Monday, January 17, 2011

Basic Training Graduation~ Ft Leonard Wood, MO

Howdy friends….

Today I’m going to share our trip to Missouri.

Last Wednesday morning we flew to St. Luis….our baby soldier was graduating boot camp.

We watched the sunrise from the airplane….it was beautiful.

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I am not a fan of flying…but there was no way I could miss her graduation.

It was a good flight and having my Mister beside me….I felt brave and even looked out the airplane windows. Smile

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We were shocked when we landed….we couldn’t believe all the snow and ice!

We don’t see this kind of stuff living so close to the gulf coast.

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Here we are waiting for the the shuttle….Mister had already gulped his Starbucks….

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I nursed mine….the windchill was –15degrees! WOOT!

( note we were wearing shorts just a few days earlier…lol. )

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We rented a 4 wheel drive suv ( amen ) because we had a 2 hour drive and there was snow & ice on the ground and snow flurries…..the remainder of the day.

That’s me in the rearview mirror taking a picture of the ice on the truck.

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The drive was beautiful~

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We made it!

Did I tell you, the genius did not know I was coming? Nope, she didn’t. She was only expecting her daddy. She knows I do not fly….but she had her suspicions. I think she knows I would go to the ends of the earth for her….

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I loved this house…..

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Getting close to her barracks. At this point she was on the phone with Mister giving him directions and asked him 25 times. Where is Mom? She even called, my dad, my mother in law and bear. No one would tell her anything….lol.

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I crouched down in the floorboard of the suv and I could hear her voice through Mister’s phone….she was looking out the window and then I jumped out blew her a kiss and took a bow. I heard her scream and then her friends ( battle buddies ) giggled and she cried. Don’t tell her I told you. Soldiers don’t cry either. lol.

Then they had to get in formation….

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Being silly in formation

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Day pass!

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We toured the base and she showed us where she did some of her training.

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Such an incredible day.

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I loved this church~

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This is what they call a cattle car….they load 150+ soldiers including ours in here….

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I loved seeing the snow covering everything in sight.

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The temperature. 9 degrees!!

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Thursday morning….the view outside our hotel.

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Time to graduate!! HOOAH! ( that’s what the Army says )

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Soldiers creed ( you can click to enlarge any picture )

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Here she is!

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We have never been so proud~

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They played a slideshow of their 10 week training.

This is her on the big screen Smile

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She also got the sharpshooter badge! Isn’t that awesome? HOOAH!

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Me & My girl

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She is Daddy’s girl, too

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I loved this picture.

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After graduation we got to take her off base. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel and went bowling. We had a wonderful time! We were so fortunate to have this time with her. We came home early Friday morning and she left for her next adventure. Training for her job = missiles. sigh.

♥ Jessica

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Jessica! It was so good to hear from you! Look at your sweet girl! Wow, I'm almost crying as this was bringing back memories of us going to our son's graduation from boot camp in Ft. Jackson years ago!! She is so cute and so grown up! I'm so glad you got to go and witness all of this!
I wish her the very best. What is her MOS? Our son went on to Airborn and was a soloist in the All American Airborn Chorus. He loved it!
Take care and I think of you often.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

onlymehere said...

That final picture of her with your Mister got me....and it got me good! You can just see the pride in his face as he hugs her so tight! What a wonderful day for you and for her. I'm also very proud of you for flying!! What a wonderful surprise for you to give her too. We both know how much I love those type of surprises don't we? They're the best! I'm so glad you shared this day with us.

Melissa Miller said...

Jessica how wonderfiul. Congrats to her! Beautiful photos.

Thank you for stopping by and your kind words. You're always welcome anytime my friend.

Blessings, ~Melissa :)

Betty said...

I don't think anything could have stopped you from being there. It brought tears to my eyes visualizing that moment though.

Christie said...

Congratulations to the genius!
I know y'all are so proud of her :)
Big hugs to you all,
Queenie