Camp Dawson.

JUNE 29th

Spencer spent a week at a military camp, Camp Dawson, this past summer.

He wasn't sure what to expect but he was looking forward to it.

At the end of the camp week they had a graduation ceremony.

We coordinated everything before camp to make sure that Spencer's dad would be able to watch his camp graduation ceremony.

We drove to Camp Dawson the day before.....and let me just say it is a drive.

We drove long curvy roads that seemed endless, up a mountainside and then back down again, and then back up again....I was beginning to believe we would never find this place.


We woke checked in at Camp Dawson LATE that night.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and then got ready for to go to the ceremony.

Grandad and Grandma came to his camp to see his graduation.

The kids were all marched in as they sang their cadences and did what the instructors told them to do.



Katie recorded Spencer marching in for me while I took pictures.


Jerome was able to watch his camp graduation from Afghanistan.

When Spencer marched in I could tell he knew his dad was watching.




After the graduation they were dismissed.

We walked out into the large hall and found a place where the sound didn't echo so much, so that Spencer could hear his dad talking to him through Skype.

Unknowingly Spencer was standing at parade rest at first while he was talking to his dad.

I guess he had been taught so much the past week at camp which way to stand, that now it was just second nature to do so.


These next two make me happy and sad all at the same time.

The first picture is how he lights up and is himself again while talking to his dad; the second, how he is when he is missing his dad.


One of his instructors came over to talk to Spencer.

Spencer proudly introduced him to his dad and they all three had a good conversation.

He was holding the phone up to see how much Spencer really does look like his dad.


Grandad joined in on the conversation too.



Spencer's sweet girlfriend Danielle traveled up with us too.

They were both happy to see each other.


Then Spencer got his shirt signed by one of his instructors.

A few of Spencer's friends signed his shirt and he signed theirs.

We stopped at the small gift shop there and bought Jerome some nice boot socks to ship over to him.

We started on the road and the first thing Spencer said as we were driving away, "I've never done so many push ups in my life!"

Strawberry Pickin'

June 20th.

 Katie dressed up in her white cotton dress.

I braided her hair and tied the ribbons.

I'm going to miss seeing these braids and ribbons on her when she gets older.

It reminds me of when she was very little, she loved having her hair in braids just like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

We took some pictures with the strawberries.
 

The Deployment Trees.

June 26th


I went with a friend of mine to a nursery that was closing to buy some trees and shrubs.

We drove home with Jerome's truck FULL of trees and shrubs.

I bought three Cleveland pear trees, two red maple trees, one peach tree, three apple trees, and four holly bushes....all for less than one hundred dollars.

I was excited being able to buy so many trees for so little.

But what I didn't think about was the amount of holes in the ground I'd have to dig.

That evening my plan was to get the trees planted in the ground.


I wanted to mow the lawn first....at least where I was planting the trees so that it would look really nice when I was finished.

I pulled the riding mower out.....it wouldn't start.

I pulled the push mower out.....it wouldn't start.

I decided to try the riding mower again, and with luck it started but was making an AWFUL noise. I turned it off, afraid that I would mess it up, walked across the street to my neighbors and asked if he could help me figure out why my mower is making that noise. He told me that he will when he has time......that right now he was busy planting all the trees that his wife had bought.

I said I understood and walked back to my yard. I decided to mow at least the place where I was going to plant the trees. I think you could have heard the mower a mile away....but I mowed it anyway.

Then I started digging the first hole for the first tree.

Our ground was SOLID and it took me almost an hour to dig that first hole.

I felt a sense of accomplishment when I looked at that first tree planted in the ground that I did all by myself.

Then I started on the second hole for the second tree.

This one took even longer.

As I was digging I couldn't help but watch my neighbors across the street.

Her husband was home. Her husband was digging the holes and planting the trees. Her husband was there.....mine was not.

I was still struggling with that second hole, trying to just get a hole dug so that I could plant the second tree.

My mind was flooded with thoughts of how I wish my husband was home.

I couldn't help but be jealous every time I would glance over at my neighbors house.

I had planted one tree in the time that he had planted four.

I was digging the hole alone and missing Jerome every single time I would put that shovel in the ground.

Molly, our dog, just kept looking at me. She knew I was upset and therefore staid right by my side.


My emotions took over and I began to cry.

I felt alone. I felt like I was NEVER going to get these trees planted.

I went inside had a good cry. Poured me a tall glass of ice water. Pushed the lonely thoughts out of my mind and made myself get back out there and finish planting those trees.

By that night I had the three Cleveland pear trees planted that I had wanted to get planted that evening.

It was late and it was dark. I was watering my trees in the moonlight. But I did it, I managed to get those three trees planted....even if it did take me hours upon hours to do.....I did it, alone.

The next morning I woke up, smiled at how pretty the trees looked in the yard, tied a small yellow ribbon around each one, stepped back and decided these trees......these three trees were forever going to be known to me as the deployment trees.