Trip to Fort Rucker, Alabama August 17, 2013

Heather called about 5 pm on Saturday and said...
 "Mom how do you feel about leaving tonight instead of tomorrow and head out to Alabama?"
 I said...
"sure I can be ready in about 2-3 hours...come get me"
And so the great adventure to Ft. Rucker and Chad's graduation from Warrant Officer school begins.
In the two hours I managed to color my hair, shave my legs, shower, pack and get my special food stuffs together for the trip.  I had thought she meant we would drive all the way through to Alabama but she surprised me and we stopped over in Russellville, Arkansas for the night!

The next morning we got up early and continued on to Ft. Rucker.  The going was mainly on 4 lane roads and the trip was fairly uneventful until we arrived at Ft. Rucker after dark!  OMG!  I can't remember in recent history being anywhere that was so dark and we had to find our way around the guest cabins and lake with very little out side lighting and around narrow roads at a mere crawl.  We rented a cabin on post that is on Lake Tholocco that the Army rents to transient and holidaying personnel and families and those that come down to a graduations.   The cabin is essentially a 2 bedroom house fully stocked with everything you would need...coffee pot, dishes, cooking utensils, linens etc.

Ft. Rucker is an aviation training facility for helicopter pilots and there is always a drone of helicopters going over.  It is also one of the training facilities the Army has for training non-commissioned and warrant officers other then just the helicopter pilots.   I always knew that there was a difference in commissioned, non-commissioned, and warrant officers (WO) but didn't realize how little I knew and when Chad told us about his being chosen to become a WO I started to Google so I could become more knowledgeable!  If you ever get a chance to go by Ft. Rucker stop in and visit their air museum...it is worth the stop!

Here are a few pictures from the trip I thought I would share...I had a really great time visiting with Chad, Candice, and of course the grand daughters Teresa (4) and Hannah (2).

View from the screened in porch at our cabin

Heather standing in front of our cabin!

 This was the classic scene we saw once DaDa got to come home from the meetings and camp.  Where one family member was they all were....geesh!  You would think they missed him or something!

 Chad and Candice returning to the cabins after a reception honoring all the WO candidates. 

 While Mom and Dad were doing classes and attending to various business Aunt Heather and I got to have the girlie's all to ourselves and had a great time at the parks around us.   The weather in Alabama didn't cooperate very well though being humid and rainy most of the time but thanks to the occasional breaks we were able to go outside occasionally.  Thank heavens for the screened in porches and DVD players available in each cabin to keep folks entertained!

 Teresa never went down slides instead choosing to climb up them instead!

 Hannah and her "jamma's" that went everywhere with her!  Jamma's were a call to action when Hannah managed to lose one of two pairs of pj bottoms she carried around! 

 Aunt Heather managed to get into the playground and kept up with where the girls were going and coming from.  WOW! they didn't have huge playground and playsets like this when I was a kid!  There were all sorts of fun things to do and interact with on this thing!

Graduation was Wednesday morning at the air museum at Ft. Rucker.  Here are a few pictures! ;-)  Just a few!!!

The girls got a little restless but we came prepared.  The girls loved playing with our phones cause they had some interesting games and fun things to look at on them!  iPhones are an awesome invention if only for this reason!

 Hannah playing with a fish app that you can feed the fish and the more you feed the more fish come to eat.

 Teresa found out about PacMac and loves the game now!  Don't know how Mom and Dad feels about it but kept her quiet at the event!

Graduation:

 Chad was one of 6 new WO chosen for the Commanders List!  He scored in the top 20% of his class of WOC! 

Chad is the second in from the right of the men standing at the front!

Rolling his eyes as usual at our Kodak moments.  Chad had decided he wanted Candice to place one of the bar epaulets and I would do the other cause both little girls wanted to go to the front too!

 Newly minted WO1 and his family!

 Chad and 5 other new officers.  All are eventually going to be band commanders!

 Me, Chad, and Teresa!

 Me, Chad, Heather and Teresa still playing PacMan!

 Chad, Candice, Heather, and Hannah....minus the shoes....I swear that girl is an Okie!

We had an awesome time!  It was over way to soon and after lunch at Applebee's they headed out to catch their planes home...Chad from Florida and Candice from Dothan, AL with the girls.  Heather and I started the drive back talking about all the fun things we had seen and how much fun the girls had been.  It had been 2 years since I had seen them and I am hoping it won't be two more before I see them again!