This past weekend was Derek's drill weekend, but it was a special one! Sunday was the annual family Christmas celebration so we traveled up to visit his "army work", like Jackson likes to call it. He's been a part of this unit for about 18 months now and so I'm starting to feel a little more connected.
Finding the military connection as the wife in the Guard/Reserve is a challenge as families are generally only involved in two annual activities. But also, Derek's unit location is about 80 miles away, an hour and a half drive. Most Guardsmen that I know actually serve multiple hours away from where they live, many even in different states {which can sometimes lead to large expenses in terms of finding places to sleep and meals out on drill weekends}. And while a Family Readiness Group (FRG) does exist, the families it represets are scattered across the state and so there's not a centralized location to actually go to. This is a little off topic, but it just consider it a bonus peek into our Army life. :)
The FRG had some amazing collection of gifts for the kiddos! We tried to get Belle to be interested in the cutest Pillow Pet, but she wasn't having it. There was a doll in her package and as you can tell, she was TOTALLY into it {not}. Though she was thrilled to play with one of the Spiderman tops that Jackson got in his present.
Jackson's favorite part was when Derek took us out to the motorpool.
Derek is a part of the signal corp. These big trucks carry giant satellites.
They took turns making special calls regarding the mission...
And lastly, Jackson showed up his upper body strength!
Oh, and a quick pic of me and my soldier! His buddies teased him about me making him take a photo-- so naturally, I planted a big kiss on his cheek right after... :)
It was a great afternoon! I loved that the kids were able to experience a little bit of Daddy's army work so they can understand a little bit more when he leaves on the weekend to go up there. We love our soldier and we are so thankful that he gets to be celebrating this holiday with us unlike many other military families.
How fun! Looks like they put on a good party for the families! That must be tough being a military spouse all the time but only getting the "military spouse activities" a few times a year. We have our unit kids party this weekend too. I doubt I'll ever blog about it (ha!) but I am looking forward to it! I hear Santa will be skydiving in. Could be interesting! Oh and I know I said it before but I looooove Belle's outfit!! I'm sure she was the cutest little girl there! :)
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