Michigan

During the last week of August, we headed up to Michigan to visit Bill's family. Once again, I did an awful job of taking pictures but did manage to snap a few.

Hank, Daddy, and cousin Jaxsen on a Model T at Greenfield Village.

Hank's first merry-go-round ride at Greenfield Village

Family and Friends

I'm embarrassed to say that I did a horrible job of taking pictures while we visited our family and friends back in August. Yes, that's right, I'm still blogging about August. I promise I will eventually catch up :) So what I have is a bunch of random pictures taken during our vist to Indiana. (I even had to borrow some from my mom and Aunt Becky)



Hank with his cousins, Eli and Luke.

Hank chillin with Aunt Becky

Bill with a few of his Army buddies.

Grandma, Mommy, and Hank

Me, Hank, and my best friend Liz

Hank and cousin Ellie

Passed out...

Cousins!!

Hank and Grandma

Hank with me and my cousin Meredith (and a soon-to-be new cousin due in March, yay!!!)

Hank and Garmie (great-grandma)





Deep-fried Twinkies!

After taking a few days to rest after our long trip, we joined my cousin Libby and her two boys, Eli and Luke at the Indiana State Fair. We enjoyed some good 'ol fair food (including a deep fried twinkie!), shopping at some of the booths (I just couldn't stay away from the Tupperware booth), and going on a few safe rides.

Hank's first ride. We sat in a giant bear that went very slowly in a big circle.

Libby, Luke, and Eli on the ferris wheel.

It looks like Mommy and Daddy were way more excited about the ferris wheel.

Bill and Eli on the Scrambler.

Looks like someone is having fun at the fair!

2,185 miles!

It seems like I agonized about this road trip for months. I've heard a lot of parents say that their children absolutely loved being in the carseat. Hank has never really enjoyed the carseat that much. I always blamed it on the fact that we had to drive so far to get anywhere out in California. I spent many car trips riding in the back seat with him. So I felt incredibly guilty every time I thought about him having to be in the carseat for over 2,000 miles. Thankfully, my mom was able to take time off from work and make the trip with us. Turns out, I worry too much. Hank was such a trooper. Of course, he got very tired of the carseat (What baby wouldn't?!), but he napped a lot, and we were able to make it to Indiana in 3 days including a stop at Fort Leonardwood in Missouri to visit some friends.

Hanging out in the hotel after a long day of driving.

One of many naps taken on the trip.

Aunt Becky met us for a pit-stop in Terre Haute - I think she wanted bragging rights as one of the first to meet Hank :)

So long, farewell....

My last blog entry took place on August 8th, and my mom flew out to California on August 9th. Hank and I picked her up at the airport in Ontario (California, not Canada) which is about 2 hours from Fort Irwin. We spent the next few days getting everything that we had left organized and packed into the truck and van. We actually still had a fair amount of stuff left because we weren't sure how quickly we would get a house at Fort Polk - and it's hard to travel light with a 3 month old! We said goodbye to Fort Irwin on August 12th and began the long trip to Indiana, where we would spend a few weeks visiting family.

This coyote sits by the security gate at the entrance to post. They say that if you don't kiss the coyote before you leave Fort Irwin, then you will get orders to come back to Fort Irwin at some point. Now I actually liked Fort Irwin, but I kissed the coyote because there are plenty of other places that I would rather go.

This is the rock pile. Every unit that comes to train at Fort Irwin can paint a rock here before they leave.

This is when I first got to Fort Irwin back in September 2009. We weren't even married yet!

A lot has changed since then :)

Fort Irwin is notoriously known as one of the worst places to get stationed at if you're in the Army. There is a shirt they sell at Fort Irwin that says something along the lines of "The best view of Fort Irwin is in my rearview mirror." This is what Fort Irwin looked like in my rearview mirror on the day we left. I was a little bummed because usually the sky is clear and you can see all the buildings on post better and the mountains/hills in the background. All in all I really enjoyed our time at Fort Irwin, but on to new adventures!

It's almost time to say goodbye to Fort Irwin...

I can't say that I was ever super excited about moving to Louisiana. To be honest, I feel like I've been constantly moving since I started undergrad at Hanover in 2002 - moving in and out of the dorms and sorority house, spending a summer in Louisville, moving down to Lexington for PT school where I lived in 2 different apartments during my 3 years there, moving out to the apartment in Barstow, and then moving on post after we got married. I loved our house at Fort Irwin - for Army housing, it was "the bomb." I loved my job even though I had to drive 40 miles there and back every day. And I had learned to like the desert - it's really easy to pick up the dog poop when it's sitting on rocks in the back yard :) But when I married Bill, I also married the Army so I knew that we would eventually have to move whether I was ready or not. My last day of work at the nursing home in Barstow was August 4th. Hank's last day at the Fort Irwin daycare was August 8th. This was also the day that the movers loaded up almost all of our belongings onto a huge moving truck. I can't really say why, but I had a hard time watching them carry all of our stuff out of the house. It didn't help that the moving truck driver described Hank's crib has "used" and "scratched" on the inventory sheet - you tell me how "used" a brand new crib can look after a newborn has slept in it for 2 months! But I survived the movers, and Bill and I picked Hank up from his last day of daycare together. Of course, I was teary-eyed while picking him up - I can't believe how emotional I was during all of this - it seems so silly now!!

Since we didn't have much left at the house, we decided to take a small hike in the desert and snap a few pictures.

This is part of our 40 mile drive on Fort Irwin Road taking us from Barstow to Fort Irwin. It looks like this for the entire 40 miles - absolutely nothing but desert!

Welcome to Fort Irwin!!

Such a big guy!!

Let's finish out July....

Here are some pictures that should finish off the month of July...