Graduation, St. Louis Zoo, Metropolis, and Fort Campbell

Last Friday Mike graduated from his BOLC class at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The same day we drove to St. Louis (about two hours away) and stayed the night.

Saturday morning we woke up to snow on the ground but decided to go forward with our plans of attending the St. Louis Zoo. We had two good reasons: James loves animals and it was free! It was freezing cold, but we bundled James up and braved the freezing weather. We saw one gorilla, orangutans, a sleepy tiger, leopards, zebras, Mongolian camels, ostriches, crocodiles, bears, and a plethora of birds, monkeys, lizards, turtles, and slytherin’ snakes (pun intended). We really wanted to take James to see the elephants (his fav animal), but they were not out because it was so cold. That made us a little sad, but we took an awesome picture with the elephant statue instead! James enjoyed the birds the most. On parental demand, James makes sounds for elephants, gorillas, monkeys, snakes, and eagles.

After the zoo we continued our drive to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Along the way, we decided to take a detour to see the world’s largest Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois. We had a great time taking pictures at the statue and museum.

We hopped back in the car and finished our drive to Fort Campbell. Sunday morning we went to church and later went for a drive to find our house on post, sadly we got lost. Google maps don’t give directions to our houseL. However the next day WE FOUND IT. Boy are we excited. James loves to play all day long; thank goodness there is a playground in the center of the hotel building. He stops playing and points in the direction of 50 cal. range fire and rotor sound. AIR ASSAULT! Lots of love and prayers to family and friends. Again, take a moment to check out facebook for more pics.

2012: A New year and a new phase

I am taking this Sunday afternoon to wrap-up our Fall and Winter of 2011, and the new beginnings of 2012. In many ways this will be our belated family newsletter to family, friends, and coworkers.

Mike is nearly finished with CBRN BOLC which started in late Sept 2011. There Mike has been learning all things chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear pertianing to WMD, and learning about his new responsibilities as a Bn Chem-O(fficer) . On top of the normal work/school week, Mike has been training with the Ranger Preparation Program for CBOLC 2LTs, doing crossfit PT, rucking, landnav, basic patrol ops, knot tying, etc. Its just like Ranger Challenge/SANCOM all over. Selection for Ranger school was limited if available at all, so Mike will be requesting a slot once we are settled in Ft Campbell. He is one of 5 honor graduates in his class, and is excited to finish BOLC this friday....as is Allie :) As usual, our experience these near 4 months has had its high and lows, but we just count our many blessings while looking forward to our next assignment. AIR ASSAULT!

Allie and James spent a very good portion of time at homebase Brawley, CA. Anyone following news via facebook has seen all sorts of pictures of James and cousins having a good time on the compound (Smith family lingo for the family 'homestead'). We were fortunate to have a couple extended stays with Mike at FLW, MO. His little two room apartment is best described as "cozy" which gave James a greater appreciation of playing outside. By the end of Nov, James had all of his teeth come through and mastered the words "byebye...NO...ouch...more...done...agua" and others. For Christmas, Mike came to Brawley for 2 weeks for a wonderful, yet flu-filled vacation. All three of us were sick at one point, and Christmas morning we had an exciting visit to the emergency room because James had croup. James had to be flown by helicopter to the children's hospital in San Deigo, but was discharged that evening. All the cousins welcomed him home with fireworks from that mornings presents. All attention was on James as we opened presents at 7pm. It was a Christmas we won't ever forget! Thank goodness for TRICARE Prime.

We also met Mike's brother and sister-in-law at Disneyland for a great time. And they joined us for Christmas with Allie's family. They also got sick...along with the rest of the family. Mike left to finish BOLC and we stayed in Brawley till after cousin Valerie's wedding, and flew out to FLW for the remainder of the month. We were just recently offered a home on-post at Ft. Campbell and we (Allie especially) are so excited to anchor down for a solid period of time. Enjoy the pictures and please drop us a line on facebook. THANKS and God bless!