This is where we live.

The start of our Island Tour.

Cows are included in the traffic on the road, seriously, we were stopped 3 times on our trip.

Swimming holes.

Coffee shop.. ordered dos um cafes = two shots of espresso.

Beware of cows.

We were at the spot where they keep the bulls they use for the bullfights.

We found the bulls.

Duck Lake.

Our first Portuguese restaurant to eat at.

Mason's new friends.

An old version of the FJ.

Statue of Mary.

What you been waiting for!!

Welcome to our home!

Front Door.

That's Masons favorite spot!

Our little backyard.

Shed/Storage.

The amazing ocean view. Yes, that is from our backyard.

"Master" bathroom. There is a bathroom directly across the hall with no shower, but looks identical. I figured you could visualize for yourself. :)

The tile.

The 2nd bedroom. The bunk beds are getting removed Friday.

Our bedroom.

The closet could use some work/expansion. :)

And that is it! We still are awaiting the shipment of our belongings, that is why everything looks so bare. Excuse the no pillows on the bed. Be back tomorrow with pictures from our Island Tour.

Our New House

We moved into our new home yesterday, also of the same importance, we got Mason back yesterday. He was not allowed to stay at the temporary lodging (the hotels room, basically) with us so Brandon's sergeant was babysitting for us since Saturday night when we arrived. It was a couple of lonely days without our son around to entertain us :).

The house is great! Better than anything we expected. We are very satisfied. Two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, large kitchen, laundry room, small backyard, and best part an OCEAN VIEW. Who would have thought this would have been our first house, with an ocean view? I wish I could put pictures up, but the camera is dying, and the charger is in the "lost" bag which is now found. Thats a completely different story...

...Well on our first round of flights on Friday, the airline completely misplaced our luggage. We were without luggage that night and thankfully they found it immediately and were able to get it to us before our flight on Saturday. Saturday the flight was great, however, somehow they "lost" one of our three bags. Long story short, the bag was still on the plane, it was supposedly checked twice and no where to be seen. Who knows what really happened, but the plane is currently in Baltimore and will return to Lajes on Saturday night, with our bag!

So in summary, pictures will be up soon!

Internet was just installed today, obviously, and our phone line should be able to be set up by Sunday. The adapter is in the all important "lost" bag. We can't wait to get to hear everyones voices again. I hope everyone is planning their visits. Mason is ready to bunk with mom and dad for the weekend, and give you his room.

Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal

We are here! It was a less than a desirable traveling experience we encountered in our 2 days, but we did make it safely, with Mason! It is all so beautiful, and so green. Our 1st day here was gloomy weather, cloudy all day, a little rain, and strong winds. Today is wonderful though, sunny and warm. Definitely not much activity around the island, and not a whole lot to report quite yet. Here are some pictures from our walk, on some path I forgot the name of, yesterday.

Waiting at the airport!

Bye Bye everyone!!!!! We love you and will miss you!!! See everyone sooner than you think! :)

5 days in counting.

Wow! Apparently there is a lot to get done when you are moving overseas. We have been non-stop busy ever since we arrived in Texas last week. We arrived in College Station late Tuesday evening, so Brandon could report to his recruiter early Wednesday morning. Luckily, his recruiter has been more than understanding about the amount of things we were trying to get accomplish before our departure and let Brandon off literally the moment he reported in. Seriously, he was there for 20 minutes, and then given off till today. Where he only had to work for about 2 1/2 hours.

So then you ask, what have we been doing? Well, on a very exciting note, WE GOT A PRIUS! I am throughly excited about this (you can tell by the all caps). We truly did this for many reasons, besides the fact that they are super cool! It was a big sacrifice for Brandon to trade in the FJ for a Prius, but "he would do anything to see his wife smile." (<-- direct quote) Although he is enjoying playing with all the new buttons and gadgets. So if you ever happen to drive by us and it seems as if I am talking to myself and making all sorts of hand gestures, I am really not, I am talking on the built in phone thing-a-ma-gig in the super-cool Prius!!! :)

On Friday, we packed up the car again, and headed down to San Antonio. We had to take care of some last minute packing arrangements at Lackland AFB. We empathized for all the guys we saw in Basic Training, well really more me then Brandon.

If all goes as planned, our belongings will be picked up on Thursday to be shipped to the island. We will receive 2 shipments, which can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days. We had to pack for about 4 weeks incase the 1st shipment didn't arrive in till the 30 day max. Let me tell you that is a full day project. There was some sorting and organizing and filing involved as well, but mainly it was dealing with the situation of, how do we fit 4 weeks of stuff into 2 bags?

We were able to take a break from all the hustle and bustle of things, and enjoy time with our families. We spent Saturday evening at a nice restaurant in San Antonio with my family, Sunday afternoon at lunch with Brandon's dad and Karen, and then Sunday evening at a family get together in Spring with Brandon's mom's side of the family. We said our goodbyes for the time being, and we will miss you all so so much. We love you!!! My dad, will be our last goodbye, when he drops us at the airport on Friday afternoon. :(

I wish I could put pictures up of our Prius, and of our weekend. Unfortunately, the camera cord is packed away somewhere where I couldn't tell ya if you asked. I believe our busy load will not lighten up till we arrive Saturday evening, but were so close to there. Predicted weather for our arrival, high of 59, low of 53, with scattered showers, my rain boots are ready!