Our Move to Georgia: Part 1!

Since I know that you will all enjoy some pictures along with the tale, and I haven't uploaded my pics yet - they are currently "syncing" to the web - I'll just make a quick installment now with the basics.

The kids and I are now officially residents of Columbus, Georgia.  We are living in an AWESOME apartment complex/community, and so far are loving it.  We go for a 30-45 minute walk around our fishing pond every evening before bath time to say hi to the 2 families of ducks, geese and the blue heron that live in the pond.  The walk, of course, can not be finished without a swing on at least one of the two swing sets / playgrounds that we pass by on the walk.  I pondered turning on our heat the other morning, because it was a bit chilly - nearly 45 degrees!  AND... we got to see daddy for just under 48 hours!  We just dropped him off 2 hours ago back at his barracks.

Joe is now officially a SENIOR Officer Candidate (OC) - just to warn you, I will probably begin to more and more write in the military short hand, but I will try to always write it out in the long hand at least the first time I refer to it.  They had a very nice ceremony on base, and the kids and I were able to meet many of his fellow OCs and a few of their wives.  The second ceremony of the day was where the OCs were able to choose their "branch" - what their specific "job" in the army will be (at least for the immediate future).  Joe was in the first half of the class, which had been ranked based on physical and intellectual standards, so he had a pretty good selection of branches to choose from.  He chose to brand Military Police (MP).  We are both very content with this decision, though it was a bit of a surprise to both of us - we had been talking much more about infantry/armor recently.

We don't know all that much about what this will mean for our future, other than the fact that his next level of training will take place at the wonderful Fort Leonard Wood, MO... Woo Hoo!

Well... I'll hopefully write more tonight and get you some pictures of us and our place.

Love,
Maria, Button, and Boomer.