Fort Jackson South Carolina

Well, I am now in South Carolina at a small camp near Fort Jackson Army Base (near Columbia). I do infact have internet and will keep up on my blog as much as I can given the limited free time we have here. Today we were issued our body armor (pictures at a later date) and our weapons. I have both a 9mm pistol and M16 rifle while I am here, but will only deploy with the pistol. We will be doing quite a bit of shooting here over the next couple of weeks, so I will hopefully get to be a good shot. I will try to keep up on the blog here, but really, we are only doing training and it is not very exciting, although it is very tiring! The temperature is around 98 with high humidity and we will soon be starting to wear the body armor everywhere which weighs around 65 pounds so I am sure the days will be even more tiring as time goes on. Love to all!

Done with Norfolk

I am completed here in Norfolk and will be headed to Fort Jackson South Carolina in the morning for 3 weeks of learning how to do things the Army way. While at Fort Jackson I may not have good connectivity so I may not be updating my blog much over the next 3 weeks. Here are some pictures of me in my Army Combat Uniform which is what I will be wearing daily for the next 7 months or so...
Love to all!

In Florida and on my way to Norfolk

Well we made it to Florida and have spent much of the last two weeks unpacking and trying to get settled before I fly off to Norfolk this afternoon. We had some fun along the way visiting family in Orlando and going to Gatorland.








We have also been doing some looking for a car for our newest driver. It was a big surprise to us that Heindrek was given a drivers license instead of them renewing his permit. He got a 1997 Geo Prism (same care as a Toyota Corolla) and we spent some time doing all of the preventive maintenance on it. It is not in the best condition, but will be a good teen car for him and he has already gone solo in it.







We have also been doing some fishing from our deck. Jen has caught the most with 3, Shorty has 2, Jason has 1, and Heindrek is still trying. Shorty is the only one to have caught a keeper thus far though...















For those wondering, I did not make O-4, but am hoping the trip to Afghanistan will solidify my chances next year.

I will start writing more now that I will actually begin my training for Afghanistan and will have some time to keep this up.

Love to all!
Jason

Back in Texas!!!

Well, we made it back to Texas and wow the difference is huge!! People here are so nice and we feel like we are back at home. We had very nice visits to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns and after a new tire and minimal inconvenience, we are in Texas and on our way to our house in Sinton. We did make some slight changes to our itinerary along the way. 1. We did not go to 4 corners since it was about 4 hours out of our way and we decided that 60 hours in the car was enough. 2. We only spent 1 night in Carlsbad, then drove to Odessa, TX after our trip to the caverns. We are excited about seeing the house and getting some work done and continuing our trip to Orlando and our new house on Cudjoe Key. For those who do not already have it, our new address is 22910 Privateer Dr. Cudjoe Key, FL 33042 and our phone number will remain the same (361)427-4831. I Will write again from Orlando

We are on our Way to Florida...

O.K. I have received much grief regarding not publishing recently so here is an update... We have moved out of our house in Hawaii and spent 5 days in Waikiki. We then flew to LA after a 5 hour delay and spent a couple of very nice days in California with the Eens. My dad and step mother decided to visit us in California and we all had a great time. We drove to Vegas on Thursday and after visiting the Hoover Dam we spent an exciting night at Cirus Circus on the Strip (or at least what used to be the Strip) and the boys won numerous stuffed toys. Gambling was very successful and we came out 45 cents ahead!! On Friday, we drove to St. George and are enjoying the company of Airplane Grandma, Grandma Gudgell, Granpa Leonard, and the Tylers! We will be leaving on Sunday to go to the Grand Canyon, 4-Corners, Carlsbad Caverns, and Texas.

I will give this a try...

O.K. for those of you on my brother Spencer's blog who have asked when I would start one (Heather), here it is...

Here are our plans to date...

Our family will be packing-up the first week of May and living a minimal existance the last month we are here in Hawaii. I check out of Office of Naval Intelligence Detatchement Commander Pacific Fleet on 10 June after 2 and a half years of an interesting, but very tiring, job. We will be leaving the very isolated and small island of Oahu on 10 June and fly to LA to pick up our car (I am looking forward to see what the Hybrid gets on freeways) and treck cross country with stops in St. George, Utah (to visit my Mother, Grandmother, Step-Father, and other family); the Grand Canyon; Four Corners; Farmington, New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Weatherford, Texas (to pick up some things we left there in 2005); Jackson, Mississippi; Crestview, Florida; and finally Orlando, Florida. Over the next month, we will spend time between Orlando and Key West while we find a place to live in Key West and get the boys enrolled in school. I will then leave in mid-July to start my training for Afghanistan while Jen and the boys will make the move to Key West just before school starts. I am not sure how exactly all of this is going to work, but we are going to try it. We will post pictures soon and keep the site updated between now and the time we leave as well as on our journey cross country!

Love to all!!!!
Jason