Boys turn 6

Happy 6th Birthday  Austin and Colby

It was a very rough morning with Pat flying out to Kuwait, but we tried to make the boys' 6th birthday a happy day.

 Austin was very excited to get cash this year

 Colby too

 

 Ready for Toys R Us

 

 

 Yeah we are 6 today

I know it wasn't the perfect day, but hope you both had a Happy 6th Birthday.  I do know one thing for sure, 6 years ago was the scariest but happiest day of my life.  Bringing you two into the world, though I was not quite ready had been the best thing I've ever done.  Who would have guessed you guys were 3 months early and only weighed 2.5 and 2.13 pounds.  You are miracles and I thank God for you every day...even the days I am pulling my hair out!  I love you guys.

Time to go.....

May 21, the dreaded day finally came that we had to pack Pat up and put him on the plane.  There is not much to say because it was such an emotional day for all of us.  It's never easy to send one of your loved ones away for a year.

 Glad we all started out smiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 And the tears started and not sure they have stopped yet.

 

 

 Sean is the most awesome brother to Colby and Austin.  All the boys were sad but Sean did his best to just be there for Colby and Austin.  I am proud of all my boys and just hope this year goes by fast.



191st CSSB cases the BN colors for deployment

The time has come again for Pat to deploy to Kuwait.  We were all able to attend the ceremony to case the colors.  Pat is the executive officer for the battalion therefore he was responsible for the ceremony and as expected it went great.  I am so proud of him and we wish him nothing but good health and safety while he is away from us.

 

 

 

 Our boys hate for Dad to leave but they did an amazing job keeping all their emotions in check during the ceremony.  We even made the all the local new channels so they were very proud of that.

 

 These are the memories and last photos that will give him something to smile about each and every day.

 

 Really going to miss my best friend and the foundation of our family.  He's the one that always makes us smile and knows exactly what our family needs on a daily basis.

 This was the clip that made the news and the boys that it was so funny!

 COL Jolly, our BDE Commander and someone will have been proud to serve under and we hope to cross paths again in the future to serve with him.

The new man of the house. 

 

Pat, we are so proud to call you our hero and to know you belong to us. We'll count the days until you are home and know each and every day we are praying for your health and safety.  We love you.

USS Midway

We decided to stop by the USS Midway on our way out of town and I am so glad we did. None of us had ever been there and it was a really neat experience.  Though the boys were too  young to understand the significance and history they did enjoy seeing the kitchen, living quarters, clinic etc.

 Austin thinks he might want to be a pilot 

 

 I was amazed at how big this really is compared to Colby and Austin

 Austin and Bob Hope

 Everyone acting like they are part of the Bob Hope performance

 

 

 living quarters for enlisted

 

 

 Look who is in charge

 Touring the kitchen



Dinner with Shamu

Pat is such an awesome Dad!  He made a reservation for our family to have dinner with Shamu. All the boys were excited, ok our whole family was excited.

 It was actually awesome to sit and eat our dinner while Shamu performed for us.  The boys didn't eat much as they were mesmerized by Shamu.

 It was so neat to see how close we could get to Shamu.  Just a piece of glass.

 

 After dinner we attended the Shamu night show which was amazing.   Colby and Austin were so excited to get seats in the soak zone. Course it was night, the temperature had dropped and no one else wanted anywhere near it.

What a great day at Sea World.