Latest from COT
    Got to talk to Mike today. He said he did really well for his baseline PT test this morning. He did about 45-47 (I forgot) push ups and sit ups. I think they are given 1 minute. I will have to ask. He ran a 12 minute 1 1/2 mile too. He said even though they have to wake up at 4:30 and he is running on very little sleep, he wakes up a little early each day out of excitement!
    He has an academic test tomorrow then actually gets a little break over the weekend since Monday is a holiday. I thought for sure it wouldn't be for them. That was a nice surprise.
    Yesterday he was the first one to volunteer to lead his flight (his group of about 15). He said he got yelled at quite a bit and corrected quite a bit (as they all do all day long) but said he really enjoyed it. Nothing like having to march 15 folks who all still have no real clue how to march. lol He did get a compliment as he was the only flight leader of the many for the class of 290 who did a certain procedure correctly. That was pretty cool.

    The kids are holding up well. They go back and forth between playing well together then fighting over nothing. I do sense an improvement in attitude overall since school has been out though. They love playing with friends, but have also been very creative this week when playing together. The most recent fun, they played that they were "meeps" whose job it was to save the world. They all had a pair of stockings on their head. It was precious!

Getting Ready and Saying Good-bye

Mike got all of his gear packed up and ready to go the other night. It is amazing how much stuff you can pack into one of those duffle bags!

We couldn't believe it was already here, the time to say good-bye. Although we are so excited about this new endeavor, there is never really a good way to prepare for being apart. Mike got each of the kids a little gift that he gave them the morning he left and he wrote a letter for each of them to be opened in the coming weeks.

  Getting their goodies

The saying good-bye part was ok, but you could tell the kids were a little sad getting "just one more hug" over and over from Daddy.

I absolutely LOVE this picture of my boys!

But as Mike prepared to drive away, Katherine burst out crying yelling, "I LOVE YOU DADDY, I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO!!". Oh boy, I almost lost it at that point. Here is the picture I caught right as she started the water works and was wiping away her tears.

During his training, he will be busy and out of contact most of the time. Although we have already heard  bits and pieces of his adventure via text and a quick call. Today he told me he is the 'dad figure' of his flight and already the guys are coming to him with questions and to borrow supplies they didn't think to bring. He said it's not the "full metal jacket" experience he expected, but then again time will tell. 

Please continue to pray and I will keep you all updated as I get new info from Mike. Don't forget to send him a card or letter if you can. If I didn't already send you the address, email or call me and I will get it to you.

Hugs,

Robin

TESTING

Hey everyone, I am going to try and keep our blog up to date so I can post what Mike sends me while he is in COT and what we are doing as well. Please send me a quick email to let me know if this post came to you via email. I am not sure what I am doing so I don't know if I did this right.

PS attaching a picture for fun.