Jacuzzi Time! :)

 

Ripley's Aquarium

Looking at the fish

Woo Hoo! :)

Shark in the water! :/

Daddy looking at the fish!

In the shark tunnel!

Jim and a saw fish!

Sharks!

Looking at the fish!

Sharks all around us! :)

Aquarium tunnel!

Looking at all the little Nemo and Dori fishes! :)

Looking at the stingray and talking to the diver!

Downtown Gatlinburg

At the top of our resort area

Another view at the top of the resort area

Margo wanted to stay in the car where it was nice and warm - she's such a southerner! ;)

View of some of the villas at our resort

Downtown Gatlinburg, TN!

Margo just wanted to be covered and sleep!

My tired little bunny! ;)

A "pillow pastry" filled with cream!

Our grumpy bunny in front of an Easter basket...

Her attempt at a smile after we said, "please smile and we'll give you some taffy"

Posing together in downtown Gatlinburg - loving this time together! :)

Strong Bonds Deployment Retreat

Well, the reason we got to go to Gatlinburg was because our brigade was having a Strong Bonds marriage conference for deployed spouses and Jim was one of the chaplains teaching for the weekend.  It was such a blessing to have our lodging and food covered of the weekend and we hope that it was a blessing to the women and kids who attended the weekend to have us part of encouraging them in the last few months of their deployments!  I am so proud of my chaplain and don't mind that he used a few of our deployment stories to help encourage others! :)

 

Indoor Water Park

We had an indoor waterpark connected to our hotel and enjoyed an evening and a morning going to it with Daddy!

 

Gatlinburg, TN

Stopping for some Dunkin Donuts!

Our home for the weekend - complete with a jacuzzi tub, fireplace, balcony, and full kitchen!

Outside the meeting rooms!

Deployment Recognition

I was honored to be part of the monthly Volunteer Award Ceremony here at Fort Campbell and received a Rear-D Deployment Coin and pin awarded to me by the 101st Division (I was nominated by our brigade who is over the squadron - all that to say that it was a huge honor and very nerve raking to be recognized.)  The coin is one of 100 that are given out to recognized volunteers and is only given over the year that our division is deployed.  The Army has special coins that are kind of like a medal that you can display, and a pin that you can wear to events and is a special achievement within the Army.  I also have to give a special shout out to Jim - he stepped up last minute and did the invocation over the ceremony because their wasn't a chaplain available!  They called on the chaplain to give the prayer and when no one stepped up, Jim stepped in to do it and did an awesome job praying over the families and soldiers being honored. I'm so thankful for God's blessing of the time and work that we've put into our Family Readiness Group and for the honor of serving our country.

Holding my brochure and name tag from my seat

Reserved seating! ;)

Shaking hands with the general and his wife!

They handed me the pin and coin as they shook my hand

Posing with all the volunteer awardees!

Our squadron's command team came out to support us.  Tracy and LTC Mike Harvey!

My FRG Deployment Coin (front of the coin)

Back of the coin

All of my pins - the one in the center with the eagle on it was the one I got that evening, top left is of our brigade, below that is the squadron's pin, below that are two silver spur awards, then the Chaplaincy pin, and the upper right is the Protestant Women of the Chapel pin.