Paddling Around Lake Tholocco

Here on Post at Fort Rucker, they have a Lake called Lake Tholocco. (pronounced ta'locco or as my kids call it thocoloco) You can rent just about everything up here. They have canoe's, paddle boats, jet skis, motor boats, pontoon boats and other stuff. They even have cabins up here.

On this lovely day in September we decided to rent some paddle boats. We had loads of fun. We would paddle our boats to this little island in the middle of the lake and the kids would jump off the boat and play around. We even caught little Levi hanging off the side. We raced them to see who could paddle the fastest. I have to say those girls are quite fast. Even with me on Daniel and Luke's boat and Daniel and I paddling they still kicked our can. Luke was a big help and watched from the back of the boat which put Daniel and my big butt pretty darn level with the water. No wonder we didn't go anywhere. We spent the whole afternoon up there.

We made sure to lather everyone up with lots of sunblock but somehow I got missed. It's weird as a mom, you think you have gotten everyone only to find out you missed yourself. Needless to say I am very bright color of red. 

It was a lot of fun. They even had fun just playing close to the beach.

Levi throwing rocks into the lake. He had a blast. I love that he loves this stuff.



Great day together as a family.

Yes Sir! Daniel Has Now been Promoted!

You are now looking at 1st Lieutenant Daniel Hills. After waiting on the Federal Government for over 7 months Daniel was finally promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant. He has worked hard to get here and we are so proud of him.

They were so gracious here when promoting him. They coddled my 4 children, gave them candy and let them pretty much do whatever. They were good kids and watched proudly as their dad was promoted.

They started by first reading the Attention to Orders, signed by General Tarbet. I then was able to strip him of his old rank and place his new rank on him. It was a proud moment. He then took an Oath of Office for his new rank as seen in this picture. Daniel was proud to be able to promote with one of his good friends, Garet Cooper down here but also he is in Daniel's unit back home. He is the guy sanding next to him.

We are so proud of him. He has worked so hard down here in flight school and we are truly grateful that he is getting to do what he loves. We are grateful that we get to be with him.

This is us with Daniel's Commander Major Harlow.

We have been greatly blessed in his choice to joint he military and we are so proud of our 1st Lieutenant!

This little thing called LOVE!

We Love The Beach!

The kids are good at making tide pools, sandcastles, and finding sea shells. 

                  Levi loves to play in the waves. We have to keep a extra special watch on him.

One of our favorite things to do out here is to go to Florida and go to the beach. It is about a 2 hour drive from here in Alabama. We pack a lunch and try to leave by 9am. We usually would go with friends and then go to dinner on the way home but this time we decided to do a cookout at the beach. We took hamburgers and hot dogs and a salad and some chips. It was a lot of fun. The kids have gotten good at finding good sea shells. Hurricane Isaac just left and it had washed puffer fish and lots of sea weed on shore. Usually after a storm like that we see a lot of jelly fish. Not this time. A couple of times we haves seen some dolphins swimming off shore. As we play in the ocean you can see the little fish nibbling at your feet. Daniel has stepped on a crab or 2. They just run a way. Often there is a sand bar that we swim out to and play on. I can safely say that we are definitely a beach family. We love the sound of the ocean and the whiteness of the sand, and the blue of the ocean. We love coming out here but man it makes for a long day. I love these memories with our family. They are awesome and I hope someday our kids will remember all we did together.