Four Generations and a Ceremony

This past week, Nathan and I traveled south to Ft. Stewart, GA to visit my parents at their new army base.  My grandparents were down for a visit and also to help at the change of command reception that my parents were hosting.  Nathan and I left home on Monday morning, and after a REALLY easy drive (thank you God and Nathan!), arrived at my parents house by late afternoon.  We spent the evening chatting, playing with Nathan and preparing for the next day's festivities.

Nathan still loves to stick his tongue out (and apparently I'm seeing how widely I can open my mouth - attractive!)

Enjoying peaches and ice cream with Mom and Dad.

The next morning we were all up early, ready and excited for the Change of Command ceremony and the reception to follow.  

Luckily we had Granddaddy and Grandmother in the car, so we got to park in this spot for the change of command!

Waiting to go to our seats before the ceremony.

Enjoying the balmy Georgia morning (ok, we're already starting to sweat).

The color guard on the parade field.

Dad accepting the unit colors from his boss, symbolizing the transfer of the unit leadership to Dad.

Sorry I blocked you with my head, Grandmother.  The little guy was so ready for a nap!

The ceremony was nice and Nathan was SO well behaved!  He even had his own reserved seat in the VIP section, but he ended up sitting in my lap or at my feet instead.  They presented roses to Mom, Grandmother and me, and Ft. Stewart Dentac coins to Granddaddy and Nathan.  When presenting the coin to Granddaddy, the emcee stated that he was a Purple Heart recipient and a WWII veteran, so everyone gave him a round of applause.  Dad gave a nice speech, and then it was on to the reception, which was held at the Ft. Stewart Museum. 

In front of my parent's new house with the brand new "Dentac Commander" sign posted out front.

On the way home, Grandmother, Granddaddy and I were commenting that all the other neighbors had signs in their front yard to show what units they commanded, but there wasn't one in front of my parents house.  However, as we pulled up to the house, we spotted a brand new sign in the flower bed.  They had put it up during the few hours we were gone to the ceremony and reception - talk about efficiency!

The rest of the day was spent recovering from the excitement of the morning, helping Mom unpack, and grocery shopping.  Grandmother made a super yummy stir fry that night for dinner, and we had strawberries and ice cream for dessert. 

The next day, Wednesday, was more of the same.  I was expecting Nathan to start crawling while we were at my parents house, but Nathan wasn't super happy on the floor most of the time.  In fact, he was pretty clingy during a lot of the visit.  However he slept FABULOUSLY during naps and at night, so that was a huge blessing!

Then Thursday... well, we'll save that for the next post!

PS. Thanks so much to Granddaddy for taking all these wonderful pictures!