ROAD TRIP!!!!!

I just saw the most amazing thing on the travel channel. There is a store called Unclaimed Baggage Center (http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/index.html) which is exactly what the name imlies...peoples unclaimed luggage.


An airline has 90 days to find a persons lost luggage and if not found then pays the person for the lost bag. Once that person has been paid the bag no longer belongs to them. This means when the luggage turns up sometime later it goes to the Unclaimed Baggage Center.

40,000 square feet of peoples junk! I've never wanted to go somewhere more! It was crazy some of the things they had. Golf clubs, bagpipes, art, exercise machines and pretty much anything you can think of. Such random things people travel with.


The rep for the store said they throw away alot and donate alot and the cream of the crop they sell in this paradise of junk. She said there has been 1 noted case of a man that came in and bought his wife's ski boots back she had lost 2 years earlier.


So I guess my next road trip is going to be to Scottsboro, Alabama. Anyone want to come???

4 days down!!!

4 days closer to Brad coming home!!!

We are officially in Kansas after spending 23 hours in the car. Last monday we picked up Brad's sister at BWI because she insisted she drive back with me. I'm so glad she did! It was a sanity-saver and I was having so much fun that I didn't have time to stop and think about the fact that I just left my husband in New Jersey and wont see him for 15 months. We arrived in New Jersey Monday evening and Brad met up with his unit. They let him go have dinner with us before the goodbyes.

I can't say any specifics, but Brad is in western Iraq at a very large base. He is going to be controlling air traffic which he doesn't so much know how to do. It will be fun for him though and great experience. His sister and I googled his future location on the way back to KS and I realized that he just might not want to come home! 2 swimming pools, steak and lobster thursday. what could be better? well...maybe being wth your family but if there is a second better it is 2 swimming pools and steak and lobster thursday.

Ashton did surprisingly well with the goodbye. He's a tough kid. I guess he has to be if he is planning to be a marine. Today was hard on him. He had a few breakdowns. It will get better, but right now we are in the adjustment phase and its the hardest. After a month or so time will start flying by and he'll be home. October 2009 just seems really far away though.

On another note....

Talan walked!!! He took 6 steps because he really wanted that plastic Dora the Explorer doll. It was so sweet because he looked at his feet like he just realized what they were for. He now takes a step then stares at everyone in the room until you start clapping for him. He is geting to be a big guy!

welcome to my life...

I've really been through the ringer lately. In the last month my dad died, we packed to move, stressed about everything and now Brad is being deployed. I feel like I've been hit with a truck and now that truck is backing up on me yet again. 

In about a week I'm loading Chappie up with everything I cannot live without and I'm dropping Brad off with his unit and heading to Kansas. I think I'll end up staying in Kansas while he's gone. Ashton is going to need to be able to go to movies with Grandpa Tony and play with cousins while his dad is gone. 

This post is just to say that I think I am going to go private. I'll be posting alot about Brad and his deployment status and it isn't safe for just anyone that is randomly clicking to be reading. If you want to keep reading about the highly entertaining lives of the Coates boys you can email me or leave a comment here and I'll get you the password.

July 4, 2008--

Since this is probably our last 4th in DC, and we had Brad's parents visiting, we decided to head to the National Mall to watch the fireworks. 

The venture there was just a hint as to what we were in store for. While riding the elevator at the mall to the bottom floor which led us to the metro I nearly strangled the teenage girl next to me. My biggest pet peeve is people that don't need to take the elevator when there are strollers. This teenager next to me was leaning up against the wall, hanging out. Meanwhile there were several strollers that wanted to board the elevator. Did she move to make room? Of course not. The world revolves around her. 

So we get to the L'Enfant Station and go up the elevator to ground level. The doors open and what do I see. My second pet peeve. A giant group of  people standing right in front of the doors. Okay, so it was raining and they were trying to shelter themselves, but it was still irritating. I pushed my way through the people and put Talan's rain shield on and off we went to the national mall. I'm not scared of a few raindrops. 

I was very happy to see that the lemonade stand was still up from the Folk Life Festival. Karen, (brads mom), and I had lemonade as we walked around the festival the day before while the boys were at the Tiger Woods tournament. It was the best lemonade I've ever had. All freshly squeezed. Sadly, on the 4th, my lemonade was super tart. Still good though, just not the same. 

After the lemonade we were ready to stake out a spot. Soon after the fireworks started. I'm not a huge fireworks fan. I can watch the first few and then it turns into just a bunch of noise. It was pretty though. Ashton loved them and Talan didn't really care. He was happy drinking my lemonade and climbing on his brother. 

About 20 minutes later the show was over and there was mass chaos as people walked as fast as they could trying to beat all the other people to the train first. We took our time. Turns out maybe we should have ran too. The next half hour of my night was spent sandwiched outside the L'Enfant station, in the rain, trying to figure out why no one was moving. I still havn't figured it out. Karen had Talan, Tony had Ashton's hand and I had the stroller folded up and on my back. I figured it would be easier to make it to the escalators since people just step over the stroller. Turns out people dont care if a girl is carrying a  50 pound stroller. They will push you just the same. That's okay, I push back. Poor Ashton was getting pushed around too. About this time we all wondered if the 20 minutes of...in my words "lame"...fireworks were worth our current conditions. Right then the answer was a big fat NO. Finally I met a nice man who stretched his arms out and yelled at everyone to wait so I could get through. Thank you nice man! 

Once down in the station we waited with the millions of other people for the next train. I was impressed at Tony who shoved everyone out of the way to board. Karen and I could barely keep up. Good job Tony. 

Ashton was sad that I didn't bring him back a snowcone even though he told me if I couldn't find a snowcone I could bring him a lemonade. Grandpa Tony took him to get a popsicle and everything was good. 

Talan LOVED the lemonade.
Grandpa Tony was very patriotic in his KU shirt eventhough he didn't mean to be.

Talan hates the metro...

The shirt Talan is wearing Ashton also wore July 4, 2003.

It has happened

The family ate dinner at Carlos O Kellys and I had to order Talan his own kids meal! He isn't even one yet. And he ate all but one triangle of his quesadilla. I better add to the food storage. Talan's coming and he's hungry!!

Ashton officially has won

Ashton walked at 10 and a half months. He and Talan had a competition to see if Talan would walk sooner than he did. The winner gets nothing more than bragging rights, although when Ashton heard he won he wanted to know how much money he would get. Well, Talan is now 10 and a half months old and, so far, refuses to walk unassisted. It isn't that he is incapable of doing so. I really think he could walk he just has better things to do. Its too much work. Plus it might be a little hard for him to balance all his chub. 

Congratulations Ashton. You now own bragging rights.

fun with grandpa

Grandpa: "How old will I be when you're 25?"

Ashton:  "Dead"