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New and Old Adventures for the Military Family
Old adventure!A military PCS is always an adventure! In fact, “military lifestyle” is a synonym for adventure. Finding new fun things to do in your new community after a PCS can be challenging for a military family! Heading outdoors, new schools, new jobs, getting out the front door, off the installation, exploring social opportunities, meeting new friends, visiting local highlights, browsing new malls, walking new trails and playing on new park equipment can be the best of times. But last week I had the greatest time exploring an adventure from the past! Charleston, South Carolina was a wonderful place to live but the summer’s were hot and humid and each…
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Taking Life by the Reins
It was going to be a long week without my main squeeze. Hubs had JAG training at Fort Belvoir for a week and I knew for sure we would miss him. Truth is, it’s hard when your best friend leaves, even if only for a week. (And yes, I have done the year long deployment… but that’s not my point. Sometimes, I miss him when he is only sitting in the other room. Get it?) When he proposed that we tag along I admit I was a bit nervous at first. Tag along? Hang out in a hotel with the kids all week? Hit DC with just me and the kids, tackling…
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Are You Making the Right Choices for Alcohol Use?
See Below for Photo CreditDecisions! We make them every day – active duty, reserves, guard members, retirees, military family members – all of us are faced with small or critical decisions every day of our lives. Sometimes, they are almost routine; like, what shoes do I wear today? Well, that might be a bigger decision for some than others. Sometimes a decision leaves us with a ‘I wish I had done it differently” or “What if” or a WTH (I prefer “heck”) moment or maybe, “Wow, I made the right choice”. Alcohol (for everyone over 21) can be a big decision. If you have not reached your 21st birthday, you…
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The Insecure Military Brat (That’s Me)
I started a wonderful book over Spring Breaktitled ‘The Artist’s Daughter’, a memoir by Alexandra Kuykendall. MOPS International gave it to me and I have a hard time putting it down each time I pick it up. If you ask me about my identity (a key question in this memoir) I struggle to answer. I have grown a lot through the years. Especially now, as a mom, wife, a resident of the same city for the last 12 years. But years before that? I was (and still remain) a Military Brat. I was always a little awkward. I had a SUPER hard time making new friends. The shy introvert who just wanted…
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On Your Way to a Smooth Move: DoD Roundtable
It is that time! PCS season is upon us and many military families are negotiating orders and beginning the process of planning for a move. With that in mind, I had a great chance to listen to and speak with Barbara Thompson, Director, Office of Family Policy/Children & Youth, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense. We all know that a PCS can be an amazing adventure but also an incredible stressor on families. I have an example for you; in the late 80’s my family moved from Ft. Walton Beach, Florida to Keflavik, Iceland. Can you say, “Change of scenery”? In the end the move to Iceland was…
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Life is an adventure not a race
How often do you take the road less travelled? Driving home from a weekend with college friends. A trip across state lines, many state lines. Time with just hubs as my boys were at home with Grandpa and Grandma. Ahead of us was Breezewood, PA and hubs was already grumbling about that “gosh awful” interchange. (I just might have edited that grumbling to make it more family friendly.) A last minute decision between the two of us and we found ourselves driving the passes of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains instead. It was white, pristine, beautiful, a lovely change of pace. The Cumberland valley was wind swept, quiet, peaceful. The countryside…
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“Eat. Live. Give.” Five Point Snacks is “Giving Back” to the Military Community.
Some folks just “get it”. They understand that the military community gives and sacrifices a lot to protect this country and its citizens. When you find folks like that you just want to give them a big hug or at least say thank you! MilitaryAvenue’s Col K had a great discussion with one of those individuals yesterday! Alan Blum, is the founder of Five Point Snacks and he talked about their Airmen Popcorn, GI Crunches, Sailor Knots and other snacks and why they were giving 5 cents for each bag sold to one of our favorite military support organizations, the Bob Woodruff Foundation. He described a “sense of need for…
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Summer Meals and Menu for Children of All Ages!
Camp Grandpa! It is July on our calendar and fireworks are getting to explode in my heart as the grands are getting ready to arrive. Activities are on Grandpa’s plate. Their hunger for adventure, outdoors, hammering, mud and total movement are insatiable. Therefore, Grandma is getting ready to find some ‘fuels’ that are kid appropriate: lunches and dinners. We have a bread lover, a meat on bone lover, a thick steak fan, and one who isn’t too certain what is the best… well ice cream is there, but not on my meal plan! The secret plan that Grandpa and I have is to keep them so active and involved that…
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Youth Sports are Important for Parents too!
“As parents, we often think of youth sports as organized events. I think the more important ones, may be the unorganized variety.” Summer time is here and it is, as usual, crazy busy! Throw in a PCS or deployment for you and it is just gets worse. Finding time for all the unit events, saying good bye a million times (or at least a few) to good friends or acquaintances, making friends at your new location, finding time for a vacation, finding a new spouse job – yep, the head starts to spin a bit! But what about the smaller people version? They go through a lot as military brats…
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That Military House: Moments of Sanity Are on the Checklist!
Move it – or lose it. Adventure advise from Sandee Payne. That Military House helps one open boxes and doors during all steps of the inevitable move.Be prepared, organized, clutter free and open mindedAre you at home with your surroundings? Oh the joy of waking up in the morning knowing the coffee pot is on the counter, milk in the refrigerator, spoons in the drawer. And then. Hello military spouse! It is PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season and that season, as a hunting season, is 365 days a year. You my dear are the item in the sites, laser beams are pointed straight at you. Or is that just…
