LJPS Lionettes

Just wanted to show off our Liza Jackson Lionettes Dance Team. I have missed coaching Cheerleading since we moved but have been lucky enough to be able to help coach our middle school dance team. Like our school, the dance team is relatively new and small. Only two of our girls are 8th graders. The remaining 6 are 6th graders that are brand new to the squad and to dance teams in general. On Tuesday night we performed at Ft. Walton Beach High School, along with 2 other middle school dance teams, as part of the send off to Nationals for the Ft. Walton Beach High School Dance Team, the Stars, defending UDA National Champions. The other two middle school teams that performed were over 20 girls strong and their dances were choreographed by professionals. Our team had 2 girls out sick so only 6 performing on the huge stage all by themselves. And to top it off, one of their two routines was choreographed by our team captain, not a professional choreographer. Alexis is part of the Northwest Florida Ballet and did an incredible job with her choreogrpahy. The girls were by far the most technically proficient and they brought the house down. They were incredible! Besides being amazing dancers, these girls are just incredible young ladies and I am so excited to get to work with them for the whole season next year!

Christmas in Broken Bow

Happy New Year! We spent our Christmas in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, Duane's hometown. It was quite the adventure! We began with a 12 hour drive, which Duane thought would be best to make at night as the girls would be sleeping. Ha! Our girls slept off and on but woke up everytime we stopped for gas and demanded movies on the DVD player. We attempted to inform them that it was the middle of the night and that they should be asleep but Kaitlyn quickly told us that "I've had enough rest. I'm ready to go." Needless to say, we were exhausted when we arrived at our hotel. We slept for a few hours and then began our rounds of visiting........By evening time my parents had arrived after flying into Tulsa and driving 3 hours into Broken Bow.

Despite the lack of sleep, we had a great time. We got to see numerous cousins, family, and friends. Mom and Dad got shown around the tiny town of Broken Bow, part of the Choctaw Nation and home to just 3 stop lights, a WalMart, a Piggly Wiggly's and the Choctaw Nation Casino. Anyone who knows me well knows a few stories from Broken Bow so I'm sure you can appreciate how fun it was to show my parents around! We even discovered that Broken Bow has a coffee shop - FINALLY. You have no idea how long I have waited for good coffee in this town. Of course, like most everything else in Broken Bow, the shop was closed all weekend so we didn't get to try it out until Tuesday. It was actually pretty good!

Christmas Eve is huge for Duane's family - all the extended family members come to Grandma's house to exchange gifts. We got to see Duane's cousin Ricky and his wife Kim who were in from Ft. Worth, Texas with their two girls Elisa Kailyn (yes, pretty much the reverse of our Kaitlyn Elise) and Sydney Kate. Sydney Kate is the new edition at just 4 mons. so it was fun to get to see her and catch up with her parents. We also got to meet another new family member, Hannah, who is the 1 month old daughter of another of Duane's cousins. Kaitlyn absolutely adored holding the babies. The girls loved being with their Oklahoma cousins and especially enjoyed making Christmas cookies with both Mimi and Memaw and banana pudding with cousin Ashley. They also have decided that they need a horse and some cowboy gear after spending a very entertaining afternoon at Uncle Herman's house riding Outlaw. For a good laugh, ask Mimi and Papa how the girls say "Outlaw."

Broken Bow is definitely a small town with many quirks and oddities but it is home and we loved every minute we had with family. It was especially fun to introduce Mom and Dad to Duane's hometown. Of course, for any of you with small children, I'm not so sure I would recommend all the grandparents in one place............it results in a very large packing job for the trip home and some very spoiled grandchildren! :) And now that both sets of our parents know each other so well, we fear the ideas they will cook up together..........;)

Hope Your Holidays were filled with family, friends, and love.

Love,
Duane, Kelly, Kaiti, & Sam

S.Claus Pays Visit to 6th RTB

Amidst his busy holiday schedule, Mr. Claus found time to drop in on the families of the 6th RTB on 13 December. We fried turkeys (apparently the only way to turkey in the south - go figure) and brought side dishes and ate until we were ready to burst. Santa read Christmas stories, handed out gifts, and led the little ones in caroling. He even brought one of his jolly elves along to help. Santa was a hit with all and so was his elf, who bore a strong resemblance to MSGT. Simpao in a pair of red Ranger style PT shorts............hmmmmmm.........

A fabulous time was had by all and at the end of the evening Santa ordered all to "Have a Merry Christmas! Hooah!" That's our kind of Santa!

But Do You Recall, The Most Famous Reindeer of All?

Our most famous reindeer made her show stopping debut on Dec. 15th at the LJPS Pre-K Christmas Program. The program was held on the morning of the last day of school. While my students were watched by another teacher, Duane and I got to watch Kaitlyn and the rest of the Pre-K perform a few songs. Kaitlyn's numbers were Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Reindeer Pokey ( a very cute version of Hokey Pokey in which the kids shook their "reindeer tails"). All of the kiddos sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas in both English and French as their finale, followed by bow and blowing kisses to their adoring audience. It was, quite frankly, the most riveting holiday program I have ever attended. :) We can't wait until next year's program!

Ice Skating in Florida???!

Yes folks, there is ice skating in Florida. OK, so it's an ice skating rink set up once a year in a big lighted tent on the Fort Walton Beach Landing on the edge of the Gulf. It sits right next to a huge playground and the City Christmas Tree, overlooking the water. It is the place to be for kids this time of year. Kaitlyn attended the birthday party of a Pre-K classmate there this weekend. The kids went ice skating, rode a train around the landing, ate pizza, cake, and ran around the playground. I was shocked to discover that my 4 year old daughter has a boyfriend. Her little classmate Aubrey apparently has told his parents that Kaiti is his "girlfriend" and he is going to marry her. When asked if Aubrey is her boyfriend Kaiti looks at us like we are crazy and says "No!" Aubrey stuck to Kaiti like glue at the party and she convinced him to ice skate and get face paintings. Poor boy. Kaitlyn just lets him chase her. Duane is rather pleased with this arrangement. He figures if there are to be boyfriends, they should be doing the chasing while his daughters remain blissfully ignorant. Don't know how long that will last...........

Here are a few pics of Kaitlyn and Aubrey with Aubrey's dad at the rink and in the train car. The pictures should give you a good idea of Christmas in Florida - cold but sunny.

Turkey Day at LJPS

What a crazy day! Friday, November 17th was Literacy Day and Thanksgiving Luncheon Day at school. I got to wear two of my many hats at once: mom and teacher. LJPS (Liza Jackson Prep) holds a traditional Thanksgiving Luncheon every year. The families of all students are invited to share a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by our cooks, in the Liza Cafe. We are lucky enough to have an amazing cafeteria staff that makes incredible school lunches, so this was actually very good. Our student council decorates and transforms the entire cafeteria and helps serve the luncheon. The cafeteria serves about 4 times as many people as usual. Having taught previously at a school where most parents couldn't pass the volunteer background check, it still amazes me to see so many parents show up at school events. We even have a Christmas tree in the Cafe! This is definitely the South, where political correctness is not a priority and no one celebrates "Winter Break." The halls are decked and the little kids are learning Christmas Carols for the Christmas Program. There are parts of the South that are difficult for me to adjust to but there are parts of it that I really like and this is one of them. We manage to include everyone from Christmas to Hannukah to Kwanzaa but there is no "ban" on holiday things that might "offend someone" - we just celebrate everything in the big and overdone southern tradition, with lots of fried food. :)

In addition to the Cafeteria chaos of Thanksgiving Feast Luncheon, we added in Literacy Day, where every child gets to dress up as a character from a book. As we normally wear uniforms at LJPS, this was a hugely exciting day. Most of my middle schoolers were desperately brainstorming characters that would allow them to wear jeans or PJ's to school. Kaitlyn was the butterfly from Eric Carl's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." At the end of the day, the elementary students parade through the halls and the middle grade students stand outside their classrooms and clap for them. It was a blast but completely chaotic. Duane came to meet us for lunch and one of the parents covered my class while I went to eat lunch with the Kaiti and the rest of the Pre-K. We had tons of food and tons of fun. It was cute to see all the big kids cheering for the little ones. I love teaching middle school, but it is fun to have little ones so close by. I included a picture of my crazy students who love to have their pics taken. :)

Happy Early Turkey Day to All!

Halloween!

Our first Halloween in Florida! The girls were very excited this year to dress up, especially because they didn't have to wear five layers of clothing beneath their costumes to keep warm! The sun was shining, fall leaves were falling and the weather was in the 70's! For a Washington native, Halloween without an umbrella and five layers of fleece underneath the costume was quite an experience. Kaitlyn noticed some Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleading uniforms at the store and determined that both she and her sister needed to be "twin cheerleaders" and carry some "Ra Ra's" (Pom Pom's). SO....we dug out Mom's old Pom Poms from college and our Trick or Treat bags and away we went...............

Our first stop of Halloween Week was at the 6th Ranger Training Battalion Family Halloween Event. Our Family Readiness Group coordinated with the local chapter of the World Wide Ranger Association, Swamp Rangers, to have a huge fall shindig at one of the retiree's farm in Crestview, Florida. It was abosultely beautiful weather and we had a wonderful time doing sack races, pumpkin hunts, hay rides and costume parades with the kids and the retirees. We had a huge catered BBQ from a very southern mom and pop restaurant. We sat around watching the kids and listning to the stories of crusty old Rangers. All in all, it was a great day.

On Halloween night the tiny neighborhood of Rudderville took the kids out to Trick or Treat. It takes all of 15 minutes to make it around the neighborhood and everyone comes out together to watch the kids. After Trick or Treating, one of our neighbors organized a big hay ride through the back woods and airfield on Camp Rudder. The whole neighborhood piled in and all the Dads and teenage kids dressed up as monsters and popped out of the woods at various points during our ride. The kids were scared and a few of us moms were a little terrorized too! :) As always, the whole neighborhood got involved and it was a great time. Hope you all had a great Halloween and enjoyed dressing up!

School Days.......

We are just getting the blog set up so I thought I would include a few pictures taken earlier this year. This is Kaitlyn on her very first day of school at Liza Jackson Preparatory School in Mary Esther, Florida. Kaitlyn is attending full day Pre-K and I teach 7th grade Language Arts at the same school. LJPS is a charter school which means it is funded by state money and is free to students but operates separately from the school district. LJPS has been in operation for 6 years now and a charter to continue the school for 15 more years and add the 9th grade was recently approved. Our board of directors is comprised of retired educators who went to the community and asked "what would the perfect school be?" They took the info they received from families and their own experiences as educators to create a school that would meet the individual needs of students in a small community setting. I have really enjoyed my first semester here. Our students wear uniforms and so do we, the teachers! Kaitlyn wears khaki or navy skorts, skirts, shorts or pants with navy or white polos and the LJPS logo. On dress uniform days she wears an adorable plaid jumper. I love the uniforms! :) Our middle schoolers wear a slightly different uniform but with the same strict standards, including only 1 set of earrings, no unnatural hair colors, no more than one necklace, no bright makeup colors, etc. Teachers wear white blouses and khaki bottoms and navy blazers. We have Pre-K through the 8th grade in one building and I have really enjoyed being just down the hall from Kaiti and getting to see little ones every day. I love that good manners and every day courtesy are strongly enforced at this school. Students always reply to questions with a "Yes Ma'am" or "Yes Sir" - the southern influence is strong! We actually eat with our students and even the Pre-K kiddos are expected to learn and practice good table manners. As a mom and an educator, I am loving our experience at LJPS so far. More school pics to follow.......

Into Ranger Country......

As many of you may know, we relocated (courtesy of the United States Army) to the Sunshine State in March of this year. Yes, from the land of liquid sunshine to the land of perpetual sunshine......it has been quite a journey. Here is the short version:

Duane returned from a year in Iraq in early October of 2005. We enjoyed the holidays with family and then Duane promptly left for Camp Rudder, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida to begin his new duties as a Ranger Instructor in the Army's infamous Ranger School. The girls and I remained at Ft. Lewis, WA. so that I could finish teaching first semester and prepare a replacement. In mid February, Duane returned to help us move and clear post housing.......white glove inspection anyone??? Due to a variety of events out of our control, our move date was upped by about 2 weeks so one can only imagine the chaos....trust me, you wouldn't want to know first hand! We then began our trek across country....it sounds like a romantic road trip until you consider the 2 restrained toddlers and free roaming cat in the minivan packed with essentials and various things the movers "forgot"..........................

We left Ft. Lewis after a goodbye dinner with family and friends and headed south to Oregon for a final visit with Mom and Dad. From Oregon, we traveled to California where we stayed with Uncle Rick and Aunt Tess. We headed out in the morning for Las Vegas and a visit with Grandma, Uncle Errol, Aunt Glenna, Jeff, and Renee and a pre-debut Carter. We continued our trip by traveling across Nevada, Arizona, and most of New Mexico in one day. Lesson learned: 12 hours is 4 hours too many for two toddlers and a cat in a minivan..............We stopped at a hotel in a tiny town on the New Mexico border and set forth the next morning for Oklahoma. We stayed 2 days in Oklahoma and visited with Duane's parents, Danny and Roxann, and the entire Wells' Clan that calls Broken Bow (yes, that really is the name of the town.....) home. From Broken Bow we headed towards Louisiana and Alabama, stopping for the night in Mobile, AL, just 2 hours outside of our destination. Finally, with the sun shining and the promise of a day free of fast food and rest stops, we headed into the northern panhandle of Florida. About 45 minutes east of Pensacola, we hit the town of Fort Walton Beach and began looking for signs to 6th Ranger Training Battalion, our new home.

Duane had hinted that our new home was a little......remote. I suppose I was thinking "cozy" and perhaps even "slightly secluded." Nothing prepared me for the dirt road, absence of bridges over large amounts of water, and general absence of civilization that characterized our trip "home." I soon began to fear that Duane would point to a tent pitched in the midst of the woods and declare "Welcome Home." Thankfully, we soon came upon a clearing in the trees. Several buildings, all painted in the familiar Black and Gold of the famed Ranger Tab were visible. Just a few more feet and we turned left into a small neighborhood of 20 houses, each inhabited by a Ranger Instructor and his family. We quickly found our house, 10 Overlord Drive. Yes, that is the name of the street. I suppose that's what happens when you let a bunch of Rangers name the 3 streets in the neighborhood..............I was grateful to learn that there is a paved road that comes onto Camp. It is 17 miles long, not lighted, and a slow and cautious speed is recommended at night due to frequent sudden stops for deer, coyote, armadillo, fox, turkey, snakes, the Florida Brown Bear, and the Florida Panther. And yes, in my short time here I have run across all of the aforementioned woodland creatures.

Life on Camp Rudder and in Northern Florida has been an adjustment. The Camp is small and very secluded. We have found that most locals do not even know that people live back here. If they do, they tend to refer to us as "those Army people that live in the woods." Here in Air Force Country, we are sandwiched between Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field, the Air Force's Special Operations Command. We share space with Duke Field, another Air Force installation. Living on Camp is little like taking a step back in time. We leave our doors unlocked, the kids roam the neighborhood, if someone BBQ's, they invite the whole neighborhood, if you are going "to town" you stop to ask if anyone needs anything, and the kids eat at the house serving the best dinner that night. During the school year, all is quiet by 8am as kids need to be up early for school.

Northern Florida itself is beautiful. The beaches attract tourists from every continent and are absolutely breathtaking. And yet, it has the small town feel of a southern town. The panhandle of Florida is in a different time zone than the rest of the state and receives its' local news out of Mobile, AL. We are actually closer to Alabama in distance and in local culture than we are to the rest of Florida. This part of Florida, aside from the beautiful beaches, is very traditionally southern and we are learning to adjust to the slower pace and lack of health foods and coffee.............more on that later.

We will try to keep this blog updated and add pictures but please be patient, the only internet access available to us is dial up............Hopefully this will help us keep our families up to date on the often chaotic adjustment of our Northwestern Army family into this Southern Air Force Country................

Duane, Kelly, Kaitlyn, & Sam.antha