Arrow of Light

Tyler received his Arrow of Light award tonight.  He has already been in 11 year old scouts for a couple months now, and he is really enjoying it. 

Memorial Day

We decided to plant a large garden this year.  Unfortunately, Tj is never around and when he is, he has school work to do.  Finally, we had a day where we had a little bit of free time.  We borrowed a tiller from our friends.  I had to go teach BodyPump from 9-10, so I left Tj and the two older kids to till the garden.  I figured when I got home they would have it mostly done.  Well, the tiller doesn't really work.  So, Tj dug the garden up by hand.  It took almost the entire day and he only made it about half way.  It was frustrating.  I went over the dirt after he dug it and got all the big grass clumps out.  That was quite the chore! 

 This little cutie is 15 months old today!

 And this is as far as we got.  We are thinking this might have to do us.

  After a long, hot, sweaty day what do you do??  Jump in the pool of course!

S'mores

There was some leftover s'more stuff from the campout last night, so we made a fire and had some s'mores!  Besides, we needed to use some of that wood Tyler has been splitting all day long!  Bristol goes to bed early, so she missed out on the fun.

First Swim of 2014

The pool got uncovered a few weeks ago.  The workers have been here almost every day trying to get the chemicals right and the water clear.  Thursday they said it was good to go.  Brenalee has been bugging me like crazy to get in.  I totally thought she wouldn't be able to even get in, it hasn't been that warm and the water is cold!  I was wrong - she and the neighbor girl swam for a while today.  It's still way too cold for me!

Father Son Campout

Tj and Tyler went on a father son campout last night.  Tyler was so excited.  We had initially planned on going to Busch Gardens this weekend, but then we found out the campout was scheduled.  We let Tyler decide what he wanted to do and he choose the campout.  He was also excited that he got to leave school early Friday.  They left about 11am and drove to Pulaski and had, what I'm told, the best Japanese food ever.  Tj ate so much I guess he was sick the rest of the night with details "he would spare me."  Thanks.  I wouldn't have wanted to be in that tent last night!!  I wish they would have taken more pictures!

 That's Tyler punting the ball right there.

 Apparently he started chopping wood and he is now obsessed with chopping wood.  They came home and he wouldn't leave us alone until we went and bought him his own ax to chop wood with!

Picture!

I have been wanting this picture FOREVER!  I decided I was just going to order it and it would be my Mother's Day gift.  So, thanks honey - I love my gift!  It's huge, it takes up almost the entire wall of the dining room, so it kind of looks funny in this little rental house!  But, someday it will have a forever home like us :)

22 Mile Bike Ride

22 miles!  Yes!  The scouts went and did a 22 mile bike ride on the New River trail.  Tj went with Tyler.  He said it was just gorgeous.  Tyler finished, and I was really proud of him.  Tj said he shed a few tears because it was hard, his butt hurt, and he was tired.  But, he did it.

I'm still impressed Tj was able to take pictures with his phone while he was riding and not crash!

 Lunch break!

 The New River

 A smile?!

Commissioning Reception and Commissioning

Today was the big day - commissioning!  Tj has been so busy planning it since he was in charge of it this year.  I haven't gone to a commissioning ceremony since we've been here.  It just hasn't ever really worked out.  I got lucky and went this year.  It exciting to see all the graduates and their families.  You could feel the excitement in the air.  What a fun time of year!

This was at the reception during the day.

 Then at the joint commissioning with the Corps of Cadets that night.  This is all of the cadets...NAVY, ARMY, Air Force and Marines.

 Being sworn in by Rear Admiral Kevin Quinn

Unfortunately, I forgot the camera and just had my cell phone.  It didn't take very good pictures.  Next year I'll be better prepared!

This also took me back to December 2006, when Tj was commissioned back in San Diego.  It seems so long ago!

 It's times like this that I love the NAVY, feel that NAVY pride and enjoy this crazy life of ours!

Mother Daughter Spa Night

The activity day girls had a mother daughter spa night for their activity tonight.  Brena did a really good job of painting my toes!  They made a wonderful sugar scrub too that works really well.  It was a fun night getting pampered by Brena!