Day 225

On Monday morning we dropped Grammy Gay off at the airport and headed to Huntsville to see my family. My dad had surgery for a herniated disc last week so we decided to go and check on him. He is doing very well, but was confined to bed for over a week. The day we left he had his doctor appointment and the doctor said he could sit up some now. The kids enjoyed hanging out with Papaw watching cartoons. My dad recorded several Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes for the kids to watch. They all enjoyed getting spoiled even more.

We are finally back at home (for the long haul I think). The kids start school next week and Adam starts soccer again. It should be a very busy fall. Abrahm is doing well. He is staying quite busy and even thinking a little about redeployment. Hopefully January is here before we know it.


The whole gang watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before bed

Adalee and her new best friend

Watching Handy Manny with Papaw

Adam and Adalee crawling on Rachel

Adalee and Papaw having snack time

Listening to Tracey read them a story before bed

All of the kids taking a bubble bath in Grandma Jean's big bathtub

Adalee snuggling with Papaw (and Mickey isn't even on!)

Grandma Jean made them a cool tent out of the kitchen table. They had a blast planning their missions from under there.

Adalee listening to Grandma Jean read her a book. This is a new development. In the past she has only listened to a story for a few minutes, but now she will sit and listen to the whole story and when it's over she says "more"!

Helping Papaw open his present of the day

Day 220

Below are pictures of some of the folks Abrahm's flown and met over the past few days. He had the chance to fly President Karzai last week. He said he was very nice. He came up to the cockpit and met everyone and took pictures. I think he is the only VIP to check out the pilots before they took off. Looks like he may be a smart man afterall!

Abrahm with President Karzai

Abrahm, Author Chuck Holden, two other pilots from Abrahm's battalion
The man standing next to Abrahm is Chuck Holden. He is an author and reporter. He was embedded with Abrahm's unit for a few days. Abrahm meets with all the reporters before they are placed in the unit. While having dinner with Mr. Holden they got to chatting about things he had done. He mentioned he had proofread Oliver North's latest book. He told Abrahm he had even come to Clarksville with Oliver North for the book signing. Abrahm mentioned we had been there as well and pulled up the picture on our blog with us with Oliver North. He actually remembered the boys. He had remembered the shirts they wore that day. He thought they were neat. If you click on May 2008 on the right hand side and scroll down you can see the photos from our visit that day. In the second photo you can see Chuck Holden standing by Oliver North. It's definitely a small world.

An Afghani child
(This photo and the one below were taken by a reporter who was working with Abrahm)

Some Afghani Women

Day 219

Tonight I took the boys to their first theater production. We saw The Backyardigans: Tale of the Mighty Knights. The kids loved it! They were mesmerized through the whole thing. For a children's production it was really nice. Afterwards we took a walk around and the kids threw pennies into the fountains. Overall a very fun evening!


Tennessee Performing Arts Theater

The Backyardigans
Tale of the Mighty Knights

The boys with their shields

Both boys in front of the fountain

Throwing pennies into the fountain

Our Trip to Pennsylvania

We are finally back from our trip to PA. I wish I could say it was a great trip, but that probably wouldn't be the truth. We definitely had some great times, but they were in between all the trips to the ER and doctor's offices. For some reason we couldn't stay healthy on this visit. But a speical thanks the Grammy and PopPop (and Uncle Kirk) for putting up with us!

We did manage to make it to Knobel's Grove (an amusement park), a fun park in Lewisburg, Bruster's a few times, Uncle Kirk's house, and Gray's Run.

A couple of nights after we arrived Alden spiked a fever of over 104. So I took him to the ER. They said it was just a virus and sent me home. Then two days later it was still over 104 and he was complaining of a sore throat. So we went back to the ER. They did a strep test and it was negative. So they sent us home again. By the time we got back home, Adam was running a fever of over 103. He ran a fever for a couple of days as well. I didn't take him to the ER since I was sure it was the same thing Alden had. Then just as we were getting over the virus, Alden got a nasty bite on his ankle. It got infected pretty badly and we spent a couple more hours at various doctor's offices in town. He developed a nasty rash all over his body as well. We had to delay our trip back to Tennessee for a day and even brought Grammy Gay back with us. I was scared to travel alone with Alden feeling the way he was.

We took him to the doctor when we got back hom on Wednesday. They gave him some more medicine and took blood for a Lyme Disease test. We don't think it's that, but we figured better safe than sorry. His foot is looking much better now and he isn't itching like crazy anymore.

Otherwise we had a good trip. We did get to see lots of family. The kids really enjoyed getting spoiled a little more!

The last weekend we were in PA, we spent at Gray's Run. It's a hunting camp that my father in law belongs to. It is probably the nicest, most well kept facility. It was so peaceful and quiet. Well at least it was peaceful and quiet until we showed up. The kids fished, threw rocks into the pond, went for four wheeler rides, took some walks, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire, and saw countless wildlife. Some of the highlights of the wildlife were birds of all sizes and colors, several turkeys, lots and lots of deer, a very grumpy rattlesnake and a very hungry bear. It was amazing. We did have a little drama with Alden's bite on his foot and Adam running a little fever, but all in all it was a fun weekend.


My happy little guys

Aren't they cute?

Adalee and Tiffany on the four wheeler

Adalee playing in the grass

Throwing rocks with Grammy