Album 04/07/10 (31 photos), by Kathleen Allen

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Pictures of Dylan's first skating and sleeping in his car bed posted on face book

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151343&id=746352147&l=f20cd13732

Pictures of our trip to Disney World

We went to Disney World in May. It rained a lot, but it was still a lot of fun. Here are the pictures that are posted on Facebook, I hope this link works.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114964&l=7a586a2bcd&id=555868161

So many ticklish ribs, so few fingers...

The boys have grown a ton since I have been gone. Not so much in height, but in personality and maturity. When they ran up to me in the airport, my first feeling was, "who are these little people?" After months with nearly a complete absence of children around, they just seemed incredibly little. Basically the opposite feeling of when Bruin came to the hospital and stood next to newborn Logan.

Bruin is now working as hard as he can on becoming a little man. He's very confident of himself, attends pre-school, has four stripes on his Tae Kwon Do belt and is almost ready to move up to the next belt. He has an insane memory for details, such as reminding us of exactly where we sat the last time we were in Friendlies in January, and even told me, "I remember lots of stuff, but mommy doesn't always remember stuff." Little bugger's already getting to be a know it all.


Logan is a complete goof ball. Sometimes he tries to be angry or upset, but you can see the giggle twinkling in the corner of his eye and one little knee squeeze is enough to get him laughing. He spends a lot of time trying to grow up as fast as Bruin and even tries to out eat him, which probably explains his big belly. He still hasn't learned how to balance his huge gourd of a head and still smacks it on all sorts of unsuspecting things, like walls, stairs and Dylan, whom he loves.



Dylan is blossoming out of his little shell. Having the extra parent around to give him extra attention seems to be awakening a whole new side of him. Kathy says that he is way more excited and active since I got back. He's even started grunting and making more noises. He was probably just waiting to talk to someone else that speaks grunt. He has most of the skills he needs to walk and climb stairs, but Kathy has been purposely delaying his abilities in order to try to keep things a little more under control. I'm still bouncing over to Portsmouth, NH during the week, so even though I'm here, I'm not really at home. The first couple of times I came back Dylan would look at me all confused, like "why is this guy here again," but now he seems to have figured out the whole daddy concept and chases me around, climbing on me and wanting to be picked up and held. He fell asleep on my chest for over an hour today, that's probably the thing that I regret missing the most. There is just something very peaceful and fulfilling about having your little babies sleep on your chest.

And of course, Kathy is doing fantastic. There are times when I want to yell, "can you grab one of these kids so I can make lunch," or get something to eat or whatever, and it really hits me just how completely insane it must have been watching them the whole time. I really am so lucky to have such a wonderful wife and baby-mama.

Bruin and the Eye Doctor

Well you can tell by the title that Bruin had his first eye appointment about a week ago. After years of watching him watch TV and read books at a odd angle, I finally decided it was time to take him and get his eye's checked out. And for all you moms out there....go with your gut instinct, if Alex had been home he would have had me thinking that Bruin was fine. Anyway, my little boy now has become a little man....I think that his new GREEN (yes, they had to be green) glasses make him look soooo much older and more mature (if that can really be said for a 4 going on 5 year old, LOL) and handsome. What do you think??

Baby, I'm coming Home!!!

So I'll finally be leaving Djibouti. Around this time tomorrow I'll be stepping on the long airplane ride with 6 stops and an overnight layover in Norfolk that will get me home ~80 hours from now. I've got, "Bringing Up Boys" by Dr. Dobson to keep me occupied and get me thinking about the what to expect from my three little boys. I just need to find "The Idiot's Guide to Honey Do Lists"...

Almost my birthday.....wahooooo....

It has occurred to me lately that I am about to turn 26 and while I have not yet hit the big 3-0 (LOL, sorry all you older people out there...) I still am feeling incredibly old. That's okay though, the first quarter century of my life has passed and hopefully there will be a few more to come.

Anyway we have done so much in the past few weeks its hard to remember everything, so here goes:

**We went to the CBC when the grandparents were here(for those who don't know, its the Christian Believer's Conference) and we all had a great time. Bruin was finally able to attend a VBS...we missed the ones in Sig once because of age and once because of a cruise. While Logan and Dylan got to spend some time in the nursery and make some new friends. The picture is of Bruin singing with his VBS class.

**I finished my Macroeconomics class through CCV (Community College of Vermont) with a final grade of A+!!!! And I am now signed up for a Financial Accounting class too. Hopefully it will go as smoothly as the first, but with Alex coming home during this semester I'm not sure I will have enough free time.

**I am also in the process of trying to find the time to get my wisdom teeth pulled out, while our little Dylan is working on his first four teeth all at one time too!! The poor little guy has been very upset lately and hopefully the top two will come in soon so that he can get some relief.

**Bruin and Logan both finished their swim lessons. Bruin can now swim the length of the pool with a "noodle" and no other assistance. And Logan is just getting comfortable being in the pool without mom or dad. They both did fantastic, each earned a medal and are looking forward to swim lessons again next year.
**One last thing I wanted to mention... Dylan is now starting to want to drive the gator. I caught him trying to climb up on to it and drive.....lol...boys and their toys...

Little Bugger....

Here is what I found in the crib the other day after my shower. It seems like time has flown by. How can he already be trying to stand up. I guess its true what they say....kids grow up too fast!! Ohh. As you can tell by his face, he was sooo proud of himself. Now I just have to figure out how to lower the darn crib before he starts trying to escape. Then just a few days later he started to try to go up the stairs. Bruin and Logan are starting swim lessons on Monday, and then the grandparents are coming up for a visit, so will should be busy for the next few weeks. The time goes by so much quicker when we are busy. My class will also be ending soon and I will have to decide if I will have the time to take another one when Alex is home.

As I have told many people, we also have had few friends who are keeping us safe and protected while daddy is away.....

The first was this snake or "Mr. Snakey" as the boys have named him. He has been around for a while and like to sit under the shade of a bush on our front deck, directly in front of the door. For a while I would try to slam the door trying to scare it, at least of the deck, but it never seemed to work. I have now given up trying to get rid of him and have grown accustomed to our new little "guard snake"....LOL
I have been told that this is a woodchuck and he showed up a few days ago. He likes to roam around the backyard when the boys are inside. They must be too loud for him when they are outside too. All of these critters around the house are a little unnerving after living on base housing for the last few years and away from most wildlife. But I guess I am slowing getting adapting to it and the boys love to watch for both out the windows and check under the bush to see if "Mr. Snake" is there when they go outside.

4th Of July

Late I know....But we still had a great 4th of July. The boys and I started the day off watching the parade through town...they had never seen one before thanks to living in Sicily and so this was a first for them. It turns out that we could have walked with Bruins Tae Kwon Doe school because they were in it too!!
After, we had my family over for cookout and then we all headed into town to watch the fireworks together. The boys had a blast all day and Logan was to exhausted to notice that this showed up in the garage until a few days later (thanks to Auntie Teresa S). Which he loves by the way and they are now both racing around the yard, much like the older boys next door do on their dirtbikes.

Hey everyone.....

Sorry....Its been too long since our last post!! SO much has happened!! I have started taking a class online and that has taken up most of the little free time that I have. Hence, no more posts. But it is midterm week and somehow that actually means I have less work to do!!! Okay well lets get to the boys. Dylan is starting to crawl and is gnawing on everything!! Hopefully his "toothy" will come through soon becuase my chin is starting to get sore. He has been sitting up for a while now with only the occasional fall over and he loves to play with the loads of little people figures that we have. Logan has been potty training for the last month or so and is doing FANTASTIC. Wahoooo!! :) He is now able to drive Bruin's Gator (power wheels) and loves it although sometimes crashes into the house or rock wall...without any serious injuries!! And last but not least Bruin has been in "camp" for the last week and LOVING IT. He is able to make some friends and play with some new toys for a bit. Every morning he goes to the park near our house and he comes home at lunch...we are even looking to send him to preschool in the fall. Which is a HUGE step for those of you who know me ;) He is also in the "big kids" TKD class, so he now is not the only kid in the class.

We miss you all and are excited for Alex to be half way through with his "trip" to Africa!!

Some trips

UPDATE: Snorkling pictures posted, click photo below!

I've gone on some more trips. If it wasn't for living in the CLUs, the excess paperwork just to get off base and the requirement to always be in unifrom in the Galley, this deployment wouldn't be that terrible. There's lots of speculation that in the next decade if the base builds out this could become accompanied tours. Of course we would have to build family housing complexes like in Sicily, primarily because of water quality. The water coming out of our sewer treatment plant is cleaner than the tap water in town. The snorkeling at the White Sands beach was fantastic.
Click on the picture below, or go to http://picasaweb.google.com/alexanderallen/VariousTrips to see all the pictures I've posted.

A tour of a French Ship and a trip to White Sands Beach

The last snow....

About a week ago, just after Easter, we got what will probably be our last real snow storm for this year. I cannot believe how much snow we have gotten this year. I sent the boys out and I was even able to go outside and play too, while Dylan took a nap inside the warm house of course. We all had fun shoveling the deck and most of the yard. We were even able to make a snowman. Although we kept rolling up rocks and grass off the ground with each roll. Bruin wiped it off when the snowman was finished and even put some bigger rocks on the face for its eyes. Now the snow is almost all gone except for the huge snow fort (pile) that Alex made just before he left. That is going to take a long time to melt away. We are even starting to find some flowers (maybe tulips?) starting to poke through the ground! So spring is definitely here!! And now Bruin will finally be able to start digging in some MUD!! He is SOOOO excited!!

Lake Asal Trip

Last friday we loaded up a couple of cars with a cooler full of lunches and drinks and headed out to Lake Asal the lowest point in Africa (500 ft below sea level), and the saltiest body of water in the world. We're going to probably go back there when it gets really hot, like 130 and go see if we can float hunks of metal on the water. Plus it's like one of only a handful of trips to take in Djibouti.

Lake Asal Trip

Goat Rope - aka Giving stuff to the locals

Last week my boss and his translator went out into town and bought a pile of supplies with money he had raised through his hometown church. The Marine's patrol between our base and the Somali border (11 miles to the south) and find local villages in need of some American compassion. They then worked with the town chieftain to setup 10 families that needed a helper gift - a goat and a wheelbarrow, and 10 families that needed a food charity gift - a bag of rice, a bag of tea, a bag of sugar, a cooking pot and a thermos. Then after that we handed out toys, flip-flops and balls that the XO had collected from his family and friends. The kids there were very excited to see us, the adults were initially shy, but came around when they realized we were giving them stuff. One of the kids came up to me and said, "Sir, Mr. Allen, water, water please, please give me water Mr. Allen." He had read my nametag. Smart little kids! One of the teenages gave me one of those long MTV handshakes with the slapping, and knuckling and the whole bit. We'll probably go back out in a few weeks. If you want to send stuff for us to hand out, e-mail me and I'll send you my address. If you want me to buy a goat or something, the prices are :
$ 6.75 - bag of sugar
$ 16.88 - bag of rice
$ 7.32 -tea kettles
$ 10.13 - thermos
$ 6.03 -bag of tea
$ 28.14 - goat
$ 33.76 -wheelbarrow
The kids liked the flip-flops and sports balls the best, especially soccer balls. Maybe even super colorful rolls of cloth. There is no color other than dirt and leaves except for the clothes people wear, and the women seem to make their own robes.

Goat Rope

Its been a while...

The Easter bunny also made a stop in Vermont (after he went to Kansas City, maybe?LOL) and the boys were able to get there picture taken with him. Bruin was trying to "tickle" the bunny until he realized that he gave him candy. Then he calmed down and was able to focus for the next task at hand.....the great egg hunt!!

Bruin and Logan did a great job and collected dozens of eggs...Logan getting less (it was naptime, so he was tired). As you can tell by the amount of eggs in their baskets.
Bruin even found a "super duper huge egg" that the bunny left with a little green bunny inside and he has been sleeping with it ever since!! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter too.

A photo tour of Djibouti City

I took a guided bus tour of Djibouti City. The poverty here is hard to capture with a drive by camera. Lots of people just sleep next to the road, bathe in the ocean and leave there waste where the urge finds them. The guide told us how Dubai is buying up lots of the area to build it into a great trade port like Dubai. The base gets 90% of it's supplies through Dubai, because it is the only modern shipping/warehouse area around that is fully stocked. Djibouti sits at a very strategic geographical crossroads, so Dubai is trying to build it up. Everyone around Djibouti has long histories of fighting each other, but Djibouti is seen as the neutral middle territory, like Switzerland. The goal is to develop Djibouti as a launching platform out into the rest of the neighboring countries for trade and resource development. The Chinese have been dumping a lot into this area while we have been busy in Iraq, but they have only focused on resource extraction, and not at building up the local populace. So the US is trying to push humanitarian missions to buildup the populace to prevent the area from becoming an Al Qaeda sanctuary, and help them become our allies. Part of this is to skew them away from the Chinese, or at least prevent them from being the only dominant party in the area. Click on the link below to see some of the pictures of the city.

Tour of Djibouti City

Africans making french food, and frenchies preserving African cheetahs

I went on two adventures into Djibouti. Last night I went to a French restaurant run by Africans. The food was good. My sponsor Dawn brought me with a bunch of her Marine friends. The Marine's are required to patrol the city and all areas around the base on a random basis, meet with locals, and build relationships to enhance security. So they know the areas pretty well. Plus they're Marines, so they're a little nuts. Not the best conversationalists, unless you like PT, standing watch, breaking hummers, drinking lots of Fanta, that sort of thing, but hey they took me out into town. Then I went to a local Cheetah Reserve run by some French ladies concerned about the local cheetah population. It was pretty cool, and very cheap. I got to walk around in the African shrub. It seems that in order to survive as a shrub in Africa, you need to grow long sharp thorns. I won't make a good shrub. Anyway, click the picture below to see the photos.

First excursions

Easter is coming....

We have had a pretty boring week so far, but I have taken lots of pictures!! So here they are. Logan got excited about Easter coming and found the bunny ears the other day.
Bruin built a "mouse house" after reading: If you take a mouse to school.
Logan tried to help....
And then the boys watched a little Mickey Mouse....even Dylan strained his head trying to see the TV.

Pictures from the trip and Djibouti

Kuwait, Qatar, Djibouti

Kathy is working on uploading pictures to this album. I had to e-mail them to her because my upload is too slow. I'll comment them as she does. (Click the picture above to see the whole album.)

My little farmer....

The weather here is starting to warm up finally and were we able to get out of the house the last couple of days. Bruin has already started helping around the farm, driving the tractor with his uncle Brandon, Logan is very eager to watch, but not quite ready to hop on the loud noisy tractor. They both enjoyed helped grandpa drive the snowplow around the yard and Logan liked it so much he nearly fell asleep in the truck. We are all getting excited about the snow melting and being able to play outside without a full snowsuit.


My three boys....
And here is a picture of the best baby smile I've been able to get from Dylan
The long Vermont winters can make you do crazy things..........