the house is packed

Today the movers came and packed up our house for the move to Fort Bragg. They arrived at about 9am and surprisingly, the kids were very excited! It was a team of three; one started in the basement, one upstairs, and one in the kitchen. We stayed in the living room/dining room most of the day and the kids played with the world's greatest toy: moving boxes!

Ben LOVED the box. He sat in it with his sippy for half an hour straight-- with it all closed up!

Nick was able to coax Lexie into the box with the flashlight as a bribe.

Lexie soon discovered that there were other things to play with in the living room besides the silly old box.

"Give the baby kisses!"

Who's the pretty girl in the mirror?

Christopher helped pack by dragging a step stool around and pretending to move things.

As a special treat, the movers left a couple of the big boxes for the boys to play in. Tonight, Christopher and Nicholas are sleeping in theirs on the floor in our room. What a fun slumber party!!

Goodnight!

wild animal safari

After Jacob's Airborne graduation, we went to lunch and then to Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It's a drive through safari with more animals than the Atlanta Zoo!

Jacob feeding his favorite deer.

We purchased a bag of animal food and started our drive through the park. Christopher and Nicholas rode with Grandma and Grandpa in their car while Ben and Lexie went with us. As soon as a window was rolled down and a piece of food waved around all of the animals would run up to the car.

Jacob's favorite (on the right) followed us for about a mile

Ready for a kiss?

It was amazing seeing all of the animals up close and personal. Short of going on a safari in Africa, it's as close as we'll ever be to these animals!!

A hungry buffalo!

Last but not least, my favorite, the giraffe!!

airborne graduation

After three weeks of training and five jumps, Jacob graduated from Airborne school. We arrived at Fort Benning about a half hour before the ceremony.

Nicholas was upset that there wasn't anything to eat. And that it was hot. And boring.

Because Airborne school is open to all branches of the military, there were Soldiers, Airmen, Seamen, and Marines graduating. They marched their way up to the front and graduation began.

After a quick introduction, invocation, and guest speaker, it was time to award the Airborne wings.

Family members were allowed to pin the wings on their Soldier (etc).

Jennifer and Jacob

The newly pinned Soldier!

After the pinning of the wings, graduation was over. All of the graduates ran back to the barracks (in the Georgia heat and humidity) for out-processing. We were able to leave with our Airborne Soldier about an hour later!!

georgia aquarium

Since we're in Georgia for the week for Jacob's Airborne graduation, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and head up to Atlanta for the day. Our first stop was the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium featuring more animals than any other aquarium in over eight million gallons of water.

The boys were excited to get started and so cooperative! :)

The first area that we walked through was the Ocean Voyager. After going through the tunnels on a moving sidewalk, we arrived at a HUGE aquarium wall. Lucky for us, it was feeding time and all of the fish came out to eat!!

Feeding time!!

Whale sharks are the largest fish species in the world.

Benjamin LOVED the aquarium. He excitedly ran up to every window yelling "fishy" whether it was a fish, crab, or otter. And he insisted on getting his picture taken in front of many of the windows, although he refused to look at the camera.

Silly Ben!

The beluga whales are my favorite!!

There were several different "touch tanks" at the aquarium. Christopher really liked the one with the rays and sharks (although he didn't even attempt to touch a shark). Nicholas enjoyed putting his hands in the water but refused to touch anything-- he just did it so that he could clean up with hand sanitizer!!

Christopher

Grandma helping Ben and Christopher touch the horseshoe crabs.

Goofy Lexie!! :)

airborne jumps

Jacob had his first Airborne jump yesterday morning. He said it went well and was an exhilarating experience! We went to Fryar Field at Fort Benning this morning to watch the next jump.

We arrived at about 11am and found seats on the bleachers while the kids ran around and played. The planes started flying by and people were jumping!!

It was amazing watching them come out of the planes and flail about before finally floating to the ground.

It was close to 1:30pm by the time Jacob landed. After turning in his gear, he was able to come over and say a quick hello. Christopher and Nicholas were SOOO excited to see him!! They have been talking all day about how Daddy jumped out of an airplane!

Saying hi to his little girl.

Daddy and Ben

Jacob has two more jumps tomorrow and then graduation on Thursday!!

road trip

We left for road trip #2 of the summer on Saturday morning! The car was loaded and ready to go the night before, so we got everyone into the car and were in line at the Starbucks drive-thru at 6am.

Nick and Christopher were excited for the drive!!

We stopped for breakfast in Burlington, CO, just before the Kansas border. We made it to Salina, KS, for lunch and stopped at Braum's, a local (to KS, OK, TX, MO, and AR) burger and ice cream restaurant.

After lunch, we were back in the car for the afternoon drive to Tulsa. Unfortunately, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Melissa weren't in town, but we did drive by their house and wave!!

Coloring in the backseat!!

Ben and Lexie were ready for a nap!!

More coloring!!

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning and were back in the car!! It was pouring rain when we left the hotel and it actually rained for most of our drive. We drove through Oklahoma and Arkansas before arriving in Memphis, TN, for the night. We went to Corky's BBQ for dinner and it was amazing!! Definitely go if you're ever in Memphis!!

Somewhere in Arkansas

On Monday we drove through Mississippi and Alabama before finally arriving at Fort Benning, Georgia. We unloaded all the luggage, went to Target (because what vacation is complete without at least one trip to Target?), tried another bbq restaurant for dinner (not as good as Corky's), and then headed to bed!

**And most importantly, we met Grandpa at the hotel in Georgia. He went to Target and dinner with us and then we all went back to the hotel!!**

target and the tornado

On Wednesday we headed to Target with my mom. It was just like any other trip to Target except it started raining on the drive over. She ran into JoAnn's (next door to Target) for some thread to fix Zebra. As soon as she got inside, the tornado sirens started and a tornado warning was issued for our area......

She found the thread and got in line. When Jo-Ann's announced over the intercom that everyone needed to make their way to the back of the store, she left the thread on the counter and ran out to the car. We drove over to Target and then we all ran inside and to our beloved Starbucks. Miss Kerry quickly made our drinks and Miss Dana ran to get cookies before Target announced that everyone needed to proceed to the back of the store.

So, with our Misto's in hand as well as round one of cookies, we went to the back of Target.

Christopher, Miss Kerry, Nicholas

Now let me tell you, there is absolutely NO better place to be than Target during a tornado. Not only are you in a big building (which in my head is MUCH safer than our basement), but you have lots of things to play with and are surrounded by loved ones (in our case at least!).

Ben and Lexie with round 2 of cookies

The kids with Miss Kerry

We were in the back of the store (near the storage ottomans and end tables) for almost an hour. The boys ran around and played, Miss Jenny took pictures, Miss Hannah played games, Miss Kerry colored, and Miss Dana turned into the tickle monster.

Grandma paced around the back aisle while getting weather updates from Grandpa

Lexie was content to sit in the cart and play the whole time. She ate a few cookies, played with a paper towel, and entertained everyone that passed by.

Ben is going to miss Miss Dana when we move. I think she's his favorite!! And I think he is her favorite too!! :)

In the end, the tornado never made it up to where Target is. But we had a fun afternoon playing at Target with all of our friends!!