Happy Fall

Being silly at Gigi and Pop's
Sitting around with my entourage of stuffed pets--wearing my tutu and reading a book!

Here Payton, chew on this!

Nighttime snack!

Can you see me? I'm camoflauged by bubbles...

The confidence course at MCRD Parris Island

Hard to see in this picture but above the door it reads, "Through these portals pass prospects for America's finest fighting force. United States Marines" These are the doors the recruits pass through after they get off their bus and get their Yellow Footprints speech...then begins their 12 week training.

At North Myrtle Beach collecting shells.

Movie star...had to find the right light...

Relaxing on the couch after a long day at the beach...

Hi All:

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. We've been busy! After getting things back in order once our visitors headed back north, we all prepared for a trip up north! Casey and I headed up on 9/7 and spend a wonderful week visiting family and friends...Kyle joined up with us on 9/11 and we became Godparents to our beautiful niece, Payton on 9/13. Casey was a scene stealer during Payton's baptism as she threw a fit in front of our entire congregation, but we don't think Payton minded much :o)

Upon our return to SC, we got things back in order--spent a day as a family out on the boat and then I did 2 days of LINKS training on base. LINKS is a program through Marine Corps Community Services that helps spouses, children, and even service members themselves gain a better understanding of their "world". It was a wonderful training and I got to meet some great people. I've actually signed up as a volunteer mentor and hope to help present some of these trainings myself in the near future! The day after I finished LINKS training, we did a "Windshield Tour" of the Recruit Depot. What an awesome experience. We got to see the squad bays, the recruits training on Leatherneck Sqaure, witness events at the Crucible, and were even given the pick up speech and YellowFootprints speech by 2nd Battalion Drill Instructors. It was pretty incredible. We got to see and witness things that most people who are not in the military will never get to. Especially enjoyed watching the Crucible events. (We were not allowed to take pictures here...)

While I was busy doing these events, Casey got to spend some time in the on-base daycare and she was a trooper. She wasn't super excited about it, but she had a little fun and even got to fingerpaint on her last day.

Casey, Jimmy, and I got to visit w/Kyle's mom, dad, aunt and uncle up in North Myrtle Beach this past weekend. We had a great time. Casey and Jimmy enjoyed walking on the beach! We got to shop and play cards and eat some yummy food. It was a lot of fun. We even got to visit with an old friend of mine (Shannon) with her little girl Sianna and her husband Abe on Friday for lunch!

Hope you are all doing well...we are hoping for some cooler weather soon~!

Take care --

Love,
Katie, Kyle, Casey and Jim