To Trenton

So I finished up my week in Greenwood. Wednesday night we tried for 3 hours in the sim but it was broken so we ended up finishing up early. We got a ton of snow wednesday night. Thursday night went ok as well. Then on Friday they said there would be another snow storm so we called the sqn at 1200 to see if we could change our flights. It would be $550 per person so the sqn said no. So we went in to the sim and did our trainer till 1430. Then I called west jet and they said that since the storm was coming that they would move us for free. This would have us leave at 1640 and head to calgary overnight and then get home at the same time as originally scheduled from calgary to comox. By the time we left greenwood at 1500 we were pretty much doomed from the start. We still however tried to make it but it was too late. The 1830 flight was already full so we ended up getting stuck in Calgary. Friday night after I checked in Michael and Owen picked me up and we went back to their house for supper. Kelly looks awesome. We had a wonderful supper. They bbq'd some 3 day marinated steak and a wonderful salad and of course some lovely wine. We hung out. I was totally envious of Kelly's wonderful scrapbooking room!!! Owen was adorable as usual. Then since the snowstorm was supposed to be coming and Kelly and Michael were flying to Cuba the next day Michael drove me home at 2100. Saturday morning at 0500 I got up to get ready for the flight. I looked outside and there was alot of snow but it seemed to have stopped and looked alright. At 0515 JP knocked on my door and said that our flight was cancelled and we weren't flying out until 0740 on sunday morning and that we were meeting at 1100 in the lobby to move to the hotel downtown since there was no room at the base. I had to wade through waist high snow to go over to the Juno Tower for breakfast and then back to my room. Same thing when I was checking out. We went to the Sheraton Four Points downtown. It was amazing. Free wi-fi in the rooms and 2 queen beds with wonderful duvets!!! We all went out as a crew for lunch which was fun, and then a quick stop at MEC. AFter that I went back to my room to change my flights. Since I wasn't making it home on saturday, I had to fly right to Ontario on sunday so I could go to Trenton for my training. They moved me to a 1218 flight from Halifax to Toronto, then Dad Hacker picked me up and took me to their house. It was so great to spend time with Mom and Dad H. Mom is still recovering from breaking her ankle. Then I headed out for the 2.5 hr drive to Trenton. I was pretty tired when I got to Trenton but thanx to the GPS I found the base no problem and checked in. I had a frustrating time trying to get on the internet. I thought the first cable was not working but I tried another and still nothing. Then I plugged in down in the lobby and realized that my laptop was ok. The next day the IT tech came by and was submitting a work order so I asked for a new room. I moved all of my stuff to the new room and the internet wasn't working again so they moved me to the 2nd floor and this time it worked. Then I left for Belleville hospital because Mom Hacker had left me a voicemail saying Nana had a stroke and was in the hospital. I headed right down there for a visit. I had planned on going to see Grandpa but when I called him at lunch, he had told me that he didn't feel well enough for a visit. Then Tuesday after class I was going to see Grandpa but I had a message from Mom and Amy saying that Grandpa was in the hospital now too because of his heart. I headed right out and Amy and I took turns visiting Grandpa in Emerg and then going up to see Nana. Amy and I have been at the hospital every night so far this week. My course is going really really well. I am learning tons of stuff and most of it is very interesting. Tomorrow I will head up to Mom and Dad's after I am done. I have to clear out of my room first thing in the morning and then go to class. Mom and Dad are driving down tomorrow to go to the hospital. Then they will be back home tomorrow evening and we are having a fish fry!!! Delicious. I have probably gained 5-10 lbs over the last 2 weeks. Has been a stressful time this week. I have to get back in to gear when I get home. I also am on a complete different awake/sleep schedule from last week so that doesn't help. I was supposed to be only coming home on the 1st of Dec, but now I go home on Saturday night. I can't wait, I miss my boys so much!!! I am looking forward to visiting with Mom and Dad again tomorrow night and saturday before my flight. I picked up some scrapbooking stuff over the last couple of days and made a scrapbooking thing for Nana and gave it to her tonight. She loved it. I made a more manly one for Grandpa and he loved it too. They are doing alright so far although Nana is still having trouble with her left side. It is extra hard for her since she is left handed. I had a nice visit with Aunt Maryann and Uncle Dwight at the hospital last night as well. I am going to see about getting most of my training done at home instead of doing those extra 2 weeks in K-town. We will see. May not be able to keep Logan in Ontario depending on how Nana is doing. Aunt Maryann may be too busy with Nana. We will see what happens. 2 more sleeps till I am home.

Love Rae-Lynn

Greenwood and beyond

We attended the Remembrance Day Ceremony in Courtenay this year. Then we had a babysitter and Paul and I went to the festivites at the Officer's Mess. We had a great time visiting with veterans and fellow colleagues.

Wednesday night I had volleyball practice, Friday night, Paul went to his TGIF, and then I went to the Officer's mess for mine. It was quebecois night. Food was pretty good. The Tortiere was amazing. The poutine wasn't great. I also rocked out on some guitar hero with Chris Wattie.

Saturday I spent most of the day with Logan since he had a fever. Paul worked on the fence a bit more. Saturday night we went to church and then out to supper. I popped over to Barb's to drop off her chipboard calendar. Then Gill popped over to drop off the beautiful birthdya mini album she made of Logan's 1st birthday!! It is wonderful.

I finally packed up at 2200 on Saturday night.

Sunday morning I woke up later than planned at 0640 and furiously finished packing up. Logan woke up very fussy. He was crying alot and still had a fever. Camille and Phil gave me a ride to the airport since Phil was going with me to Greenwood anyways. We got to the airport and it was pretty foggy. We ended up being delayed 40 minutes and didn't take off till 0920. Then when we got to Vancouver we had to pretty much speed walk/run to catch our 1000 flight. We got to the gate right at 1000 to hear that CMA didn't call Air canada to say our flight was delayed and Air Canada had given away all of our seats to standby people. We boarded the plane and some standby people got kicked off. I was all sweaty and gross from running there and got stock in a middle seat but it was actually very comfortable. It was a 767 and it was huge. 2 seats, 3 seats, 2 seats. 2 aisles. I started to watch Baby Mama and then the system crapped out. After it was reset I didn't have the option of watching baby mama. So i watched something else. Can't remember the name right now. It was pretty good. At the end of the movie I accidentally sheared the pin of my ipod headset. It broke and I was unable to watch anything for the last 2 hours of my flight. I slept instead. In Toronto, we grabbed supper at red rocket, and then I bought a pair of cheap earphones for $6.00. The first place I looked at was charging $25, $35 and $45 for headsets.

We ended up arriving in Halifax at 2200. I was able to watch almost all of Baby mama on this flight. missed the last 30 minutes or so. WE got to Halifax and waited an hour for our luggage which didn't arrive. Air Canada has complimentary toiletries if you ask, but only if you ask. Walt knew that, so we all asked. There was a t-shirt in the bag, a brush, razor, laundry soap, toothbrush and toothpaste but no shampoo. We got to juno Towers at the base and they had booked us into Russell House. I washed my underwear in the sink so I would have a clean pair on monday. I got up at 0730 on monday and ate breakfast at the wardroom. then my luggage arrived at 1000. 3 of us got our luggage. We headed to the airport to look for everyone else's luggage but no one elses was there so we came to greenwood. Everyone else's luggage arrived last night at 1700. Since it was over 6 hours since they got their luggage they had $500 to spend on new stuff. Unfortunately everything was closed during the time that I could have bought new stuff. Then I knew at 0800 my luggage would be there at 1000 so there was no point for me.

Had my first OMS session last night. It had been 2 years since I have done acoustics. It was brutal at first but towards the end I was feeling more comfortable. I definitely have alot more to learn/remember but I feel much better about things. We finished at 2240 last night and had some drinks with the Aesops.

I slept till 1100 today and then had lunch and now I am doing some internet stuff. I will head over to work at 1530 to get my brief ready, then come back for supper at 1630 and we brief at 1700 and do it all over again.

Logan had a fever all day sunday but Paul said he seems better now.

Rae-Lynn

wow, I can't believe I forgot to blog about...

I must have been super tired last night because I missed blogging on some important stuff.

I got to help Barb last thursday and work on my stamp-a-stack, then I slept over there on thursday night and came home early to get L ready for daycare. Then Friday I ran errands with Barb since she has a broken elbow. We had a blast. Friday P won the 50/50 from his hockey team. Won $65.

Our first stop on the weekend was to Colleen and Jonathon's house to meet Baby Gordie. He was so tiny and so cute. Really put things in to perspective on how big L was at birth. He was adorable and they have a wonderful family now. I am soooo happy for them. It was a long road for them to get to this place. We had a wonderful visit. Since I am still a little sick, I decided to wear the dust mask because I would feel pretty bad if I made the baby sick. Mom and baby are doing well. Was ironic that Jonathon was a 10+ pound baby and so was L, but P was tiny and so is Gordie. No we didn't do a partner swap!!!

Anyways, we are off to Courtenay today for the Remembrance Day Services.

Yeah L....He's walking

So he could walk since before he turned one but he chose not tooo. Today was the first time where he stood up and walked around on his own volition. Was sooooo cool. Our little man is all grown up!!!

We had a wonderful weekend in Victoria visiting friends and we did a little shopping. It was very go go go. I played poker on Saturday night with Snickers and friends. P and Tim went out drinking with Chris. Then we had breakfast on sunday morning with Annalee and then headed home stopping at Leslie & Andrew's, and then costco.

I haven't blogged yet about my epiphany so here goes....

I finally put the pieces together and realized what my problem is. I have ADD. Like Howie Mandel, I too could be the poster child. I finally realized it was the problem through MG. I am very good at multi-tasking but I am pretty random as people have mentioned. I just didn't pay it very much attention until I realized. It sure feels good to know what's what. I used to think I was crazy but Barb said "RH, Crazy people don't know their crazy". My whole life I have been misunderstood and now I know why. It explains why I felt the need to memorize everything. I had a learning disability and was unable to focus and concentrate unless I was super engaged in the subject or really liked it. I have been training and teaching myself new skills every day. It is alot of fun! It explains almost all of the fights I have ever had with P. Things are soooo amazing between us now. He is a little annoyed about hearing about my epiphany but loves the fact that we can discuss things now without getting angry or having big miscommunications. My Dad told me on the phone the other day that he has it too. It explains alot. One key characteristic is a lack of patience. It is frustrating when you are saying something that seems easy to understand but other people don't get it. Also, that is why I was having so much trouble with jez on my MOAT. I want the answer right away and couldn't focus on analyzing the gram. Knowing about my ADD now, I can take frequent breaks and try and re-focus my energies.

I emailed my team today. I found a whole bunch of information and thought I would share it. My Wing Commander emailed me back a couple of times to thank me for the info. He is a Colonel. I figured he was busy enough being a Wing Commander that I could handle the research. He is from Newfoundland and is awesome!

So I have a few more dates for my training. Looks like I will be in Greenwood for the simulator from the 16 Nov -22 Nov. I will get back at 1130. Then I will be flying to Toronto on the 23rd of Nov and will be there for the IPC course from the 24-28 Nov. I will try and fly back on the 1st of Dec so I can visit people.

After that, I have my exercise in K-town from 5 jan - 16 Jan followed by my pre-deployment training from the 17 Jan - 5 Feb.

Then I have volleyball regionals at the beginning of March.

Well, I am exhausted. So I am going to bed.

See you at Remembrance Day parades tomorrow!

HOME SWEET HOME

I had no problems getting from calgary to Comox. Gillian picked me up at 1130 from the airport. She drove me home and then we went for a walk with the dogs (Jack and Tikka). Tikka was ecstatic to see Mommy after her trip. After the walk, we hung out for a bit and then I needed to sleep so I took a shower and a little nap. I went to get L at 1515 and stayed for 30 minutes so he would be comfortable with me again. He was all smiles, crawling all over me and kissing me. Was adorable. Then we just got home and the phone was ringing. P was calling because his car had a flat tire and he needed me to take the truck and pick him up. Was leaving the car at the gas station near the base. He also wanted to pick up the last fence panel for the fence. We packed up and headed to get P. He had gotten a ride from the gas station with the MP's to the fence place and I picked him and the fence panel up there. Was sooooo awesome to see him. He did such a wonderful job on the fence and taking care of L. I think he had a really good time despite being sooooo tired. We headed home and P finished the last panel of the fence with our neighbour Brian and then we had a wonderful evening.

I figured out that L goes to the garbage if he wants attention. Will be easy to teach him now that we know why he does it. Ref P spanking him, I came down pretty hard on him on my blog the other day. Needless to say, I over-reacted and made assumptions. With L's thick diapers, he can't even feel the little tap that P gives him. He gives him 2 freebies with moving him and a no, before a bigger no and a little tap.

It is wonderful to be home. Wednesday I was crazy busy. I am trying to get all of my training booked for my deployment. The next dates that I know for sure are the 5 Jan - 16 Jan in Kingston. It is a 24/7 computer exercise doing the same thing that I was just doing at MG. I can't wait to see the team again. Man did I learn alot. I still have a ton to learn. I went in to settle my claim from MG and sort out my training and didn't expect to be there from 1030-1515. Then I picked up L and then made it to Volleyball at 1617. Was so awesome to play again. I wasn't sure if I was going to play this year because of juggling things with L but I am definitely going to play. It was soooooo awesome. Our team kicks ass. We have 3 uber tall girls, Sarah (cism player), Audrey and Maria, then Lynette from last year, Carly, myself, and Amanda. Amanda is the tasking clerk that I work with on my deployment stuff. She is pretty cool. The workout was amazing. I think I will get Laurel to come out. If she came to the volleyball workout from 1615-1800 mondays and wednesdays, she wouldn't need the personal trainer. We did tons of cardio and jumping etc. I wasn't crazy rusty either. It was a great group of girls and I am stoked for the season. It is nice we are training early this year. I missed 5 practices while I was away at MG and unfortunately will miss them while I am in Greenwood, and doing my pre-deployment training. I will however, be here for Regionals. I will plan everything around that. This year is our year to take it to Esquimalt and kick a little west coast butt!!! My knees were pretty sore before practice but they feel really good right now.

I leave for Greenwood on the 16 Nov-22 Nov. Then the night of the 22nd is Turkey Bingo at the officer's mess so I can't wait to go. I know Gill will want to go too and maybe I can drag Barb to it as well!!!!

I ordered my boots yesterday for my deployment. Due to my orthotics I needed special boots so I am pretty sure that they will be re-imbursed. I can't wait to get them so I can start doing my training for my BFT.

For all of the non-army types, the army has a new rucksack. It is awesome. It has 3 sizes, small, med, large to fit the person, and it has bendable wires inside it to shape to the person. I can't wait to get mine.

I lost around 4 lbs while I was in MG. So far I am down 17.5 pounds since we got back from Ontario in september. I feel wonderful. I can feel my body healing itself from old injuries and getting stronger. I don't have cravings for unhealthy food anymore. I don't starve myself but if I want a treat then I have one. (like the nachos I had for breakfast on tuesday).

I miss the new friends from MG. We had soooooo many laughs. Kingston will be just as fun.

I have to go in to work again tomorrow and check out some stuff, and go to supply. Will limit my time so I am not "working" on my day off.

P is on parade on Tuesday for Remembrance Day. L and I will get dressed up (me in uniform) and go to the Courtenay parade this year. I have went to Comox for the last couple of years.

I am working on booking Christmas flights. Mine will be free since I have to be in K-town in January anyway for my exercise. So I think we will splurge and pay for P's flights from Comox to Winnipeg and Winnipeg to Toronto. Then we will hope that he gets the free flight home to Comox on the 4th of Jan.

That's all for now.

on the way home.

Hi everyone. Unfortunately the other internet was done on Sunday night. I finished my shift at 0030. I was soooooo tired. I got home and went right to bed at 0100 and slept till 0630 which was much needed. Then I got up for breakfast and intended on getting some more sleep but I ended up gabbing with Rob and then they decided to tear town 2 of the mod tents. I didn't feel comfortable sleeping when others worked so I got up and helped. It took 3 of us 1.5 hours to take one down. Was so windy it was so hard to fold the canvas and the liners. Then I also folded up all of the cots from our mod. army cots, super fun to fold once you get the hang of it. I also had to move all of P's stuff in to the other mod for him since he had to work at 0800. I was all set to go shower at 1100 so I could go to work at 1200 and be there for the ENDEX. However, it finished at 1100 and they made an announcement. Since I was in my PT gear, I ran the 1.5 km over there. I shook hands with Chops. He is the Chief of Operations, an army LT Colonel and super awesome. I also shook hands with G3. (formerly known as crazy eyes). My face was all read from running and he said "crying already", I said no sir. I ran all of the way over here. Not as fit as the army. Was awesome. Then I walked/ran back home, had lunch and we tore down the other mod.
My flight was booked for 1640 on the 4th of November. We were supposed to take the 1000 bus from camp to W and then the 1100 shuttle to the airport. P (my coworker) hatched the brilliant idea that most early morning flights aren't full and that the same day standby fare is only $40. I called west jet to check on my flight and since DND paid full fare for my ticket I was allowed to change it for no extra cost. Then we had to figure out how to get to Edmonton earlier. The other shuttle is at 0030 to wx and then 0200 to edmonton. I went over and saw the clerks that were supposed to take care of us and inquired as to if there was any room left on the bus for 0200. He seemed very reluctant to even make the call for me. He said to come back in an hour. P went back in an hour and the guy said that everything was full or over booked. When I caught up with P after my shower he told me that and I wasn't convinced. Seemed a little odd that it could be overbooked since if there is more people Transport has to load on another bus. I called Wx direct and asked the Transport section if there was room on the bus. He said of course Ma'am tons of space. Man was I ecstatic with him but choked that the clerk had lied to us. P arranged for his friend to give us a ride at 0100 to camp but later she told us to just take the bus from camp and that it wasn't full. So weird. P didn't want to make a big scene about it but we showed up at 0030 and had no problems. It was a super long night since I had been up at 0630 and hadn't slept. I arrived in Edmonton at 0400ish. I can't remember. I slept on the floor at the back of the bus for about an hour and it was awesome. Then I talked to a secret squirrel for the rest of the bus ride about army stuff. He was helping me learn key words to translate air force speak into army. Was great. Then we got to the airport, ditched our bags and went thru security. Sven, Paul and Dave had to pay $40 to change their fares but were happy to get home 12 hours earlier than planned. They flew out at 0630 and I flew out at 0830. I slept for 20 minutes on the bench before my flight. Flight was super fast, a bit of hard landing into calgary. I am currently in the business lounge at the airport. It is awesome. $25, free food and beverages, booze starts at 1000. I will be able to have a beer before my flight home. Oh yeah, beer which I hate, didn't taste too bad when I had 2 kokanee at the Smoker(final party). We had steak and lobster for supper, had to pre-purchase tickets for 2 beer. NO one asked me so P gave me his 2 beer tickets since he didn't feel like drinking them. I think I got a buzz off of 2 beer. Andre left that night and there was guitar hero on the projection screen. I rocked out a few times. Was awesome. Dave and Sven thought I must be able to play a real instrument since I was good at guitar hero. Was funny to see my degradation at guitar hero from one beer to two.

Sorry so disjointed. While in edmonton, P and I had nachos for breakfast. He let me treat him and he mowed down on the beans. No booze before 1000 am in Edmonton. We have a great time together. Lots of misunderstandings but lots of good times. We are a really good team. He hates that I talk so fast. He is 46 and I am 31 so we are working on our differences.


so Overall I can consider MG exercise life changing. I loved it soooo much. I finally found something that I am really good at. Maybe because I have some OCD/ADD issues. I'm not sure but I loved it and now I know how to steer my career in the direction of jobs I will love. One of the jobs is in Winnipeg so maybe I will get that job eventually.

I miss scrapbooking of course and my girls and especially P and L. I can't wait to see them.

Gill is picking me up at the airport. Was going to surprise Paul but thought best not to.

Can't wait to get home.

talk to you later.

There was no internet yesterday so I couldn't blog. Things are going awesome. I only have 4 minutes left on the computer so I will do as much as I can.

Only got 3.5 hours of sleep last night. Too much on my mind. Things are going awesome. I had a good chat with P this morning. He sent me pics friday night after Halloween. He is doing a wonderful job with L and they are getting very very close.

I miss them both alot.

I was up to talk to p this morning and could have went back to sleep but I wanted to go to church so I went at 1000. Was good. Was all saints day so thought about my brother Raymond and my Grandpa and my Godmother and Paul's grandmother.

Mom (Paul's Mom) fell down her back stairs last night and broke her ankle. Supposed to get pins put in today. She is at the hospital. It is also her birthday today too.

Still loving my job. Weather has been awesome. Lots of learning but it is sooooo much fun.

I will be bilingual again after my tour which will be april/may to november. I think I will miss some friends when I am there though.

Well my time is up.

talk to you later.