Within the first 8 hours of being in our new quarters there was a knock on our door. Within the first 48 hours we had 7 neighbors stop by to say hello and welcome to the neighborhood. I LOVE post living.
"No matter how hard moving is, once we arrive to our new duty station it only takes that first knock on the door of our new quarters to start feeling at home. Having a new neighbor knock on your door, (most of the time with a plate of cookies in hand) to say welcome to the neighborhood is where it all starts...." I wrote that in this post on 3 March when our time in Korea was coming to an end.
Within the first 8 hours of being in our new quarters there was a knock on our door. Within the first 48 hours we had 7 neighbors stop by to say hello and welcome to the neighborhood. I LOVE post living.
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Post living is the life for me....and WOW, what the Army has done to post housing. We were lucky (if you call waiting for 8 weeks in a tiny 3 bedroom apartment with 6 people lucky) to get into the 'new' housing on FT. Hood! Here is a view of our quarters before we moved in. And then the fun begins.... Even before all deliveries were made, we had to take a break for a little birthday celebration! Remember our birthday tradition of "you get whatever you want for your birthday breakfast"? Well, that applies if you have not been in your house for 24 hours. Birthday celebration done, now back to painting & deliveries & unpacking... It has been 3 weeks since we moved in, things are coming together quite nicely even though we had WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!! I'll start posting pictures of the completed projects soon.
After much research and many ideas from friends on facebook, I decided to take Hubby to Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton for dinner & live music. Dead Fish Grill....really? I thought I had the name wrong. I wonder why on earth a restaurant would name their establishment 'DEAD FISH GRILL', but I decided to go with it and give them a try. So Belton is kind of a hike, it took us 25 minutes to get to Dead Fish Grill from Fort Hood, but when a girl wants live music with her dinner in Central Texas, she needs to travel (I only found 2 restaurants in CT with live music, one in Belton, one in Temple). Upon arrival we ran into a few folks that had just come back from a reenactment of the Civil War. When I ask them if I could take a picture with them they were all for it and even suggested this pose: We had to wait 30 minutes for a table so Hubby and I headed to the 'lounge' area for cocktails and to listen to the band play. Once seated our view was beautiful! As we ate dinner we watched the sunset over lake, where Hubby professed his undying love for me, then we took a private boat to a cute little island... OK, whatever...no professing of love, no private boats, unless you count the one that was hanging out down below with the drunk girl doing a dance for everyone at the restaurant. Oh, and our table was nice except for all the kids that were staked out right behind us and the teenager that kept dropping the F-bomb. Hey, and check out my martini.... Now I ask what kind of glass is that for a martini. Also, I didn't notice before I took this picture, but there was a hair on my lemon! Aughhh. I sent it back...I tried to drink the new one, but kept gagging because I was afraid they really didn't make a new one for me and just replaced the lemon. The food however was much better than I expected! I actually liked it! And I felt the pricing was right on target for we ordered. I got the Baja Fish Tacos.... Hubby got the Cajun Crawfish & Shrimp... I have some seriously mixed feelings about this place. Let's break it down –
The good: good company (Hubby is always good company!) nice view good food good prices live music good mojitos (from Hubby) The bad:slow service (waited 45 minutes for entree) hair on lemon! YUCK! bad service (never received our appetizer & only saw our waitress 3 times) I can't really count the irritating people, that had nothing to do with the restaurant. Would I go back? Believe it or not, yes I will most likely give them another try. Next time I will only order beer out of a bottle, and pray we get a better server. Watch this 2 minute video on Camp Better America, not only will you get to see my beautiful mug (hehehe), you will get a small idea of what the TV show will be about!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsmBSyaNNpQ Since living back in Texas this mostly chicken and fish family has been on a serious BEEF kick. It seems like we just can't get enough. Anytime we go out to dinner which is typically Mexican food, we order beef, beef fajitas, beef tacos, carne asada, the Chick-Fil-A cows all over are freaking out! So you should expect over the next few months to see us blow up like blimps, I mean just check out this recipe, beef & butter, what a combination, this just screams heart attack, but it is OH SO GOOD! 1 large onion 1/2 red pepper 1/2 green pepper 1/2 yellow peppers 2 sticks butter 1/2 cup thick Worcestershire Sauce (I'm sure you can use the normal sauce, but the thick is so much better!) 1/4 cup soy sauce Swiss cheese whole wheat rolls 3 pounds thinly sliced steak (I used eye of round) Tenderize steak with meat tenderizer. Add a little pepper to the meat if you would like. (I did.) Then slice into thin strips. Slice onions & cook in 1/4 cup butter till soft and slightly brown - set aside. Slice peppers & cook in 1/4 cup butter till soft and slightly brown, set aside. Oh baby, I could eat them just like this! Add 1/2 cup thick worcestershire sauce & 1/4 cup soy sauce to skillet, throw your meat in a little at a time and cook till just done. Toast whole wheat buns (see, I try to make it a little healthy!), layer bottom bun with Swiss cheese, peppers & onions, then meat! Add about 1-2 TBL of the sauce from the cooked meat and top with bun. Devour.
On our last morning at Camp Better America, no one wanted to leave. Everyone was talking about what a fabulous weekend it was. We were reminiscing about all the cool stuff that happened and how it just flew by. However, the staff, which everyone now calls 'friends' was kicking us out, telling us we had to leave the camp at 9AM sharp! What a bummer, as we all wanted to stay, hang out and chat a little more. So we said a few goodbyes, packed our bags and headed home..... And the REAL reason they kicked us out at EXACTLY 9AM.... Seriously, I'm crying right now while posting these pictures. This was so moving, I can't even tell you how awesome this felt, and I'm only a military spouse! I boo-hooed all the way down this street. Very moving, and these Vets, these guys are true HEROS! I'm at a loss for words. (Yes, me.)
If you would like to volunteer or make donations for a future Camp Better America go to www.campbetteramerica.org click on 'Volunteers & Sponsors". If you would like to see a Camp Better America in your neck of the woods, go to the same link & click 'contact us'. You can also contact me here on the blog, all comments go directly to my email. We started day 3 down by the campfire with "Dudley's Cowboy Coffee"! (I had Korean coffee in the house; Dudley's Cowboy Coffee was a bit to thick for me!) After breakfast we had a free morning to do whatever we wanted to do...I tried to get the kids to go to the beach, but none of them wanted to, they all wanted to hang with the fabulous Mrs. Teri! So instead of the beach Dudley took a few of us out and taught us (or tried to teach us) how to shoot! I know what you are thinking, I look awesome in that picture holding that gun and I totally look like I know what I am doing. Well I should! For heaven's sake, I have seven brothers and a husband in the ARMY! I should know what I am doing. Sadly though, I don't think I could have hit the target if I had been standing 3 feet away. I stink at shooting, if you see me with a gun, you should stand right in front of me, because I promise I will miss. Shooting was fun and all, but I didn't really catch the bug like someone I know..... Check it out....they are all looking over my shoulder in disbelief. They checked the gun to make sure I wasn't shooting blanks. Even this Jersey girl was a better shot than me. A couple of the parents stole some of the kids away from Mrs. Teri! The boys.... After our free morning we moved onto a night of inspiration! First on the agenda was inspirational speaker Krish Dhanam ! He was amazing, and my favorite speaker of the entire weekend. His heart was genuine when he said, "I am an inspirational speaker, but when I speak to our military I am humbled and do not feel inspirational, because you are the ones I get my inspiration from." Kirsh is from India & his story is wonderful. Every single person in the room had a tear in their eye at one point or another while listening to Krish. If you ever get a chance to hear this man speak, you must not let the opportunity pass you by. As if it wasn't enough to hear Krish speak, the next person to arrive at camp was the fabulous Dan Clark (are you kidding me?!?)! Recognized as one of the top 10 speakers in the WORLD, Dan took time out of his busy schedule to talk to our little camp! As always, Dan captivated his audience and left us flying high! I know what you are thinking, can there be more? Yes, next up the kids put on a talent show for us! I love this picture of the parents with their FLIPS & cameras! Next we had a HUGE Texas style BBQ dinner! We are not done yet...after dinner Melissa Lawson (the winner of Nashville Star 2008) performed for us on the ranch! It was a great concert with good company! It was so fun watching everyone dance & having a great time. I even found out (as Boy 3 continued to go on stage to dance with Melissa) that she also has a Boy 3! If you know Boy 3's real name, she has one! They even spell it the same! Crazy! Another amazing day at Camp Better America!
OK folks, I can't make this stuff up, remember this is a camp where the average person just want to thank you for doing what you do. On day 2 after breakfast we listened to Dr. Frank Lawlis speak to us - maybe you have seen him, he hangs with Dr. Phil. I can't believe I forgot to tell you that on day one the 'Love Guru', Michael Bloomberg came to visit us, giving us tips on how to have a great date night, but more on him later. Next on the agenda we headed to the horse stables! Upon returning from the stables the guys took the kids fishing while the mom's had makeovers, complete with hair cut, style & make up. They gave me BIG Texas style hair.... Then they put us in a limo, kept our children and sent us away.... Arriving...notice our camera man off to the left? Seriously, the people hanging out to see who was in the limo were WAY disappointed when we all stepped out of the car! ;-) Waiting for us at our destination was our own Love Guru, Michael Bloomberg (pictured with the lovely Kathleen - one of the founders of CBA)! He planned this entire date for all of us! Upon arrival at Simply Fondue in Sundance Square - Ft. Worth we had drinks at the bar, then we were shuffled off to a private room where Pete O'Brian (formerly of the Texas Rangers) was waiting to greet us. Not only did he say a few kind words to us, he gave us a goodie bag from the Rangers, hats, pennants, stickers and box seats for 2 games for our whole family! Wooo-hoooo!! After all the excitement from Pete O'Brian, we were treated to dinner by the owner of Simply Fondue (I wish I could remember his name!) After dinner there was a horse drawn carriage waiting to take us for a short tour of Sundance Square! And there it is, another fantastic day at Camp Better America coming to an end.....
As the guest began to arrive the "crazy balloon lady" (she dubbed herself that) from the VFW was waiting to make fun balloon art for all the kids to enjoy (and when I say kids, I mean me)! After a bit of fun it was time head to the mess hall for lunch. I just love this picture of the J. family heading to the mess hall. Day one was filled with fun and just getting to know one another at the ranch. The kids immediately took up with Mrs. Teri, she is a Child Life Expert and was in charge of the kid-o's and she took charge with grace and love! This woman is fantastic and I really wanted to bring her home with me! By the end of camp the kids (I'm talking about mine) didn't want to do anything with their parents, they just wanted to hang with fabulous Mrs. Teri. Once we pried our children out or Mrs. Teri's arms we headed down to the beach. Who would have thought we would have our own private beach in the middle of Mineral Wells, Texas?! Back at the ranch the kids ran off with Mrs. Teri while the adults went off to listen to our first speaker. She was a fun and all about the couples (a marriage & relationship expert)...she had us play the game telephone, you know the game, we all played it as children...one person whispers a sentence into the next person's ear, and then it goes down the line of people and the last person says it out loud and 9 times out of ten it isn't anywhere close to the sentence it started out to be. Well, as adults we didn't do any better. She had guys against girls and if you can believe this, the guys won...they were better listeners than the girls. Whatever. Next up we headed back to the mess hall for dinner! It had already started happening, by this time the kids wanted a 'kids' table! OH, and I forgot to mention CISCO gave every couple at Camp Better America a FLIP CAMCORDER!! That is what Hubby is playing with in this next picture! The evening was filled with more fun, games, s'mores & just hanging by the campfire. What a great first day of camp!
These two ladies are not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well. Kimberly (the one without the hat) had a dream; literally, she had a dream ~ her dad came to her and told her to start Camp Better America. She listened to what her dad told her as any good girl would do. She made a phone call to her cousin - he in turn connected Kim with Kathleen, the one in the hat (who is she kidding, she is from Jersey! ;). From that day on these two amazing women have been hard at work to make Camp Better America a reality, and that is exactly what they did the first weekend in May. Our family had the best of both worlds at Camp Better America. Not only were we volunteers, but we got to participate in all the activities as well. Upon arrival we helped set things up.... I was lucky enough to drive the film crew around while they filmed the grounds, our Jeep & my mad driving skills weren’t quite what they were used to , but we made it work. These are the fabulous ladies that cooked for us all weekend! We wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for them! Here we are getting ready to check out the beautiful Tesoro Escondido Ranch overlooking the Brazos River in Mineral Wells, TX which was donated for the weekend by owner Dudley Hall! I even caught Mike working hard a couple of times! There was so much more that went on behind the scenes of Camp Better America than what I showed you. I don't know half of what went into this to make this camp happen but what I do know is that it took over a year with countless hours and sleepless nights to make CBA a reality. Thanks to Kim and Kathleen for having a dream and doing something about it. Military families for years to come will forever be changed because you two shared a dream and made it a reality.
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