Look around slowly, children. Soak it in. Remember this. You may never see this again.

I wanted to say that over and over again to my kids last week as we explored the island of Hawaii. We saw oodles of waterfalls, splashed on black sand beaches, ooh’d and ahh’d as giant, green sea turtles slipped into the bright blue water.

There is a lot that is inconvenient about military life. The PCS moves thousands of miles from home can be terrifying and difficult. But those same far flung locales are also the memories our kids will cherish for decades.

Before I was a mom, I thought a stay at home mom’s day was full of play dates and happy hours (I was clueless and watched a lot of reality shows). How fun did that sound?

Reality hit me hard when I had my first baby. I was lucky if I showered before 9 p.m. every other day - let alone leave the house with a newborn for the first four months. He was up all night and slept all day.  And honestly, what could a newborn do on a play date?

The toughest part of going back to school may be choosing the school.

There are a lot of colleges vying for the plentiful GI Bill dollars that service members and their spouses are entitled to.

There are a lot of promises made, and a lot of deals that seem just too good to be true.

Rest assured, Bryant & Stratton College is the real deal.

The school is once again on the list of Military Friendly Schools published annually by Victory Media and G.I. Jobs Magazine.

I must admit, I feel a little guilty starting this whole blogging thing, especially writing about my “domestic deployment”.

For the last five years all we have known is deployments, working up for deployments or training for them.  Currently, my husband is going through a 10-month-long career level school. Everyone says its great family time. Don’t get me wrong, he works his normal long hours and has hours of homework, reading and term paper writing each night and on the weekend. But regardless of the long hours, he’s still home.