Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Back in Nebraska

We are back. I really hate unpacking, and I have a heck of a lot of it. The car needs to be cleaned out in a bad way, since there are sand and cracker crumbs everywhere. I guess it's back to our lives here. Hopefully we'll find out Allen's duty station at the end of August.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Last days

Cael had to have a set of ACU's just like his Daddy's. My tough guys. He wanted a set of PT's, too. But then again, so did I.
One morning, I noticed that both of our chains were laying on the counter together.
Cael and I stopped at Fort Campbell, KY on our way to MO. Since my dad was stationed there before he went to Korea, I wanted to be where he once was. I'm sure it's changed a lot since he was there, but it was still a good feeling being where he had been many years ago. There were some old aircraft and artillary across the street from the museum (which wasn't open yet).

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

"Home"

You know, "home" is a state of mind. Right now I'm in Georgia, and I'm "home." Allen is here, Cael is here, and I'm here. We're together, so we're home. Being here for 2.5 weeks, I've gotten very comfortable, and have found my way around Augusta pretty well. I think the car could go from the hotel to the base and back by itself by now. On Sunday we'll have to head back to Nebraska, which is technically "home." It won't feel like it now, since we've been with Allen so long. We can't wait until we can be with Allen permanently. Leaving him after basic training was hard, but not as hard as it will be on Sunday. We've been a part of military life for several weeks now, so it's almost become "normal." All I know is that Sunday is going to suck.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Hilton Head Island, SC

We decided that since we were only 3 hours from Hilton Head, and none of us had ever seen an ocean, we'd drive there on Saturday. It was pretty cool. First we had to get sunscreened up. My lens was fogging up from the humidity. Race ya!
Cael loved it!
Anyone who knows me at all knows that this took a lot of courage.
Cael wanted to take a picture of us. We were waiting to go to supper.
Hilton Head Lighthouse.
View of the marina from the top of the lighthouse.
It was a LOOOONG day. Cael was asleep before we got off the island.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

July 7th

I finally took the pics I was really wanting to take since the second day I got here. Here's the sign at the main gate. That's a hard one to take. It's right after the checkpoint, so you can't stop.
This is the sign right outside of the barracks. PHB!
I remember my dad having a picture of a sign like this. It was pretty much the same situation.
Keep off the what? Where?

Monday, July 4, 2011

July 4th

Today Allen had to go back to base. We get to see him everyday for the next 2 weeks, though. He has put in for passes for the next 2 weekends, so hopefully he gets those approved. That would mean that he could spend the weekends with us without having to go back to barracks for formation and bedcheck. Check out the scruff on him! He shaved everyday since Feb.23. He didn't shave once all weekend! We didn't care. But, (sigh) time to get ready to go back to base. This is the main gate to Fort Gordon coming in from the north heading south. I took this from a ways away. You have to show your ID to the MP's before you can get through those gates.
This is Signal Towers. Notice there is only one, yet it's called "Towers." Weird. Lots of upper brass work in there. Allen had to do some cleaning detail in there, and said it's nerve-wracking with all that brass around you.
Cael and Allen played catch while we were waiting for formation to start.
Tough guys Burke and Blake. They were at Fort Leonard Wood together, and now they are members of Bravo Co. 551st Signal Battalion at Fort Gordon. PHB! That's the company motto. (Physical training, Haircuts, Barrack maintenance.) Allen taught Cael to yell in a tough guy voice "PHB!" as we walk around the base.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

June 30- July 2

We got to our hotel Wednesday afternoon, and got to go pick up Allen Thursday after formation. Here's Allen heading off to join his company formation. There were several people waiting for family members like we were. One was a family with a 5yr old boy named...Kale! Fast friends.
Snuggle time!
We found the pool!
The entrance to the Augusta River Walk. Very pretty area. Downtown Augusta really isn't that big. A very nice. smaller Southern city.
There was a farmers' market right outside of the entrance to the River Walk.
At the farmers' market we bought some fresh Georgia peaches. Yummm!! Juice was running down our hands.
This is just one of the large, beautiful houses that we could see from across the Savannah River in South Carolina.
A Japanese Pocket Garden on the Walk.
Time to cool off in the "fountain" in the middle of the market.
We took a Riverboat tour. Captain Jim was a good tourguide.
This was a cool house that was on top of "Granite Mountain." Story is that a 100yr old doctor lives there. He still goes to work everyday and delivers babies.
White-water rapids. No boat, other than kayaks, go past those.
Cool cyprus trees in the river.
Cael got to drive the boat!
A nice lady took a picture of us.
We're so close to the coast, we have lots of options for fresh seafood. Yum! We wanted to try raw oysters, so we ordered 6 on the half-shell. Allen had 3, I had 2, and Cael had 1. You don't chew them, just swallow, so Cael had to eat one in several different sessions since they were too big for him to get down all at once. We all liked them! We also had fresh crablegs. We're not sure Red Lobster is going to be good enough ever again. Rhinehart's Oyster Bar was a great place! It looks like a total dive inside and out, but we got there at 4:30, thinking it was pretty early, but the parking lot was already quite full. You can see the table we were sitting at. They were all wooden picnic tables. Kind of cool.