Holy Moly, I haven't blogged in a few days and I have things to tell you. First we'll start with Friday:

After school and after my lovely husband got home from work, we decided to go to the movies. Now these aren't just regular old movies. Nope this is an outdoor movie theater. There is movie theater seating in the front then bleachers in the back. In between the bleachers and the theater seats is a section open for you to bring your own camp chairs or blankets. It reminds me of drive-in movies only better. The sound is so much better and there is no windshield to look through. Then there is the snack shack. They have a ton of snacks for purchase, everything from cotton candy freshly made, to popcorn and ice cream. The popcorn is the butter your own and they have about ten different toppings to add to the popcorn if you'd like. I opted for cheddar cheese. As for prices let me just give you our order and how much that cost. I was floored. we had two medium popcorns, three ice creams, bag of gummy bears, Gatorade-the big size, and three waters. All for the low low price of $11. Yep we spent a whole $11 for movie night Friday. Oh did I tell you the movie is free too? And I am not talking about crap movies here. We saw Aliens in the Attic Friday, it has been out for awhile, but not too long. And did I mention its free? Anyway, we had a ton of fun. The other thing that rocks is that there is a movie each night. They start at 8 or 10pm. Very cool.

Saturday:

We started the day with a soccer practice at 8am, with the potential of having a game at 8:30. One thing I have learned in the short four and half weeks we have been here is this: Time to the host nationals is relative. The saying goes that we are on Jamaican time. The bad part is that the base relies on the host nationals for jobs such as youth sports and what not. So while only military and DoD children can play the sports, the host nationals actually schedule the games. And I say schedule loosely here. We had a schedule given to us yesterday as we were leaving the field by the team coach. As we were walking to our car one of the directors took it from us and said it wasn't right. Yikes. The poor little ones just want to play. So while the yahoos tried to pull their heads out yesterday morning we had the kids warm up with one team and then we played ourselves because for some reason the powers that be thought it would be a great idea to have five small teams rather than four bigger teams. That means one team is always out. I asked why they did this and was told by moms that this way the kids get more play time. Really? They get more play time? Seems logical...to idiots. Needless to say the organized sports seriously lack some guidance, but as I have my hands full I will try not to complain too much.

Anyway, Adam and his Green Gator team played like crazy with each other for about an hour. In the mean time those of us sitting in the sun cooking discovered that watching our little ones kick a ball back and forth was not that enjoyable and why in the hell did we sign up for this. Oh that's right the beaming smiles on the kids sweaty red faces.....I forgot. I think the sun fried parts of my brain.

After soccer I had to go be a fill in Girl Scout leader for the Daisy's. While I did that Alan and Madie reorganized ALL MY STUFF. Why oh why does my wonderful husband think I would want him to reorganize my crap when I love my system. I knew where everything was and good Lord he redid it all. After he and Madie "cleaned" I spent a good hour looking for my paper work. Things like our passports, and social security cards. It was not helpful but I tell you they were so proud of themselves I had to stop being so angry and say thank you. With the advice that the next time they feel the need to organize me, THEY FREAKIN ASK.

Then it was off to the pet wash. The Brownies, in an attempt to raise money without really raising money, had a pet wash that was donation only. Madie went and had a ball. In the three hours that she was gone washing she said they washed a whole three dogs. I wasn't here, that's latter in the story, but apparently Maegan made an appearance at the wash as did Adam. It was held at a house just, well not down the road and not in our neighborhood, but well sort of on the next block. I swear pictures would help sooooo much. Ah soon

So they washed, Alan did something, I have no clue what, I think laundry and I well I spent the afternoon with a few new friends.

When you attend anything around here you are bound to know a few hundred of the faces. Alan's hospital has a new Commanding Officer (CO), named Captain Wright. Alan and I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife Sue at a meeting about a week ago, and one of thier children, Emily, is in Madie's class. So Friday night while getting yummies at the shack I caught up with Sue. She and the family were there to see the show as well. We chatted it up and hit it off. Then yesterday morning while me and the clan were at the store we bumped into the Wrights and Sue invited me to hang with her at the ceramics and pottery shop. She offered to help me get started. So while everyone else was busy I got the chance to hang out with a new friend. She showed me at the ceramics stuff and then we sat and gabbed. I have no idea if she got done what she was hoping to, but it was so nice to just sit without kids and just get to know someone new. She had breast cancer three years ago and it has made things a lot clearer to her. That said she is so down to earth and just good people. When we were done chatting and realized we both needed to head home I poked my head into the pottery room. I had seen a couple go in and her face looked familiar. I thought she might help me with pottery as I would rather do that than ceramics any day. So I went in and again met the nicest people. They are a couple who met here in Gtmo in '94 being refugees from Cuba. They had come over the border seeking refuge and ended up getting married. She is still a Cuban citizen, with a visa in the US and he is in the Navy now. Somehow they got stationed here again. They told me all about the real Cuba and how Gtmo is nothing like the rest of Cuba. He said that it is much more a tropical island and there are fruit trees everywhere, no cacti. He said if I really want to see what Cuba is like I should go to the Dominican Republic. It looks like Cuba, the poverty is close to the same, only thing different is the safety. It is so much safer in the DR than in Cuba. He said that for me to get into Cuba and visit would be constant danger, not from the government but from the guerrilla troops. They have been trained to hate Americans and they shoot first. Scary. I have since changed my mind about visiting Havana...YIKES....Needless to say they are a wonderful couple who have offered to take me under their wings and help me with pottery and anything Cuban I would like to know. I am hoping to have them teach me some cooking.....Yummmm

And then we had our first family game night, and we all had a ball. We played Chinese Checkers and of course I won. I cheated of course, I mean you all know me, so in reality I think Alan won. Why cheat when playing with your kids..TIME my friends, time. We had been playing the same damn game for about two hours and the younger two had just about had it. So I speeded things along a bit. None the wiser, sooner to bed for the kids, sooner to relax for the parents. Good night...

Sunday

Mass was much better today and in about thirty minutes Alan and I are going out on a date. The Bayview Club, the nice restaurant here, has brunch on Sundays and today they are featuring Cuban Cigar rolling. I plan on buying some if possible of course. But I am looking forward to just having time with Alan without a meeting being held or kids climbing on us.

So until tomorrow I send you all my love