Summer Craziness

Well, the school year was crazy and we kept saying we were looking forward to summer. Now summer is here and the reality of summer slapped us in the face last week. Here is Dave's schedule:

May 25-August 21: Full-time Internship (Pullman, WA)
May 18-July 14: Summer School (Outreach)
May 29-June 14: Ntn'l Guard AT (Boise, Moscow, Grangeville)
June 26: Dave's sister's wedding (Boise -- he's the photographer)
July 11-12: Ntn'l Guard Drill (has to make up 17-18 or 24-25)
July 11-17: SMART Orientation (Monterrey, CA)
August 1-2: National Guard Drill
August 22: Our Babies' FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!
August 24: School starts at the U of I

When we sat down and really looked at how much time he is gone and away from internet and computer access for his class and that he has to have it finished completely before he leaves for California on July 11, we realized that he only has five weeks to complete an eight week summer course, and he's working full-time during those weeks and only has the few hours after work to get everything done. Hence the reason we decided that maybe the babies and I needed to disappear for a few weeks to let him focus on his class when he isn't at work or busy doing all of the other things he has going on.

So I packed the babies up and we came down to Arimo, Idaho to stay with my sister and her two kids for -- well, at least a month; maybe longer. Her husband is completiing Basic Training with the National Guard in Georgia this summer, and we didn't see any reason for the two of us to spend the summer alone; so we're spending a good chunk of our summer together. And I'm really excited! We have no agenda, a few wish-list items, and virtually no limitations (besides three infants and a three-year-old)! :-D It's great!

We got some really great news this week. When the babies were born, I misunderstood what we had to do to get them on Dave's insurance. We had two places we had to enroll them in but only got them into one of the two systems. Consequently, everything medical that happened between August and February was uncovered by insurance. NOT GOOD! Anyway, when we caught on to the fact that they were not being covered, we enrolled them immediately but just missed the January deadline and had to wait until the February deadline. Long story short, we petitioned to have them covered from their birth. Our request was denied. Then I petitioned one more time and wrote a personal e-mail to the deciding official and --- HE ACCEPTED IT!!!! So now I know for the future and we don't have to cover the first five months of our babies' medical lives on our own. Medical Coverage: Don't have a child without it! ;-D Writing Skills: They aren't just for Freshman English! :-P Insurance Claims Summaries: Read the fine print and make sure you know what the charges are, what the coded number mean for your coverage, how your deductibles work, etc. If you don't know, find out! It could save you A LOT of money!