We met our friends from Fort Bragg at the NC Zoo for a fun morning.
The highlight of the day for the little girls was painting with water.
What could be better than water, chalk and paintbrushes?
All of the kids!!
When we became friends (almost SIX years ago?!), Lexie was Ellie's age and Luke was just a baby! They sure have grown (and new ones have been added)!!
Such silly kids!! Ellie followed Juliana around and called her Hannah the whole time. They're only four months apart but Juliana is much bigger than Ellie (much like Hannah would be if they were closer in age!). After five hours exploring the zoo and a picnic lunch, it was time to say goodbye.
We went up to Jacob's alma matter (and current school), Liberty University, for their military family fun day. We had a delicious lunch at the Snowflex Lodge and got to meet the LU mascot, Sparky.
After lunch, it was time to hit the slopes. The Liberty Mountain Snowflex Center is a one-of-a-kind place for year-round skiing, snowboarding and tubing on a synthetic surface designed to simulate real snow.
Ben and Lexie ready to go!
Lexie got up to the very edge and then would hop back, unsure of whether she wanted to go down or not. Once she started down the hill, she made it about three feet before falling over.
Trying again.... and falling. But at least she kept trying!!
Ben seemed like a natural on the slopes-- must be from all the skateboarding he does (though he spent some time falling down, too)!
Jacob tried to help Lexie make it further down the slope but wasn't too successful. Christopher and Nicholas (once he got his boots adjusted) went down a few times, too, but sadly we did not get any pictures of them. We only stayed out for about an hour and never actually made it off of the bunny hill because of the constant rain.
After our fun at Liberty, we made a quick stop at Target (for umbrellas) and Chipotle (for dinner) before heading to Appomattox Court House National Historic Park for a tour by lantern.
In April 1865, General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. The land making up Appomattox Court House is absolutely beautiful, even in the pouring rain.
The day after we got home from the beach, Christopher and Nicholas were off to camp! The were able to take part in Camp Corral this year- a camp for the children of wounded, disabled and fallen service members.
The grounds of the camp are beautiful. There is a lake with waterslides, pastures for the horses, and even a skate park!
As soon as they got back from camp, we drove out to Fort Bragg to see Army friends.
After a torrential downpour, we had a blast playing at the park. We had pizza for dinner and played for hours.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye. We snapped a picture of all of the kids-- minus the Jensen girls who couldn't make it :(
In April, Jacob needed to go to Washington DC for work and since the kids were on Spring Break we decided to tag along. We headed out bright and early (or technically dark and early) on a Thursday morning so that Jacob could be there in time for his early afternoon meeting. While Jacob was at his meeting the kids and I ventured down the street in search of a snack and something to do to pass the time.
Luckily we found a Starbucks and a park!! The kids had a blast running around after their hot chocolates and scones!!
Jacob was done about the same time as the kids ran out of energy which worked out nicely. We headed to the hotel to get settled in and cleaned up for dinner. Since Jacob was deployed the last time we were in the DC/Baltimore area he didn't get the chance to go to G&M's with us. We figured it was the perfect opportunity to head up to Maryland and introduce him to the world's best crab cakes-- and he was not disappointed!!
After an early morning meeting, Jacob had the rest of Friday off so we made our way into Washington DC to check out the sites. We have been fortunate enough to make it up to DC almost yearly since we moved here and we try and see different things each time.
The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
Jacob and the kids at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Fun in DC-- we were a few days too early for peak cherry blossoms though.
The kids were starting to get hungry (and the adults, too!) so we walked to a Metro station and took a ride to Dupont Circle for lunch at the best ever Baja Fresh. I think riding the Metro is still the highlight of Washington DC (or any major city) for all of the kids, but most definitely for Ben. He would be content to ride all day and just get off to explore all the different stations.
Ben and "his" Metro
After our fun in the city, we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up before heading to Sweetwater Tavern in Falls Church, VA, for dinner (recommended by Auntie Janne and Uncle Adam and both of my parents!). Dinner was delicious-- especially the rolls and the chop salad!!! We will definitely be back again!
After breakfast on Saturday we were back in the car for the drive back home. It always seems like it is quicker to get there when you're heading off on vacation rather than heading back home! Everyone had a great time and we're excited to go back again soon.
We went to a local Farmer's Market to pick out our pumpkins this year. The kids took their time and sorted through dozens of different ones before finding the perfect pumpkin.
Lexie fell in love with this bumpy pumpkin while the boys went with more traditional choices.
503d MP BN hosted a Fall Festival for all of the Soldiers and families. The kids were excited to go horseback riding for the first time!!
We also painted pumpkins, went to the haunted house (at least Jacob, Nick, and Ben did), went on a hayride, and enjoyed the BBQ.
This year we made the kids pull the guts out of their pumpkins-- they enjoyed it!!
Lexie wasn't sure about it so Jacob had to shove her hand in. And then she wanted to eat the seeds!
It was pouring rain and really cold out this year on Halloween so we ended up skipping trick-or-treating.
We put out candy for any daring trick-or-treaters and watched "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
I cannot believe that it has already been ten years since September 11, 2001. At times it seems like it was yesterday-- I can vividly remember everything that happened that day. I overslept (big surprise). My roommate, Taryn, woke me up with the news that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane; I thought that she was joking and I was annoyed with her for waking me up. I went into the living room and turned on the TV. Still consumed in feelings of disbelief, I watched in horror. I called Jacob and he immediately headed over. He too, was amazed and in shock. We were all glued to the news for the next several hours watching the events of the day unfold. I remember that we all ate Eggo waffles for breakfast, and even still, every time I have one I think of September 11. We continued watching throughout the attack on the Pentagon and the crashing of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. In between watching the events, we talked about what we would have done in the same situations. We heard that gas prices were going to go up, so we each took our cars and filled them up. When we got gas that afternoon, it was $1.35 a gallon. We went out later that evening to get groceries and it was up to $4.25. None of us went to our classes and later found out that they had in fact been cancelled. Most of them were for the remainder of the week.
Our lives, like the lives of many Americans changed that day. While none of us were directly affected by the attacks, as a country we were. We (at the age of 19) were too young to remember anything like this happening in America before. The most horrific war that we knew was the Gulf War – not even a war when compared to the great tragedies of the World Wars or even Korea or Vietnam. We were not old enough to remember a brutal and deliberate attack on American soil, such as Pearl Harbor. While we did know of things happening to Americans abroad, they never seemed as important because they weren’t happening here. We, as well as others, remained in awe. Horrified that something like this could happen in the US, we discussed the possibilities for the future. We debated whether or not America should go to war and blow up Afghanistan as a whole, or take it slow to limit the number of innocent lives lost. As one would expect, emotions did get the better of us at times and we thought the US should use any and all force to seek revenge.
In the decade since September 11, 2001, my life has drastically changed. I'm no longer the naive 19-year-old pondering what America should do in response to the attacks on 9/11. I've gotten married, had four kids, and proudly watched as Jacob enlisted and went off to war. As a military family the events of September 11 and the subsequent "War on Terror" touch our lives more closely than I ever would have expected a decade ago.
I'm envious of those that are able to keep their kids shielded from the events of September 11. Kids that are able to maintain their innocence for awhile longer, trusting that people are inherently good. As "Army Brats", our kids have been exposed to war, death, and the tragedies of 9/11 younger than most. In school they learned about what happened on September 11 and seemed to grasp most of it. They understand that Daddy went to Iraq last year because of what happened that day.
However, this year we went into even more depth explaining it to them. We watched "Nick News: The Story of 9/11" earlier this week and it did a great job of answering most of their questions. And then this morning, for the first time ever, they watched the events unfold as they did a decade ago. Christopher and Nicholas sat there in shock as they watched the planes fly into the towers. Nicholas was deeply offended when the plane hit "the GREAT Pentagon", and they were both in awe as Flight 93 went down in PA.
I'm thankful that I got to spend today at the park playing with my kids. And thankful that all six of us got to sit down to dinner together tonight. I'm thankful for those that lost their lives a decade ago and those that have lost their lives fighting for our country since then. I'm thankful, and proud, to be an American.
A couple of weeks ago, after countless date changes, it was finally THE DAY. The one we'd been anticipating for the past 348 days. HOMECOMING.
The flight was scheduled to come in at around 10:00pm. Christopher and Nicholas went to school like any other Thursday and Ben, Lexie, and I met Stephanie and Luke for breakfast at Panera. We ran some errands to kill time and then picked the big boys up from school. I didn't want to take the kids home and mess up the clean house so we did some more running around before meeting Stephanie and Luke at Green Ramp (where the planes land) at around 5:30pm.
We were the first to arrive (our plan to secure the front row), however, we found out another unit had a homecoming there before ours and they wouldn't be done until nearly 8:00pm AND our homecoming would be an hour later!! We all ended up heading back to our house and relaxing a bit before heading back to Green Ramp.
When we got back there (with Katie, too) the other unit was done with their celebration and we started setting up for ours. Since we're all involved in the FRG we needed to help coordinate the set-up for the food/water for family members as well as our table to sell the company shirts. The kids all had a blast running around, talking to people, and doing arts and crafts provided by the wonderful people from the USO.
Ben coloring-- you'd never know it's three hours after bedtime!!
Stephanie and Katie spent the next few hours holding down the fort at our front row bench while I dealt with all the drama of a large homecoming (food was late, people weren't in the right place, etc). It was finally around 11:00pm and you could hear the rumble of an airplane. They announced the flight over the loud speaker and everyone cheered!! We watched them walk off the plane and then headed back inside for the ceremony.
clockwise from top left: Lexie playing with an airplane from the USO; me, Steph, and Katie; Christopher playing DS with his friends; Ben and Lexie waving flags in anticipation
The Soldiers came inside the building in a single file line (so it was easy to spot your Soldier) and then lined up in formation. After the invocation and ceremony- which was surprisingly quick- the Soldiers were all released and able to go find their families! This is video of them walking in and this is video of the invocation and ceremony.
