Alabama wrap up

Written mid flight from Orlando to Reagan on the 15th. 

I got up early to do one of my favorite things, to run in a new state. They have a cute little hilly neighborhood. I was pretty winded and thought to myself ‘they must have a high elevation’ and then I checked and it was like 380’. 😭 The hills!

Jeanne had never been to Waffle House, so obvi my dad had to remedy that. 

We picked up some things at Walmart, including these cute matchy Heart of Dixie sweatshirts for my dad and I who were very surprised at how cold we were the whole time we were in Alabama. It was v humid, so maybe that’s why? No Alabamans seemed cold, so that seemed weird to us too. 

We bought a puzzle and settled in for the night while Jeanne met up with Christian for a special warrant officer dinner. 

We had family napping hour that afternoon, so I stayed up till midnight working on this. The next morning my dad fixed the pieces I’d messed up and I fished our last piece out of the crack in the coffee table - you can see the piece stuck in there, but I didn’t realize that till after my dad had fixed it. 

Wednesday was the big day! We met up with our warrant officer candidate and he showed us around their cool museum. 

He was the very last candidate called. Saved the best for last. 

Jeanne and I each pinned him and papa got pictures and we’ve got a warrant officer! Jeanne pointing out his cavalry scout 10th mountain badge. 

Lots of pics. 

And one with the celebratory crew. 🎉 🇺🇸🚁

The first soldier to salute after you become an officer is a big deal. You’re supposed to give that person a dollar to commemorate it. So i loaned Christian a dollar to give to papa and then he signed it for him too. ❤️

Christian had to report to his flight school that afternoon so we hung out at home, went for a run and watched a movie. I’m not the biggest animal fan and they always can tell and because I don’t love them, they love me. Both Dorothy and Maggie were all about me. 

Papa let our new WO pick our dinner location and they picked hibachi. None of us remembered that it was Valentine’s Day, but thankfully we got there as soon as they opened and even though it took a long drive one, it was fun and not too crazy. 

Today we woke up early to drive back to the villages. Christian and Jeanne both had to work anyway, so we were all up and at it by 6:30. 

I spy sleepy eyes. My dad and I left at 7 and since we lost an hour we got to his house by 2:00, then I got picked up by the Village Shuttle at 3:30. 

It took a full 2 hours to get to the airport and I grabbed a pretzel and got some steps in. Tonight was our relief society Roundtable and unfortunately my flight left right during it. I was able to log on for the first half, so I listened as I walked. And now I’m in the air halfway to DCA. Thankfully Reagan is only an hour away from home.