Back again, hubby leaving - again?

The last month or so has been unbelievably busy!

As you may remember, my fabulous husband left back in mid-July for an 8 month deployment.  Since we were missing him, we packed up the SUV (1 driver + 2 kids + 1 rottweiler + 22 hour drive = this trip isn't happening again for a LONG time!) and headed back to our home town in Oklahoma for a couple of weeks.  Enjoyed some much needed time with family before finding out that deployment would be delayed, and the guys were coming back.  ????  Yup - fabulous husband came back during the 2nd week of August.  :-) 

Since then, we've been busting our humps trying to get dozens of projects finished before the new deployment date, which is later this week.  So far we've cleared out even more of the trees from the backyard, creating an honest-to-God YARD!  Moved a shed, destroyed a moldy tree house, cleaned out the gutters, powerwashed the house, worked on the kitchen island, small repairs and fixes around the house, finished and started several new projects for the squadron, dealt with canceling DIRECTV (can anyone say "fiasco"?), installing Dish Network, back-to-school shopping, and finally (this morning) school! 

We also managed to squeeze in a whirlwind trip to Orlando to visit the Harry Potter park (my family of 4, plus a spare teen and my mother).  My oldest daughter is obsessed with Harry Potter, as was the friend she took with her.  Let's put it this way, between the two they took over 400 pictures of Hogsmeade.  They started off with a impromptu tour by 2 lovely "British" characters, which culminated with both kids hoping up and down like Denis the Menace on speed on a super-charged pogo stick.  Most fun to watch were the teary eyes, massive smiles, awestruck faces, and at least one instance of one teen burying her head into the other's shoulder crying "it's just too much to comprehend!!!!".  Pics to follow, if I can figure out how to upload them from the new camera...

So now we're on the countdown again for cruise - this time thankfully only a 6 month deployment.  Wish us luck!