Two Days, Two Dead Dudes

"What can we do with Uncle Frank this year that is different when he comes for Thanksgiving?"

Mom asked this question at just the right time a few weeks ago, as I had just learned of two exhibits that were coming to Atlanta. It is actually the only time both will be in the same city at the same time. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I secured 6 combination tickets to see them both.

On Friday we navigated the maze of roads into Atlanta to the High Museum of Art to see "The First Emperor, China's Terra Cotta Army". In 1974 farmers digging a well uncovered the greatest archaeological find of the last 50 years. The tomb and surrounding complex of Qin Shihuangdi, who united what is now China in 221 BC, covered 23 square miles. The excavation, which is still going on, yielded 7,000 terra cotta soldiers, acrobats, servants, and horses. They are absolutely incredible to see. Each one is different. Emperor Qin had everything prepared for his use in the afterlife, as he had no intention of resting in peace. We really enjoyed the exhibit. We also decided to get all "artsy-fartsy" and view some of the other exhibits at the High. There were treasures from the Louvre, as well as Medieval art, marble sculptures, and Tiffany glass. The most hilarious was the modern art section. I was quite sure Aaron and I were going to get kicked out. Some of that stuff was just weird!!! We had a blast. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Table 1280, which is the very "artsy-fartsy" restaurant at the High. I quickly came to realize the we must be less "artsy" and more "fartsy" than their usual clientele. The food was very good though, and Uncle Frank treated the whole family.

Today we once again packed like sardines into Mama's truck and headed to the Atlanta Civic Center to see "Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs." WOW!!! If anything could top the exhibit at the High, this would come mighty close! The whole thing was simply impressive. So many things that I had only seen in books were right in front of us, many not even encased in glass. The giant statues were upstaged only by the fabulous golden treasures the tombs had yielded. Barry was like a little kid in there, and we were all thoroughly fascinated by what we saw.

Both evenings we came back to Granny and Papa's house to take care of their nightly meds and such. We had purchased DVD's about the exhibits, and Papa loved watching them. Granny enjoyed looking at the Egyptian treasures in the beautiful book we brought. Hopefully we can manage to take them to see at least the King Tut exhibit before it leaves Atlanta. What a great way to have spent our Thanksgiving break.

A Bragging Mama Day

Today was one of those days that you just feel like the mother of the most amazing kids in the world! This morning was the O Ambassadors 5K and this evening was the premier concert of Noteworthy.

O Ambassadors is a club started by Oprah Winfrey. The kids raise money for world charities as well as service projects here at home. The 5K through Olde Town was to help them raise money for a trip to New York and the United Nations in the spring. There were about 60 participants of all ages, and we scattered adults all the way through the pack so none of the kids was alone. Barry took the front, as there were kids that wanted to run. The first two kids to finish were Daniel and his buddy Cameron, a little boy who was hit by a car in our neighborhood earlier this year. It made me so happy to see this little guy running happily ahead of me! Aaron and I finished about 7th and 8th.

This evening we attended the performance of Noteworthy, the honor chorus made up of kids from 3 of our middle schools. They were fabulous!!!! The kids were right on each note. The boys surprized me with how deep their voices are. None of these kids were over 8th grade! Of course we had the whole family: Us, Mama, Granny & Papa, and Bob. Papa had the best seat in hs wheelchair at the end of the row. He looked right down the aisle at Aaron while he sang.

It was a beautiful day, and I am truly blessed to have these super boys.

Follow Me Boys!

Task Force Bryant received their sitrep and topo maps. Team leaders were assigned, and the troops boarded buses heading into the swamp. Seemed a church camp meeting was caught by surprise by some storms that scattered them through the swamp, and it fell to us to go and find them. Yep, it's time again for Annual Training at Fort Stewart!

Task Force Bryant was divided into four teams (Tango 1-4), all commanded by officers from 4th Battalion. Tango 2 was headed up by (drumroll please) ME! Why on earth they want a bunch of men to follow a blonde through the swamp, I just don't know. I was given 12 men that I didn't know from the Quick Response Team (QRT). In about 10 minutes I had one who was my RTO (radio), one doing pace counts, one with the map, two with GPS's, and two with compasses. I had assigned my left and right flank, and given a quick overview of the operation and WSAR itself. Into the swamp we went! My map reader estimated that it was 700 meters to our first phase line. The pace counter and the GPS disagreed about where it was. We went with the pace counter and popped out onto a tank trail right in front of an Observer Controller, which was exactly where we were supposed to be! Even though our team found no casualties, we were right on target. I complimented the men at the briefing with the colonel and again to their commander.

I hauled my pack and duffle out of the 4th Battalion TOC trailer and into the female barracks. WOW. It was a considerable difference from previous AT's. We've had nice barracks in years past, but these were dusty, dirty dumps. Only half of the light fixtures had bulbs. As I made my way through the barracks, I noticed to my dismay that all of the bottom bunks were occupied. I prepared to haul my junk up into a top one when I noticed that one of the rooms at one end was not inhabited. HA! MINE! Well, it was dirty and had no light bulb either, but it now belonged to a warrant officer! I spread out my sleeping bag and decided to head to the shower. Well, I changed my mind on that one fairly quick when I got a look at the latrine. I may sound like a sissy here, but group showers are just not my thing. I chickened out and called Barry, who was visiting Savannah with the boys for Aaron's birthday. They were roaming around one of the forts, but said they'd return to Hinesville a little later and pick me up. That was all well and good, but it had been a long while since I had eaten in the swamp earlier in the day.

Smelling of DEET and looking a little scruffy, five members of 4th Battalion headed out onto the town to find some chow. We ended up at Buffaloes, which was pretty good. There we discovered Jonathan has talent we never dreamed of. He took the lemon off of the tea glass, flipped it inside-out, and carved "Bubba teeth"out of it. When he put them in and turned and grinned at all of us, I just knew I was going to slide under the table laughing at him. The whole meal went that way! We headed back on post, some to do fingerprints, some to get cleaned up, and some to wait for loved ones to pick them up. I decided to change into some civvies, hang up a chem-light, and stretch out on top of my sleeping bag for a little while to wait for Barry. When I woke up about 90 minutes later, I discovered one more thing about this year's barracks...no heat. Yep, this added another element of fun to the prospect of getting up at 0500.

Finally the call came in that Barry was on post and looking for my barracks. I walked out to meet him and the boys, and they whisked me away to the Comfort Suites. There I enjoyed a clean shower all to myself, and stayed in until I'm sure Barry thought I was going to go down the drain! We sat and talked and they filled me in about their adventures of the day. I couldn't believe that my baby was 14!!! He had really enjoyed his big day, including dinner at the Pirate House! I looked at the fluffy pillows and clean bed. I thought of how warm it was in the room and how cozy it would be to snuggle up under the covers with a toasty husband. I came back to reality, got my stuff together, and headed back to the barracks.

At 0445 my first cell phone alarm vibrated. My eyes opened in the green chem-light glow and I reached out to turn it off. Brrr!!!! I decided to wait until I heard other signs of life in the barracks. By 0500 I could put off the inevitable no longer. I got dressed, went to chow, and reported to the 4th Battalion TOC. We got our timetable for the day, cleared the barracks, and went about our business. This day would see the retirement of our general, the promotion and change of command of a new general, and the redesignation of our southern Georgia brigades into one.

When Barry and the boys picked me up, Daniel could hardly contain his excitement. "Mommy, you'll never guess what we found today behind the Ft. Stewart Museum!" They eagerly drove me there, dragged me around back (into what looked to me like a restricted area, but whatever!), and told me to peek over into the first of a line of massive wooden crates. What peered lifelessly into the South Georgia sky was the bronze face of Saddam Hussein. The statue of this terrible man that had been pulled down in Baghdad by US soldiers at the beginning of the war now rested in weathered, unmarked crates on American soil.

It was another good Annual Training at Fort Stewart.