Playing Catch-Up...

It has been a while since my last post and a lot has transpired since then...so I will play catch-up in this post…

Chris and I recently went to Parent's Weekend at the Air Force Academy.  There is a pretty big hole in our home, and in our hearts, without Brandon around, so Parent's Weekend is pretty special to Chris and I.  We flew to Colorado Springs, and spent 5 days spoiling our eldest son ;)

We arrived on Thursday, the night of August 28, and we were able to pick him up for dinner!  We were pretty excited because Parent's Weekend doesn't officially begin until Friday.  It was awesome to see his smiling face!!  After dinner we had to drop him off at his dorm…he had homework to do :)

The next day, Friday, was the "official" start of Parent's weekend.  We arrived on campus early for the Cadet Parade.  During the parade, each Squadron is marched onto the Parade Field and inspected.  The cluster of cadets in the middle, in the picture below, is Brandon's squadron... 

 After the Squadrons march onto the field, they parade around the field, pass by the Superintendent for Inspection, and then pass by the stands where the parents are sitting.

When Brandon's Squadron marched by the stands we noticed that Brandon was the Guidon bearer…the Cadet carrying the smaller flag for the squadron.  :)  Over dinner the previous night I had asked Brandon where we should sit so that we would see him…all he said to me was "oh you will see me mom" :)

 After all of the Squadrons have paraded around the field, the Superintendent officially releases the cadets to their parents…that is when the fun begins!  Thousands of parents and siblings and families flood the parade field to find their cadet...

 Weston found his brother rather quickly ;)

We hung out with Brandon for the rest of the day... 

Then we got to take Brandon with us to the hotel for the rest of the weekend!  Weston got to wake Brandon up every morning...

 …and he got to hang out with him every day!!!

One of the things we did with Brandon was drive Pike's peak.  We drove from 6,000 feet to 14,110 feet in about 30 minutes.  The temperature was around 80 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and 30 degrees at the top.  We were warned that we may experience altitude sickness…Chris did…Brandon, Weston and I did a little better with just a little headache and thirst.

There were no guard rails on the road on the way up…Chris drove so I think that may be why he felt it more...

 The hairpin turns to get up to the top were crazy!!!

 This is a picture of the treeline…there were no trees past 12,000 feet...

 People claim that they have seen Big Foot on the Peak…but we didn't see him :)

 We didn't see any evidence of Big Foot at all ;)

 It was a very fun weekend!  I miss Brandon already ;)

 We returned home super early…1am…Wednesday morning…and school started Thursday.

Trevor is a junior in high school this year and Joshua is in 8th grade…and they are CLOWNS!!!  

 While the big boys went to school…the little kids and I played with Grammi ;)

We went to the beach…

 We went to the Cape May…

 We went to the aquarium!  We saw the hippos...

 …the sharks :)

…the giant turtles...

…and some divers!!

We also got a chance to see the fish from some pretty weird angles ;)

 We had a great time with Grammi…the time went too fast though…Grammi left yesterday ;(

Today, our homeschool officially began...

We miss you Brandon!!  We miss you Grammi!!  We cannot wait to see you again!!