Our Family Adventures

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Marine Corps Ball '09

Brian and I decided this was the year we wanted to take the kids to the Marine Corps ball. So the day after we got to Greenville, we took the kids to the ball, then the following day, Alyssa and I flew back home and Shawn and Brian started driving across the country.

Alyssa and I pre-ball.

The kids all dressed up and ready to go! My children clean up pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

My Tinkerbell and I

My amazing husband. You have NO idea how wonderful it was to be by his side once again!

Brian and his best friend, Adam.

My two men. You can see that Shawn has grown quite a bit! LOL!

Party time in Florida

We flew to Florida to be able to celebrate Haley's 18th birthday and Catie's 14th birthday with them.

A pedicure to start the day!

Alyssa doing Catie's hair for her!

The birthday girls with Shawn and Alyssa

Tawdra and I and me with my kiddo's

Devyn and her boyfriend, Greg

The Kandle children. They are AMAZING children!

Party time!

David and Shawn in a deep conversation!

The girls singing a song for the audience

Shawn being a goofball behind Clint.

Dev and Tawdra

The end of the night....computer time!

House of Blues

For Haley's 18th birthday, we headed to the House of Blues for their Gospel brunch.

The girls waiting in line to get in

Haley on stage for her birthday

Alyssa and Catie went on stage too, to dance.

We had a BLAST!

Disney's Very Merry Christmas

We attended Disney's Very Merry Christmas party and had a BLAST!

On the way to Magic Kingdom, we stopped at the Polynesian for dinner.

Shawn, Haley, David, Catie and Alyssa all ready to party!

Alyssa was THRILLED to see Peter pan and Wendy!

At several spots around the park, there was hot chocolate and cookies served. The kids were in heaven!

Shawn and David and Alyssa and I waiting for the fireworks to start.

The beautiful castle

Waiting for the parade to start!

The parade was AWESOME!! We had such a great time!

The very next morning, we were up and out the door early to get on the road. Tawdra and the kids drove us up to North Carolina to meet Brian. It was a GREAT way to get to spend our last little bit of time with them!

The kids on the drive there. David and Shawn were comparing hand size.

When we made it to Greenville, we got Brian and headed to Olive Garden for dinner.

Alyssa was so happy to see her daddy again! We ALL were!

More youth...

Bear with me while I brag on our youth a little bit more! :) I love these kids!

Katee finds it difficult to behave most of the time. Can you tell which one she is?

Steph, Dani and Morgan.

Shawn and Tyler. Best friends, can you tell?

Em, Steph, Harrison and Dani.

Katee attacking me. She does so on a regular basis.

Love this goofy picture!

Alyssa and Taylor

Travis (one of the youth leaders) and Shawn

Misbehaving boys. Shocking, I know.

MY boys. Love these brats!

Youth Stuff...

I brag on our youth group quite often, so I thought you'd like to see some of our incredible kids! Every year we do a scavenger hunt, and the kids have a GREAT time. This year, the theme was cartoon characters.

Joker and Batman (aka...Shawn and Tyler)

Joker and King Kong...goofing off as always!

Tallying the points for Batman, Robin and Joker

Tinkerbell's group

Peanut's group

Our youth!

Rock Climbing...

The Cooper's came out our way for a BBQ at the ranch where Kristi's parents used to live. So, I invited myself to meet them there. :) Alyssa and I went and had a great time, as always!

Dylan challenged Kristi to a race...and she schooled him in the art of rock climbing!

Clarissa, Alyssa and Kirsten watching Kristi and Dylan race.

Alyssa getting harnessed up. Judging by the look on her face, I'd say it was a bit tight!

Alyssa and Clarissa at the top!

Last day...

Our last day together, we had to eat at the kids favorite restaurant....Cracker Barrel!

The LOVE the games! Brian, too!

This is what they think of having to be apart AGAIN! Fortunately, this time it is only for a month so that makes saying goodbye MUCH easier!

More North Carolina time...

One of my favorite places in North Carolina was Beaufort. I love the little shops. So, we enjoyed some time together shopping in the little antique shops.

Daddy's little girl...still.

We were lucky to be able to spend more time with the Askeland family before we left!

Angel and Alyssa. They both cried their hearts out when it was time to leave. We are hoping they will get orders out here to Camp Pendleton.

Alyssa made some other friends too...

Shawn picking up dad...then dad showing Shawn how it is really done!

Angel is the hula hoop champ! Brian tried to compete...but couldn't hang with the big dawg!

And boys being boys....FOOTBALL!

My beautiful friend Tammi.

Love being a family once again!

Time Share Get-Away

We spent 3 days at a time share in New Bern getting reacquainted as a family. We had SUCH a great time, and New Bern is a special place for Brian and I. It's where we lived when we were first married, so we enjoyed pointing things out to the kids, and seeing how much it had grown in 20 years!

The kids enjoying a game of UNO

Tennis time!

New Bern is also the home of Pepsi.

We visited the Fireman's Museum, which the kids really enjoyed.

Oh, and we ran in to Nana's King

An enjoyable day spent together

And the kids both ended the day with that look on their faces that say they are conspiring together to come up with a plan....

Old Friends Visit...

While we were in North Carolina for Brian's homecoming, our friends, the Simpson family, drove up from Georgia to spend a few days with us. It worked out PERFECT...while Brian was trying to acclimate back to our time zone, the kids and I had friends to spend the time with! It was so great to see them again!

Our first night together...eating at Golden Corral!

Of course, the pool is always a great place for the kids!

Three drama queens!

Old friends are the best friends!

Ashley, Shawn, Nathan, Jessica and Alyssa

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Catching up with "The Fossil"

"From The Fossil"

To everyone I appreciate all of the thanks and prayers for my safe return back to the United States. I am grateful for all of the family and friends who have played such a vital role in the life of my family while I have been half way around the world. All of you are priceless!

I can tell you that even though you won't see it on the news that the Al Anbar Province where many Service Members have made the ultimate sacrifice with their blood has significantly improved in its quality of life for it's people! We started with approximately 30 coalition force positions and reduced them to 3 in 10 months. We opened numerous schools for Iraqi children and provided 100,000 people with water and built many water treatment plants!

Our time as a family over the last week has been AWESOME!!! We have seen friends and visited a few sites in New Bern, NC. I will be disappointed to be separated from them again as of tomorrow but soon we will be back together for good.

For those of you who may not know I will take the position of the Deputy Director of the SNCO Academy in Camp Pendleton, CA. I will spend my last 20 months or so in the Marine Corps in this billet, and upon completion of this tour I will be at my 30 years of service and will be ready to move to the next phase of my life, what ever that brings. It will be amazing to look back and realize from 17-48 I will have served this country as a United States Marine!

One thing I know for sure is that on 1 June 2014 myself and my good friend Adam Walker will go to Maine and begin our life changing adventure of attempting to earn the title as "south bounder thru hikers" as we will step off on our 5-6 month trek of the Appalachian Trail which will take us from Maine to Georgia across 14 states, 8 National Parks and 8 National Forests! It will simply take us 5,000,000 steps and the walking of 2,174 miles! I can' wait!

Soon it will be time for Cindy, I and the kids to attend the 234th MC Ball! It will be an experience that the kids will always remember but more importantly to me something they have earned through all of their sacrifices in supporting me throughout my career! The day after the ball, Cindy and Alyssa will fly back to California, while Shawn and I head out for the 3,000 mile drive across the country. I am looking forward to having that time with Shawn. I have the greatest family in the world!!!

Well folks the "fossil" simply wanted to bring everyone up to date and thank each of you for your support and friendships! I look forward to seeing all of you at one time or another and I wish all the best to each of you and your families! God Bless!!!

Semper Fi, Brian

Monday, October 5, 2009

Daddy's arrival

The time finally arrived!! We left the hotel at 0230 to head over to the regiment where Brian would be coming in.

Shawn being silly. Excitement has set in!

Me and my beautiful angels!

The phone call came...the vans drove on the base! WHOOOHOOOO!!

Our family is complete once again! The most INCREDIBLE man on the planet!

My favorite place to be.

Shawn is SO happy to have his dad home! Just look at those smiles!

Getting ready to pick up daddy!

We knew Brian would be getting in during the night. His flight was due to land at 0130, so that put him in to Camp Lejuene at 0330. Knowing we would have a long night, the kids and I laid down and took a nap!

Shawn getting a clean shave for dad! Actually, Alyssa wanted to shave his face for him, and he was HORRIFIED!

After we all were showered, we decided to do facials to help kill time! By now we were all bouncing off the walls!

Old Friends...

When we got to North Carolina, my friend Tammi picked us up at the airport. Tammi's family lived next door to us when we lived in Virginia, and we all became great friends. We stayed with their family the first few days we were in North Carolina, and had a GREAT time!