Too much like Nat'l Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

If you've never seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, then you know all about the flying squirrel that launches itself out of the Griswald family tree in the living room. Our Byerly version of this same story started the morning after our Christmas party...

We awoke to our normal routine of getting up to feed the dog, Guinness, and letting him outside before returning to bed. As I entered the kitchen, I saw the cat intensely staring behind the oven, moving back and forth to each side. Tai's odd behavior had me intrigued as to what she was looking at. As I approached the oven, a small black shadow skurried by my feet into the dining room with Tai in pursuit after it. Being 5 a.m., I thought my eyes might be playing tricks on me, so I continued with my original plan of feeding the dog. After completing my task, I began to exit the kitchen to let Guinness out. At that very moment, the black shadow ran back into the kitchen with the cat still on it's tail. This time I was able to get a good look at it...it was a small squirrel or chipmunk. Frozen, I didn't know whether I should scream for Joe, who was upstairs soundly asleep, or quietly awake him in order to not frighten the invited guest anymore than it already was. I chose to go upstairs and wake Joe up; we returned to the kitchen to the same scenerio I described earlier...the cat stalking the mysterious creature behind the oven. We closed off all exits, leaving the back door as the only option before moving the oven so that the squirrel could make it's escape. Unfortunately, the little guy missed our intended mark and scampered into the hole above the air vent that goes under our cabinets. SHEESH, we failed. We thought maybe luck would be on our side and the hole would lead outside. We found out the next day, that was NOT the case.
The next morning was filled with screaming as I caught the critter on the top of our refrigerator, munching on my Rice Krispie treats. As I was not quite sure what kind of creature I was dealing with due to my brief encounter the previous day, I stood as still as a statue. The squirrel/chipmunk mimicked my stance and did not move an inch. Once I began to slowly move towards the kitchen entrance in order to get Joe out of bed, again, the critter flung himself off the top of the fridge to the cat who was waiting below. Hoping the cat would capture the little guy just long enough for me to grab something to put him in, the critter darted downstairs into the basement. Another capture averted...DAMN! This time it was all out war. Joe set up a homemade-trap with a clean, old kitty litter box, a pencil, string, and a piece of Rice Krispie. We thought surely the creature would fall for something sweet and we'd be able to return him to his natural habitat.

Day 3 started as any other, with me entering the kitchen, yet there was no sign of the critter. My hopes were high as I went downstairs to check our trap, but was let down when I saw that the trap stood the same way as we had placed it the day prior. "Okay" I thought "no more playing Mrs. Nice Gal". We HAD to get this thing out and NOW. We called the Ft. Knox maintanence guy who was going to call the Orkin man in addition to coming out to scope the situation. After searching the basement for openings, the Orkin man set a live trap using kitty food and would be back the next day to see if anything had been caught. We had to keep our two animals out of the basement so that they would not accidently set off the trap. I was keeping my fingers crossed for a resolution to this problem. I'm in NO WAY an animal harmer, but I am not willing to share my home with undomesticated animals. The maintanence guy came by later to check on the progress, but there wasn't any to report. The rest of the day was quiet, so we looked forward to what Wednesday held.

I awoke to nothing in my kitchen and nothing the basement trap. CRAP! As I climbed into my car, heading to my substitute teaching position, our neighbor, Grant, brought a large pickle jar to our backstep. Inside was what looked like a sugar-glider, munching on some bread. After talking to Joe two days prior, Grant, had been on the lookout for our uninvited guest as we share pipes between our two duplexes. He had heard a rustling in his kitchen the next prior and flicked on the lights to see the squirrel eating some candy on top of his fridge. He took the shirt off his back and grabbed an empty pickle jar and shuffled the squirrel into the glass container, locking the lid. Once confined, he poked some holes in the top lid and threw some bread inside. The little guy was finally captured, so that he could be returned to the wild. You would think the story ends here, but wait there's more...

The maintanence guy and Orkin man were informed of the capture and came over to properly return the squirrel to it's natural habitat. The maintanence man informed Joe and Grant that it would not be in our best interest to release the FLYING SQUIRREL - yes, it ended up being a flying squirrel - anywhere in the immediate vicinty as squirrels have the inate abililty to return to their previous location within a 1 mile radius. All four men agreed that the squirrel should be taken off base to ensure that it would not return...to be on the safe side. Now the logistics came down to the maintanence man and the Orkin man. In order for the Orkin man to get paid, he had to have the squirrel in his trap before releasing it in the local nature preserve. As Joe looked on, the maintanence man handed the glass jar over to the Orkin man who then transferred the squirrel into his cage. Moments after the maintanence man had voiced a concern that a flying squirrel could not be securely trapped in a wire cage, the little critter took a flying leap out of the cage, up the tree IN OUR FRONT YARD! Laughing hysterically, Joe realized that this story may never end! We're hoping that the squirrel doesn't seek revenge against us and return to our basement.

The Gift of Giving Holiday Party....we just gave and gave!

In honor of the holiday season, Joe and I hosted a Christmas party for our Ft. Knox friends. We invited neighbors, close friends, and Joe's classmates; approximately 40 people attended, so our home was pretty packed....the more the merrier! The night began with food and beverage as people met for the first time while others reconnected. As noted on our invitation, we asked guests to bring a gift for child of any age; we were pleasantly surprised by the OVERWHELMING response of our guests!!! We were able to donate approximately 50 gifts to the Ft. Knox chapter of the Red Cross. All of the toys were directly distributed to Ft. Knox families, so our cause was close to home.
As the night progressed, the crowd got a little louder and the fun increased...we moved the basement and played darts, Rock Band, and bags. I'm pretty sure our neighbors' kids woke up from the sound of peoples' voices. Towards midnight the group dwindled down to 3 of Joe's classmates, Joe, and myself. We introduced the foreign officer to keg stands...it looked more like a water fountain than anything else. Never doubt that Joe and the other two American officers were MORE than willing to show our foreign friend how to PROPERLY do one. The night only got worse and I finally had to call it a night, leaving the boys to do man stuff....I do have to state that I woke up to a clean house...thanks guys!
In all, we think this party idea will be something we continue to do each Christmas season. As we celebrate the gifts we were given, we should remember it is just as important to give to others. After all, it is the reason for the season.

Summing up Thanksgiving

Just because we did SO much over the Thanksgiving holiday, we're going to give the brief version of what happened during our trip to Dawsonville!

Drove from Kentucky to Georgia on Wednesday. Arrived at Glenn and Suzi's around 7ish and spend the evening chatting and spending quality time together before zonking out.

Thursday was spent watching Suzi prepare her delicious Thanksgiving meal and foaming at the mouth. Amanda's grandparents, Granny Raine and Papa George, joined us for lunch and even brought Guinness a stuffed turkey. We watched the Macy's parade and the dog show, which is a Thanksgiving Day must. Joe had his nose in the newspaper ads, looking for great deals at Best Buy, while Amanda ragged her dad about getting new eye-glasses.

We headed over to Nancy and Bob's after eating and joined them and Amanda's other grandparents, Gunga & Mimi, for dessert. After catching up on recent events, neighbors came over to visit as did Amanda's friend, Brandy. Entertainment was provided by watching others play Wii!

Friday morning was spent in-bed, far away from the Black Friday craziness. We went to see 4 Christmases in the early afternoon with Nancy and Bob before heading to the eye doctor with Glenn who was getting new eye-wear. We stopped by the N. GA outlet mall to pick up a shirt for Joe and visit Suzi before getting new glasses for the 21st century man. We ate dinner afterwards and then spent quality time back at the house. Friday night was back at Nancy and Bob's, relaxing and watching Fred Claus.

Saturday was the Edwards' family Thanksgiving; everyone on Nancy's side of the family gathered at the Klein ranch for lunch and family pictures. We took several huge group shots in addition to individual family pictures. Wii was brought out again after the house cleared of family. We ate at Amanda's favorite Mexican restaurant, El Rio!

Sunday was spent on the road again. We hugged and kissed both sets of parents before getting going...we made it home in 7 1/2 hours! Thanksgiving traffic sucked.

They've gone country!

We headed to Nashville, the weekend before Thanksgiving, as part of our Christmas gift to each other and a get-away. We LOVED every bit of the weekend trip; it was jammed packed with sight-seeing and spending quality time together discovering the CAPITAL of COUNTRY. We stayed at the Opryland Resort, which is amazing in and of itself. We actually got upgraded because we arrived later in the day on Friday and our standard room was unavailable, so we got the suite...SWEET! After dropping off our bags, we headed to dinner in the resort and walked around the planatation...the place is HUGE.

Saturday was fast-paced. We started the day with breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. It came highly recommended by tourist sites and it was definitely worth the wait in line to get in. Unlike many meals, Amanda actually ate everything she ordered.

Afterwards, we headed the original Grand Ole' Opry,
the Ryman Auditorium. We toured the venue and
paid a little extra to take part in the back-stage tour where we were able to see dressing rooms and all the things that happen behind the curtains. It was awe-inspiring to know that we were standing on the same stage as greats like Reba, Johnny Cash, and even Elvis. While the venue has definitely undergone renovations through the years, the stage is still the same.




We also visited many of the honky-tonks along Broadway, where music can be heard flowing out of the doors as early as 10am. I guess when trying to break into the music industry, you'll play just about whenever you get the chance. Which doesn't seem like a bad idea since those little bars share an alley with the Ryman and it's said that many big names pop into the honky-tonks when playing at the Ryman. You just never know who you're going to see....we didn't see anyone.

The weather wasn't the greatest while we were in Nashville,
so we tried to do as much as we could within reason.
Our next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame and
then off to Jack's BBQ, another must stop on trip. To get a good understanding of where country music came from, the CMHF is a great place to visit. You not only get a historical account of pivotal people in the industry, but you can also get interactive with certain sections of the museum. The food at Jack's is TOO DIE FOR. Joe has decided that he is giving up on trying to perfect his BBQ ribs since they will never fall off the bone like they did at Jack's. It was excellent to say the very least.

We headed back to the hotel in order to get ready for our main event for the weekend. We got tickets to Radio City's Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes at the Grand Ole' Opry. Amanda was like a little kid at the show, watching the 20+ ladies do high-kicks and pin-wheels, while Joe sipped on mixed drinks in order to stay awake. Even though the enthusiasm level wasn't shared by both, they each enjoyed going to the show. After the show, we returned the hotel and stopped by Findley's, the Irish pub. Now, if you know us, you know that Joe MUST grace any Irish pub with his presence and Amanda is along for the ride. It was a very nice establishment and the drinks were great! Not quite Kevin Barry's, but still a good place to visit.

We loved our time in Nashville and are already planning another trip after the holidays. Hopefully, the weather will be warmer and we'll have more time to see all that Nashville has to offer!

Back in the Classroom

Starting tomorrow, Amanda will be returning to the classroom! She will be the long-term substitute for a teacher who will out for the rest of the year and will be working with PRESCHOOLERS again. For her first substituting job, this is a great way to start...a 4 week assignment with an age-group that she is very familiar with. God definitely has a wonderful way of making things happen. The BEST part of this upcoming experience is that I get to work with these "little sweethearts" during the holiday season!

Keep your fingers crossed that I do things as similiar to their teacher as possible. Otherwise, they might call me out for "doing it wrong".

Steaks and Babies

So we started off the weekend with watching our close friends', Brett and Julie "Gambo", daughter, Petyon. After a full night of playing, eating, playing, watching Nemo, playing, bathtime, playing, and then finally bedtime, we were a little tired. Keeping a one-year old entertained is fun, but can definitely wear you out if you're not use to it. But nonetheless, we loved hanging out with our little friend and she had a great time at Aunt Panda and Uncle "O"'s.

Saturday was pretty eventful! We started the morning with a 5K road race around Ft. Knox in support of the American Red Cross. The Turkey Trot definitely did a number on Amanda's knees as she is NOT a runner and was "jogging" in the rain. Joe, as always, produced a great time, since he is a runner, while Amanda took almost twice as long. Oh well, it was for a good cause. We bee-lined for the Waffle House with two of Joe's classmates, Sean and Jason, afterwards. Nothing like a waffle to make you feel better and hopefully less wet. That afternoon we headed over to the Nuckols' for the GA/Auburn game which was a nail-biter, but thankfully our Bulldawgs pulled it off.

That evening was spent at a nice steak dinner at Morton's Steakhouse in Louisville. If you've never heard or been to Morton's, it's definitely a place you've got to go to at least once in your life. While we didn't initally have a reason for going to such a nice place, we soon created one...Joe had gotten through his first month of CCC (Captain's Career Course) and I had officially gotten a long-term substitute position (more about that later). The waitstaff was AMAZING, but the food was out-of-this-world. We started our dinner with a fresh loaf of onion bread and drinks...Amanda had a glass of Riesling while Joe had a Heavenly Pomegranate. They do this lavish presentation of their menu items before handing you their menu, so that you can see the steaks you could possibly order. We decided on the Shrimp Alexander for starters while Amanda had a single-cut filet with layonnaise potatoes and Joe had a bone-in filet with garlic green beans. We shared a freshly made chocolate lava cake for dessert. Now, you must know that this meal was unusal in price, but ABSOLUTELY worth it in taste. Our main waiter, James, was such a great guy in that he thanked Joe for his military service. We sparked up a small conversation with him and found out that he was newly married and was attending seminary school so that he could become a chaplain in the Army. We left Morton's with full bellies and an excellent preception of the establishment.
The remainder of the night was spent with some of Joe's classmates, including Jason and Sean, at a nightclub, The Hotel, at 4th Street Live!. They had reserved a VIP table so we joined them for a couple of hours and had a blast. Unfortunately, the throbbing in Amanda's knees were getting the best of her, so we left earlier than the others.

This weekend held two totally different days for us....one gave us perspective of how life with children may be while the other reminded us of how sporadic our life without children can be. Um, I think we'll take advantage of our time alone now and be thankful when our day to be parents comes.

Packing It All In!

The past several days have been busy, busy, busy to say the very least. This weekend was spent enjoying the company of Amanda's dad and aunt who were visiting from Georgia. Friday night was low-key as they had just completed a 6-hour drive and we didn't expect them to be in too much of a hurry to get back in the car. We feasted on hamburgers, gourmet fries, Amanda's pasta salad, and her Aunt Liz's homemade potato salad. Our stomachs were bursting by the time we settled downstairs for some Scene It! trivia which Joe continues to reign as the ultimate champion.

Our Saturday was hopping with sightseeing as we toured Ft. Knox's Patton Museum, watched the beginning of the GA/KY game, and got the on the road to Louisville. Once we arrived downtown, we made our only requested stop (from Amanda's dad, Glenn, of course) at the Louisville Slugger Museum. We got a guided tour through the bat production plant and personalized bats were ordered. We're pretty sure Glenn was in baseball heaven the entire time! Afterwards, we headed to 4th Street Live! which is an entertainment district in Louisville; we ate dinner at Sully's Irish Pub & Restaurant where Joe and Amanda both ordered Pumpkin Spice beer...doesn't sound that tasty, but it was delicious. Once dinner was done, we had made reservations to see comedian, Norm McDonald (famous from SNL's Weekend Update in the 90s). The host and the opening comedian were both funny and got several laughs from our group while Norm was somewhat of a disappointment. He was difficult to understand due to mumbling and his content was a bit on the morbid side. Needless to say, we all left feeling a little let down, but the coffees from Seattle's Best helped chipper us up. And of course, Aunt Liz got a picture with Col. Sanders himself, so this Kentucky trip was considered fulfilled!

Once Dad & Aunt Liz got on the road Sunday morning, we hung around the house before hitting the gym and then preparing for our next adventure. Our neighbors, Grant & Tammy, had won a night and dinner at a casino in southern Indiana and weren't able to get away, so they passed the prize off to us. We gladly accepted and took the hour drive north for a buffet dinner and luxury accomodations. We spent a little time in the casino, but after our run in Vegas earlier this year, we knew when to call it quits. $60 blown, we headed out of the casino after an hour and took safe haven in the hotel!

Monday was a day of DO AS WE PLEASE when we at The Cracker Barrel for lunch and then hit TJ Maxx for new bed linens, Best Buy for an external hard drive, and Barnes & Noble for nothing. We ran into Brett & Julie at Cracker Barrel where Julie & Amanda had on the same jacket which is what happens when you shop together. Their cutie, Peyton, was flirting with almost everyone in the place, but being as adorable as she is, it's welcomed. Our Barnes & Noble stop was marked by a nice surprise when we ran into Col. Nuckols and his wife, Julie. Joe use to work for Col. Nuckols when Joe was a 2LT and served as the B Troop XO of 5/15 CAV while Nuckols was a Major and was the squadron XO. They had a great working relationship and Joe continues to view Col. Nuckols as a mentor both in CAV and the ARMY. We used the bookstore entrance as a reunion space for approximately 20 minutes before making plans to meet up soon for some football. The remainder of the day was spent hanging around the house and doing laundry...dun, dun, done.

This Veteran's Day was rainy and cold! A little to close to Seattle weather for us. We hung out all day inside and enjoyed keeping warm under fleece blankets. Joe is officially a VETERAN and we're so thankful for his service as well as the service of countless others! This day will forever be an extremely important day for us as we now know the sacrifice that so many given in order to ensure our nation's freedom. We thank our family members who have served prior to us and we thank the fellow military colleagues who continue to serve with us. Sometimes you don't realize what a day like this means until you have a personal experience that is recognized by a federal holiday like this one. If you are utilizing your constitutional rights, thank a vet!

Biting the Bullet!

Joe stepped up in his small group and briefed his Op order first on Wednesday. After several days of working on it, he felt the need to get it over with and offered to present first to his group of 13 guys. Although there are approximately 40-50 guys in his class, they are divided into 4 small groups of 13-15 guys. So thankfully Joe and his small group only have to present to each other, otherwise it might take several days to get through all of them. In the long run, Joe felt that his presentation went well and got good feedback from his instructor and small group classmates. Over the next couple of months, he'll have more Op orders to produce and present, but the first is over with and that's always a relief.

I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy with the repetitive nature of being unemployed. Clean the house, do the grocery shopping, run the daily errands, and then start it all again. I'm starting to look for options outside of my normal schedule and have begun meeting new people in and around Ft. Knox. I've done some shopping with Nicole Madsen (her husband is in Joe's large class), Julie Gambacorta (a familiar face to most), and Adrienne Biel (her husband is in Brett Gambacorta's large class; they started the Career Course in September). On Tuesday night, I attended the coffee group for Joe's class; I met several ladies from other units at Ft. Lewis and other bases. I was pretty surprised that half of the women in our coffee group were last stationed at Ft. Lewis, but wasn't too surprised that I didn't know many of them since the base is so large.
On Thursday, I went to watch Joe's class play Brett's class in Gator Ball which is a cross between soccer and rugby/football. Afterwards, we went to dinner with Stoney and Alison Portis. Stoney is in Joe's small group and they came to Knox from Ft. Hood in Texas.

As Joe is putting himself out there in his class, I'm starting to put myself out there to experiencing new things and meeting new people. I couldn't imagine 6 months of sitting in the house reminscing on the past, so watch out Ft. Knox, Amanda Byerly is ready to socialize.

To elect or not to elect...the decision was yours!

With the results finalized, we must admit that this election has been monumental in our lives. We have been so energized by the enthusiasm that so many people have shown and the anticipation of what would happen. Regardless of who you voted for, you had a choice. If you chose to vote, you exercised your right to have your voice heard. If you didn't, then you have no reason to complain. At this point, we must come together and put our individual choices aside. We are a nation that NEEDS "togetherness"; as a nation at war, we must show unity. With the economic crisis, we must pull together to overcome. It is our hope that now that the presidency is decided, we will see forward motion in the right direction and that all elected officials will put issues aside and focus on the best interest of our nation.

Our thanks to both Barack Obama and John McCain for making this election one of the most historical events in our nation's history. They both showed enduring strength and empowered the American people to stand up for their beliefs. Hopefully this election year will be the beginning of something great in all elections to come!

Welcome to the Byerlys' blog...it should be interesting.

Giving into my overwhelming urge to let EVERYONE know what we're up to, I joined the blogging evolution. We're going to try to keep our blog as up to date as possible, because we know "our fans" will let us hear about it if we don't. If you've been reading my blogs on MySpace, then you know that I'm pretty "real" in my writing, so this blog should give you a pretty true insight to our daily lives.

Currently, we don't have much to report; therefore we'll just post our new address. We'll be here in Ft. Knox, KY until April, so it would be smart to use pencil.
Das Haus von Byerly (German for Byerly's House)
453-B 8th Ave.
Ft. Knox, KY 40121

Sidenote: we're currently on this German kick due to our German-bred dog, Ft. Knox is known for it's German culture, and coming out of Oktoberfest.