The Few, The Proud, The Marines...a little taste

Just a little taste of what my little bro, Sam, has been up to the last 7 weeks or so. He is currently attending Officer Candidate School for the Marines in Quantico, VA. He says it is really really hard and I don't doubt him one bit. Here he is pictured above climbing on a rope. He is NOT in any of the rest of the pics below, but these are pics of his plattoon. I just posted them because it looks kind of fun. Ok, OK it looks dang hard! Jackson and I looked at these pics together and I kept saying, "Doesn't that look so hard, Jackson,?" and he kept saying, "That looks so easy and so fun! I want to be a Marine!" Hmmm, what little kid wouldn't love climbing on things, swinging from ropes, carrying around a "toy" gun, swimming through muddy water, and swinging on the monkey bars?

We love you Sam and we are so proud of you! You are so awesome! We can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

I think they have to swim through that cement pipe with just a tiny bit of air at the top. Scary!

Hogle Zoo!

It all started with a fun ride to the zoo in Grandpa's new corvette. Wes and Jackson had to draw straws for who got to ride in the new corvette and as you can see, Jackson won. I don't think there was any real worry about who would win that one...

Grandpa and Grandma treated us with a wonderful day at the zoo. Thank you so much! We had so much fun with you and appreciate you both very much.

Wes says he remembers taking pictures at this water fountain when he was little.

Jackson loves the Penguins of Madagascar so this was a real treat.

London and the tiger

Londie and the giraffes

Jackson's 2nd favorite thing at the zoo. His first favorite was the 3 min. train ride.

Twins!

They had a discover playground which the kids absolutely loved!

Jackson being a little monkey

THANK YOU Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful day at the zoo!

Sunday pics with Grandma and Grandpa

4th of July!

Grandma and Grandpa and Riley and Chel came down for 4th of July. We had a barbecue and invited some friends over for a few fireworks. It got real windy halfway through so we didn't get to finish them.

All the friends over for fireworks
Best Buds

Jacks and Londie

The fam

Captain America!

My friend Lindsey made a cape and skirt for her kids so she made a couple for mine too for 4th of July. She is the best!

London's pretty skirt

Fun at the playground

Camping with Daddy

I took a Certified Nursing Assistant program that was 9 days long all day every day and also included going to a rehab center and doing clinicals over the weekend...so Wes took the kids camping on the weekend and gave me a wonderful break. So here are some pics from their camping trip.

fishing at Strawberry

campsite

Jackson setting up his rabbit trap with marshmallows and sticks

pretty flowers

Good morning

Good night

playing in the back of the truck

Excited about camping!

Jackson Graduates Preschool May 25th

Jackson graduated from preschool at the end of May so I thought I'd post some pics since he looks so cute. Good Job Jackson! His teacher gave nicknames to all the students that went along with their personalities and Jackson was named Mr. Talkative. She said he never stops telling stories.

Here he is with his good buddy Dayton
Getting ready....he looks a little cross-eyed here...

Jackson all grown up and graduating from preschool.