicked off the weekend in grand style by going out for dinner.

While at dinner we talked about what we wanted to do over the weekend, and all I knew was that I needed to get away from the house. It wasn't so much that I was getting cabin-fever, as I needed a change of pace. So, we brainstormed day trips that were feasible with Ritter in the mix- darn those responsibilities- and this pretty much then boiled down to a couple of options that included camping. Camping in the NW can be a tricky thing given the propensity to rain and cold temperatures, but we hit the jackpot on weather last weekend, and decided to brave the elements. Saturday morning Dereck ran a road race in Tacoma with his Army unit, and I went on a fantastic bike ride before we got together and began packing for the camping trip. Soon enough we had all the equipment we figured might be needed over the weekend, loaded the truck, and hit the road. We are lucky enough to have several state parks near us that take pets, so the trip to the campsite took a whole 45min, and we were setting up in no time. Our campground was called "Millersylvania," like Pennsylvania, but with Miller. Dereck and I both decided this was a Dracula-esque sounding campground and therefore decided the campground has to be haunted. Millersylvania is way too creepy sounding to not have some type of horror stories! Alas, we saw no ghosts, werewolves, or scary creatures to support our theory, but I still remain a believer. Before we went camping I had this grand idea that Ritter would be a good puppy and sit and watch us while we worked, but that was just a short-lived dream. In reality, Ritter wanted to run around like a maniac and sniff everything that was and wasn't moving, so Dereck ended up setting up our entire campsite himself while I held Ritter on his leash and he terrorized the park. After setting up camp, we went on a short hike and then ran to the grocery store for key camping foods, like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, soda, and the ever popular s'more makings. Once we got back we met our camping neighbors that were interesting, to say the least. They looked nice enough, but our suspicions were confirmed true when they stayed up the entire night drinking and yelling curse words at one another. Luckily, we had a great dinner and time around the campfire (props to Dereck and his mad fire-making skills here) before the craziness stirred up, and we fell asleep in no time with Ritter next to us on his little blue blanket. In the nighttime though I woke up to Ritter in-between us and snuggled beneath the covers. He must have gotten lonely and cold on his little blanket and decided that we looked much more cozy at some point and then made himself at home. In the morning we had a delicious meal of pancakes before setting out to hike one more time, and made it home around 3 or 4pm. Between the madness Ritter liked chewing on firewood and barking at little kids, so all in all I call the trip a success, especially considering how late we planned it all. I think every Kennedy was satisfied on the way home.

The rest of the weekend went smoothly as we watched World Cup soccer and played with Ritter before kicking up this week. Monday Dereck got swamped with work, so I ended up going to small group alone, but still had a fantastic time with our new church family, and I have to admit that it feels mighty nice to be planted finally. For the first time I am beginning to feel like we really live and are settled (till the Army says go) in Washington. Tuesday I had my first workout with my new trainer Rich, and I am still a little sore even today from all the ways he kicked my butt. I went in thinking it would be hard, but also giving myself more credit for being in shape than I deserved, and that quickly turned out to be a bad idea. I had a great time, and left there feeling very well worked out. Rich really made me work on lateral (side to side) movements, something I am super weak in as a runner, and that's where I learned how much I have to work on. I am excited to see what types of torture he has in store for me this next week, and am sure that I will have more tales of pain to tell in future blogs. Tuesday I also got to help my neighbor whose husband is deployed, as she pulled her back and was stranded on her couch. I was more than happy to get her to the doctor and Walgreens after seeing how much pain she was in, and since then I have had the opportunity to feed her my horrible cooking and to buy her groceries. All I can think is, "how could I not help?" She is living alone and far away from family, and that is one prime example of why the Army helps you make such powerful friends. When you have no one you know and love anywhere near, it is all the more important to build family wherever possible. We even have a woman in our bible study small group who lost her husband six months ago in Afghanistan, and when I see the family that she has created around herself here it makes me feel all the better for when Dereck heads out. It gives more hope and comfort that my Army family will watch out for me.