And Back to Work He Goes...

Eric signed back in from leave over the weekend.
Boo...

They didn't start work until today, because until everyone from the unit gets back from leave (they divided it up into 2 sets of leave, so not everyone would be gone at the same time), they have 4-day weekends, which means a 3-day work week.

Pretty sweet deal!
Not so sweet if you figure he worked 12 hour days for the past 365 days, but you get my drift.

He wasn't so ready to get back into that uniform again.
And I wasn't so ready to see him shave his head again, so guess what?

My husband has hair!

Yes ma'am!
He's got a little fade workin'. His buddy said he looks like a cop...really? Haha. I just like it. I think it looks good. And it's different. It has been completely shaved since before I met him.
It's nice to see it changed up a bit.

Back to leave. It was a nice 27-day stay-at-home vacation of fun, family activities and adventures, which are now just going to have to be allocated to the weekends. So, now we can get into a somewhat normal routine of how life is supposed to be on a pretty regular basis.

Back to the real world.
Dun dun dun...

And not what our definition of deployment reality is. I'm thankful that is over and thankful that we have had a good transition (with a few minor bumps) with him coming back home.

Yay for normal family life!

Our First GeoCache

Back in the fall, while Eric was still deployed, he found a new hobby:

GeoCaching

What is geocaching, you say? And how do you pronounce it? First, it's like cash, as in Johnny Cash. And it is this crazy, treasure-hunting good time for adults! People all over the world set up points, called caches, and hide them in water-proof containers, then log them onto www.GeoCaching.com. The latitude and longitude are given, and sometimes hints, as well. This information can be downloaded onto your handheld GPS. After you drive to the general location, you get out and walk around until you find it. Yes, you tend to get some funny looks, but that's ok - you're on a treasure hunt! Some geocachers get really creative with their hides; leaving clues to another location, making a timed effort to find another, or just plain making their cache really, really hard to find. So, if anyone else out there is a geocacher, let me know. We found our first one last night. Here's the pics to prove it:

(Click on the picture to see that it's actually not blurry, haha.)

Happy GeoCaching!!!

*Those were some of Eric's Christmas presents this year. A handheld GPS & hoodie, he can now wear proudly. :)*

Daddy's Home!

Yay! We got to welcome our soldier home from Afghanistan this week! It has been so nice having Eric home, watching him and Waylon play together, getting to actually talk to him in person and everything else that's nice about having your family together and complete. Even the little things, like getting to go to Subway for sandwiches together. It's nice having your spouse to talk to over lunch and not just your toddler. Now I'm off to get Waylon out of his Daddy's gear (velcro name-tapes are just way too fascinating!), and get ready for Eric to come home from reintegration. We shall see what adventures are in store for all 3 of us today!