catch up time...

Ok, so it's been a few months and  A LOT has happened. First of all Jake graduated from Basic Training, at Fort Jackson. The girls and I flew across country, to spend those few days with him, before he headed to Fort Huachuca fot Advance Individual Training. It was really nice, once we got there. The traveling part was insane! If you've ever traveled with little kids you understand. I was almost certifialbe by the end of it all. I think the only thing that saved me was the new found knowledge of USO's. So wonderful!! I really appreciate ALL the volunteers that help to provide this service for Military Members and their Families.

Back to Jake's graduation. The girls and I took a red-eye to Newark, NY. And then, headed to Charlotte, NC, because it was like $400 cheaper than flying into Columbia, SC, which is the city right next to Fort Jackson.

I had to make my way around, juggling both the girls and our carry-on bags. Which was not too bad. Once we landed and I had to add in our checked bags and the 2 car seats, that's when it got REALLY BAD! I was carrying Maddi in one arm, had the diaper bag over my sholder, then my backpack, had the car seats barely balanced on the roller bag and did my best to keep Lizzi, who was tired and crying, close behind.

We FINALLY made it to the car rental counter, after passing right by it and ending up down at the other end of the hall from it. Oh well, we got there and they put us on the shuttle and got us our car. We then had a 4 hour drive down to Georgia, to visit with Maggie, Lillie and Gayle.

The drive was preety nice. The girls fell asleep almost right away and the radio stations were pretty clear most of the way. Once, we arrived at Maggie's house, I basically crashed on the bed. We then had a little birthday party for Lizzi. Complete with presents and cake and ice cream. Of course Lizzi didn't want anything to do with the cake or the ice cream, but the rest of enjoyed it.

Then we headed back to Columbia, SC and to our hotel. When I go into Check-in, they tell me that because there were problems with clearing the funds on my credit card, they couldn't hold the room, a 1 bedroom and a sitting room suite, that I had reserved 2 months earlier, for me. The only thing they had that was a available was the large 1 room suite. I was not happy at all, but what could I do? It was already 10 pm and I was exhausted and had to be up at 5 am for Family Day. I got all our bags upstairs and we all fell asleep.

Family Day was long. Jake told me to be there super early, so I could go through all the security at the gate. Which ended up me giving them my Family Day/Graduation Pamphlet and them handing me my pass. I was actually the FIRST person there for Family Day. We drove to field, getting lost on the way, but that's the fun part, right?

I tried to let the girls sleep for as long as possible, in the car. We headed over to the stands about 7 am. We still had about 2 hours until the ceremony would start, but I wanted to get a good seat. I ended up moving anyways, right before the ceremony, because I thought I'd be able to see better somewhere else. Which ended up getting me in the end, because my first seat was right next to the ramp that would take us down to the field, where we met up with our soldiers. And I had moved MUCH further away from that ramp. So, when it came time to head down it took me 5x's as long to get down there to find Jake.

Just moments before they let us go down to meet our soldiers, they tell us about the no PDA while a soldier in uniform rule. But, it didn't apply for the next hour on the field that day. I was a little upset, but again, what could I do?

It took me a while to find Jake. I was searching for a soldier in a sea of camouflage. It was starting to get hot, so we headed to the car.

Our first stop was to the PX. It was insanely busy! Like Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Our next stop was to find food. But that was even worst. Every place we went had a line just to get into the parking lot. We were starving by the time we finally stopped at the Burger King. It took another hour to order and get our food. INSANE!! Once we ate, we spent most of the rest of Family day driving around. It was too hot to really be outside and all the inside activities were supre crowded.

It was nice just to be able to talk again. The girls slept and Jake and I caught up with eachother and made plans for Graduation Day.

Graduation Day, we tried to be proactive. I didn't even go to the ceremony, because we thought that it would be better for me to get in line to sign Jake out. Which it turned out that I didn't even need to do any signing out. I could have just waited in the car.

The rest of the day we spent at the hotel. We just wanted to spend time together as a family. We tried to go swimming at the pool, but that didn't go too well. It was an indoor pool that was not heated! They had the AC on and a freezing cold pool!!! I know it was May in South Carolina, but come on. Oh well, we went back upstairs and watched cartoons.

Jake had to be back on-post at 5 am the next morning, so we made it an early night. The next day, we dropped Jake off at his Company, and went back to the hotel to sleep for a few more hours before we had to leave for Charlotte.

The trip home was much longer. we had a 5 hour layover in Newark. But, we made it home ok. All the traveling almost made it not worth it to go, almost. I'm really mad myself for not getting a family pic at Fort Jackson, but oh well. I guess we'll live :)