Space A Travel

The extended vacation that I have alluded to in recent posts was our family’s first “Space A Adventure.”

For those not in the military crowd, flying “Military Space Available” (or Space A) is something akin to flying standby—only it is on military aircraft leaving/arriving at military installations instead of commercial planes to commercial airports. It’s a bit more unpredictable (if you can imagine that), and requires a bit more flexibility (if you can imagine that), but….it’s also COMPLETELY FREE for service members (both active duty and retired).

Yes. I mean it. Completely free.

So, while it can be unpredictable and requires extreme flexibility, it’s one of those crazy amazing benefits to military members. 

Wow.

And… being the bargain hunting, budget minded family that we are…we decided to go for it. We had a huge family reunion taking place on the opposite side of the country, and were looking for ways to minimize the costs of flying across the U.S.

Enter: Our first Space A adventure.

Why didn’t we give it a test run before we had 3 little boys, ages 4, 3, and 1?? I don’t know. But anyway…we did it. God went with us. And though we were completely sleep deprived at both ends of our journey, our trip went extremely well. I won’t deny the challenge of keeping 3 kids (or their parents) calm and rested on an unpredictable flight schedule, but hands down, it was worth the hassle.

The very night Nick signed out on leave/vacation, God provided a direct flight from the Southeast to Northwest (these happen but rarely—as in, twice a month!!) and there were 5 available seats with our names on them. Yes!!

We made our first part of the journey flying in the back of a C-17. Quite an experience to say the least. But really, an amazing one at that.

It was loud and we had to wear ear plugs the entire trip, but we were also able to move around (once we reached cruising altitude, of course) and could run, play, and sleep on the floor of the monster sized plane. It was pretty amazing.

The boys loved it and behaved incredibly well. Or at least it seemed that way. It was so noisy on the plane (loud engines and no insulation) and we had to wear ear plugs the entire 6 hour flight, that I couldn’t hear any whining or crying… and neither could anyone else. Very handy. Haha.

But I speak in jest, I do think the boys behaved really well. In between playing and snacking, all the boys napped on the plane too. What a cool memory for them to play catch in the back of a C-17 while flying above the earth!! Nick was as well behaved as the boys, and gave me a mock presentation of his jumpmaster duties. It’s awe inspiring to think he jumps out of aircraft like this, but a bit scary too. Still can’t believe he does this for a living.

Perhaps one of God’s neatest provisions for us was when we arrived at the Air Force base in Washington. We were tired and weary from traveling most of the night (and the 3 hour time change to boot), only to find that the next leg of our flight (from Washington to California) had been canceled/delayed for 3 days. (See what I mean with flexibility??). While we were registering for continued travel, we were delighted with the somewhat surprise appearance of good friends from our home church in here in the South (the Hilbert’s, for those who know them). They had just moved to the Northwest and were busy getting settled in themselves.

Seeing our weariness, our friends jumped in, whisked us back to their house on base, watched the kids and gave us a little down time while we found a hotel for the night.  Then, while we were trying to decide whether to wait 3 days for the flight, or to just make the 12 hour drive to San Francisco, they INSISTED that we borrow their minivan for the journey to CA so that we could get to the family reunion without delay. Wow. Friends in need are friends indeed. It was above and beyond anything we would have imagined possible and made the decision easy.

Or relatively easy.

When they first offered the use of their minivan, we flatly refused. Borrow someone’s brand new Toyota Sienna, drive 800+ miles with 3 messy boys, keep it for 2 weeks and then drive it back before heading farther north to visit my family?? NO WAY. But I think they must have prayed for us all night, because in the morning, when decision time came for us to drive/rent/fly/wait, Nick and I both had the gut feeling to accept our dear friends generosity and borrow their car.

In some ways, I still can’t believe we did it. But it was so obviously God’s wonderful providence, as the family had no need of the extra vehicle (their spouse/soldier was out in the field for 2 weeks and the car would sit in their garage unused). As our friends put it, “It was no accident that we had an extra vehicle during your time of need.”

Anyway, as you can see, God provided marvelously for us on our Space A trip. Our flight home required a stop-over too, and then a bit of a drive to get our vehicle, but all in all, it was a great trip.

And I think I’d say, we’d do it again.

Sandy sand sand

My men and I were able to get away for a short vacation to the beach this past week. Nick had a 4 day weekend courtesy of the US Army, so we took the opportunity to leave town and enjoy some much needed R&R.

Have you ever done that? Ignore the budget and the busyness, and force yourself to book a night or two at some quiet beachy place, just to just get away?

We’ve been doing more and more of that lately. Some would probably frown, or question how busy we really are if we still manage to take these trips to the beach, but strangely enough… the busier we are, the more these little get-a-way’s are necessary.

I think we’ve always been a fairly busy family, filling our days with adventures of every kind—but I’ll tell you, Nick’s Company Command has earned the “busiest most stressful time in our life” title. We’re doing our best to roll with the punches, praising God for the opportunities to witness and bear testimony of our faith and trust in Him… but also doing all we can to take more breaks so burnout doesn’t hit.

I admit, sometimes I wonder if burn out has hit already, but again, we are trusting God and using our resources to add some downtime to our busy schedules.

As you can see, even Noah has been on the verge of burn out. So glad he was able to catch up on his sleep during our vacation.

So… as I said, we went to the beach. The beautiful glorious beach. I found a smackingly good deal for a 2 night stay at a golf course beach resort, and booked it before I could think twice. Our stay included free breakfast at the resorts restaurant and free bike rentals. Not to mention a one bedroom suite with a balcony overlooking the beautiful pools and lazy river. It was lovely.

And you know, the resort was marvelous, and I think we’ll stay there again, but the real highlight of the trip?

The beach. The beautiful sandy beach.

As we made the short walk down the board walk to the ocean side,  the smell of salt, sand, and sunscreen (yes! sunscreen!!) filled the air. It was heavenly. Coconut, pineapple, and every other sunscreen scent you can imagine. It wasn’t a crowded beach, by any stretch, but still I could smell it’s fragrance.

And crazy as it sounds, I stopped and breathed it in to make a memory. Then we slathered the boys down with sunscreen of our own, and then let them hit the beach running.

Within moments, diggers and dumpers, backhoes and plows were set to work by 6 little boy hands (and 4 adult helpful guiding adult hands too).

Oh sandy sand sand. How I love you!

We were all covered, head to toe, by the time we left.

As you can see, I literally mean, “head to toe.”

But still…it was such a pleasant vacation get-a-way, that every speck of sand we brought home with us seemed worth it.

Praise God for the much needed reprieve before returning home for another draining and busy week.

Marriage Retreat

This weekend we went on our first Marriage Retreat sponsored by the Army. We found out about the event several weeks back during an FRG meeting, and decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Each Army base offers these sorts of things in order to help maintain and strengthen marriages during a highly stressful military career. Just coming off a deployment and then PCS'ing to another assignment, it seemed like the perfect chance.

So we headed off to a 4 Star Resort at Osage Beach. The retreat offered free on-site childcare, so after breakfast each morning we dropped the boys off and headed to our classes. We had several different sessions where we learned about (and reinforced) useful information such as "active listening" "clear communication" and "love languages." The retreat was put on by the Chaplaincy so most of the information was solid. Of course, we took a lot of things with a grain of salt as well. :) The Army organizers factored in plenty of vacation time for us to enjoy the amenities of the resort (boating, swimming, golfing etc) and also provided extra childcare for a "date night."

So... we had a ball. Nick and I have not spent so much time together alone in a very very long time. Even the class sessions were enjoyable because we were not trying to keep two busy boys quiet and still. We were able to listen and discuss topics together. Beyond the class sessions, during our free time on Saturday we pitched in with some of our friends (who were also at the retreat) and rented a boat and spent the afternoon on the water. It started getting kind of cloudy, but it was still warm, so it was actually a relief not to have the sun shining. Both boys took a turn driving the boat. As much as they like engines and driving, their favorite part about the boat was the horn (which they quickly found) so we boated around honking at everyone we saw. :) Hee hee. Hopefully no one was offended. :)

We also enjoyed the pools and water slides. We took the boys to the indoor pool in the evening, but during the afternoon free time, we hit the huge outdoor pool with "the big GREEN water slide" Nick and I took the boys down the slide many times. I think they could have done it all day. It's been years since I went on a water slide, and I couldn't believe how much fun it was!

It really was a great weekend. A perfect little vacation with the kids, while still enjoying time alone. I'm very glad we went. We cut the weekend a little short, and came home to worship and fellowship with the saints at our church. Hearing God's word preached was the perfect end to the weekend.