Into the Fire [Academy]

It's finally here! The hubs finished his first week of training. He will be the first to tell you that It's not going to be an easy seven (yes, SEVEN) months. It's a grueling 28 weeks broken up into EMT and then Fire training. The class is large enough that they have to split, one half does EMT first, the other Fire and they switch midway through.

The hubs knew that this would be different from the Central Florida Fire Academy that he attended years ago, but neither one of us was prepared for just how drastically different HFD conducts their training. 

HFD definitely runs a tight ship. There's only one rule: Do what you're told to do. It's like my husband signed up for the Army. He's got to come in every day clean shaven, his head shaved, boots shiny, and address his recruit training officers (RTOs) properly. They have to do physical trainig (PT) three times a week which is on top of the drills they do during the Fire side of the training. PT consists of doing as many sit ups you can in one minute, followed by as many pull ups in one minute, push-ups in one minute, a mile and a half run, and Crossfit. All under the midday sun. Oh. My. God.

HFD doesn't play. But it's definitely a good way of weeding out those that don't really want it.

Here's my hubs, ready for his first day. It's going be an interesting and eventful seven months. November 16, here Wea come!

Someone had a birthday!

Our beloved big guy, Mushu, turned four yesterday! I can't believe he's already four! And HUMONGOUS! He used to be so tiny! See?

Here we are with him at Christmas 2007, just a couple of weeks after we got him. I think he was 13 weeks old here.

In honor of his fourth birthday, we gave him four BK Minis. Haha! Happy birthday! [Don't get used to it, bud. This isn't grandma's house. Back to your regularly scheduled pup food today and every day!]

Aloha!

Sorry I've been so completely MIA from the blog. It's been 2 weeks since I last updated! I've just been soaking it all up here in Oahu. Still hard to believe that we're here for good and not just visiting! Here are a few highlights from the past two weeks

Moosh on his new bed. We figured we owed him one. He's actually been adjusting well here--much better than anticipated! Something about the Hawaiian air brings out the explorer in him.

The hubs got some late birthday Pittsburgh goodies from our brother- and sister-in-law. Pretty awesome!

Seriously. He's exploring at the dog park and even playing with other dogs. It's like he's a completely different dog!

Russell made it through his long boat ride. He even got here ahead of schedule! He may have new Hawaii plates, but I'm still rocking my Orlando Magic license plate cover. hehe


That's it for now... thanks for continuing to keep up with us. "Wea" are blessed to have you here! Mahalo!

Trip Out West. Day Six.

This day finally came. After four long months, countless phone calls & Skype dates, the hubs and I (and the Moosh) are all in the same place again! We all flew out today and I was nothing but a bundle of nerves! Mushu almost wasn't allowed to fly out! We bought a crate from PetSmart that was supposed to be for a Labrador, but when we were checking him in, the agent said that he was too big for that crate and that they wouldn't allow him to fly. OH. MY. CRAP. I literally almost lost it. But thank the Lord for small miracles because they had an extra giant crate on hand. PHEW!

Needless to say, The Moosh made it in one piece! He's still a bit confused and getting used to his new home, but we are so thankful for safe travels and only minor glitches.


We can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives! Thank you to everyone that has been following our travels and supporting us each step of the way. We love each and every one of you!


Mahalo from the Weas!

Trip Out West. Day Five.

Day five is now done. Today we left our friends' place in Riverside and ventured off to Long Beach to drop our car off. But before we dropped it off, we had to get a rental. We ended up getting a Ford Edge--the same car that one of my best friends drives. Not as tricked out, but the same color. So made me think of her.

Before we could drop off our car, the shipping company required us to have it delivered to them cleaned--inside and out. We basically had to drop it off a brand new car to them, since we couldn't even place a shipping box or anything inside. Four days' worth of road grime and bug guts is not pretty, so we couldn't just take it to a drive-thru wash at the gas station. After a slight runaround with a non-existent car wash place that I plugged into my phone, I Googled and found another place not too far from where we stopped. [What did we ever do without smart phones?]

Here I am saying goodbye to Russell (named after the cutie pie little kid from Up). They said he'll be in Honolulu on Sept. 27 at the latest. Crazy!

We're now staying at a motel right down the street from the airport. We've got a huge day ahead of us tomorrow--especially Mushu! We're unwinding and my husband even made himself some new friends...

...on my toes. Gotta love him. Good night, friends!

Trip Out West. Day Four.

Day four finally came and went. We drove through Arizona all day. It's so dry out there, but I must say that the scenery was way better than Texas.

Lots of rocks, boulders, shrubs... and no grass! And we found out today that our dog will not go to the bathroom on anything BUT grass. Yeah. He'll pee, but the other business, forget it! So holding it for hours in the car must not have been fun. But he did it. Poor thing.

We passed tons of interesting sites. There are lots of abandoned roadside places in AZ. (I'm fascinated by abandoned places!)

Right after this picture was taken, we had to get routed off of I-10 because of a gnarly crash. Police closed off part of the westbound because of this jack-knifed semi. Crazy!

I'm just happy we weren't anywhere near it when it happened! Thankfully this was the only thing that slowed us down today. Three hours later, we made it to the California state line.

We made it to Riverside. The hubs has a friend that he's known since 3rd grade living here and we are so grateful that he's opened his doors to us and our dog. It works out so well. We haven't seen he and his girlfriend since our Cali anniversary trip last year. It's great to be unwinding amongst people you know.

There's even a small grassy area across the street from their house. Mushu FINALLY did his business and even got to run around off-leash.

See? He's pooped!


Tomorrow is a brand new day. Stay tuned! Good night, friends!

Trip Out West. Day Three

We set out SUPER early this morning--the sun was hardly up yet. Mainly because Ozona was the pits and there really wasn't anywhere to take the dog out to. So we got a couple of coffees at the general store and high-tailed it out of there.

The sunrise is pretty in the desert. I hadn't experienced a sunrise in quite some time. It was incredibly chilly outside, too! My favorite hubs quote this morning: "Man! It does get cold out here in the desert...Cody Lundin was right! That crazy hippie knows what he's talkin' about!" 


West Texas is literally in the middle of nowhere and we had already driven for an hour-and-a-half before we saw signs of civilization--and breakfast!

We drove along the Mexican border and saw tons of Border Patrol. There was even a checkpoint in New Mexico.

Moosh. Still confused. Still wondering when we are EVER gonna get to Grandma's house. Poor buddy. He's in for some more rude awakenings when he realizes we aren't headed to Grandma's.


We are now at our night 3 rest stop: Willcox, AZ. "Gangsta" has been a recurring theme on this road trip.

Last leg of the road trip commences in the morning! Cali or bust, baby!

Trip Out West. Day Two.

Day two of our cross-country trip. We had a long day of driving ahead, so we wanted to leave a lot earlier than the previous day. We left Baton Rouge at about 7am, heading to our day 2 stop of Ozona, TX.

We rolled through Houston...

...and San Antonio. (Wish we could have stopped at the Alamo) The scenery after SA was so boring, until we finally got to some hills.

The drive went pretty well today. Poor Mushu, though. He's still all kinds of confused. He was tuckered out and cramped in the back seat all day.

After a slight hiccup of passing our exit and having to backtrack 6 miles (thanks a lot, Google Maps app), we arrived at our destination for tonight--a [not so] Super 8 in the Middle of Nowhere, TX. And since it's basically a truck stop, the hubs thought it would be a stellar idea to commemorate the occasion:

...by keepin' it gangsta and drinkin' some 40s--from paper bags, no less! Haha!


PS: My husband is a BEAST! He has been driving this entire time! I keep offering to switch off with him, but he says he's cool. I love that man.


Good night, lovelies!

Trip Out West. Day One.

As predicted, this weekend went by way too fast. I haven't had time to blog about it, so I'll have to recap it later. For now... Day one.

We left Orlando after having breakfast with my mom, brother, and sis-in-law. We left at about 9:40am. The pup did not know what to think. But for the most part he was SO GOOD today!

This was taken right when we got on the Turnpike. It's definitely his "where-the-heck-are-you-bastards-taking-me?!" look. But seriously. He was so good! I have been oversharing on FB, Twitter, and Foursquare. HA! It'll continue until we reach our destination. For now, we made it to our Day 1 goal--Baton Rouge. Good night, friends! See you on day two!

Happy long weekend!

This weekend is going to be HUGE! It started off right with this:

I picked up a hitchhiker at the airport today. He has an uncanny resemblance to my husband! We got home to my mother-in-law's and it was amazing to see these two pick up right where they left off (minus the temporary barking before Mushu realized who it was).

I was starting to worry that Mushu was forgetting him. But seriously. Moosh was SO excited. it was adorable! Tomorrow, I get to be reunited with my besties! I love these ladies so much!

Bestie on my right is getting married tomorrow and I'm so stinken' excited for her! And since it's her wedding day/weekend, I'm going to try and not be a blubbering hot mess.


I can't make any promises. Leaving on Monday is going to be a tough one!

One Step Closer

Guess who's clear to fly out next Saturday?? Yep. This big guy right here. I've been making sure that I've followed all of the proper steps to ensure that everything goes as planned to have him released to us from the airport when we land. Between calling the airline to ask all of my questions, to calling the Quarantine Center to make sure they got all of our paperwork--I've been borderline completely neurotic about it! The flight will be traumatic enough for him (AND ME!), that I want to make sure he absolutely does NOT go into quarantine. Got his health certificate today, and minus the slight wax build-up in his left ear that I have to monitor, he's a-ok! PHEW!

I got his crate in last week. He still remembered his crate training from when he was a pup and promptly goes in there when I tell him to "get in his bed." That made me feel a bit better. I'll still be a bundle of nerves the day we fly out--probably up until we finally land and he gets released to us!


And in 2 days...

I get to pick this hottie up from the airport! Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I mean, Weaaaaaaaa!! hahaha. SO STINKEN' EXCITED!!

Whirlwind

I'm so sorry to have been so MIA! To say that these last weeks since I got back from my Hawaii visit have been a whirlwind is an understatement. I can hardly believe that it's down to my last week in FL. So much to do, so so little time!!


On top of all the things I need to do with regard to the move, freelance work with tight deadlines have rushed in. AND my best friend is getting married this weekend, so I'm doing what I can to help them with that. I have a feeling this weekend is going to be a blur. And since it is my best friend's wedding weekend, I'm going to try not to be a hot mess when I have to say my goodbyes.


Labor Day is D-Day! Like, whoa.

Anniversary Recap: Hawaii Day 9

My last full day in Hawaii was spent on a sandbar in the middle of Kaneohe Bay. It was an amazingly fun day, spent with the hubs and new friends. I had my first close encounter with an awesome honu (sea turtle), saw a dog in a life vest AND A donut floatie, and I got to try stand-up paddling for the first time. I'm hooked, btw! I promised the hubs that I would at least perfect surfing first before I bug him for a paddleboard. Here are my favorite shots from the day.