Blog Design/Weekend!

My blog design is so icky that I've been avoiding my blog altogether. Hopefully the redesign will be ready next week. This is a temporary "fix".

This weekend I had two opportunities to spend time w/ other military parents.

Friday evening I had dinner with Joy Campbell, the Florida Director for Sew Much Comfort, Deb (an SMC volunteer) and two couples with the Tampa Area Marine Parents Association (T.A.M.P.A.) I'm helping Joy with a database for tracking volunteers, supplies and distribution. SMC is testing a nation-wide database and will import our data next week. Joy "is a Joy" and really does great things to facilitate SMC's service to wounded soldiers.

The Marine group has invited me to join their support group. Joy and I went to their monthly meeting on Saturday and enjoyed hearing all the fun stories from get togethers over the past few years. We met at a pizza parlor named Semper Pi -- promise! It is also a "museum" for all things "Marines"; the owner is known as "Sgt Major." They had a few items for the other service branches so I wasn't completely out of place. And we are ALL in this together!

Still no word from Austin -- we know he is in the middle of Operation Arrowhead Ripper and that his battalion lost another soldier last week. I send a letter almost everyday and just sent off a large package. If he is not at the FOB, he might not be able to keep the things we sent him. There have been many reports of theft of personal items while these guys are out on missions and I'm wondering if Austin still owns a laptop.

Good news, though. Katie will be here Tuesday, July 3, to meet Kris when he arrives in Florida for his 14 days of R&R. He leaves Iraq Monday (that's TOMORROW!!!!!) and his 14 days start counting off when he gets here. They will be spending a week in the Bahamas and staying with us both before and after that trip. The guys are planning a motorcycle ride, which is becoming a tradition whenever Kris is in town.

So one day this week I will be seeing one of my sons!!!!!!!!!! July 5th is Kylee's birthday and she's excited about the possibility of one of her brothers being here. Kylee and her fiance have passes to Disney and w/ Kris and Katie's military discounts I can see a trip over that way too. We really enjoy having dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge. Cafe is an understatement because they serve huge amounts of really great food --- all you can eat!