2013 Goals

I know I haven't posted about Christmas yet but I wanted to get into New Years.  I haven't ever been very good at New Year's resolutions. I am more of the goal kind of person.  Last year's goals included things like: find a place to live in MD, manage to drive across the country and not have a baby, have a happy healthy baby and so on.  This year's goals are not so focused on moving & the baby and more focused on our entire family.

Goal #1
- Save $$$$ in our savings account, so that someday we can buy a house.  whether that is here or somewhere else in the U.S.

Goal #2
- Go to New York City for Jackson's 1st birthday. Living so far away from our friends and family means that Jackson doesn't really get a birthday party. We thought this would be a way to make his day/birthday week more special than every other day of the year.  We will also get to do something special for our anniversary since it is 3 days before Jack's birthday. This isn't going to be a long trip just a night or two but none the less it's still a trip.

Goal #3
- Make it back to Wisconsin as a family at least once.  The Man doesn't get much vacation and has school and reserves so this will actually be a little more difficult than people may think.  It is very important to us that Jackson knows his family and our friends.

Goal #4
- Go camping in Ohio (half way between our friends & us) with a bunch of our friends this June. We have been talking about doing a group trip or something for a couple years now.  This year I am really hoping that it actually happens.

Goal #5
- Save an additional $6,000 - $7,000 for a trip to Switzerland in January 2014.  The Man is half Swiss and a Swiss citizen.  He has always wanted to visit Switzerland. Since we don't live near family that would be able to watch Jackson for a week or longer and we do not know when/if we will be living closer to family in the next years to come.  So I proposed to the Man that we try and go in a year since Jackson will be under 2 and will fly for free. If we save up all this extra $$$$ the only way we will not be going is if I am pregnant or just had a baby...which neither is being planned since both of us really want to go to Switzerland!  If we don't go next January it could be another 5-10 years before we will be able to go again, so we look at it as we have to seize this opportunity to take Jackson and make a memory we will tell him about.

So there are our BIG goals for 2013. We also have other goals that probably don't seem so big but are just as important like: raise a super happy healthy little boy, love each other every day more than the day before, be better people and so on.

The Man Came HOME!!!!

I don't think any blog post that I could possibly write could express how frickin excited I am that the Man is home!  He has been home for exactly 2 weeks and it has been so awesome having him here.  It was a long 5 1/2 months with out him...I do have to thank Nicki for helping that time go by faster than if I was here by myself.

I am not sure if everyone is aware of how crazy the Man's journey home was, so let me summarize it: 5 days, 4 countries, & 7 flights after he left the boat he FINALLY made it home! He was exhausted but oh so glad to be back.  Our first stop after the airport was to the AT&T store to get him a new phone, then to Olive Garden to feed me & the baby and then we actually made it back to our place.

waiting to pick up his bags from baggage claim...1st picture since he left & 1st picture together of 2012 :)

Airport Frustrations!

As I promised in the previous post, I am doing a "flashback" post.  To get everyone fully up-to-speed I might repeat a few things already stated.....you will just have to deal with it :)

On to the point...

I traveled back to Wisconsin unexpectedly Sunday June 19th and was to return to California late Thursday June 23. Here is how the trip from FAT to CWA went:
   - First flight departed at 7:00 am, by 7:30 the guy sitting in the isle seat was telling me a little too much about his life and how he was going to party it up in Miami while being there on a business trip.  By 7:45 the same guy bought himself 2 bloody marys and me 1.  8:15 the same guy was now sing and dancing to some great 80's & 90's music  very very funny.  9:00 same guy are you noticing a trend on this flight???? bought my a 2nd bloody mary and himself a 3rd  keep in mind that he proceeded to tell me that it was on his wifes credit card and that since it was father's day it was ok.  By now I am laughing really hard at this guy and personally think he might be going through a mid-life crisis but it doesn't end here.  He ends up passing out by 10 am and sleeping the entire rest of the flight.....I went the opposite direction as he did when we got off the plane even though he offered to buy me lunch


   - My next two flights weren't that interesting so I don't have much to say about them.....they did however arrive on-time and everything was great in Dallas and Chicago that is where my 2 layovers were


Now for the trip from CWA to FAT:
   - Get to CWA to find out that the previous flight from Chicago to LAX was cancelled, so they put me on other flights just in case mine got cancelled as well.  Then find out that my plane is delayed over an hour....panic now is setting in because I realize I will have about a 10 min. window to get off of this plane and run to my board my next flight in Chicago


   - Landed in Chicago, got off the plane super fast but ended up that my carry-on, which was stowed underneath the plane,  was one of the last ones unloaded.  So I ended up missing my connecting flight.  No worries at CWA they already booked me on a totally different route so I am still good to go just postponed about 2 hours  at least that is what I thought!  Get to my new gate and go to get my ticket and then learn that now that plane is delayed by 45 min.  OMG this is getting annoying!!!   I finally board that plane to realize that when I land in Phoenix I once again have about a 25 min window to get to my next flight....Oh wait there is a light bulb out on the plane make that now a 10 min window.  


   -  Got to Phoenix and didn't get off the plane as fast as I would have liked or needed too.  So I end up missing that connecting flight by about 10 min too.  So now I go to the terminal that I need to be in and they kindly inform me that there are 5 daily flights from Phoenix to Fresno  I was extremely excited for about a second  but the earliest one they could get me on was at 8 pm on Friday, mind you it is about 11:30 pm on Thursday....that is a long frickin time to spend in one airport!  They do inform me that I should be able to fly stand-by and get on one of the 3 earlier flights and that I should be able to go back to the terminal I came from and get a free hotel room from the airline that brought me to Phoenix.  So I went back to the other terminal by the way this is not that easy of a process, just for the record and just as my luck would have it there was not a single person working and I was told that the earliest anyone would be in was around 4 am  CAN I CATCH A BREAK YET!!!!  So I go back to the terminal that I will be flying out of sometime in the next 24 hours to sleep on the floor like a bum.  Got up at 4 am and got in line to get my stand-by ticket, went to go to my gate to realize that even thought I have not left the airport at all I had to go through security again.  Went to my gate to find out they switched the gate to the other side of the terminal....not cool!  First flight to FAT is boarding.....my stand-by ticket got me on the flight!!  YAY!!!


   -  Finally landed in Fresno at 11:30 Friday morning


Sorry that this was so long and maybe even boring for you.  It was extremely frustrating for me.  Moral of the story always bring a blanket/pillow or even both! Sleeping on an airport floor by yourself is not comfy at all.

cra·zi·ness

the only word to describe the last month: CRAZINESS!!

Let's quickly recap the last month  I might have to do a few "flashback" blogs to get completely caught up


1.) Made an unexpected trip back to Wisconsin to celebrate the life of my Grandma Halopka, she was an amazing person and is missed by many!!

2.) Had the worst travel experience on my way back to California to-date

3.) Home for 4 days before packing up and headed to San Jose to fly back to WI

4.) Had an incredible trip home: 4th of July in Phillips & at the Eau Plaine, Brother-In-Law's wedding the following weekend, and was able to see tons of family and friends that I don't talk to enough.  there were many people I did not get to see that I really really wanted to, SORRY!!


5.) Flew back to CA after 12 days in WI

So now here I am trying to get back into the swing of things...