Tybee Beach

Today was our unit's family day, an annual event that is supposed to build cohesion within the unit while allowing soldiers to spend quality time with their families. This is the first one we have attended in almost five years because there is rarely cohesion or quality time with the family at these events. This was the exception to the rule.

With the family day at the beach on the calendar for several weeks, I knew that I had to get the boys boogey boards. My plan was to suprise them with the boards. And with a design depicting a shark crashing into a pier and taking a bite out of a wooden plank, I knew I had found a true piece of art - something that only little boys would appreciate because most adults would consider it tacky.

I had to order them on-line because you might remember my statements about the lack of shopping in our new town, and this time Lowes couldn't help us. When they arrived on our door step, the boxes were huge, but I took them and placed them in my closet on the top shelve thinking that it was so obvious the boys would never really see them. I was sure they would find them if I took the time to actually find a hiding place for them so I opted to place them in plain view so they would never see them.

Within half a hour, Evan spotted the boards. Within 32 minutes, Evan was practicing his moves on the boards while sliding across the hard wood floors. Keagan was quick to join in, and today he finally got to give it a try.

 He was so caught up with jumping waves on his shark board that he is convinced the broken black shell that fell from his shorts during his shower is an actual shark tooth. We have done nothing to deny the validity of his story. 

One day he will be seven and fail to imagine that he would be lucky enough to find a shark's tooth at the beach.

Advanced Swimmers

According to the local rec department, both boys are now advanced swimmers. I am certain that Swim Kids would differ, but both boys can do all four strokes now and both boys can definitely swim better than I can. That should count for something.

The biggest accomplishment, in my mind anyway, is Keagan's ability to do the backstroke the distance of the pool. After the rant about boys not being about to float, Keagan was determined to prove to the teacher that he could float and swim on his back. Unfortunately, he proved this the day the "boys can't float teacher" was absent from lessons, but I loved his tenacity. 

The haircut? Are you wondering if I tried to save a whole $7 and do it myself? We made a trip to the post barbershop, and I said a two but I forgot to say two on the sides. I almost cried, but with Evan poking and laughing, I put on the biggest fake smile and said it looked great. When a soldier next to us smirked and laughed, I gave him a look to kill. I think he thought the battlefields of Afghanistan would be more pleasant than his current place in line at the PX barbershop. Keagan, full of five year old wisdom, told me today, "I like the haircut, but if you don't, Mom, you don't need to worry. It will all grow back."

Evan learned the butterfly stroke this week, and because he can now do all four strokes, he has been invited to join the local swim team. Evan is about as eager to do this as he is to have a cavity filled. I guess this could change, though, because this week he told me that if he was like Deion Sanders and played two sports professionally, he was certain that he would choose soccer over football.

And Evan's lack of haircut is a direct result of Keagan's present haircut. He refused to get in the chair, and I agreed to let him go with his dad at his next bimonthly haircut. I am hesitant because Wes gets his haircut at a place called Ranger Joe's, and because that title has nothing to do with hair, and is instead all about the equipment and clothing worn in a war zone, I am fearful of the end result.

I must remember that it will grow back.

Living in the Country, Visiting the BIg CIty

Oh, Target! How I have missed thee! Your bright flourescent lighting. Your red and white aisle markers. Your dollar aisle. I was happy today to swipe my card at your store. If you were just closer than a 47 minute drive, my life in Georgia would be complete - well, almost complete. Somewhere in the mix I need to add employment, church membership, and the eradication of pawn shops on every corner of my current home of record. Then my life would be complete.

We drove to Savannah today to meet with some friends of ours from Virginia. It has been on our calendar for three weeks, and I was giddy with anticipation awaiting the day we got to drive to the city. In case you are wondering, it met my every expectation. While there, we made our rounds to the book store, Target, a mall, and Home Depot. In other words, civilization. The boys had already forgotten that you can buy anything at Target. Thankfully, I did, too, and totally bypassed the carts upon entering the store. Otherwise, I would have purchased it all.

Despite the looks of sympathy I receive when I tell others where we live, Hinesville isn't all that bad; there are a few bright spots. For my own sanity let me make a quick list.
- We can drive to St Simon's Island in 56 minutes. I tried to persuade Wes that the commute from the island would be much like, maybe less, of a drive than what he had in DC, but he didn't go for it. Living on St Simons would be a total dream for me. TOTAL DREAM!
- We can swim every day because you never have to doubt that the temp might fall below 94 degrees. As a result, we have some awesome tans, and we can all swim a pretty mean breast stroke.
- Maria, Patrick, and Parker are willing to play with us when we are bored. We met them the first week we were here, and we all hit it off instantly. Friends like this are hard to find.
- National parks, state parks, and more parks. The heat and bugs don't keep us away -except for this week when the temp hovered at 110 and I felt certain the boys would melt into the cannons at Fort Jackson!
- Our house. I like it more and more every day. I will love it once our backyard doesn't resemble The Outer Banks.

Small town living isn't that bad, and when I am experiencing the withdrawls associated with the shortage of conveniences of city living, we can make the short drive to the wonderful city of Savannah. In just a few weeks soccer will have us there every weekend, and I will probably long for a weekend in our small lazy town.

Swim Boys!

We have had considerable trouble with getting the boys into swim lessons and/or enrolled with a swim team. However, we had another family recommend the local rec dept swim program, and we enrolled. Today was the first lesson, and this is what we experienced.

No blue square leg swim trunks required.

No goggles allowed.

Little to no instruction provided.

Sixteen year old "instructor" yells in frustration multiple times during lesson, "Float! Float! I don't know why boys can't float!"

Multiple jumps off the diving board into the deep end "just for fun."

I should have known I was in trouble when I approached the swim director with my Swim Kids cards from Virginia that showed my boys' current swim levels and skills. Because with a quick glance, the elderly director replied, "That's nice, Ma'm, but I am a certified swim instructor, and I will assess your boys prior to placement."

Then the assessment was this: "Swim Boys!"

I miss Swim Kids in Virginia where the ugly blue square leg trunks are required and goggles are encouraged. I don't know what I expected after only paying $25 per boy here in Georgia, but it was definitely more than what I am getting. Like swimming.

However, as the boys dried off at the end of their first lesson, both exclaimed, "THIS WAS AWESOME, MOM! THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SWIM KIDS!!!"

Well of course it was, Guys. You just had a play date in water instead of swim lessons. 

St. Simon's Island

Ten years ago today I flew to St. Simon's to visit my good friend Rachel who was living there at that time with her husband and newborn son. Five children later, more than fifteen moves between us later, and ten long years later we met up again in the same locale. It is just as beautiful and quaint as I remembered!

Our kids had a great time together. Can't you tell?

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the walking tour in the heat of the day that was the real fun. It was only 95 with a heat index of 104.

But the beach was just right!

Cold Blooded Adventures

We found the city library, their calendar of weekly, if not daily, events, and we decided this might be something more like what we are used to in Virginia. We attended our first program today, Cold Blooded Adventures, an educational program presented by a local reptile sanctuary. I chose a seat away from the main floor, but when the tupperware boxes filled with lizards and pillowcases stuffed with snakes made their entrances, I still began to breathe short shallow breaths. I knew then that there is something that I detest about having boys...their fascination for animals that I feel the need to stab and kill upon sight.

And while I am on topic of boys and annoying behaviors, let me briefly refer to their incessant need to wrestle. At all times. In all places. Even First Baptist at Lyons. Where we were guests. You'll notice the carpet burns on Keagan's face. That is due to a drop that Evan did one day when I went out for a run.

While Mr. Dundee made his rounds with the animals, I did just fine with the turtle and the tortoise. I was even okay with the giant lizards, but when the pythons came out, I almost ran. Then the presenter asked me if I wanted to pet Taylor Swift, his seven foot python; he asked this as the snake began to curl its tail and head around the man's arm and leg. One woman exclaimed, "Oh, how beautiful is that!" And I thought I was going to throw up. Seriously throw up.

I leaned as far away from the animal as my back would allow and shook my head with a fierce no. There was no way I was going to touch anything. A nice contradiction to Evan who was so excited with the presentation that he jumped up and down when the first lizard made its appearance. I was so concerned with finding the nearest exit that I didn't see his expression when the first python made its way out of his pillowcase, but he later told me it was the best thing ever. 

The next presenter is a magician, much more my speed, as long as there are no tupperware boxes or pillowcases.

Soccer Camp

Every summer we participate in some kind of soccer camp. As soon as I learned we were headed to Georgia, I started looking for soccer related clubs and programs, and I found very few options.

Unless we lived in Atlanta.

And we don't. In fact, it is five hours away. Too far for even this crazed soccer mom to drive.

We did find, however, lots of baseball.

As you know, the boys have little interest in baseball, and this has proven enigmatic with the locals. They all look at us in bewilderment when I tell them the boys play soccer, and they try to soften their "them crazy yankee kids" looks with phrases full of apologies like, "Hum, now, boys. It won't take long 'for you git the itch to play baseball."

After countless emails to the local rec department (yes, despite my earlier encounters with the locals' refusal to incorporate email communication in their business plans, a few of the local organizations do have email addresses), I found a skills based soccer camp coached by one of the local high school coaches. I had my doubts. I wasn't quite sure anyone in the local area actually knew the game of soccer, much less was able to coach it.

As it turns out, the camp was an incredible opportunity for the boys to show the coach, who also directs a local soccer league, what they were able to do on the field. By the end of the first day, both boys were invited to join the town's travel soccer team. At the end of the week, I decided the coach was worthy of my soccer stars, and I registered them with his league.

Here's to the newest members of the Gators U-8 and U-10 travel teams!

I have already been told that the other parents are leary of anyone from the "outside" joining the Gators. I am hoping our common love for the game of soccer will unite us, and the family of "yankees from up north" will be accepted.

If not, there's always baseball.

Story Time with Pirates

Another Fort Stewart event...Library Story Time. This week we were to dress as pirates and come ready to hear stories related to pirates and treasure. Although he was picture perfect in his pirate themed costume, Evan refused to participate because he is "too big" for picture books. Keagan spent more time pretending to stab himself with his sword than actually listening to the stories. And I spent half an hour wondering if mothers with babies know that crying babies should be removed from a library - especially during story hour.

I think we were all wishing we were at home watching the end of the Germany/Spain semi-final game.

But alas it was craft time, and we escaped to the back corner so that Keagan could create a treasure map. He pondered long and hard.

Instead of creating a treasure map, Evan popped his Civil War gun at anyone who walked by. He received lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from other boys, and he pretended to not know any of us who actually participated in the craft. I caught this shot with the camera on my hip. He has mischief written all over his face, and my backside, no doubt, is his intended target.

Eventually, Keagan created a treasure map of the house where he planned to hide thing of extreme value (ie: Airheads). Never mind that the location of each Airhead is clearly identified in the map, and therefore, the act of hiding the candy is not really necessary.

With the map completed and the gun popped more than I count, we rushed home to see if the soccer game had run late. We were quick to hear that Germany had lost. Maybe going to the library wasn't that bad; none of us wanted to see our favorite team lose.

Happy Fourth of July

We hope your Independence Day was filled with great food and fond memories.

Fort Morris

What better way to spend the July 4th holiday than at Fort Morris, the site of the 1779 battle between the Patriots and British? After the opening ceremonies and the flag raising ceremony, the boys participated in pre-Revolutionary War games, games that we are all fairly familiar with like spoon races and sack races. 

And there were games we were not as familiar. Like games that involve the chunking of hatches.

And I have been worried about the boys playing in the yard with toy guns.

When the four year old girl wanted to give it a try, you can rest assured we hid behind the closest tree. Her chunking was not predictable.

When Keagan threw the ax, the audience ooohed and awwwed. No one believed such a little guy could have such strength.

When Evan threw the hatchet, the people at the next game station, ran for the nearest tree. He threw it that far. All four times. He doesn't know "chunk softly."

For each activity, the boys earned gold doubloons. At the end of the tour, the boys traded their gold pieces for a prize. Keeping the tradition of colonial toys and traditional games, Keagan selected a gooey plastic worm and Evan selected a paddle ball set made in China.

Freedom Carnival

I have never spent so much time on a military installation like I have this week, but without the amenities of the installation, we would have nothing else to do. Unless you count the Sonic Happy Hour, and we have been there done that. A lot. And we have been to Lowe's so many times the credit card company called last week to see if we really needed to make that many purchases. We did and we will be back probably tomorrow.

Today we attended the 4th of July Carnival hosted by MWR on post. There was food, carnival rides, games, crafts, a petting zoo, and bounce houses....all free and great fun.

Keagan's favorite part of the day, he said, was playing "war" with electronic guns. 

Evan joined him.

It still concerns me greatly that the boys have such a fascination with shooting up the neighborhood or other little boys with electronic guns, Civil War pistols and even Star Wars swords. It was cute when we lived in Virginia and until the reality of war became something we couldn't ignore. It is pervasive here in Hinesville.

Side note: You might notice that Evan has on two different shoes. He is not trying to make any fashion statements; this was not on purpose. He actually put on both shoes without realizing he did not have a matching pair. Wes says we should not be concerned because this lack of detail must be a sign that he is a genius. Because just like our psych prof at Austin College, Hank Gorman couldn't match his clothes or shoes, and he is the smartest person that we have ever known.

I am not convinced because after I went back to the closet this morning to change my own shorts, Evan said, "That looks much better, Mom. The yellow shirt really looks better with those shorts." And I took the fashion advice of my seven year old son who left the house with two different shoes. Hum....

You can take the kid out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the kid.

Evan's highlight of the day was the bull ride. He said, "I will never forget that ride."

With this awesome photo of his fall, we want to make sure that no one does.

At the end of the day, we headed home for some much needed rest, matching shoes, and a double take in the mirror just to make sure I didn't look totally ridiculous at the town fair. Keagan had it easy on the long walk back to the car.