Air Force Baby

Our little girl will turn four months old next Wednesday and I really do not know where the time has gone.  Evie has made approximately 13 trips to the airport in her almost four months of life.  She has also traveled to Croatia, Florence, Cinque Terre, Verona and Venice twice.  Andy has been TDY(away from home) for about one month on and off of her four months.  He has taken two trips to England, one to Turkey, and a class in Alabama.  But, when he is home he generally comes home from work around 6:30 and doesn’t work weekends.  This is me reminding myself that the air force is better than a firm job.  Right?

We are anxiously awaiting the news of Andy’s next assignment.  We hope to hear within the next month or so where we are moving this June/July.  Cross your fingers for someplace warm!

Baby girl is asleep with her little head on my shoulder right now and I better post this quickly before she wakes up.  I am becoming a pro at typing with one hand. : )

Evie at birth.

Evie today.

Evie with Auntie Amanda!

I’m an ADC

I realize two posts on the same day is a bit unusual given it’s been months since our last post; however, I keep running into people in the AF that recognize me as the Lowly Maggot, so I figure it’s about time I put up a couple posts about life as a JAG in the AF.

I have been assured one of the greatest assignments in the AF is as an Area Defense Counsel (ADC).  The ADC is the base’s defense attorney.  We are here to help Airmen of any rank when they get into trouble with their command.  Sometimes they’re guilty as the day is long, and sometimes they are being railroaded… Either way, it is our job to help find a way to represent their best interests.

For example, when a young Airmen comes to me and tells me he doesn’t want to fight the charges and just wants to accept his punishment, it becomes my job to help him and help the commander understand who this person really is and how a punishment will effect them.  It’s also a matter of demonstrating this young Airman just made a mistake, or had a moment of terrible judgment.  If I’m doing my job, I help the commander or jury see the person they are judging and that almost always provides some additional level of justice.

I have been on the job for almost a month, and I’m loving it.  I have my own office, which provides a new-found level of autonomy and responsibility.  Of course a lawyer is always responsible to ensure they are competently representing their client, but in the ADC position, it is also your responsibility to ensure you are running an effective office and maintaining the respect the office deserves by those on base.  The other blessing and curse of the ADC office is that we are completely independent from any commander at the base level.  We respond to a JAG chain-of-command back in Washington DC.  That means we aren’t pressured to convince our clients into a position because we fear reprisal from base level commanders.  Our command independence also means we can easily be lost in the shuffle unless we are vocal and respected.

Being a JAG has been an outstanding experience.  I’ve been in for about 2.5 years now, and it’s been awesome.  I will try to be better about adding more posts in the future discussing what my career choice is all about.

The newest Lowly Maggot

On June 28, 2009, Sarah and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our lives.  Eva Cherkasky weighed 6 lb 12 oz, and was 20 inches.  She’s beautiful and perfect in every way.  Feel free to follow her progress on flickr and YouTube at the following links:

Flickr Photos

We’re Having a BABY!!!!!

I have not travelled, or done anything of any substance since the end of October, when I found out that we are going to have a baby.  Andy has been busy skiing and hiking up mountains in order to ski down them.  I thought that he was getting skiing out of his system knowing that next winter would be different.  But, a few days ago he told me how great it would be to put the baby in a backpack and hike up a snowy mountain.  I truly believe that my lack of energy only fuels his, and for every pound of fat I gain, he seems to lose one.   But I’m not bitter!  The baby is due in June, and eventually I’ll get my act back together and post pictures, but for now, that’s all!

Prague

On Saturday, Andy and I took a flight to Prague, and stayed through Tuesday morning.  Prague is a beautiful city, and it was only made more splendid by the changing of the season and the warm gold and orange hue of the trees.  As usual, we ate our way through the trip, having mexican food twice. YUM!  We visited the Jewish Quarter, and toured four synagogues and the Jewish cemetery which is a well known sight.  Our hotel was just steps away from the Prague Castle which is high above the main city and offered beautiful views.  Prague is the perfect mix of historic and modern and we highly recommend visiting!

 Funny picture of Andy getting ready for ski season with his new ski poles.  He had to buy new poles, because he broke his old pair at the end of last season, or so he wants me to believe.

 Kitty has decided to take up residence in Sophie’s crate.

Okay, so we are done traveling for a while, because ski season is soon upon us.  We are also done traveling for a while because we have accomplished most of the places on my list.  

England, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Hungary, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and of course Italy.  EXHASUTED!

Budapest

My good friend and I went on an adventure this past weekend and left our husbands at home!  We flew from Venice to Vienna on Friday and took a three hour train ride to Budapest.  We had a great meal and walked the city, which is beautiful, and spent the night.  We spent Saturday taking more pictures and then got back on the train and headed back to Vienna. We spent two nights in Vienna and enjoyed the Van Gogh exhibit at the Albertina art museum, Chinese food, and Starbucks!  It is really the little things.  The first nine pictures are of Budapest, the rest are of Vienna.

  

Rome

Last week Andy and I flew to Rome where Andy attended the Mediterranean Law Conference held at the U.S. Embassy and I walked aimlessly around Rome in uncomfortable shoes.  I visited the Pantheon, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps,Piazza Della Repubblica, and Vatican City.  While we both appreciate Rome for its historical status, it is not our favorite city.  Paris remains our numero uno.  Below are the pics…

It’s Been a While

Okay, I admit that we’re a little behind on blog postings, and being that these pictures are digital I can’t blame the dog for eating them, but we promise to be better and start posting again regularly.  These are a few highlights of the pictures we took on our trip to London in May.  We LOVED London and I wanted to stay forever.  Variety is the spice of life, and there is no variety in Italy.  London offered a wonderful retreat from the monotony of life in Aviano.  We took a great bicycle tour on our first day and highly recommend Fat Tire Bicycle Tours to anyone who finds themselves in London, Paris or Berlin.  We ate Indian Tapas.  We went to Borders bookstore!  You really have no idea how much I miss going to bookstores.  We ate Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. (Italy can keep its gelato) We had a great time, and if it weren’t for the pound being so strong against the dollar, I would visit again soon.  Enjoy!  

T

In July we went home to see our families, and to see our dear friends Rob and Amanda who were married in Hawaii and had a reception in Chicago for those of us who couldn’t make it to the “real” wedding.  It was so nice to see our family and friends and we miss you all SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

In August we took a trip to Croatia.  I am officially over Croatia.  It really is a beautiful place to visit, but don’t do it on a budget, or you will be sorry.  We happened to go when it was in the upper 80’s and our room did not have conditioned air, which we are used to, but it also didn’t have a fan.  The shower was so dirty that I ended up trekking to use the campground bathroom facilities which were cleaner.  It was dirty and hot and we ended up cutting the trip a bit short and checking out early.  

Even poor Sophie was miserable!

Last weekend we went to Slovenia for the day with our friends Drew and Souraya.  We went to an indoor pool, a mall, and to a dinner that didn’t include pizza or pasta!  On the way back home a momentous occasion occured.  Our very trusty Toyota Highlander marked its 100,000th mile.  Drew and Souraya thought that I was crazy for wanting a picture of it, but it couldn’t have excited me more.  This car has been problem free and we love it.  100,000 more miles to go! 

And last, but certainly not least in the Cherkasky household, we bought a new television.  We finally replaced Andy’s nine year old beast of a television with this one, which I think is actually kind of pretty for a T.V.  

Until next time…

EXHAUSTED!

Every now and again I feel a wave of guilt that we aren’t taking full advantage of our ability to travel and see all of Europe while Andy is stationed in Italy.  But, after spending last weekend in Croatia and this weekend in London I feel accomplished in our travels.  On the plane ride to London on Thursday night I started a list of all of the places that we have travelled to in our first year of living in Italy.  Ready?  Here it is…

ITALY: Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre, Florence, various and many small towns (We have also seen Naples and Rome, but did so four years ago on our Honeymoon)

AUSTRIA:  Innsbruck, Salzburg, Langenfeld, St. Anton

GERMANY: Dachau, Munich, Garmisch

SLOVENIA: Lujbiana, Portoroz, Lake Bled

CROATIA: Porec, Rovinj

SWITZERLAND: Zurich

FRANCE: Paris

ENGLAND: London, and Andy is currently in the countryside enjoying some fresh air.

Oh, and we have also been to Barcelona, Spain, but it was on our honeymoon.

The two cities that remain on my list are Amsterdam, Netherlands and Prague, Czech Republic.  I am limiting it to two because all of this traveling is getting a little on the expensive side, and Andy does still have to work, in case you were wondering.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Croatia.  Andy is making a video production of our trip to London, so be on the lookout.

This picture gives you a clue as to the maturity level of Andy, Souraya, and Andrew.  This was not the first playground we played at while on this trip. 

President Bush is Genius

Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states “Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President . . . shall be punished as a court-martial shall direct.”  Possible punishment: dismissal and confinement for 1 year!

I believe whole-heartedly in the UCMJ, including this Article.  My duty is not political; without getting hoaky, my service is in part so that we may have the freedom to speak freely as citizens, and to that end, a strong military with a reliable chain of command is necessary.

So, why do I declare my commander-in-chief a genius?  Because, we are $1,200 richer!!!  I don’t really care who this money came from, or how gigantic our deficit is… I’m rich!  And unlike most who say they’re not going to be stimulating the ecomony with this cash; we’ve got a lot of packages currently en-route.  It’s amazing how fast you can spend money you didn’t even know you had.

I hope all you other $1,200-aires spend your money on cool things that are shinny and new and awesome – I know we have!