Washington DC

The Army Base in Virginia where we visited Luke was 2 hours from Washington DC. We planned a trip to pick him up on our way to tour our nation's Capitol.

We had an appointment with our senator's interns to give us a personal tour of the Capitol. There were evacuation drills just before our appointment time, so it took a few extra minutes to connect.

After our tour, we received passes to sit in the Senate balcony. They were actually scheduled to be in session later that afternoon, but we didn't stick around. Instead, we explored their learning lab areas where we could pretend like we're giving a speech.

A cafeteria was in the basement. Their wide assortment of food options was impressive, especially their cute desserts!

As we exited the Capitol, we saw the Supreme Court building across the street.

Our afternoon was spent at the Air and Space Museum. Eric was distracted by all the jet engines. 

It didn't take long for me to get distracted either. I wandered off to find the Wright Brothers' original airplane that first showed the world what was possible.

Then to the Apollo missions where Gene Kranz's white vest was on display. He was the flight director for several missions, including Apollo 13.  

Encased below is Apollo 11's command module Columbia that brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins back to Earth after humanity's first steps on the moon.

On our walk back to the hotel, we passed by the National Guard Memorial building.

And of course, Eric couldn't walk past his favorite Postal Museum without a picture.

We inadvertently came across this beautiful church and decided to attend their Saturday evening Mass. St. Dominic's.

The next morning, we headed out for more sight seeing. The Washington Monument was a nice walk that allowed us to stretch our legs.

Once there, we could see Lincoln's Memorial and the White House. We decided to head over to our President's residence first.

Future home for this one? It's very possible!

At this point, Eric decided to rent a bicycle and head back to the car. The kids and I wanted to see a few more sights, so we walked to the WWII memorial...

 

Along the Reflecting Pool...

And up to Lincoln's statue. 

We still hadn't caught up with Eric, so we kept walking across the Potomac River.

A cute photo halfway across.

Our destination point to meet Eric was Arlington National Cemetery.

It was just as beautiful, peaceful, and solemn as I had hoped. Our fallen heroes deserve this fitting resting place for their role in defending our freedom.

BOLC

Our son left for Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) at the end of April. 

Since then, he's been busy with classroom studies...

Logistical planning....

Project oversight....

And of course morning PT (he's the 3rd from the right).

But in June, we took advantage of his 4-day weekend to drive up for a visit. We enjoyed him showing us around base.

He took us to a rope obstacle with incline sit ups and tire rolls.

Then showed us some of the big jeeps they maintain and ship to the front lines. 

Eric had to get a closer look.

His base was only 45 minutes away from a dedicated scuba lake. We enjoyed the beautiful day in the sun (and water) before it was time to head home.

First Job

Our youngest is old enough to finally get her first job. She followed in her brother's footsteps to become a lifeguard at our local waterpark. We decided to pay her a visit.

The park is usually super crowded, so we went early soon after it opened.

Here's our little girl on the stand!

Every 30-40 minutes they move stations, so naturallly, we moved, too. Eric was especially excited when she was assigned the top of the toilet bowl. 

She had to make sure that all those wanting to enjoy this water slide wore a bracelet indicating they passed the swim test. Once verified, they could go down.

Me, I just tagged along to take pictures and relax poolside.

TX Grad

Our Godson graduated from high school in Texas this year. 

Out of 800 students, he was #4! Not that I'm bragging, as I would have attended no matter what rank he made. 

But as he was the 4th student called to the stage for his diploma, we didn't have to pay attention for 2 hours after that. We simply did the "golf clap" for each of the 800+ students. I was quite impressed with the speakers for pronouncing all those names so well.

He was also among the tallest in his grade at 6' 6". But how did his height compare to his Uncle Joe?

Nope, just shy of matching him. Maybe 6 more months and he'll surpass his uncle. I got to stay in his room. This kid (and his brother) are lego geniuses! It makes sense they are both planning be engineers.

Set of Seinfeld.

The celebration dinner took 20 hours in the making. It was one of the best brisket's I've ever tasted!

Congratulations and best of luck! 

Then one of just my siblings.

Sophomore Recap

When your teenager doesn't allow you to be as involved in the school as when they were younger, parents can still keep up with activities through the school's social media accounts. Here are all the Insta posts I've saved during her 10th grade year:

From science class challenges to mock trial competitions, she was definitely busy. In the mock trial, she was voted "Best Defense Lawyer". 

Then for Student Council, she dressed up every theme day. This one was Pink Out.

Rappers vs. Preppy - Our little "rapper" in the middle is already preparing her rap to run again for Student Council Treasurer.

Soccer Mom vs. BBQ Dad - Yep, she nailed it! I love her "Cool Mom" sweatshirt she stole from my closet. 😆

Rhyme without a Reason - This one was a bit harder to figure out, but the kids seem to like it. You pick two unrelated things that rhyme and pick a friend to dress with you. 

BOLC Send Off

Army officers are required to attend a 4-month training of their assigned field called Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC). Luke's ordnance assignment led him to Ft. Gregg-Adams in Virginia.

He reported for duty on April 30th. But before he left, we had to give him a nice send off with his favorite meals.

We also helped him train for his 12-mile ruck. 

On the evening before he left, we played a game called "What is this?" I sent them out one at a time so they couldn't compare notes or talk. Our youngest went first. She stared at everything and said this wasn't a fair game. Although most of her guesses were left blank, she did get one correct...a VHS tape.

Our son went next. His guesses were my favorite. The vinyl record single (aka 45) he called a "Record 2.0". He did get a really close by guessing a Blue Ray for the DVD (I actually would have used a Blue Ray instead if I had one). Another great guess was the 8-track that he called a floppy disk. Now it makes me want to go out and find an old floppy disk to add to this collection. 

Eric went last and, of course, he did quite well. This was our lived era!

The winner received a pina colada to reminisce our recent time at St. Martin. Actually, we all sampled the drink, so we're all winners! 

But then it was time for Luke to head up north. His truck was packed with all his Army gear and fueled with gas for the trip.

We gave him one last lunch for the road at India Palace. 

Luke arrived safely and sent back this picture of his "home" for the next four months. 

We plan to visit him over Father's Day when he has a long weekend off. Missing my boy already. 💝