Merry Christmas

Hello everyone,

Here are a few pictures from the last fews days. The one in front of the fireplace is at Bill's Aunt and Uncle's and the one in the sled is from when we went to Gatlinburg, TN. Sorry about the red eye but I don't have the program to fix them right now.

It has been a very busy time and I don't have regular access to the internet. So I will try to give everyone a quick update on what is going on. We had a great time at Disney World it only rained on one day and not for very long but then it got cold. At least cold for Florida, it was in the lower 50's. Then when we got to North Carolina and it was warm, upper 60's. I am surprised that we all haven't gotten sick with all the weather up and downs. We are still in North Carolina and will be leaving here on Dec. 29th and we fly out at 8:45am Jan. 1 to Hawaii. Then we will not have to really worry about weather. Not much else going on, just doing some Christmas shopping and spending time with Bill's family. In case I don't get back on here to update more I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

Love,

Barbara

Kyle's 2008 Football Picture

So here he is our very own football player, Kyle Refenes. It is not a very good picture. I could of taken better pictures with my Kodak digital. In the team picture you can barely see the top row because of the glare which made them blurry and they placed some of the boys right in front of another and you can't even some of there faces. I would be even more upset if I couldn't see my child. If we wouldn't of paid so much for the pictures it wouldn't be a big deal but $40 for these two pictures and eight wallets is way to much for the poor quality. We are is the process of trying to get refunded for the group photos since you can't see half the team.

They did pretty good for being in the 125lb American League. They placed third and lost the play-offs for the championships. The American League is made up of teams that have been together since the Anklebiter weight class (75lbs). This year they didn't have enough teams in the American division so Fairfax county picked us to be in it since Fort Belvoir teams usually do well. But with only 1/2 of the 22 boys on the team have ever playing organized football and only 5 of them had played together before this year including Kyle, I would say they did great. The coaches were excellent in every way. They were great with teaching them how to play and also with everyday life, even being involved in the boys schools talking to the teachers and principles if there were problems. They could go to the coaches with anything and that is how it should be, life is not all about winning. Even though it does make life better but you have to take the good with the bad.

As for everything else that is going on. We took my car to Baltimore on Monday and it will be in Hawaii around December 22, so it will be waiting for us. We had to drive around for almost an hour to get the gas under 1/4 of a tank. I guess my car really gets good gas mileage. It was just a bit above the 1/4 mark and they said they couldn't take it so off we went and it took us an hour to get it down. So now I am car less and we all know how much I love to drive the truck.

We got our plane itinerary and we leave out of Reagan on January 1 at 8:45am and we get to Hawaii at 5:20pm. So no News Years celebrating for us we have to be at the airport at 6:45am, just in time to hit DC traffic.

Well that is about all for now, I have to get the stuff together for unaccompanied baggage tomorrow. And get the clothes washed to pack our suitcases. I just have to make it through til Thanksgiving and then it will all be over. That is what I keep telling myself anyways. Love to all.

Our 14th Anniversary

I really should of posted this before Halloween, but late is better than never. So our 14th anniversary was on October 23. We celebrated on October 22 because Kyle had football practice on the 23rd and so he couldn't watch his brothers. This is a picture of us at dinner at Mount Vernon (or George's house as Zack calls it). We live literally right down the street from George's house and have never been so we decide that for our anniversary we would go. We got up in the morning and got there around 9:30 am. Zack went with us because the boys were in school and he was very excited. We told him we were going where George Washington used to live and as we walked the grounds and went on the National Treasure tour (there is not really a tunnel from the Potomac River into the house) he kept asking when we were going to George's house, like he was just a friend of the family. We hadn't planned on taking him into George's house, we were going to do that after we took him home to Kyle when he got home of school at 3pm. But we just had to take him because he seemed so excited about it. As we are standing in line he starts saying we are going in to see George now, so we tell him we can't see George he isn't here. He is then very persistent as to why he isn't here and why we can't see him. We tell him that George is dead and he gets a little worried and asks what happened. We explain that George lived here a long time ago and he just got old and it was his time to go. He was happy with that explanation and as we are going through the house he had to tell all the tour guides that are in all the rooms that George isn't here because he is dead and that is why he can't see him. Then for like a week after he tells everyone that we went to George's house and George is dead. Everyone is then asking us who is George and what happen.

So at 3 pm we took Zack home to Kyle and went back to George's house. We walked around the grounds some more went to George's tomb and then at 6pm we went to dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. We were sitting in a back corner and after about 45 minutes we practically had that whole part of the restaurant to ourselves. The food and wine were great and we had a quiet romantic dinner.

The Best Picture of Papa Ever!

So we have decided that this is the best picture of Papa we have ever seen and so we decided to we had to post it. He is happy, healthy and full of life. We love you Papa. See you soon.

Our Halloween

Justin the Zombie, Zack the Gorilla, Kyle as Jack Sparrow
Here's our pumpkins

We had a great time on Halloween. We took the Zombie and Gorilla trick or treating where they raked in the candy and Jack Sparrow stayed home with a friend and gave out candy. I think Jack had way to much fun acting like he had to much rum. Daddy, I mean Jason, was walking real slow scaring people with his hockey mask on. (we didn't manage to get a picture of that) Then he got bored with the trick or treating and went back to the house and scared more people there. He would just stand by the bushes and then walk real out slow and follow real close behind them until they turned around. You could hear more than one teenage girl scream from three streets over. Then they would come back with friends for more. There were even a few guys he freaked out too.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a bit since I have updated this blog, but with all the prep for moving and a little of just plain laziness I just haven't had time. You would think that since we don't have to pack anything or move it ourselves there wouldn't be much we have to do but because we have weight limits and like five separate shipments we have to go through and separate everything. Yes, that is right, I said five shipments. Some are more involved than others but they are all still there.
(Nov 17) First off we have my car to ship, sounds like a no brainer but we have to take everything except the spare tire out of it and it has to be cleaned inside and out and then we have to drive it up to Baltimore and when we drop it off it has to have less than 1/4 of a tank of gas in it. I don't know about all of you but I am not one for driving around in a city I don't know with almost no gas in my car. So we will probably be sitting in the parking lot with the car running after we get there to get the gas down where it needs to be.
(Nov 20) Second is our unaccompanied baggage which is 1000 lbs of stuff that will be shipped to be there before we arrive there. This consist of clothes, air mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, folding table and chairs, and other stuff that we might need when we get there before our regular shipment of household goods.
(Nov 20)Third is official military stuff which is uniforms, papers, books, awards and other thing job related. I guess we can't really call this one a shipment for this move because we are actually shipping most of this stuff in our unaccompanied or we are carrying it with us. But it still has to be separated. We could ship this stuff at no charge to our weight allowance but since we don't think we there is enough of it to put us over our weight allowance we are just including it with other shipments.
(By Nov 23)Fourth is our actual suitcases for our trips to North Carolina for Thanksgiving (Nov 26-30), back to Virginia for out processing (Dec 1-5), Florida for DisneyWorld (Dec 6-14), North Carolina for Christmas (Dec 15-28), back to Virginia to sell the truck to CarMax (Dec 29-31), then Washington DC airport for the trip to Hawaii (Jan 1-2). I guess this one really isn't a shipment either but we have to pack for a month into one suitcase and carry-on for each person. Since the airlines have now started charging for bags we are only reimbursed for so much. If necessary we can pay for more bags but I really don't want to and it is hard enough to get through the airport with 3 kids, 5 suitcases, and 5 carry-ons. Not to mention getting to and from the airports. This also has to be done before they come to pack all the rest of our stuff because they will literally pack anything that is not nailed down, in fact if there is trash in a trash can they will pack it with the trash in it. So anything that is not to be packed and shipped needs to be out of the house.
(Nov 24-26)So that brings us to our last shipment of everything else. Like I already said they will pack everything and they do it so fast you don't have time wipe any dust, through out the trash, or anything else. So basically you have to do a complete spring cleaning right before they come unless you want to unpack boxes with the dust and trash from your last house.

Update on Kyle's little finger

We went to the doctor today and she said that it does look like there is a crack in there, but it is hard to see because there is a vein that is right there that kinda blocks the view in the x-rays. They did not put a cast on it, they just taped the two fingers together and we go back in two weeks to take more x-rays. She said that if she sees there is new bone growth in the x-rays then she was right and it is fractured and she will see how it is healing then to see what to do next. So he can't play football, do any contact sports or lift anything with that hand.
As for the nurse at school, she said that she told Kyle to call me, but he said that if she did he didn't hear her. I am not real sure that she said it because Kyle would of called me. Her excuse to that was that alot of times kids just want her to call their parents because if an adult calls then they will come get them. I assured her that Kyle has no problems calling me if he needs or wants to be picked up. So then she also said that it was her job to make sure he did call and that she was sorry. Whatever, whats done is done, but I am sure that if he comes to her again for something she will remember his name and make sure that she pays attention to what is going on.

Kyle hurt his little pinky finger.

Kyle has hurt his little pinky finger on his right hand. Now you want to know how and why Kyle got hurt, right? Well at first guess you might think that he did it at football, because he is playing with the big boys now in the toughest league for his age/weight class (13-15/118-150 lbs). That is where I thought that he would get hurt, too. I prayed he wouldn't, but it is football and those things happen. But no, Kyle got hurt in PE class playing a game that he describes as a cross between basketball and soccer with a nerf like ball. So know you are asking how you get hurt in a game that uses a nerf like ball. Well, he jumped up to block the ball and when he brought his hand down it hit another person. It started hurting and he shook it off and continued playing and then to add insult to injury he also missed the block, which to him was worse that the hurt hand. After his pinky swelled up to twice his normal size, he then went to the teacher and they sent him to the nurse who gave him ice and sent him back to class. Now I know that a finger isn't like a loss of limb or anything, but I would of still of expected to get a phone call of some sort. I mean at Justin's school he gets a little rash and they called an ambulance, or a tummy ache and I get a phone call to come and get him. Kyle's finger is twice it normal size, he can't bend or straighten it, it is purple and I get nothing. In fact, I don't know anything about it until I come to pick him up after his after school activity club at 5:30 pm and he had PE at 10am. So now instead of being able to just call the doctor to get an x-ray and get it looked at, I will have to go to the ER. But Kyle is suppose to be going to football practice because they have a game tomorrow, so we go over to practice and the coach took one look at it and said that he needs to have it checked out. The ER for a hurt finger, do you know how far at the bottom of the list a hurt finger puts you? And on a Friday night no less. But he has to go because he can't play football without being checked out. Which I don't blame the coaches they are making sure everyone is good to play. The person I blame is the school nurse. I looked at the finger and knew there was something wrong and I don't have a RN after my name.
So there we are trapped at the ER, yes literally trapped, when you check in they take your ID and give you a hospital bracelet and a restaurant pager thing. So, we are waiting and waiting and hoping and praying that we don't get sick because of all the sick people and not to mention in the middle of waiting I realize that the last time I was in an ER waiting room it, was waiting to be able to go see my dad. Managed to get that pushed to the back of my mind when the guy behind us starts a coughing fit and then I go back to hoping I don't get the flu or anything. We finally get called by the triage nurse and she sends us to x-ray and I think well at least we didn't have to wait to see a doctor to get an x-ray, maybe this would be as bad as I thought. But then we get to radiology and there is no one there, the doors are open, the lights and TV are on but there is no one around. So we call out and wait and wait then finally like 20 minutes later someone comes from the outside corridor and asked if we have been helped. I should of asked where and the hell he has been, but of course I am nice and just say no we haven't been helped, although I am sure he knew that since there was no one but him working in there. Anyways, we get the x-rays done and go back to the waiting room and wait some more. Finally our table is ready (our pager goes off) and we then go back to wait to see the doctor. More waiting and listening to people hack (did I mention that I don't like ER's) then he comes in asks if we got x-rays, we say yes, the he goes away and we wait some more. Then he comes back and says it looks like there might be a crack but we will have to go to orthopedics on Monday to have them check it out better. 2 1/2 hours to be told that he thinks there is a crack. I knew in the first few seconds of seeing it that there might be a crack.
So no football game tomorrow and he may have a cast on his hand for 6-8 weeks, right know he has a hard splint on his hand. Needless to say Kyle is not happy. No football, bike, skateboard, basketball or anything fun as he says. And also if it has to say on for 8 weeks that might put us into our trip to DisneyWorld, we aren't real sure what to do about that one yet. All we can do is wait and see what ortho says on Monday. I will try to get an update on here after we see the doctor on Monday.

What we have been up to.

Hello Everyone.
I know it has been awhile but as we all know sometimes life just takes over. So let me see what has been going on.... Kyle and Justin loved camp and they want to go back next year. I don't think that it will happen because school is year round in Hawaii. Billy has recoved from our time away from him while we were in NC. Kyle and Justin are both doing great in school. Kyle has really adjusted great to middle school and is so far getting all A's and B's. Justin loves "ruling the school" since 6th graders are the top dogs in elementary school. Kyle's football is going well they won their first to games but lost the one last weekend. That was kinda a wake up call for them because they thought they were the best team out there. So they have been having hard practices this week. His next game is October 4th at 8pm.
Zack is very excited to go on our adventure. An adventure is what it will be. We are going to DisneyWorld, he gets to go on an airplane for the first time, he wants to get the "car without windows" (Billy's getting a jeep when we get there), he wants to swim with the turtles, go to the big boy school and wants to get a "doggie". The dog thing really depends on where we are living and what I am doing work wise. If I wait to go to work after Zack starts kindergarten then we may get one because it will have time to learn some rules, but if I go to work right after we move then we will have to think about it some more.
We sold the Mustang (boo hoo hoo, sniffle, sniffle), are trying to sell the pop-up and we are having a big yard sale to get rid of the stuff we have accumulated over the past 4 years. So lately we have been going through everything to see what we can get rid of. Basically other than doing that, Billy working, boys' school, Kyle's football, and getting all the clearances to get our orders (which by the way we got today, Yeah), we haven't been doing much. And now that we have our orders we can get our plane tickets, set up shipping for our stuff, reserve our hotel here and in Hawaii and sign up for housing in Hawaii.

Who I Am

OK, so I'm back from a day of running around to include the stalking of my cousin Julie for lunch, and as I promised in my morning post (sounds like a cereal... or maybe even a slang phrase for defecation.. oops can I say defecation? ahh $#!t, sorry) anyway I promised you something super duper special, and here it is... this is my advertisement, just basically tells you a little bit about me and what I stand for. It should make you proud to know me and may even bring tears to peoples eyes. Its not professionally done, but its close... thanks for watching my video titled "Who I Am"... I'm Bill Refenes and I approved this ad.

Left Behind

Well... Barb and the boys left this morning to head down to NC. The boys start summer camp tomorrow at Camp Kanuga called Operation Purple... its a summer camp for military brats. They are very excited even though Kyle will be missing the beginning of his football practices. I on the other hand, was left behind here all because of this silly thing called work. I was sitting here, already a little bored when suddenly it donned on me... Barb started a blog, is there any better way for me to show the world what kind of fool I am? Probably... but Ill settle for this forum while I wait for a better opportunity. So far all I've thought of was the poll question I posted, I'm very interested in your thoughts in that matter so please vote. I will have some more stuff for you to view later, but for now I think I'm going to grab my cleats, throw on some overalls, tie on my cape and go out to lunch in style (HEY, I heard that... when you just thought to yourself, he already is out to lunch, yup, heard it). So, as I said before, check back tonight, I may just have something super duper special for ya. I'm Bill Refenes and I approved this ad. Vote Today!!!!

Mustang has a Boo Boo

Okay so like I said before we have to sell the Mustang and what better way than to make the car show and cruise-in rounds. Not only do we love going to the car shows and cruise-ins (whats not to love old cars, old music, great people and usually some sort of free give-aways) but these are people who also love old cars like us so we know that they would take care of the Mustang if they were to buy it and not just put it out to pasture somewhere.
So last Saturday we went to a local show and had a good time and then we decide we would go to a cruise-in at an ice cream place down in Stafford where we used to live. That way we could see all the car show peoples from down there that we don't see much anymore. They don't make it up here to car shows and we don't make it down there much either. Stafford is kinda like a line no one goes past unless they have to. If you are south of Stafford that is as far north as you go and if you are north of Stafford that is as far south as you go. It is not a rule or territory thing at all, it's just has to do with traffic and the roads. It can get pretty hot in a old car without air sitting at a dead stop on the freeway. (I know everyone on this side of the country calls them highways or interstates but I am from California and I refuse to give in to changing what I call things)
Anyways back to the Mustang. So after we went home and did a few things, cooled off, checked the fluids and such, we were ready to head out. Kyle decide he wanted to go to his friends house on the other part of the base so we went and dropped him off, got so gas, picked up some power steering fluid, helped a lady put some air into her tires (this will come into play later) and out the gate we went. Then bang, scrape and stop. There was a speed bump repair thing that was nailed to the blacktop running the length of the road, we tried to straddle it but a nail sticking up (that of course we didn't see) at the end of it caught the muffler and wrapped the tail pipe around the axle. (See pictures) Needless to say Bill was pissed. Before he got out we thought that it tore off the oil pan but when he looked under there was nothing leaking so that was good. As we are trying to get the it off the axle so we can go and figure out what to do next a guy (Patrick) stopped and asked if we need help, we still couldn't get it off. He knew a guy at the auto skills center (a place on base that you can go to do repair on your own vehicle and there are mechanics there to help you if needed) and he called him to see if he could come out. The Auto Skills guys (Kevin and well we didn't get the other guy's name, Bill said we'll just call him "Ed" because, well, who knows why Bill says some of the things he does) came out and jacked up the Mustang and got it off the can so we could then drive it home. They also said that if we got the parts they could help weld it on for us. While they were there they said we should report it and get the base to pay for it. So we got the MP's (military police) out there and did a report and took some pictures and are getting ready to file the claim. The parts to fix it should be here today, so this weekend we should be able to do some more car show cruise-in stuff. It really could of been worse but at the time you couldn't tell Bill that because the world is against him. Luckily when he rebuild it the first time he only tack welded the muffler and tailpipes because if they would of been completely welded on then it would of torn the whole exhaust system complete off at the engine. Talk about expensive. Right now it is going to cost less than $100 because he can do it himself at auto skills.
Later were talking about the karma thing and how that it shouldn't of happened because of helping the lady out earlier with the air (told you we would come back to that). So we decide that it wasn't suppose to happen and karma was like oh (insert word here) that wasn't suppose to happen and so the right people stopped to help and now we should also get back the money it will cost to fix. Or if you don't believe in karma than it was just damn lucky that Patrick, Kevin and "Ed" were around to help. Either way I am just glad that it will all work out and be good in the end.

Video on Bill's new job

So all is going well with us. Hope the same can be said for everyone else. The boys and I had our medical check-ups for moving and everything went well with that. The boys had to get TB tests and Justin had to get a shot and no one cried or threw fits, so that was great. We still have to get dental check-ups and some paper that the school has to do, paperwork and more paperwork and then usually you miss something on their checklist and have to go back to somewhere and get something redone, but that is what comes with the military move. And that is just the paperwork that is my responsibility to get done there is alot more that Bill has to do also. And you all thought that we just have some people come and pack up all of our stuff and then we are on our way, we could only wish it was all that easy.
Bill went on the website for his new command and found this video on his new job that we thought some of you might like to see. It is a fifteen minute video so it takes a little time to load. http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/index.php?page=command_video&size=100&ind=0 You can also browse around that site for other info about his new job.

I will start by getting everyone up to date. In case you haven't heard we have received our next assignment and it is at Hickam AFB on Oahu, Hawaii. We are very, very excited. Bill's new job is at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command - JPAC. Bill is very excited and can't wait to get there. In his words he expects this to be "a career highlight." For a little more info on his job there is an article from a show that Oliver North did on his job at the link http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,374863,00.html . The boys are doing great. Kyle is going to be going to football camp starting the 23rd for 5 days. Then the first week of Aug. Kyle and Justin are going to a sleep away camp called Camp Operation Purple, a camp for military children, that is actually located in Hendersonville, NC. After that we have a week long camping trip planned. When we get back from that it is time for 4-5 day a week football practices and getting things ready school starting and for the move. We have to sell our pop-up and the Mustang (boo-hoo, sniffle-sniffle) and we will also have to sell Billy's truck but when we get there the plan is to get him a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited X. Our plan actually be leaving this base about the second week of December and going down the DisneyWorld for a week and then we will be in NC for 2 weeks and be coming back to Virginia around 29th to sell the truck to CarMax and then get on a plane to Hawaii on the 1st or 2nd of January. I think that just about covers the basics. Oh and for those of you that start Christmas shopping in July we are requesting that any presents be very small or gift cards because we will have already of sent all of our stuff to Hawaii and whatever is received will have to fit in our suitcases. Love you all.