Rushell's Graduation

There were two special events that I wanted to share with everyone but didn’t get the chance to blog them before I left for my trip. The first was Auntie Rushell’s graduation and the second was the Mother’s Day tea they had at Aidan’s school for the mom’s of kindergartners. I’ll start with Auntie Rushell’s graduation and I would just like to write a disclaimer that I am not very knowledgeable about details of the army and helicopters. If anyone wants to correct me please do!

On Tuesday, May 5, 2009 Rushell graduated from the United States Army Aviation Logistics School. Rushell is now trained to be a helicopter mechanic and is trained to repair all the army helicopters like the Chinook, Apache, and Black Hawk helicopters. On Monday, after we picked up Aidan from school we drove down to Newport News and we picked up Auntie Rushell from the base. We arrived around 6:30pm. We got in a little pickle trying to get on the base because we did not have our car registration—somehow the new one with our Maryland address did not make it into the car. They were nice enough and let us go through to pick her up. We drove to the hotel to check in. We stayed at the Airport Courtyard Marriott. It was a fantastic hotel, brand new, with a swimming pool and centrally located. Auntie Rushell said, “this is a nice hotel. It’s like a Russ and Joan hotel.” We ordered takeout burgers from Red Robin just across the street and we just hung out until about 9:30pm when Rushell had to go back to the base.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (Auntie Rushell had to be at the graduation before 8am to rehearse the ceremony) and then around 8:15am we made our way over to the base again for the graduation set to begin at 9am. Of course we got into a little trouble again because we didn’t have our registration but they let us on because they knew us from the day before but they told us we’d better stay on the base until we are ready to go (meaning once you go off the base, you’re not getting back on!). We were in a relatively small room with about 40 guests and 30 graduates. The ceremony included:

Welcome...Narrator

Honors to the Nation…National Anthem

History…Narrator

Guest Speaker Bio…Narrator

Remarks…Guest Speaker

Issue Diplomas and Award Aviation Badges…Guest Speaker

Aviation Mechanics Creed…Distinguished Graduate

Conscience of the Aviation Maintainer… Honor Graduate (this was Rushell!!!)

Recognition of Platoon Sergeants and Instructors…Narrator

Conclusion…Aviation Song, Army Song, and Soldier’s Creed

The new graduates

The graduates were sitting in rows based on their performance in school. Rushell and two other students were in the first row—that’s because she did the best in her class…ahem! The second row was made up of those that got the second highest score and the rest of class was in the following three, four and five rows. The whole ceremony took less than an hour. The boys were really good and really entertained by the whole ceremony.

Auntie Rushell was asked to read the Conscience of the Aviation Maintainer…it was the longest and best of the readings (I’m not at all biased). She did a really great job. The reading goes like this:

Auntie Rushell reading "I Am a Professional"

I Am a Professional

I know I am a professional because I have been trained by those who will accept nothing less.

I have been given the fundamentals, and by applying those fundamentals correctly, I will become more skilled as time goes on; but even now I am a professional.

When working on aircraft, I will always know I am right because I have the integrity and the honesty to admit when I am unsure and to seek out the correct manuals for the answers.

Yes, I am a professional, and as long as I work on aircraft, I will remain one because, I know that I am partly responsible to every crewmember ever to fly on the aircraft that I maintain.

As a professional, I have pride in my work, and a satisfaction in knowing that my skill is an important integral part of Aviation , because…

I AM A PROFESSIONAL

Author: Earl Hildebran

Us with the new graduate

After the ceremony the graduates received their diplomas and their wings. Apparently, because Auntie Rushell is a woman the person doing the pinning only handed her the wings which was annoying but someone better pinned her wings on her uniform. After the ceremony Auntie Rushell took us on a tour of her hanger which was really cool. We got to see where she studied and worked all day and we got to meet some of the other graduates and the instructors. Rushell was happy that she no longer had to walk around a yellow line on the floor but now she could cross over the line! We also got to see a Black Hawk helicopter.

The Army's newest helicopter mechanics

One of the funny things that happened was related to Rushell’s nickname. Apparently, most people refer to her as “Nana: because she is one of the oldest privates in her group, even some of the sergeants call her “Nana” because she older than they are too. So when we were standing around, one of Rushell’s colleagues came over with his family and Rushell and her colleague took a picture together and his mom said “is this Nana?” Apparently, everyone knows her by “Nana”! We all cracked up!

Two US government employees. Can you guess which one is in the Army?

Afterwards, around 11am we parted as Rushell had to finish closing things down and checking out as she was flying to Seattle early Wednesday morning and we went back to the hotel and the boys went swimming and we got a late check out at 1pm. The boys LOVE staying in hotels (me too really). We cleaned up at the hotel and then grabbed a quick lunch before heading back home. Aidan had to be back at school the next day and I had to be at work.

On a personal note, I was really proud of Rushell. I’m really proud of her for being top of her class, she did a great job with the reading, and she is so grown up. Ahh…. The boys had a really great time too. When we left, I said “well that was really neat.” And Aidan, said “yeah, that was really fun!” It was a great experience for us all. Also it helped give me a little perspective in my own work life. Just Monday morning I threw a fit about how I couldn’t get my work done and then after watching these young people who signed up for and are dedicated to the Army while we are involved in two wars really helps put things in perspective. I also just needed the day and a half off from work.

Some pictures from my hotel in Accra

I took a few pictures around my hotel in Accra because I did not go outside the hotel. The meetings were long, I'm tired and I didn't want to go out by myself especially since it is my first time here. We hung out in the bar until about 9pm tonight. We had dinner (cheeseburger and Heineken) and a drink and talked to a few people from the conference. People have been pretty nice.

So, these chairs are outside the evaluators on each of the floors. I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE them. They really are amazing pieces of art. I would love for my cousin Jesse to make me one just like it. He could make it over a long period of time (like 10 years) and I could pay installments. :)

Outside my window is a construction site. At this construction site there are no machines and everything is done (very slowly) by hand. This man is carrying, on his head, a load of rubble from inside the building and then dumping it into this pile. There is another construction site in my view and they have a few machines. I watched these men work in the morning and everything was happening so incredibly slow. It is dry, hot, dusty and the work site does not seem that safe. I wonder how long they have been at it to get to this? It's incredible.

View from my room to the left.

Center view from my window. That newly constructed building is a bank but I really have not seen too many cars parked in the parking lot.

View from my room to the right. Another construction site. This one seems to be moving faster because at least they have a few machines. I did not see any men carrying loads on their heads in this site. I think this will be a new Hilton hotel. I am staying at a hotel 5 minutes from the airport. Apparently the area around the airport is really where the growth is and you can see it so well.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I'm so happy to go home. I will leave at 7:45 am to go to the airport. My flight leaves at 10:00am. I will travel for 11 hours and 20 minutes to JFK. After that my flight is less than 2 hours I think. I'm supposed to get home just after 9pm I think.

Accra, Ghana

Sadly, I left Rome on Sunday. If I was going to leave Rome, I would have liked to go home. I was going to Accra via Amsterdam. My flight leaving Rome to Amsterdam was a bit of a mess. I was flying KLM which had a global computer crash that morning. So our flight was an our late, they told us it was a free for all for seats on the plane and I only had one hour and 15 minutes to get to my connecting flight to Accra. To be totally honest, I was hoping that I would get to Amsterdam, miss my flight to Accra and then I would get to stay a day in Amsterdam and then go home. I've never been to Amsterdam and it didn't seem worth flying all the way to Accra for one day. Unfortunately for me, I made my flight to Accra. Again, I had a middle seat on an incredibly full flight.

When I arrived in Ghana (close to two hours late) and we got off the plane, the heat and humidity engulfed me. I thought I was in a phone booth where they were pumping hot humid air into it. I made it through passport control pretty harmlessly and went to wait for my bags. And I waited. And I waited. And then I heard my name called over the intercom (not a good sign). My bags did not make it on the plane. I guess a plane can not take off if a passanger's bags are on the plane and the passenger is not--but the opposite is not true (a passenger can be on but not their bags). Of course I was travelling in my travel clothes and these are clothes not at all appropriate for a meeting with governments, researchers, industry, etc. These are clothes I had worn in Geneva and Rome. I felt so hot and sweaty, dirty and tired and I had nothing...nothing.

The hotel shuttle picked me up. They were not immediately waiting for me so I found someone to call for me. The airport is tiny (only two gates) and when we left to go to the shuttle there were probably 200 people waiting for others to arrive. It was crazy. The hotel was nice and gave me a hotel shirt to sleep in and a tooth brush. I washed a few things and had to spend 2 hours drying them with the hair dryer to make them wearable again today. The hotel is fine. It's only a year old but parts of it seem old and other parts new. It has a smell and always feels a bit moist. You can't imagine how disappointed and sad I was that I did not have my bag and clean clothes.

Tonight at about 9:30 pm after the arrival of the next KLM flight from Amsterdam I went to the airport again. I went with a colleague who was staying at a nearby hotel and they dropped me off at the airport (after me getting out of the cab two times and asking where the baggage reclaim was) to find my bag. I entered the baggage reclaim area and saw two families sitting with blank stares (not a good sign) and I asked about my bags. He called and said "he's coming". I'm thinking awesome! I should have my bag in like five minutes because remember there are only two gates. WRONG! I waited an hour and finally my bags arrived. Now, I'm wondering how I get back to the hotel. Should I just take a cab, should I walk outside for a bit to the arrivals and get a free ride from the airport shuttle (remember its about 10:45pm)? I dunno. So I start walking back to the main airport terminal thinking I will catch the shuttle and a cab driver honks and waves at me. His car is a total dump but I decide to take it. What am I thinking? We haggle for the cost of the ride. I should only be paying 2 (what ever the currency is) and he says 10! After me threatening to leave and catch the free hotel shuttle we settle on 5.

I make it back to my hotel, wash my face with proper soap, put lotion on my face, shower, put on clean undies, pajamas and make some tea. Finally! Well, it's after midnight. I'm going to bed, counting the hours until I go home.

Sorry no pics. My camera is out of batteries and I only had new ones my bag. To be honest there is not a lot to see except construction workers working in unsafe conditions (carrying bags of cement on their head, up in dangerous scaffolding) but I will try to take a couple of pictures tomorrow.

Miss you Aidan and Leo. I will see you soon!

Dove è la mamma?

Mamma at the Foro Romano

You guessed it! I am in Rome. I have to say that when I had to get up at 4am yesterday to make my 6am flight Rome (via Zurich), I was not that thrilled about coming here. The early flight, and having to do everything that goes along with travelling such as changeing money, getting a taxi (and making sure I was not over charged), waiting for an hour for my suitcase to arrive, etc., etc. did not inspire my excitement for Rome. However, and this a big however, when we got to the center of the city I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the city. I was so happy to be here.

Colosseo

I think it may just be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I went straight from the airport to the ILO offices in Rome. I'm here working with Furio and the UCW project. We pretty much got right down to work except first things first which is to have a coffee. We worked until a little about 6:30pm and then Gabriella took me for a nice walk around the city to the Colosseo or Colosseum, Roman Forum, and then we had bierra and pizza at a nice restaurant near the Colosseum. The food, drink and the company could not have been better.

View from the ILO office in Rome

I am staying at Furio's family's extra apartment. Actually Furio's wife, Suzana is an artist and it is her artist studio. It is near the University of Rome, in the area called San Lorenzo and it is great. I'm enjoying having my own place and space. This morning I left the apartment and had a cappucino and croissant at the counter and left on my own exploration to find the ILO offices. I had a great map and did not have any trouble getting there. The walk was about 45 minutes but it was great to explore a bit and look at all the businesses that were starting to open and all of the people standing at the coffee bar taking a coffee.

Santa Maria Maggiore

On my walk this morning into the office, I passed through the area of the Santa Maria Maggiore which is a very big old church. I got into the office at 9:30 and everyone was already hard at work. My commute in to the office this morning sure beat the redline metro.

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Aidan and Leo, do you recognize any of these places from our trip to Rome in 2007? We should really plan to make a trip back soon!

I hope you are having fun with Daddy and Crow. I missing you so much.

Leo: Love you ALL DAY!

Aidan: I love you to the farthest star in the sky and back!

Where in the World is Amy?

I'm still enjoying the amazing view from my hotel. I think it might be best at night. I wish I could sit on my little balcony and stare out all night. I hate that I will not have the view again after Wednesday. It's hard to explain but its painful that I won't have this beauty in my life past Wednesday. The work part of my trip has been going fine. I gave a presentation on Monday and I think it went fine. People looked very tired but I didn't take it personally because the people dozing off were people who came from India and probably had the worst jet lag. Besides I'll admit the topic wasn't really that interesting. There are lots of people out there who give presentations and they put games and jokes in their presentations. I'm just not one of them. I don't read from notes and can just stand up there and talk (so I'm not a robot) but I don't really do the games. I am working with people from Cambodia, India, Brazil, Uganda and Geneva. It's really interesting and fun. I'm learning a lot and enjoying the discussions.

Suprise Aidan and Leo

Today I also got to go to the US Mission. After I go to Geneva, I am heading to Rome and then off to Ghana. In Ghana I have to take anti-Malaria medication but I forgot it at home. I got the Malaria meds and 5 five shots from the medical center at the State Department. The Malaria meds were free. I forgot them at home so I called the US Mission in Geneva and they were able to provide me with a prescription for the meds. When I took it to the pharmacy at lunch it was $65. Ouch! The dollar is so weak here. When Jason and I lived her I think (correct me if I am wrong Jas) but I think the exchange rate was like $1 = 1.45 Swiss Franc (SF). Now that it is one to one ($1=1.04SF) I can't afford anything. I got off on a tangent about the dollar and what I really wanted to say is that all the times that I have been here I have never been to the US Mission. It's really neat.

My pretty red shoes

Okay well, even though the dollar is weak, I have done some shopping. I bought a new pair of shoes which I love and I bought souveniers for the boys (its a suprise but I have given you a hint of one thing I got you!). I also bought a few things that I like to get in Geneva like deodorant. I know it sounds crazy but they have a brand that I like so every time I come I buy 2 or 3. Tonight after work I had to race to the store because everything here closes between 6:30pm and 7pm. I don't know how people get their shopping and errands done. After I did a little shopping I met my friend Jennifer for dinner. We always meet when I come to Geneva. I enjoy spending time with her so much. She is one of the special friends that you just don't feel like the time has passed when your together. You just see each other and its like old times and you do the catch up. We didn't get nearly enough time together tonight but I am just grateful to see her for any hour.

Tomorrow is another day full of meetings and then I leave early, early Thursday morning for Rome.

I miss Aidan, Leo and Jason so much! I'm excited that crow will arrive at home tomorrow. I'm starting to get anxious to come home even though I'm not quite halfway through my trip yet.

Love you guys ALL DAY!

Happy Mother's Day Moms!

Happy Mother's Day Mom, Joan and Barbara! We hope you have a wonderful, wonderful day today. We love you lots and think about you so very often.

Happy Mother's Day to Auntie Heather and Auntie Cindy too and to Sarah who in just a month or so is going be one of the best moms in the world.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the other great mom's of the world who read this.

Love, Amy, Jason, Aidan and Leo

Arrivé à Geneve

Hotel de la Paix

Last night, Jason and the boys dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way to Geneva. The eight hour plane ride was painful but I survived. I have my seating preferences saved with my work travel agency so they know that I prefer aisle seats on all of my trips. So of course, I just assumed that I would have an aisle seat. When I walked on the plane, I realized that I was in a middle seat. I was livid. I Hate riding in the middle seat because I feel crowded in and I can't get up whenever I want. And I like to get up a lot. The people seated around me were fine. There was someone that didn't say a word to me (I prefer this) and someone who also works for the Federal Government in a very similar line of work as me so we talked a bit which was nice. I slept for maybe a total of 1 hour last night.

View from my hotel room

I took a cab to my hotel and on the ride I found out that there is a marathon race today in Geneva so the taxi had to drop be a block and half a way. I have been in Geneva three other times that the marathon was held. It is a funny coincidence because the meetings I attend during this time are not recurring meetings.

View from my hotel room of the Marathon

I arrived at the hotel, Hotel de la Paix, which is a 5-star hotel at about 9am. I was excited to get to stay there because I have walked by the hotel many times in the past and I have never been inside. It is a beautiful hotel right on the lake (Lac Leman). They were very nice and gave me a room right away (even though check-in is not until later in the afternoon). The room is a bit small but its just me so its cozy. The bed is big, with lots of pillows and very comfortable. My room is on the fifth floor (the top floor) and over looks the lake. I couldn't be more lucky. When I got to my room I changed out of my travel clothes and into my pjs and slept for about three hours. After that I took a shower to help me wake up and walked to the other side of the lake (rive gauche) and window shopped. The air was fresh and clean. I stopped at the train station for a sandwich Thon (tuna) which is one of my favorite sandwiches and batteries for my camera.

As I was walking around the town, I passed a movie theatre and decide to see what was playing. I read the little piece of paper showing the movie times and decided to see 17 again (starring Zac Efron, aka Troy Bolton). It started at 2:30pm and by the time I got to the ticket counter it was 2:35 but I decided to see it anyway. With my poor french I bought a ticket and with my poor french asked which theatre it was in. After that we had some confusing conversations in French and I realized the movie wasn't playing until 4:30pm. The 2:30pm show was at another theatre (Balexert) far away. So I decided to come back to my room, blog a little, and then go back.

Mommy at the flower clock

I will leave for the movie at 4pm (or 10am DC time) and then will probably have an early dinner--I'm thinking pizza--and then I will relax a bit more in my room. I'm already very tired.

Jason, Aidan and Leo: I love and miss you so much! I wish you were here avec moi.

Apologies

Well it happened—as I initially feared--a HUGE lapse in time with no updates on our goings on. The last few weeks I have been struggling to make the work and family life balance. I have been more successful on some days compared to others. I’m not going to dwell on it—you don’t want to hear about it because you’ve got your own struggles and I don’t really want to relive it. So, I will just tell you about a few fun events that have gone on.

Also I am leaving on a trip this weekend. I leave for Geneva on Saturday and will be in Geneva until early Thursday morning where I will be heading to Rome (at 6am). I will be in Rome until Sunday and I will then head to Accra. I will be in Accra until Wednesday. I hope to continue to post pictures on the blog and may use it to share goings on with the boys. My Ma will be coming to help Jason with the boys. They are very excited and I'm happy because I know they will be very preoccupied and Jason won't be going out of his mind.

See you!

Star of the Day

Our little Star of the Day. Months ago, Aidan's teacher sent home a note to all the parents that the students would all have a special Star of the Day assignment. Each child had to do a 20 minute presentation about themselves including their families and hobbies. I know! 20 minutes is a long time! It's a long time for me to give a presentation let alone a kindergartner.

Aidan's Star of the Day was on Monday, May 4th. We have been working on it for the past few weeks. We made two Creative Memories digital 20x30 posters with Doris' help. One of the posters had pictures of Aidan from birth through 6 years of age. The other had pictures of his family, including his mom, dad, brother, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. They turned out really cute if I do say so myself! Aidan and I worked on it together and he picked out all the pictures he wanted to include. He also collected a basket full of things that he thought were some how special to him. His basket included, the Wii controller, his swim goggles, soccer ball, panda, geneva flag, the outfit he wore home from the hospital, his shirt and tie, ben-10 watch, bakugan ball, his two favorite movies: star wars clone wars and star wars, his ewok stuffed animal, and maybe one or two other things.

He stood at the front of the classroom introduced us to his class: "this is my mom, Amy"- "this is my brother, Leo", and "this is my dad, Jason." He then stood at the front of the classroom, with a pointer (kids love pointers) and pointed to all the pictures on his board and talked about each. He was talking in a low voice and his teacher told him to "use his first grade voice" and he took all of his special items out of the bag and showed them all. I'm not sure why he wanted to bring his shirt and tie that he wore to Kevin and Sarah's wedding but he did and he showed it!

After all that, he took questions. The questions were really funny. In one picture he has a bandaid on his figure--I don't know how they could see it but they did and they wanted to know what it was and what kind of bandaid it was. One girl, came up and asked him where he was in a particular picture -- he said plainly, "I'm right there" and pointed to himself...I knew what she meant and I thought "oh boy, this is going to be good. how is she going to express this?"...she said "No, what I mean is where are you...what place are in--in this picture?" He was in Georgetown. After the question and answers, he could call on rows of kids to come up and look closer at the pictures and his toys and he could answer any questions. All the kids came up and wanted to look and ask questions. Aidan was loving the attention. It was really, really cute.

We are all SO, SO proud of him. We got the May Kindergarten newletter this week and they said they are talking more and more about first grade in their classes and in a few weeks they will go visit the first grade classrooms. I started to cry. He is getting so bad..too big, too fast, too soon. I'm so proud of him.

A Day with Thomas the Train

On Saturday, May 2, we drove up to Baltimore and went to the B & O railroad museum and spent the day (or half of it) with Thomas the train. Just to set the scenery, it was pouring down rain when we left the house around 9am. We went and got some breakfast and some coffee, juice and chocolate milk and then headed up to Baltimore (about 45 minutes away). A few months ago, we got tickets to ride a train that looked like Thomas, well sort of. Our tickets were for 11:30 am and we were told get there an hour early. We got there around 10:30 am and parked and went into the roundhouse. The museum is great and had a number of trains inside that you could walk around in and a number of trains outside (though, again it was pouring). They also had a number of Thomas the Train (TT) activities for the kids include a huge Lego train and town set up, Thomas trains and tracks, TT coloring station, TT temporary tattoos, Sir Topham Hatt and a TT gift shop.

When it came for us to ride Thomas, it was still raining. Leo was really excited when he saw the train. The front of the train looked like Thomas and the rest of the train was comprised of Marc train cars (the commuter train line). We got on and waited for everyone else to get on and Leo kept saying “this take too long.” Once we started to go, Leo said “this train go faster?” For the first five minutes of the train ride, he kept asking if the train was going to go faster. He even asked the conductor that was walking around. The conducter said “No, we’re not going to go faster. We have one mile of track and we have to stretch this trip out for 25 minutes.” Now that is a slow train! One other thing…the Museum is not located in the best area of Baltimore so the scenery left something to be desired. We went two miles an hour in a Marc train car with sticker bushes and a parking lot on one side and dilapidated houses, mud, and sticker bushes on the other. Next time, I think we need to take Leo on a much faster train. He wants to go on a bullet train. I think we should go to New York.

On a some what unrelated note, but important to the story...Aidan was not excited about going on this trip at all. Because Leo loves trains, he thinks trains are for babies. We are now at that stage where it is hard to find things that they both will like. To be honest, I think he actually enjoyed himself he just didn't want to admit it. I'm also having a hard time getting Aidan to be supportive of Leo's excitement and be excited for him. I'm disappointed he can't say and with a smile, "yeah, Leo this is fun" even when he doesn't really mean it because it would mean a lot to Leo. I guess he is just being honest.