In the military you are often given the chance to live in different places. Some places you fall in love with and others you can't wait to leave. Either way you find things that are unique to that place and you realize how much you miss it all when you are gone. For me Julio chips will always be my favorite and I was excited to find a bag at the store that we could snack on. The other one while living in Texas I thought it was crazy...and a little weird, but I was so excited to have it when I went back. That is a Texas shaped waffle that you get for breakfast at hotel. We spent a lot of time in hotels eating free breakfast when we traveled for soccer. It was something I missed.
We met Eric's friend for dinner at a local restaurant called puffy Tacos. The girls were so to take pictures and its always fun to try something new. It was interesting to talk with someone who knew Eric from when Alex was just little. The stories they had about each other were all so very interesting.
All of that was fun and interesting but we really went to Texas to celebrate Alex graduating from Basic Training. We decided to fly down instead of drive. I am so grateful we didn't drive because it was the longest short weekend ever. We were also reminded of how hot summers are in with humidity and decided we are going to try really hard to stay out in the west when we retire.
We woke up early in the morning to be able to watch Alex run in the Airmen's run they do for graduation. We realized we were a little un prepared as parents going to celebrate. We didn't have matching shirts and we didn't make a sign for him, we just showed up to celebrate with him. Luckily he called us the night before to let us know what flight he was running in so I was able to get a picture of him running. I was excited that I was able to recognize him mixed in with everyone else.
After the run they came back for the coin ceremony. This was a little bit more challenging to be able to find him when everyone is wearing the same uniform, but some how I was able to pick him out and we made him wait for what seemed to him like forever to tap him out. Actually the girls were kind of nervous, I don't think they could tell it was their brother. Eric was so excited to see him and it was great to be able to spend the day with him. The hardest part was to find something to do on a base for eight hours with 600 other basic training graduates and their families. It was a little crazy at some points, it was hot, but the best part of it all was Alex was just happy that we were there and he wasn't marching. We passed the day walking around the eating lunch with everyone, walking around the BX, going to the museum, playing games at the community center, but most of all trying to stay out of the heat.
Friday morning was graduation morning. The graduates marched in a pass and review parade. Watching the military march is always fascinating. According to Eric the basics march better then anyone else you would see march. I was able to get a picture of Alex marching in his flight and I guess I wasn't very subtle because he saw me taking his picture. I only wished I would have brought my better camera to the parade so I could get a better picture of everyone. We had to take a picture in front of the B-17. The same airplane that Grandpa Lescarbeau flew on in WWII. Watching Alex and Eric walking around together was a little crazy. They look the exact same just years apart. We never thought that we would see this day, but it was an amazing weekend to witness.
After the parade we spent the afternoon doing everything we could think of downtown. We started out at the aquarium where we fed sting rays. The girls were so excited to feed them, but then didn't want to touch them. Next we went to the river walk on a boat ride. After the hot ride in the sun we went to get ice cream and walked to the Tower over Americas. There we watched a 4D show in Texas and then went to relax at the hotel before Alex had to check back in.
Last day of fun before we head home was spent walking around Sea World. It was a very hot day, but the girls did a great job walking around and enjoyed everything they could see there. According to our phone we walked over 13 miles. Alex was a great sport, he walked around in long sleeves and and a tie. We split up for a little while so the girls could ride all the rides in the kid zone. We watched Shamu and the dolphin shows. The hardest part of the day was finding something to eat. We ended up with corn dogs and a promise to eat a better dinner. When we first walked in to Sea World we were surprised by their surprise team with quick que passes to all of the rides. The best part about the pass we were able to ride Atlantis 2x's without waiting in line. It was the only big ride the girls could ride on. The liked it so much the first time we road again.
By the time we left Sea World we everyone was exhausted and we weren't even done with our day yet. We still had to get to a soccer game for the even. I loved looking back seeing everyone sleeping. It was an exhausting day filled with lots of adventures. It was good to see how Alex had changed. We weren't sure what the future would bring him but after this weekend we know its going to be great. His head is pointed in the right direction and with his determination he will succeed. More than anything he is so much like his dad but he has become that way a such an earlier age. We are very excited for him.
Sunday turned out to be an adventure. We didn't go see Alex because he just had base liberty and we wanted to go to church before we caught out flight. We thought our flight was a lot sooner than it really was so our day turned out to be a little disappointing. (Only because we had plenty of time to visit Alex). The next hiccup of the day was finding church first thing in the morning that was in English. When we finally find one, we ended up at a building that looked more like something I would see on my mission. We did find an English ward, but we still felt a little out of place. People treated my girls and their blonde hair the same way I was treated in my mission. It was a little strange. It was a great experience. We arrive at the airport in Austin only to find out we won't make our connecting flight in Colorado and the only option it to wait for a flight from a different airline that doesn't leave until 6:00 flies to Minnesota and then lands in Boise at midnight. It turned into a very long day at the airport, but the girls did an amazing job traveling and I am grateful for that.
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