Update on David

David has less than 4 weeks left of basic training! I am counting down the days until I can see him. I have not enjoyed having him gone. We communicate almost solely by letters. I did get one 10 minute phone call from him (which was amazing) but other than that its all snail mail. I know I will cherish these letters but I can't wait until we can talk on the phone again and tell him things I want to tell him right when I want to tell him.

Overall I think he is doing well. He is making some good friends and is loving the things he is learning. He did very well in the shooting qualifications which is what he wanted to do the best in. Because he did so well he got to call me! He even outshot his drill sergeant in a competition.

He also got sent to the hospital! He said he was coming home from church and bumped his head on a metal hook in the van. At first he thought nothing of it until he felt blood on his face. When he took his cap off blood came pouring down. He ended up getting five staples in his head!

He says the hardest part is the fear and anxiety the drill sargeants instil in them. Couple that with only a few hours of sleep every night makes things tough.

Anyway there is a little update on my soldier!

Lagoon

So my Aunt Tami was in town for a few days after or vacation. She is way awesome and took us (my mom and me and Austyn) to Lagoon! I love Lagoon and I didn't think we'd be able to go this year. We were also able to get a bounce back ticket so I found a baby sitter and Me and my mom went to Lagoon to celebrate the end of summer/start of school.

Missouri

In July we went on an awesome vacation to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It was for the Dickinson Reunion and we got to see all of my mom's Aunts and cousins and a whole lot of family. It took us two long days of driving to get out there. We started at 4 AM and drove all day long. Luckily Austyn is the best and was great during the 16+ hour day.

Our second day of driving wasn't as bad at we were able to stop at Liberty Jail. It is such an amazing place. You really can feel the spirit there.

We finally got to Missouri and spent several fun packed days fishing, boating, playing cards, swimming, and having a great time with our family. 

We mostly congregated at my mom's cousin's home. Their backyard is their dock. They have 3 boats and a few jet skis. 

This is the view off the dock. Beautiful!

Here is the dock! Their home is right behind in trees.

Austyn loved the water even with that big life jacket on!

The first fish I caught!

Here is the whole group! We went to this way way yummy restaurant that you can access by boat. 

Austyn with her great-grandma and great-great-aunts
They all are the sweetest ladies.

Playing the "sit to the right"game!

Without a doubt my favorite part of the vacation happened our last night. We went out on the pontoon with cousin Mike to fish. We caught fish, after fish, after fish. It was sooooooo fun. I have never been fishing and caught fish like that. 3 people could fish at a time and within minutes usually 2 or even all 3 had a fish on the hook. We ended up catching about 25 fish. 

Dad was our officially get the fish off the hook person. 

After we left the reunion we headed to Branson to spend a couple days in my Aunt Tami's vacation condo. It was so nice and we had fun staying there. We went to Silver Dollar City which was a lot fun. 

We went to a singing show and got to meet the cast.
They LOVED Austyn!

Grandma grew up on a farm so she's a pro at milking cows.

We took this right after the log flume.

Grandma was such a good sport!

Austyn's first carousal ride!
Sidenote.. I got in trouble for taking this picture. Oops!

All in all it was a way fun vacation. I wish David could come but he's working very hard at basic. I guess we will have to take another trip to Lake of the Ozarks!