6 months old

So Flash is 6 months old! Oh how the time flies bye.

Xavier loves toes and if he has socks on, them as well.

He also love hanging out with Papa, Megan's Dad, watching TV, playing airplane and trying to get onto the computer.

I miss him so much along with Megan but over the long haul I believe what I am doing is going to be the best.

Stay Frosty
-C

How a year can go by so quickly

Oh wow!,

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. I know that I was intermittent but it looks like that I forgot about posting completely. So this is a quick update, chronology.

Jan 2012
Megan and I got married in Gibraltar which is a British Overseas Territory. Brian Fernandez and D-Roth! were our witnesses and then were another couple's witnesses as well. The next day Dave Rothstien a.k.a. D-Roth left for Antarctica. He will be wintering over. Good luck buddy. Colleen Applebaugh came and went as well, but before the wedding. She was planning on a visit and it just happened to be the week before we got married. So she partied in Moron with Meg, Brandon and Leo, saw Gibraltar, when we filed our paperwork, and then was back to the USA in a flash (hahaha! you'll get it later.)

March 2012
We found out that we are having a boy. Names were discussed and we settled on Xavier Thomas Walsh but with a nickname of Flash since Meg said I couldn't name him Flash to begin with. We moved apartments. We were in a 2 bedroom but with the addition of Xavier Thomas, a.k.a. Flash, coming we moved into a 3 bedroom down the street. Rob Gancarz moved to Spain and started working with me at VBR. I finished up my Hazardous Materials Incident Commander certification, not exactly the next certification that I was looking for by it is what it is. Overall it was a busy month

April 2012
Erin McDonald is out of Africa. She stopped by for about 2 weeks. We traveled to Cordoba, Granada and Sevilla during holy week (week of Easter). Rob Weidman and Amy Anderson also showed up for a bit. We went back to Sevilla for a bit.

May 2012 (I think)
Brian Fernandez left! He went back to Florida for work and what not. It was a sad time without him here.

June 2012
We got a dog! His name is Max. He is awesome but Meg and I were not able to keep him due to everthing else that happens later. He is now with the Moron Air Base Fire Department (M.A.B.F.D.) Fire Chief and being well taken care of.

July 2012
April Steffener showed up to visit Robert-O (Rob G's spanish name). All of us traveled to Portugal for a 2 day stint. We saw Evora and the Chapel of the Bones (Capella de Ossos in Portuguese). Rob and April also went on their own and saw a bunch, of which I can not remember meow.

Xavier Thomas Walsh was born. He was born at 0945 (or 0947) weighing in at 4292 grams, a fatty, or 9 lbs 7 ounces and 22 inches long. Meg was going in for an induction on the 27th, Friday, anyways but she decided that Thursday around 10pm to start going into labor pains. So with tires squealing, construction detours detoured, and surprising the ER attendant we made it up to the maternity ward. They were super awesome with everything.

August 2012
Jenny O'Neil and her friend, Kyla, came to visit us in Spain. There are in fact the first of the "family" to see Flash. I traveled to Savannah, GA for a fire department test which in the long run didn't amount to squat. Scott Beu and his wife Laura and their daughter Alana also arrived in Spain to work for VBR. They are living in Moron de la Frontera as well although in their own apartment. D-Roth bounced from McMurdo to Wake Island. Life on a polar desert in the winter to a tropical island, it must be a hard life Dave.

September 2012
Flash is a fatty again. At his 8 week check up he was 14 lbs even at 24 inches. Flash has his first set of shot, a.k.a. vaccines, and was a complete champ! He cried for less than a minute and it was only because someone was holding him down so they could give hime the injections. I got word that I progressed into the 2nd to last stage of a different job. It is the job that I have, from where I am writing today. Also during September I was able to complete my Telecommunicator I/II and Fire Instructor I certifications. No just to get Inspector I completed so I am able to be promoted to Crew Chief. Brandon left as well. He is currently, as of this writing, preparing to winter-over down at McMurdo. He has already completed a summer but went back for another summer and now a winter

October 2012
Rob G. left Spain for a full-time position in New Jersey. He was a the time in the final stages of the hiring process with medical and background and whatnot. I did a phone interview for Kennedy Space Center where I was #3 or 8 but since they were only hiring 2 I was SOL, shit outta luck. While attempting to go on vacation back to the USA for Halloween, frickin' Hurricane Sandy stranded us, Megan, Flash and I, in Madrid. In doing this it caused up to miss a surprise birthday party for Mr. Chris Griem. His birthday is the 30th of December which means he never expected a party at the end of October. Mindy, his wife, did a great job in the planning from what we hear.

While stranded in Madrid, I received another job offer, for Afghanistan, and I accepted it. Due to being stranded in Madrid as opposed to being home I was forced to give my notice of only a few days. Meg and I packed up the house. I have to admit Meg did most of the packing, like 90%. She is shaping up to be a wonderful wife! Although we have good friends that we will be leaving behind, ones that have helped us out a lot of different ways over the days/months/years, this is for the best of our family and I don't think anyone in Spain would blame us/me for doing this. Thanks to Scott & Laura, Leo, Brandon, Brian, D-Roth!, everyone from M.A.B.F.D., everyone who visited, Robbie G. and of course my lovely and talented wife, whom I love deeply. Without everyone's help, in some sort of way, Meg and I would not have been able to do it.

On top of everything else that happened in October, my grandmother, Nana, passed away. She had been in the hospital/rehab for the past few months. I was planning on visiting her the day after I would have gotten back but the Hurricane messed up those plans. I was hoping she could have seen here newest great-grandson before she died.

November 2012
We left Spain the first week of November and arrived in the USA. This was Flash's first plane flight, 3rd train trip (Seville-Madrid-Sevilla for the botched vacation and then Sevilla-Madrid for the final trip). We, the Corey & Megan Walsh family, were greeted at the airport by my two brother, Sean and Timmy, Megan's parents, Tom(Thomas) and Debbie, and my Dad, Dennis, and Kristi. We had the wake and funeral for my grandmother but due to issue with my truck I was not able to make it to the funeral. So I went truck shopping and ended up buying a 2010 Toyota Tundra SR5 CrewMax. It is the one with 4x4 and 4 full doors. Flash, riding rear shotgun, has more room in it than I would have ever imagined. The truck has a sunroof and the rear window is electric and can be rolled down for complete access to the bed area. I picked it up the Monday before Thanksgiving and we ended up taking it to New York to have Thanksgiving with my Mom and Mick, her fiancé. I also ended up having an interview two days before Thanksgiving so it ended up being a midpoint for our trip to NY state. The Sunday after Thanksgiving I left Massachusetts for South Carolina to start my new job. Flash has his 4 month appointment and with more shots and not the adult kind.

December 2012
Afghanistan! I left South Carolina for Atlanta then to Dubai. Spent like 5 hours in the hotel and then back to the airport for my trip to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, a.k.a. BAF. While there, Bagram Air Base as opposed to BAF which is just the runways and taxi areas, I was reassigned to Camp Phoenix, which would end up being a good thing, from my original assignment of Camp Salerno. This is where I am meow, working at CPFD-Camp Phoenix Fire Department.

January 2013
I have started taking classes to get and most likely finish this year, my degree. I am hoping to get 80 credit for my past college experience, fire certifications and various other certifications which would leave me just 40 left for a total of 120 credits which is what I need for my Bachelor of Science in Fire Service Administration. I have also been able to finish my Fire Inspector I certification which means I have all of my 1 levels done and I am Crew Chief qualified. Now to get onto Officer II.

Now that I have more time on my hands, yea right!, I should be writing more.

Stay Frosty
-C