Paradise Found

I received 9 more pictures from C in Iraq today... thought I'd share here with you all. It's amazing how desolate the landscape there is.

Baghdad

Plume of smoke in the distance

Euphrates River

Sunset at his "home"

C on security duty

Drinking Red Bull before a mission

Hi Everyone,

I don't know the last time I posted up, but there's not been much photo-worthy going on. According to people who've lived here a few years, this is the worse winter season! The rain is nearly constant... causing flooding and mudslides, which is breaking up the roads. We had a tornado hit about 15 miles away from us, and the island of Lanai had a tornado a couple of days ago. 2 or 3 days ago the Big Island had quarter sized hail. We've had a dead whale wash ashore and it took crews a week to remove it, so I hear the stench was terrible.

Anyway, the only pictures I really have to share are of the kids and I. I was able to talk to C for a few minutes last night, so I know he's safe and doing pretty well. He sounded really tired, and he says he's working a lot and not sleeping much at all.

E's basketball season is over, except for a tournament that the team is going to play in on April 8th. Here are a couple of pics of her season:

Here's the only action shot I got of her the whole season! She pretty much never handled the ball during the games, and it's disappointing that you can't see her face here... but she's the black jersey shooting the ball just to the left of white 15.

I got N signed up and taking swimming lessons... they did the lessons, even in the rain. On one day when the pool was closed they did a water safety course with movies and stuff. But then he got ear infections half way thru the lessons and his doctor said no swimming until April 5th. So he has 4 more lessons to go.

My new hobby has been going to the gym. I packed on some pounds after moving here and was getting really unhappy with how I looked. Besides, with C gone and the kids in school... what better to do with my time? I won't get into the gory details of my exercise plan or new eating habits... but I'm doing it all 100% the way I'm supposed to. I haven't had soda, chips or ice cream since February 1st.

Here's a couple of picture that E took of me within the past week. They're not all that great, but they at least show some improvements. I have some "before" pics but I won't post those until I have some really good "after"s to put up with them. LOL

I've lost 1 1/2 inches from around my belly and 1 inch from my waist at last measurement. I've completely lost the ugly muffin top (love handles), too. Wheeeee. Now I'm going for adding some visible muscle.

LOL! Well, that's it for now. My Mom and her husband are coming here on April 15th!! So I'll have loads more pictures then... we'll be doing things on the island that I haven't done yet! I can't wait... I just hope the weather is good then! It's cutting a little too close for me!!