jane wayne day at 1st LAR

today i got to spend the day at work with my marine - what a blast! i got to climb inside and learn all about the capabilities of the different LAVs (light armored vehicles) from a younger guy we went to college with who is in reid's battalion who deployed with them last year as well - there are actually several U of I guys there.  it was fascinating to gain some perspective to their actual living conditions while they're "away"....these vehicles that appear pretty large when standing next to them shrink once you are inside, crawling into the open spaces meant for people to sit/sleep/stand watch/relax/etc. very little time during their "trip" is spent outside of the vehicles. i have to be honest, i can't imagine seeing these fully loaded with their full team of marines inside hard at work with all of their battle gear/helmets/etc on their backs. it felt crowded and awkward and tight for me to climb around in the empty vehicle with no one else in there with me and was definitely not wearing 60+ pounds of equipment and gear and armour on my body. i remember my ship feeling cramped after awhile underway, this gave a whole new impression of that term.
thank you to our marines who endure so much while fighting "the good fight". when we complain about our lives here at home, we often take for granted your daily lives out there in "the bad place".....its definitely hotter, dustier and dirtier and much much less comfortable for you 24 hours a day.  doing my best to keep perspective on how blessed we truly are and how much gratitude those who serve deserve.

chaplain niemeyer was the chaplain on my first ship...and he married us almost 6 years ago.....now he is the battalion chaplain for 1st LAR where reid works

one of the Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs), there are several configurations each with a separate job to do within the platoon. some are more heavily armed, some are for logistics purposes, some are for comms/control (that's the one reid rides in), some are for towing....pretty fascinating.

mine-roller on the front of an LAV

logistics LAV - definitely the most open compartment in the back for carrying gear/medevacs/supplies,....and the navy nerd in me was really excited to discover they are outfitted with halon for internal firefighting protection! (that was some of my firefighting gear in the engine rooms on my ship!)

sitting cozy in the back of an LAV - that is all the space there was...not a lot of room to stretch out to catch some zzzz's

in the driver's seat as "vehicle commander"

with my marine - this LAV has a big gun on top. its everyone's favorite. :)

emily in the driver's seat from above

reid and dustin, u of i boys - dustin is giving reid a tour of the turret

reid with a friend's 11 month old on his lap inside the LAV - she was the only one who fit comfortably into all the cramped spaces!

sarah and emily in our "battle gear" (we didn't have the heavy kevlar armor in them thank heavens) ready to ride an LAV

dustin and emily up top

family photos

since we were all actually in the same state at once, we made sure to have family photos taken with EVERYONE present. :)  this will only be accurate until february......

Simpsons at the farm

Nannens at Miller Park

more vacation catch-up

despite my lack of dedicated, prompt blogging on the subject, we really did have a fabulous 3-week-long vacation to the midwest. we spent so much good quality time with so many wonderful friends and family, my goodness we are blessed with awesome people in our lives. usually i am the one whipping out my camera every four seconds on our vacations...but for whatever reason, this trip i kept grabbing other people's cameras and iphones and only took these handful of photos on my own. more pieces of our journey...

kids watching ground traffic at our layover heading to milwaukee

i miss those summer storm clouds so much!

betsy with her cousin maddie and her 2nd cousins lily and lexi - a whole stoop of blonde pixie goodness

petey with daddy and aj on the train coming back from the pool at grand bear lodge

enjoying the lazy river with aj and daddy the lifeguard

chilly betsy took a break to warm up and snuggle with grandma and grandpa....and a snack

grandma nannen's mini-me

exploring the pool area

more lazy river fun

snuggling my freezing boy after a forced break from the fun - he was having a blast but was shivering and turning blue so we decided it was time to warm up and have a snack

betsy and grandpa

briana and me

not-so-great photo of petey on the waterslide with cousins

my big boy on the ride all by himself. i was shocked - and so proud! :)

when you are two, no tokens are necessary - just pushing the buttons and watching the lights flash is enough fun!

watching petey in action at the amusement park at grand bear lodge

daddy and petey riding the baby roller-coaster....pete was totally freaked out (even though he rode this ride last summer with aj and was unphased) and kept saying he wanted to go night-night.

in champaign to see emmily thompson on stage in parkland's 'west side story'

this little darling is amazing - can't wait to see what's to come in her future!

my sweet nici, a forever friend i was blessed to meet during my costa rica trip

little joel is so grown up now....so proud of him and can't wait to see where his path leads! he just finished hockey camp at west point

 

 

happy fourth of july - betsy at 14 months old

petey entertaining aunt linny

enjoying her lawn chair view of the hopedale parade - she was a big fan of her discovery - they throw candy at you and if you can sneak away with it you can eat it, wrapper and all!

watching the parade with daddy - he was a little more cautious (thankfully) about darting into the street full of parade trucks and horses to go after the candy. also, he figured out that if he sat there, aunt linny would just bring the candy to him!

enjoying the thomas' pool on 4th of july, a wonderful tradition we so enjoy! pete loved their diving board

betsy watching the swimming action, she did join in later in the day

grandma camp picture catch-up part I

i have to apologize for the long absence, it seems its taking me longer than usual to get my head on straight and slide back into the daily groove. i've been terrible about taking picture of our day-to-day. luckily, i've been saving some cute pics from our vacation to the midwest to share. enjoy! these are photos taken with my mom's camera...more pics to share soon from the other grandma's house!

happy birthday to deedee!!!

watering deedee's plants in the early morning

posing with deedee and bumpah at the milwaukee zoo

his FIRST voluntary pony ride...we've tried several other times, but this is the first time he really REALLY wanted to ride and he loved it!

watching the underwater show with deedee and aunt elle

wearing his "pack-pack"

best view in the zoo

phew-we found the "elefuff's"

feeding the goats

even goats need hugs

enjoying the milwaukee lake front

GIANT owl landed on my folk's roof

making a beak for himself with a cone at the zoo

icecream with bumpah at the zoo while watching an informative tv show about where milk comes from-he was fascinated

the kids and grandkids at the lake

betsy loving the chilly water

more ice cream with bumpah...i see a trend here

kids with deedee

loving deedee's crazy sprinkler on a hot HOT day

enjoying the park after the farmer's market

baby ducks at deedee's neighborhood pond

wearing bumpah's hat on the way home from the lake

betsy loving the sprinkler

snuggling with my boy after sprinkler fun

breakfast on the back patio with uncle matt

betsy climbed right up onto momma's rocking horse

saying bye bye to aunt elle

betsy kay and great grandma janalee kay

betsy meeting great-great grandma lula - what a treat!

great grandpa virgil was decidedly one of her favorite snuggle partners

peek-a-boo under the dining room table

big hugs for great grandma

there's that most perfect snuggle with great grandpa

everybody on deedee's lap

playing my grandma evelyn's accordian

reading, yet again, the story from bumpah's tractor literature

that's MY hat, bumpah!

a little snuggle with deedee after the sprinkler