Home Sweet Home

*Be sure to read my “Traveling with a Toddler.”  I tell ya what, it wasn’t easy and I have a great traveler on my hands!

The last couple days have been a great!  Well, the long car ride was not all that fun, but it was great family time and actually went really smooth.  But, lets start at the beginning and go through it day by day.  It’s the easier way and let’s face it, all you want to see is the pictures anyway! :)

Wednesday:  Travel Day

Nothing really big happened, we flew to Charlotte NC to see Matt graduate from his Career Counselor school on Thursday.  We were so excited to see Matt again knowing this was the last time we would have to be apart for awhile.  I don’t have any pictures to share by the time we got to where we were going, it was late and we were all tired. 

Thursday: Graduation Day

We woke early (I thought this was going to be a mini-vacation) so we could get ready and go to a breakfast that was honoring the new graduates.  Mike, Liz, Sophia, and Chase we able to make it down from Pinehurst, NC to celebrate with Matt.  It was nice to see Liz after 5+ years!  We tried our hardest to catch up over breakfast but we couldn’t .  So we headed over to the graduation to watch Matt walk across and get his badge that he worked so very hard for.  I am so proud of him!  I am seriously bursting with pride.  He blew this course out of the water!  It is not of the easier courses the Army has and he did so well. 

It’s tradition for a fellow Career Counselor or a loved one pin the badge on the graduate so I did and was so proud to do so.

After we were all done at Ft. Jackson, the boys rode in one car and the girls with the kids drove in the other to Pinehurst so we could spend a little more time with the Salvog’s.  Let me tell you, I can guarantee that the girl car was more noisy since Liz and I didn’t have one moment of silence in our conversation.  We turned a 2 1/2 hour trip into 15 minutes! ha ha!  Then we just spent the day together.  Sophia and Gracie played like best friends and fought like sisters.  At one time this was the conversation as told by Matt:

Sophia got in trouble by her daddy for something and Gracie thought she would put her two cents in after Mike got through talking to Sophia:

Gracie says: Sophia, you know better.

Sophia says: You not tell me I know better!

There was a lot of moments like that.  But then there moments like this:

Then there was the sweetest little boy ever who has totally captured my heart!  Mr. Chase:

Do you want to know what the boys were doing while we were with the kids?

 

Day 3: Travel Day #2

Homeward bound to El Paso.  We got as far as Birmingham before we stopped.  Luckily we found a place that had an indoor pool.  Gracie had a blast.  As you can tell, she loved going for a long car ride!

Before swimming, we went to grab dinner at Applebee’s.  We indulged in dessert and Gracie loved the ice cream (as usual).  She was being so silly and giggling when eating it.  I don’t know what struck her as silly, but it was fun to watch.  The second picture has horrible lighting (I think someone was walking past our table) but her facial expression is hilarious!

Day4 & 5:

More traveling.  We made it to Abilene TX.  We really tried to push through but we were all tired so we stopped.  The great thing is we knew it was going to be a short drive the next day and it was!  It is so nice to be home!!!!   I got some cute pictures of Gracie at a rest area outside of Dallas.  She loves being a ham for the camera when she can run around…when she is sitting still not so much!

Still the happiest little traveler!  I just realized that in her short little life she has been to 11 states and 1 other country!  She is quite the experienced traveler.

Ok, in these pictures you can tell she destroyed her coloring book.  The first one she is in complete denial and not wanting to admit it.  The second one she is being adamant it was “good for her!”

She is so my child….

So that was our latest adventure.  I cannot take another adventure for a long while.  I am craving my home sweet home for a long time with my family!  But I enjoyed every moment of it and I am so happy I got to be with Matt and see him graduate!  It was worth all the traveling to see that and to see the Salvog’s.  Although, it better not be another 5+ years before we see them again!