Hi there! Here is a little update on life lately. We are still pushing through phase two of FTO and graves. Like I said before, I either see Kev all the time or I miss him entirely. It is almost like a week at the Academy sometimes, except he is home while I'm at work all day. We will usually chat when he is on his way home from work and text after he wakes up from his 'nap'. Kev works graves all this week, so the last time I saw him was Monday morning. I miss him but it isn't too bad, and we get to chat all the time. He actually made dinner yesterday and it was there waiting for me when I got home from work. He really makes an honest effort to do his share around the house with what little time he has between sleep and shifts. I never feel 'alone' or like the daily household chores are all on my plate and not his. I truly have a good one.
It's been raining lately and that makes me worry about him a little more when he is working nights. Guys can leave the academy thinking they are professional drivers, so every once in a while I have to ground him and remind him he is far from being the next Mario Andretti. Kev is also scheduled to work all Halloween weekend. That should be interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing how that goes!
As for exciting news.
We just found out that we get to attend the holiday party for Kev's office. We are both really excited for that! Our first CHP event with Kev as an Officer.
This week, Kev gets to sign up for vacation next year. He has already accrued about a month off! We decided to be modest though and only take a week so that he can continue to accrue time off and we can take a real vacation the following year!
I expected the vacation slots to be limited after the more senior officers selected their time off, but to our surprise there were plenty of options open! Some of the other officers that Kev has kept in touch with from the Academy have already selected their time off at their offices and are taking 2-3 weeks. The officers are given a calendar for the year and in order of seniority they sign up for the time off they want. The way it seems to work (it's all new to us but this is my understanding), is that about 5 officers can take the same week off. It also appears that you can only select week long time frames. If you want 2 or 3 consecutive weeks, you can do that too but they have to be open. It looks like most of the officers selected their weeks together rather than spaced out. I asked Kev if we could just select a couple of 3 day weekends next summer but he seems to think we can't do that. I'm sure we will know more in time, but for now we are really happy. He has already had about 6 days off in a row before, so I'm sure in the future when he is off FTO we will be able to work out occasional short trips too.
Next year when it is time to pick vacation again, we hope to be able plan a little more ahead and then pick our dates. That way, we aren't committed to a week without any plans. Typically when I plan a vacation, I'll see when flight costs are lowest and then request the time off. The way we had to do it this time may leave us with limited cost-effective options but we are pretty innovative, so I'm sure we will find a way to be better at this in the future!
- Mimi
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