Afternoons of Birthday Parties and Bowling

We had quite a busy weekend with two birthday parties and a bowling social event with Bill's unit. Drew was unbelievably excited about all of these activities. How much more fun can you pack into two days? Oh why not dinner out at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant too?

The fun began with Drew's friend Lincoln's birthday Saturday afternoon. It was a dragon themed party complete with a dragon jumping inflatable, which Drew had no interest in whatsoever. He was very content to just play on the playground equipment. After our pizza lunch Lincoln's daddy treated the kids to a treasure hunt. Here's Drew and the rest of the kids following Mr. Derek on their search for buried treasure.



Drew running back to the site of the treasure chest's discovery.



Drew with his share of the "treasure"


Bill retrieving Drew from the playground to come see Lincoln blow out his candles


Drew with a bird's eye view of Lincoln and his cool dragon cake

After a quick stop at home then we headed out to the bowling alley for our FRG social event with Bill's company. Poor Drew...Mommy and Daddy really don't make time for bowling as often as we should. He couldn't wait to get to the bowling alley. Here he is sitting...yes sitting...to bowl a frame. He was NOT interested in any help on his form or technique from Mommy or Daddy. Given the fact that I was beaten by a 9 year old, he was probably right to refuse my help.

In between their turns the kids found other ways to entertain themselves including jumping off these stairs.

Drew was very attached to his ball and made sure he always had a close eye (if not a hand) on his ball.

Drew celebrating before the ball even reached the pins

Drew and his beloved bowling ball

From bowling we headed to the new My Big Fat Greek restaurant in town. Despite it being a chain, and the chain restaurants in town usually not being the best options for dinners out, the rave reviews we had heard were not wrong. Our meal was so good we were even reminded of our favorite Greek restaurant in Schweinfurt (The Delphi).

Sunday morning brought another birthday party at Drew's friend Emily's house. Here's Drew and his buddy Danny taking a spin around the backyard in Emily's princess SUV.

Emily's daddy had hooked up a trailer with some hay bales to his golf cart and took the kids and a few lucky parents (including Bill) on a short "hay ride" down and back the dirt road to their house (out in the middle of nowhere).

Later Drew and Mommy worked on some foam sticker Christmas ornaments.

Drew can't wait to put up his little Christmas tree and hang his new creations.

It was a great weekend full of fun, cake, and friends and we are looking forward to another busy weekend coming up as we celebrate Thanksgiving with a group of our friends, get all of our Christmas decorations out and up, and attend yet another birthday party. Fortunately we are nearly done our Christmas shopping so braving the Black Friday crowds is not on our weekend to-do list.

Drew's Day in the Army!

The local VFW and Ladies' Auxiliary co-sponsored (with Fort Huachuca's Child and Youth Services) an event this past weekend called Operation Junior Heroes. It was designed as a mock deployment exercise for children of Soldiers. The "recruits" would in-process, be issued gear, be bussed to a field site, and tour the various locations within that field site, before returning back to a Welcome Home ceremony. Although we haven't told Drew yet that Daddy is going to Afghanistan at the end of March, we still thought this would be a very useful tool for us in helping him to understand some of what Daddy does when he isn't at home. Part of the intent of the program was to familiarize kids with the different settings that a Soldier might be in either during a field exercise or downrange in Iraq or Afghanistan to facilitate communication and understanding during times of separation. Although Drew was the youngest participant and there were parts of the operation that were a bit over his head, he truly loved the experience and Bill and I were glad to be able to share it with him. After returning home Drew told me "I like being in the Army with my Daddy. That's my favorite." My heart melted.


Here's a bunch of the pictures that I took from the day (it's a minor miracle I didn't need my extra camera battery).

We left our house at 0700 and started inprocessing at 0730. Here's Drew getting fingerprinted by SVPD as part of inprocessing. He was also issued a backpack that you'll see him wearing in the other pictures with all kinds of military kid resources and goodies.


Drew taking his "medicine" (M&M's). He also got "shots" that were really pens they got to keep.


Drew & Daddy waiting to board the bus


Drew and Dad following our squad leader after having arrived at the FTX site

Drew & Dad at the company tactical operations center (TOC) that also doubles as sleeping quarters for Bill and 1SG. They're sitting on Bill's cot--doesn't it look comfy? We got to see some of the battalion HQ tents too and see some of the computers and VTC equipment and such.

Mountains in the background of the FTX site

This was one of Drew's favorite parts of the day--sitting in "the big big truck."


Close up in the big truck--Drew could have used the steering wheel as a hula hoop.

Drew and Daddy listen to one of the sergeants explain the vehicle's GPS system

Drew wearing one of Dad's hats in the driver's seat of another vehicle

Drew getting his hands washed in preparation for chow

Drew & Dad in line in the chow tent

Drew enjoying some snacks in one of the eating tents

Drew at mail call

Drew with a very tasty-looking sloppy joe MRE

The Patriot Guard motorcycle escort for our bus as we approached the building for our "Welcome Home." Love the Patriot Guard--they do so much for our soldiers.

After we were welcomed back to the original site, there were still several other stations to visit. One station had a ton of different types of explosive devices and ammunition. Here's Drew holding a grenade.

Drew holding a big gun (an M4 maybe?)

Drew looking through the gun's sight

Drew waiting his turn on top of a truck. I love the expression on his face.

Drew on top of a vehicle looking through another gun's sight

Drew and Dad check out the UAV

Drew shooting targets with a paintball gun. He thought this was fantastic! Couldn't stop laughing.

Family shot

Drew's certificate for the day

Drew enjoying a welcome home goodie--of course he picked the cupcake with the blue frosting

The military police canine handlers were also at the site giving demonstrations and this is Bill's 1SG with an arm glove on being jumped on by the dog. This was Drew's other favorite part of the day. We watched the dogs for at least 30 minutes. On the way home he told me "Someday we will get a dog Mommy." Way to lay on the guilt kid!

Drew using his new MP canine poster as a telescope

Drew and Dad getting ready to say goodbye for a few more days

Hugs at the car

Like I said, we haven't yet talked to Drew about Daddy's deployment. Even at 5 months, it's too far out for Drew to really understand. We intend to start the conversation in January, probably when Daddy gets ready to go to Afghanistan for the week-long pre-deployment site survey. We bought a globe sphere puzzle for Christmas that we're hoping will help with the basic questions of where Daddy is going. We've been laying the groundwork in general terms with the various field exercises Bill has had, stressing how important a job Soldiers have, and that sometimes Soldiers have to go other places to help people. We know as the time gets closer that events like this one will be invaluable in communicating with Drew about Daddy's separation from us. I'm eternally grateful for all that the Army has put in place to help Soldiers and family members deal with the stresses of everyday military life and deployment separation. We truly feel the support of our Army family.

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's Day morning we met some friends for McDonald's breakfast bright and early along the parade route. After some delicious hotcakes and yogurt parfaits, we parked ourselves along the street to watch the passing bands, cars, Soldiers, motorcycles, trucks, and even horses.

Here's Drew in the big chair by himself

Mom & Drew

The members of the B Troop Cavalry Regiment (Memorial) closed the parade so I snapped a quick picture of Drew. Though Bill is in the Signal World now, after all of our great memories in Germany, the Cav will always be #1 in our hearts.

Unfortunately Bill couldn't join us at the parade because he was out in the field for a training exercise. But Drew seemed to understand that the parade was to thank Soldiers like his Daddy. More than one sight during the parade brought tears to my eyes and I wish there were words to fully express how proud I am to be married to a Soldier in our great Army.

Last Fair of the Season

Last weekend was the last three days of the Arizona State Fair and the weekend before Daddy's field exercise. Since they would miss the day off for Veteran's Day while in the field, they were given Friday the 6th off to make up for it. So we decided to go up to Phoenix that day, hit the fair, stay overnight at a hotel (one of Drew's favorite activities), and do some Christmas shopping on Saturday.

Bill had to clean out some Army gear from his car before we left and Drew took a liking to Bill's binoculars.

After a short shopping and lunch break in Tucson as well as a nap by Drew in the car (thank the Lord for small miracles), we arrived at the fair around two in the afternoon. We headed for the animal barns first. Here's Drew feeding some goats. He thought it was quite hilarious how eager some of the goats were, including these two that kept jumping all over Daddy.

This is Drew petting a baby chick that was hatched just that morning.

And Drew with a larger bird. He kept talking about how he saw a turkey just like the ones they drew at school with their hands.

After seeing (and smelling) enough livestock to last us until next fair season, we headed for some rides. At the mini bumper cars, it was no surprise that Drew chose the blue #4 car. His favorite color and his age? What other choice could there have been?

Drew looking very focused driving his bumper car. It's serious business you know.

Here's Drew and Dad on the Skyride that took us from one end of the fair to the other.

Mom & Drew on the Skyride with some of the very healthy (insert sarcasm) treats to eat in the background.

On our walk back to the other end of the fair we stopped to get a little snack near the kids' play area. Drew jumped from the hay bales to the big blocks for a good 30 minutes. Who knew it could be so much fun?

Drew had gone down the regular Super Slide by himself as one of his first rides, but when we saw the "super big" slide he and Daddy took a ride down that as well.

I'm not much for rides, but the Merry Go Round I always enjoy. So here's us on the carousel.

Drew & Dad on the Dizzy Dragons

Drew on the mini swings

A very excited Drew waving to Mom & Dad

When we had seen the very tall "Freefall" ride earlier in the day Drew had asked if he could go on it. We explained that it was only for big people, but near the end of the night when we saw the mini freefall ride, Drew put on his brave face and asked again if he could go on it. I was afraid he wouldn't like it, but there was no telling this boy no. Here he is strapped in and ready to go...

And here he is screaming "DADDY, IT'S SCARY! DADDY STOP IT!"

After he got off he softened a little saying that it was only a little bit scary but also a little bit fun. I suspect he won't be too anxious for a repeat ride on one of those for a while.

On our walk to the car we saw that the Ham Bone Express show was due to start in a few minutes, and really, what fair experience is complete without greasy food, mullets, and racing pigs? So we watched a couple of races and then said goodbye to the fair for this year.

Here's Drew waiting at a crosswalk on Dad's shoulders. Shockingly he managed to stay awake and be quite a little gentleman when we decided to have dinner down the road from our hotel at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was a delicious meal and a great way to end our day.