Stephen has done it, he graduated from Army Basic Training on October 23, 2008!!!!! We are so proud of him. His mother (Kay) the boys and myself all flew to Missouri for the event. It was a long journey but worth every agonizing minute. Stephen looked so handsome in his Class A uniform. He gained 12 pounds of muscle in the 9 weeks he was in training. He weighs more than he ever has. You can tell he is proud of all his accomplishments. He seems to walk a little taller now.
The boys were very happy to see him. We were worried Logan wouldn't take to him right away but he did. He knew that was Daddy. He wouldn't stop staring at him for quite a while. It was cute. He played with and showed Stephen all the changes he has made in the last 9 weeks too. Stephen couldn't believe how much he talks now. I tried to count and am guessing he is up to around 75 words now and adds new ones everyday it seems.
It was so hard to drop Stephen back off after his 11 hour family day visit. I cried more this time then when he left home to start basic. I guess I knew how hard it is this time. Zack was very upset too. It broke my heart to see him so sad.
Stephen left the next day for a long bus ride to Fort Sam Houston, Texas which is in San Antonio. He arrived early Saturday morning. Upon arrival they were informed that they were not going to be starting AIT for 3 weeks. Training only starts once a month and one had just started a week before. So he is stuck in holding for 3 weeks!!! Frustrating!!! Another piece of bad new he got was that they were not allowed to go home for Thanksgiving like they had originally thought. That was hard for me to swallow. I was getting by on the knowledge that I would see him in a month. I arranged it so that I can still do that by flying to Texas to see him instead. It is super expensive so it will just be Logan and myself, Zack will have Thanksgiving with his dad this year.
Besides all the bad news things are going well in Texas. He is able to call me every day now instead of once a week. We almost are used to not talking. It was hard at first to think of things to say every day again. We are good now though. Like teenagers who spend an hour on the phone with their friends every day. It's funny. He and the most of the rest of his platoon got tickets to a NBA game. They watched the Phoenix Suns stomp the Spurs. I guess everyone yelled at Stephen for cheering the Suns. What can he say, he's from AZ.
That's it for now I think. Have a good one.
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