Friends Come to Visit

Kent and I were very excited when Chris and Shyrlene Brooks, our good friends that we met in Germany in 2003, told us they wanted to come visit in July.

They were only here for a couple of days but we sure enjoyed them while they were here. On the first day while Kent and Chris were hanging out at Arlington Cemetery, Shyrlene and I went to the Museum of the Bible.

 It's been open less than a year and I hadn't been to it yet.

 I was glad to see this original of George Washington in prayer at Valley Forge on display again. It used to hang in the visitor's center at Mount Vernon, but hasn't been there for several years.

 This was one of many of the interesting displays in the museum.

 It was very well done. There was a children's area with really fun interactive games, but I didn't take any pictures of it.

 Kent had the day off from work on the second day the Brooks were in town, since it was a Friday. We decided to head south and tour the Virginia state capitol building in Richmond.

We arrived in time to take a tour of the building.

 Kent appears to be having an inspiring moment with Thomas Jefferson.

The center of the rotunda in the capitol has a statue of George Washington.

 Around him in the walls are busts of the other men from Virginia who have been presidents of the United States.

 Here's a list of the Virginia born Presidents.

A portrait of Thomas Jefferson in one of the rooms we toured.

 A statue of Robert E Lee also graces one of the rooms.

 I liked his quote that was on the base of Robert E Lee's statue.

We toured the chambers of the Senate and the House of Delegates.

I've taken a tour of the capitol before, but Kent hasn't.

 After our capitol tour we had a mini Germany reunion and met the Jeos and the Andrews for dinner at the Magianno's restaurant in Richmond. It was pretty cool to have all of us together again, ten or more years after we all moved away from Kaiserslautern!

One really pleasant memory I have of the Brooks' visit was eating breakfast and dinner out under the awning at the table on our back deck. It was just so pleasant to sit out there overlooking Kent's lovely yard and chatting with them. I never took a picture of us out there, but I wish I had. Kent had bought a box fan to put out on the deck while we were out there, so we turned it on if we felt too hot.

Tyler's Change of Command in El Paso

On July 3rd I flew to El Paso so I could be there when Tyler took  his first command of an Army company. I made my flight arrangements in May when the date of the ceremony hadn't been set, but Tyler thought it would be on the 4th or the 9th of July. 

As it turned out, the ceremony was actually on July 3rd, which was the day I was flying in. Tyler was able to set the time at 1pm since my flight was landing at noon. I was picked up at the airport by one of Tyler's soldiers since Tyler and Rachel were both already at the rehearsal for the ceremony. 

I was there in plenty of time. Tyler gave a nice speech and each of his children were given a gift. Rachel and I were given flowers. All four of the kids were very well behaved during the ceremony, I might add.

I was very proud of  Tyler and so glad I was able to be there!

 It was my first time being in El Paso to see Rachel and Tyler's new house. It was very nice and has a big backyard for the kids to play in. The twins are at an age when they're growing and changing a lot, so it was fun to see them again.

 While I was there Andrew had his birthday party, which for some reason I didn't take pictures of Andrew with his cake or gifts.

Tyler and Rachel rented a bouncy house for the party, and it was lots of fun for the kids. It fit nicely into their backyard.

 

One day while I was in El Paso Rachel took the kids and me to the zoo. It was a nice little zoo, but it was a pretty hot day to be outside!

I'm so glad I was able to go to El Paso to attend Tyler's first change of command ceremony and to see the rest of the family, too!!