An email from a friend

Kevin sent this in response to an email about how hot it has been in MN. His mom was thinking that we have it pretty good compared to his weather forcast of highs in the 120's and lows in the 90's. This was what he had to say:

Funny. I just got back from a run. 0500 is prime time to run, as it's cool, but the sun is up so we can see fine. It is also funny that I have actually gone outside in the middle of the night (I'm currently on night shift for another week) and it feels cool, almost chilly at 85! Not looking forward to being a day walker again... And yes, Plant life is one of the things I miss. You can't see much more than the occasional weed and all of about 3 trees anywehere!

I got a good repsonse to one of my previous emails a few days ago. This is from one of my groomsmen, Enjoy:

This past weekend I biked the MS 150, a ride from Duluth to the Twin Cities. As I was biking, some ATVs passed on a sandy trail next to me. Initially, I thought about how sore I was from biking 90 miles in two days, how I was out in the 80 degree heat while I was biking, and how the dust the ATVs kicked up was annoying. I was ready to give up and take the 90 miles as a good accomplishment so I could go home and see my wife and my dog.

Then I remembered you, Dave, Ben, and the rest over there in Iraq. I thought about how 80 degrees is a cold day, how dust kicked up by a vehicle is the norm, not the exception, and how in addition to your normal tech type jobs, you have physical work to do too. I thought about how you're not doing this for two days out of the year, but day in and day out. As I kept biking there were people on the side of the road cheering and telling us what a good job we were doing. When I crossed the finish line, there were hundreds of people cheering about how I had done a great thing. All I had done was bike 75 miles a day for two days. I have people telling me at work how impressed they are that I finished it, and I think of my friends in Iraq.

I know I haven't been replying to all of your emails, but I read every one of them, and I think about you over there, separated from your family, friends, and ten week old house. I appreciate all that you are doing for us, and I'm glad to hear that you are doing well. You are the ones that we should be cheering, not some computer tech that decides to get off his ass for two days and pedal a bike. Please feel free to share this with anyone else that you see from our unit.

Nick

Spring Hanger Dance

2009 Boys (2006 girls)

This is our girls along with 3 friends family's. We all have (or will have) 2009 Boys and all but one of the 2006 babies were girls. Now that's what I call a party...

So Proud!

Daddy's Girl

Elena's Soccer

It was fun to watch the Kindergarten and first grade teams develop over their 5 weeks of practice/games. Elena spent a lot of time in goalie which she seemed to enjoy. It's easy to get distracted when you are running around the field...giving hugs, talking with the opposite team....

Elena's Kindergarten Graduation

Receiving her diploma!

Elena and Mrs. Kittilson

Lucy's T-Ball

She's all about the game, deep in thought, check out that stance...

Hmmm...should I make a run for the ball or the playground next to the field...

Her coach convinced her to put the mitt on the correct hand.

It's all about...the sand...
We only made it to about 10% of the T-Ball practice for Lucy, bad weather, bad timing, not much interest in the game. She loves to talk about it now, even if it only lasted about 20 minutes total!

Giraffes at the MN Zoo

The girls and I took a quick trip to the MN Zoo recently and they were able to feed the giraffes. They have been hearing about them via the advertisements on the radio, so they were pretty excited about the purple tongues!

What to do today? USO

About everyother time that I call home, I get asked: "What do you need/ What can I send you?" Thus far, I've haven't really had an answer other than to help with the kids and upkeep of the house (Thanks Mom, Dad, Audrey, and everyone else who's pitched in! It's greatly appreciated.) For the most part, we really don't need anything here. What we have been using on a daily, or several times a day basis is the USO. They provide Free Internet, Free phone call where you only have to dial the phone # (not 4 phone #s, a code, then talk to a person to get a switchboard call,) Games systems, movies etc... So, I finally have an answer to everyone: Donate to the USO. Don't have money, check out the website at USO.Org and see "How to Help"on the top right.




Mr Sears, one of the help desk/ IT Gurus poses. In the midle is a phone bank, and background has computers and games systems. Oh, one area I didn't take a picture of is the lounge, where there's microwave popcorn, tea and a bunch of other snacks. In short, GIVE TO THE USO! Thanks!

Elena dances to "Singing in the Rain"

Elena is the one with the long blond ponytail. She is usually 2nd from the right.

Lucy dances to Under the Sea

I finally downloaded some video clips. Lucy is the littlest (and the one dancing to her own beat) one on the left.

Sisters

 

 

 

 

A few snapshots from Disney!

Lucy Dances!

 

 

 

This is just too cute for words. She actually did a great job dancing to "Under the Sea". It was probably the live production at Disney that we saw a few weeks ago that instilled her dancing abilities!

Ft Lewis II

The weather patterns are fairly different than I’m used to: Storms without lightning and thunder, clouds for days on end, and fog! The fog around here is amazing. At home, we’ll get fog, and occasionally it will stick around for a full day. Here, it’ll show up, overstay its welcome, and still not leave! The hills behind the barracks are covered with trees. A few days ago, the fog came in, and we could see it traveling different routes, we actually watched the fog come in, roll though an open area, and then climb in a channel as if moving through a tube through the tree-tops. It climbed up the hill in the tube before saturating the area and finally filling in the gaps. It was rather odd to watch, especially as we were at the range with constant volleys of gun fire erupted between us and the view.

Daily life: We’ve finally settled into a routine, (other than listening to rumors.) Wakeup, eat, hygiene, barracks maintenance (clean the bathroom etc), get ready for the day’s activities which has mostly been classroom/hands on with our New Commo equipment. I learned last week that we, the MN Guard, is the first unit to deploy with the complete commo system. Take that active duty! (there’s often a bit of rivalry between us “Weekenders” and Active component, the latter claiming NG stands for Nastie Girls and that we don’t know what we’re doing.) I’m doing what I can to catch up to the kids that I’m leading, (ok, 3 are about my age and 1 older, but the others are all pretty young.) I’m feeling a bit over my head, and I’m trying to tell myself it’s normal while simultaneously using that as motivation to keep studying in the evenings. I’m very grateful for all the intelligent people that we’ve gathered, that I will lead and who will help train me as a leader, and find it amusing what an oddball group it is.

Rumors: We’re getting pass! We’re not getting pass!$#@ We’re going to Bagdad. No we’re not. We won’t be getting leave. We might. There’s no commo mission. We’ll be diverted to Afghanistan. We’ll be extended. We’ll be cut short. It’s amazing what happens when you put a group together. Here’s what I know: We’re going to SW Asia (read the newspapers). We are going to get to play with computers. Our personal and protective gear that we got issued is SWEAT!! The body armor that I got issued in June, that’s old news: we got new ones here that are way better (and way more expensive I’m sure!)

While I’m much less busy than some (including Dave, who just got here but I’m sure will be playing makeup until we get home next year!) I’m busier than I’m used to and that’s why I haven’t talked to many. At the same time, I don’t have all of the tasks that I do at home: help with the dishes (we have chow hall and MREs), shovel the driveway (the few times it’s snowed were light), and the ones I really miss: getting the kids to bed and tucking them in, swimming, playing, tickling, hugging etc… While nothing can replace those things, it’s easier to know that I’ll be in a much better position when I get home: I’ll have a strong resume, great experiences, good income for a year, and hopefully the economy will have recovered and I be able to find a job! Hope everyone is well, and don’t hesitate to call!
Ciao, K

Ft Lewis

I've made it to Ft Lewis. It's a beautiful area, about 45 minutes from Seattle, and 2 hours from Portland. The first weekend here, I was able to get off and dip down to Jon and Cindy's for a three day weekend. Not wanting to be a leader without men, I took one of my privates with me (I extended the invitation so as to not leave him stranded.) On Friday Eric and Hubred and I went East to the mountains for sightseeing and a hike.

Notice the house

My Cousin Eric.

A few days later, it was back to work. This was probably the most physically demanding of my Advance Party days. We unloaded more than 1,000 weapons, and put them into the vaults. this was about a six hour job, of moving crates and racks, and making sure each and every weapon was clear of ammo before Ft lewis would let us put them away! ARRRGGG!
The Main Body ARRIVES. This is McCord AFB, their flight in the foreground, Rainier in the background.

This is a blurry pic from our barracks. You can't really see in the pic, but Mt Rainier is beautiful (center frame)!

And last and least, our barracks area. we had snow for about 1.5 days. Last taste of home for a while?