Reunion and Karaoke - Georgia Style

After a VERY early and VERY bumpy flight, I made it to Ft. Benning, GA!!! Upon arrival, I found Cam packing up the entire contents of his two storage closets in the barracks into a duffel bag, two suitcases, a garment bag and HUGE plastic footlocker. While he packed, I got to meet several of his platoon-mates as they wandered past. His buddies all had very nice things to say about my Soldier! We then loaded up the rental car with all of his Army stuff and headed for the hotel.

In order to celebrate all the missed birthday, anniversary, and celebratory dinners from the last 6 months, we had a lovely steak dinner together before heading to a Mexican restaurant for a platoon karaoke gathering. I wasn't brave enough to sing, but Cam jumped up there a couple times! A fun time was had by all and I got to meet several more of the platoon. There were also plenty of stories from their time in OCS.

I'm sure that tomorrow will be full of all kinds of adventures. Check back to find out...

Cam and some of his platoon belting out the tunes!

Finally ... I'm Off to GA!

The count-down is FINALLY complete! I'm flying early tomorrow morning to visit Cam at Ft. Benning, GA. I'm going a few days earlier than originally planned to spend a little time with Cam before all the Commissioning hoopla begins and both sets of our parents arrive.

The actual Commissioning and OCS graduation is Thursday afternoon and then we're unsure of when and where Cam's being shipped to next. I'll be sure to pass on all your well-wishes to him when I see him! I'll also try to keep the blog updated with pictures and stories from my trip! Talk to ya'll soon!

One last stop before home ...

Before our looooooong drive to the Tri-Cities and then the loooooong drive home, we stopped off at Cam's favorite breakfast place (Elmers) for a little chow and a little reminiscing/catching up with some really old friends from high school.

Thank you, Kevin, Zach, Rachael, Wes, and Melissa! It was great to see you all and hope we can see you again very soon!

Some former PHS Falcons
L to R: Cam, Kristy, Melissa, Wes, Rachael, Zach and Kevin

Are we really that old?

We just returned home from a trip to our home town (Vancouver) for our 10-year high school reunion. Initially, it was kind of a shock to get the invite in the mail and realize that: Yes! It really has been 10 years since high school! We certainly didn't feel like we could possibly be that old yet. However, we were thankful that we were at least out of school, married and have exciting jobs so that all our "bragging" bases were covered! Plus, we both were graduates of the Prairie High School Class of 1998 (Go Falcons!) so we didn't have to worry about either of us being a poor "date" left out on all the inside jokes and memories.

So, Saturday night we got all dressed up and headed to a hotel ballroom in Portland for a very yummy dinner and a chance to catch up with old friends. There were many people there we hadn't seen in 10+ years as well as a few friends that we've been in contact with since we graduated. In Cam's case, there were even friends there that he'd known since elementary school or T-ball!

It was wonderful to hear all about everyone's lives: who was married (and divorced), how many kids they have, and what they do for a living. There were people that traveled from Boston, Connecticut, and L.A. We met alumni who are now a mailman, farmer, teacher, mTV producer, and high school football coach. We even have a classmate that has 5 kids already ... but the average was about 1 rugrat, so far. And, even though we know of three couples that married their '98 classmates, we were the only Class of '98 couple there. There were even a few people that remembered that we dated for a while in high school and were shocked that we actually did end up getting married!


Ben, Kade & Cam

Casey & Kristy

Cam & Jeb

A flock of Falcons and our old Guidance Counselor

All in all, we had a GREAT time, reconnected with some old friends and are now looking forward to our 20-year reunion!